Business Moved Mess

[Jan]

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction with this one!

I sit on the board for a local Community Interest Company and they recently moved address. The original G Places was set up on one of the directors personal G accounts and we took this move as an opportunity to reclaim using a gmail that both directors and the board had the password to where the G+ business page is set up.

So, we marked the old address as permanently closed then reclaimed the new address on the 2nd G account. Sure enough the old Places seemed to disappear off search and maps although at this point we had no access to the actual G account because of holidays.

The new PIN arrived last week and on entering it, the listing went straight to pending being reviewed.

In the meantime, the old listing bounced back to the A position and is showing on maps. So, once again it was marked as closed and in the comments we said the business had moved to the new address and had been claimed using another G account - giving both the account details and the address.

Now, we have the right address with the new phone and out of date old phone showing on maps and search but it's still attached to the old account. When logging in the dashboard, the details are still the old address and phone.

The new G account Places claim is still marked as pending and is obviously now a dupe anyway.

In hindsight, yes I should have advised waiting until we had access to the original dashboard to ensure the listing had in fact closed. In the short term, the address on maps and search is showing correct - but does not match what's in the dashboard. Ideally we want this listing taken off a personal G account to one where the 2nd director and the board have password access.

So my question - what's the best way to move forward with this listing? Do we change the address and phone in the current listing and wait re-verification again and live with the limited access? Is there another way?

The listing if needed is https://plus.google.com/106360126911089441783/about?hl=en

 

[Colan Nielsen]

The new PIN arrived last week and on entering it, the listing went straight to pending being reviewed.

First, it's normal for the account to go straight into pending review status after verification. This status seems to last in the account for about 4 weeks but the listing will still go live, as long as it doesn't have any violations.

My advice would be to hold tight until it's out of review mode so you can hit "view listing" from the dashboard to see what it's syncing up with.

My guess is that the new listing and the old one have merged (rare, but I have seen it happen in this situation once before).

 

[Jan]

Thanks, Colan.
Have a great New Year!

 

[Linda Buquet]

I agree with Colan and yes pending review for awhile is the new normal.

I'm a little confused because several times above where you mention "the listing" or "the dashboard" I'm not sure in some cases what you mean. So if the convo continues please be sure to specify old dashboard or new and old address/listing or new in every case so we can follow along.

It looks to me like the listing is live and correct with the new info, is that right?

You only provided one link, but it sounded like the old listing is also still live? Do I have that right?

Need to remember with G+ L there is always a delayed reaction and things are pretty slow to change. So as long as the new info is live and correct, I concur with Colan, let's give it some time. Whatever you do, don't just edit the old listing. Does not sound like the right way to go.

 

[Jan]

Hi Linda,

The link above is to the listing controled by the old Google account. It now has the new address and telephone number alongside the old telephone number (which needs to be removed, there's no one in the building to answer that ext). In this dashboard, the address is still the old address and contact details and it is live.

I'm still kicking myself I didn't double check it and say wait before the PIN was entered.

The dashboard on the 2nd Google account is showing pending and I don't have any link there to view the listing live. There only appears to be one listing showing when you search Maps, and that's the listing controled by the old G account with the new info included.

I agree with not editing the old listing in the dashboard - that's why I asked what the best way to go with this might be. I'll sit tight and see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Linda, have a great New Year!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for further clarification. Sounds really odd and does sound like maybe a merge or partial merge but none of this really makes sense to me. Have not heard of this happening before.

For future reference, I think the sequence was backwards. I'd open new in new account. After it's live then I'd close old and reference the move to the new listing.

If this does not clear up you could use the troubleshooter and report incorrect data on the OLD listing and be sure you are logged into the old account when you do it. Then once you are engage with support you can go back and forth to have them help you get it sorted if it does not sort itself out here in the next couple weeks.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

For future reference, I think the sequence was backwards. I'd open new in new account. After it's live then I'd close old and reference the move to the new listing.

Totally agree with this sequence. I do it this way and it works well.

It should be a best practice to wait until a listing is verified before removing any other listings. This would also apply to a situation where lets say you had to re-claim a listing in a new account. I view it as damage control.

 

[Jan]

Thank you both for the advice. I'll remember that sequence for the future! Fingers crossed it sorts out over the next few weeks.

 

[Flash]

Did you actually see the old listing display "This location has closed or moved"?

It is quite possible that your marking of it's closure is still simply pending approval.

 

[Jan]

Hi Flash, sorry I must have missed the email notification for this reply. No, we didn't see it marked closed. The listing disappeared for a while. We don't have access to the listing dashboard as it's on one of the directors personal Google accounts.

I thought I'd pop back and give an update on this.

Earlier today, the business received a call from "Google Apps" (The receptionist message - I think she meant maps!)
They asked to confirm the address and opening hours.

So the listing on the original Google account (that we have marked closed twice and don't have full access too) still maintains full control, now shows in search the correct address and telephone number, the old number has been removed, and someone has tweaked the opening hours.

In the original Places dashboard, it still shows all the old address, phone and opening hours details.

The new claimed Places listing on the Google account where the 2nd Director and board have password access is still not active and is marked pending.

There is only 1 listing when searching maps.

It looks like Google have decided to update the old listing manually via maps? We don't have access to Map marker here in the UK to look at any edits.

I'll sit tight for a couple more weeks and see what happens. At some point the images need removing as they show the old building and reception. I won't touch a thing for a while!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Oh dear. Good luck! Keep us posted.