New Listing Goes Into Pending Review Mode Instantly After Verifying?

[Travis Van Slooten]

The client does fishing charters so he picks up his customers and drops them off at a local marina. He gave me the same address as the marina to use as his business address. I told him this wasn't going to fly but he insisted on using it. He didn't care if it would work or not so I went ahead and did it. When I created the listing the postcard verification was triggered.

We never got the postcard so I called Google using their new verification support line. The Google rep said a postcard couldn't be triggered because there is already a business located there. The Google rep told me in order for this to work, I would need to make up a suite number. Yes, you heard that right. A Google rep told me to break the rules. He said, and I quote, "You'll just need to go back into your dashboard and add a suite number to the address and everything should be fine." I thanked him and hung up the phone.

I then told the client what happened and he said, "great, let's go with Suite 100." I changed the address to include Suite 100 and another postcard was triggered. We got this one but when I entered the PIN, the listing went to Pending review mode immediately. I knew this was the kiss of death and that's basically what I told the client.

The client is pissed now - not at me - but at Google because there are MANY fishing charter companies in his area that all use the same addresses and they are all addresses of various marinas in the area. He wants to know how all of his competitors are getting away with this but he can't! I can't say I don't blame him because he has a valid point. It is pretty bad in his area. There are literally 2-3 fishing charter companies that all have the same exact addresses (no suite numbers) and they are all of the same marina. None of these competitors have business locations at these marinas.

The client and I are now trying to figure out what is our best course of action. Is there any chance of us getting this listing out of Pending Review? I told the client it will probably never go live so we should just delete it and start over and use a REAL address (i.e. his home address) but create this new listing in a new Google account. Is this the right advice? Or is there some way we might be able to sneak this "pending review" listing through?

Travis Van Slooten

 

[Linda Buquet]

Pending review is not kiss of death on new listings and can happen for a few days or even a couple weeks after verification.

With this situation it would not surprise me if it's a problem, but even normal, fine listings go into pending review. So I'd try poking JUST ONE TIME. Then wait a week and see what happens. I think that's preferable than starting over because maybe you don't need to.

I'm frazzled and distracted AND I also don't deal with new verifications much. So see if Colan, Phil, Keenan and others agree with this or have a better idea. Need to run back to get PCs fixed.

 

[David Deering]

I've noticed that after verifying with the PIN, typically the listing immediately goes into "pending" status and not directly into "active". But the status will change in about a week or two. However, keep in mind that the dashboard is a little behind reality and the listing could be live while the dashboard still shows "pending". So to verify that it's live, you can just check it in Maps.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I agree with David. Most newly verified listings go straight into pending mode. This status can last up to several weeks, but the listing should be live in no more than two weeks.

I would give it two weeks to see if the listing goes live.

The suggestion by Google to add a fake suite# seems really odd, but not surprising. I think with the addition of these new phone support features, Google has been hiring new staff that is clearly still in the early stages of training.

The only other possibility I can think of to explain the odd suggestion was that the Google employee was implying that you should add a suite# if it actually had a suite#.

 

[Daniel C Berman]

I could be wrong but don't some marina's allow you to receive mail based on your slip number?

i.e. slip number ~ suite number?

of course that's not how the USPS probably records things but if the mail gets delivered and its the one place that potential clients will find your boat at least while your docked, its definitely not a virtual address, it's not the client's address, and its not your home address.

As you physically conduct business at the start and end of each of your trips there, it would appear to be the closet thing to a business address possible.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

That's exactly how the client and I see it This is a very common arrangement in this business. That is why so many of his competitors also have addresses at the same address of a given marina. They have arrangements with these marinas to use their slips and their location as a meeting place with customers (i.e. where they pick up the customers to take them out fishing).

They don't have assigned slip numbers but they are allowed to use one of the slips that are dedicated for these guys. They don't actually leave their boats overnight, however (at least not all of them do). In most cases, it's strictly a place where the fishing guide goes to meet and drop off customers. At the end of the work day, these guys either take their boats home or leave them at the marina or some other boat slip on the water.

Travis Van Slooten

I could be wrong but don't some marina's allow you to receive mail based on your slip number?

i.e. slip number ~ suite number?

of course that's not how the USPS probably records things but if the mail gets delivered and its the one place that potential clients will find your boat at least while your docked, its definitely not a virtual address, it's not the client's address, and its not your home address.

As you physically conduct business at the start and end of each of your trips there, it would appear to be the closet thing to a business address possible.

 

[Keenan Glass]

If they don't actually own or lease a specific slip, then the listing doesn't qualify.

The "everyone else is getting away with it" defense doesn't work in court and it doesn't work in Google Places.

That said, this is a common scenario and I would use a suite number. Still, it's a really more like a SAB and should hide the address. If not, I advise you let your client know his listing is subject to being removed at any time.

As far as the pending notification, that's normal as Colan stated; live in a week or so and pending for weeks. I don't know about now, but recently it was many weeks.