How has your experience been so far with Google's Redressal Complaint Form?

[Colan Nielsen]

@Chaddow Good point. Twitter might be your best bet.

 

[Chaddow]

@Colan Nielsen I have decided to submit the redressal form as this is the only place I can fit all the URL of the images that are causing the problem then raise the ticket number it creates within my twitter conversation

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Chaddow]

Is anyone else having a slight delay on the time it is taking for feedback on the Redressal form as of tomorrow it will be 5 and 1/2 weeks on one of the tickets

Do you think they are working on the most recent update changes to the dashboard which is causing the delay ?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey Callum,

GMB is still digging out of their back-log. I'd resubmit the redressal form at this point in case it slipped through the cracks.

 

[BenFisher]

Hello @Colan Nielsen

Do you think that will be ok even though this is not strictly part of the redressal form. cause of the shear volume of of the images that have been submitted some of the GMB users are level 9 and 10 local guides do you think this will make my job alot harder, but I have a fair bit of evidence

however the images are always posted on the same day of every month so there is something automated about it

The redressal form is not to be used to report images or reviews. Only for spammy listings. For both issues, you need to flag the review or image and then head to support after 3 business days.

If you do not get action from support, then you can open a thread in the GMB Community. When you are submitting the list of images or reviews, always provide links to them (in a Google Sheet) , not screenshots. Screenshots will not get actioned on. Also, lastly, if it is an abusive local guide or user, link to their profile as well.

 

[BenFisher]

Could I run a few examples by you that I have been struggling with?

Sure, you can PM me a few examples.

 

[Chaddow]

Hey Callum,

GMB is still digging out of their back-log. I'd resubmit the redressal form at this point in case it slipped through the cracks.

Hello @Colan Nielsen @BenFisher are you aware if google is still working through the backlog

I have resubmitted the same issue for a 3rd time on the redressal form today 49 days ( 7 weeks) after first raising it should I cross my fingers again or start a GMB forum discussion on the topic ?

 

[BenFisher]

No serious backlog. Most are being addressed in a few weeks. Sometimes days. It could be in how you are submitting, or the business has proven itself real.

 

[Chaddow]

Hello @BenFisher

Thanks for letting me know that there is no issue with the backlog

I am submitting it in the same way as other location which has been resolved without issue

But this is a case that I have never come across before as a business on the next block on the street is saying it is within the business that I manage as the one that is my client is a land mark in the local area mall , but the business I am highlighting through the redressal form is not related to our business in any way but has our business name in there address on GMB and on there website all very odd

Very timely blog from @MiriamEllis An Agency Workflow for Google My Business Dead Ends for my situation

 

[PaulSteinbrueck]

It's been 6 weeks since I reported keyword stuffing in business names. Google hasn't done anything. I posted in the GMB Community 3 weeks ago and got a response from a "Silver Product Expert" but that didn't seem to help either. Any suggestions? Resubmit the redressal form?

 

[Pete]

They're Baaaack!

Just in time for Halloween and like an old poltergeist, the sites that I spent countless hours reporting to have removed have all come back. They are all employing the same strategy of using virtual office spaces. Customers who call them report being lied to about where they are located. These companies don't have any employees in our city and they certainly don't have any employees in our state. Many of the listings show profile pictures taken from the virtual office leasing company's website.

The worst thing about this is that while they follow the same strategy in every major city and while each listing gets reported, only a few ever get removed. Now it seems that if a listing gets removed, all the company needs to do is get a new virtual office space down the street and start things up again.

 

[Tim Colling]

It's very frustrating for all of us. It's hard to understand why Google cannot vet new GMB listings against some sort of list of known virtual office addresses and at least place them into a "pending" status for an indefinite period of time, as happens so often to legitimate new listing requests.

 

[JoyHawkins]

It's been 6 weeks since I reported keyword stuffing in business names. Google hasn't done anything. I posted in the GMB Community 3 weeks ago and got a response from a "Silver Product Expert" but that didn't seem to help either. Any suggestions? Resubmit the redressal form?

Hey Paul,

We can't escalate spam listing threads on the GMB forum anymore because that's what the Redressal form is for. I'd suggest sending in another form and be clear that you have already submitted one in the past.

 

[kathleen.rhodes]

I wouldn't have thought that there would be a lot of GMB spam listings for landscapers, but I was wrong. I reported 7 GMB listings four weeks ago using the redressal form but only 1 has been removed.

I have re-submitted for the other 6 but the problems are obvious, I don't know why they haven't been removed:

• three with disconnected phones plus no websites
• two where the landscaping website links go to an online pharmacy
• one with a name that includes not only service & product information, but also the city name and state abbreviation

Is there some backlog going on?!?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Kathleen,

If it's been 4 weeks I'd suggest submitting them again. Turnaround times lately are 1-2 weeks.

 

[kathleen.rhodes]

Thanks, @JoyHawkins, I resubmitted them.

 

[Tinerfeno]

I posted a lengthy review of my experience using this form but it was deleted by somebody running the blog.
Anyway, I've had to report the result page which states 1.5 weeks which is utterly misleading.
I've been testing this for about 3 months and not one of the spam listings has been touched.
A complete waste of time in my opinion and time is better spent ignoring the spam and the fakes because it;s clear that Google has no intention of doing anything about them, only to be seen as doing something.
Very disappointing but Google is good that way and after a while, you get used to their system.
As they say, if you can't beat them, join them, so some listings I know of have now been stuffed with keywords and they're doing very well thank you very much.
Negatived can be turned to positives. Don't fight it, just go with it and you'll feel better for it.

 

[keyserholiday]

I believe that you are referencing a thread on the GMB business forum. The GMB forum while it is owned by Google, it is normal users that answer and comment on the threads. We don't get paid and volunteer our time to help users, such as yourself. If Google or a Google employee removed your thread, that was on Google and not any of us volunteers.

Please allow me to address the Redressal form. We have no idea what you are reporting or why Google is not removing the reported listings. If you are reporting keyword stuffing or fake reviews, the redressal form doesn't handle those issues. It is best to use suggest an edit to fix and remove the keyword stuffing. If you are reporting a fake listing, you need to find and supply evidence that a listing is fake, photos, Streetview or other resources. Sadly, you have to do the leg work for Google as they won't do it.