Thank you
@JoyHawkins
As per our private conversation, I am sharing the full details...
NAP
Name: Whatcom Windshields
Address: 4120 Meridian St. #140 , Bellingham, WA 98226
Phone: 360-738-9795
DOMAIN
Website:
Whatcom Windshields Repair & Replacement | Bellingham, WA | Auto Glass
FB
I’m including in case the conflicting info could point to a reason
Facebook page with wrong website URL listed, a different phone number & no account access because nobody knows who controls it:
https://www.facebook.com/Whatcom-Windshields-159302837435409/
MISSING GMB
Their "missing in action" GMB listing had been there for many years (In business since 1992). The last time we saw it in search was in August and there were 20 reviews. We don’t manage it for them. They just made the discovery a few days ago that it’s gone. They noticed a drop in business and went to see if they still showed up in search. I have a sort of cut off printout of the SERP with the listing showing and I will attach a pdf of it. Since we aren’t managing the listing, I didn’t go back to check on it after printing the page back in August. Happy now that I put it in their file for reference.
NEW GMB
The GMB listing created a couple of days ago is live. It hasn't been verified and is displaying "claim this business”. They are waiting for the verification postcard to arrive. I would have stopped them from creating a new GMB listing if I had known in advance they were doing that. It feels to me like it muddies the water. I feel so bad this has happened that I started to add images to the listing but stopped myself from doing so. If by some form of magic we can get the original listing back I will add images to it in honor of celebration. (Let me know if you think there is a chance and I will tell them NOT to verify it yet.)
https://www.google.com/maps/place/W...777mAhXtCjQIHdcgDqQQ_BIwC3oECAsQBg&shorturl=1
WEBSITE HISTORY
We sold Whatcom Windshields a new website on September 6, 2019. Their website provider at the time was ~Yellow~Book’s~Hibu~ (from here forward will be referred to as “Provider”). The website Provider was also in control of our client’s same name domain (housed at Tucows) and in control of their GMB. A few days after the sale, a written, signed by the owner “website cancellation letter” and domain ownership transfer request was sent to their “Provider” by Registered Mail return receipt requested (mailing request was as per the “Provider’s” written instructions on how to cancel). The letter was received and signed for on Sept. 12, 2019. *I am attaching jpg images of front & back of the signed return receipt.
TICK TOC
By the end of October we were still waiting for their “Provider” to send the transfer code for the domain but nothing was happening. The owner had email & phone communication with acknowledgment of their website cancellation but the “Provider” was not making available the domain transfer codes that had been requested. With the website we built being long overdue to deliver, we published the site Oct. 24, 2019 on the dot net version of their name. This was meant as a temporary fix until the dot com transfer was realized. After repeated phone calls to the “Provider”, eventually we were sent the transfer code. After entering the transfer code it took over a week for the transfer to complete which is longer than transfers from other providers have taken in the past. Finally, the transfer was completed on November 18, 2019. But hold the horses…as soon as we had access to the DNS I went to republish the website on the dot com but got an error telling me that the domain already existed on the platform. What we discovered was even though Whatcom Windshields had cancelled their website, the “Provider” had left the domain attached to the website which was also built on the same platform we use. In order for us to publish the site using the dot com domain the “Provider” needed to disconnect the domain from the old website. Yeah right. Chances of that were slim and none. Instead, the platform developers worked with us and provided text which we added as a DNS record which verified ownership of the domain and we FINALLY were able to publish the site on the dot com and set the dot net as an alternative.
Through all of this, we were not aware that the “Provider” also had control of our client’s GMB Listing. We were made aware of it when they discovered the listing has disappeared. Now, there are only two things that make sense to me that could have happened: 1. The “Provider” purposely sabotaged the GMB listing or 2. Because the “Provider” never disconnected the cancelled website Google saw two website versions (dot com and dot net) and removed the listing as a punishment. Without control of the listing there’s no way for us to know if any communication was sent by Google.
There you have it. Can something be done about this or for a better choice of words "undone"?
