Rejection on Ownership Transfer / Verification due to Business Acquisition & Missing Custom Domain Email

[Giovanni Rosso]

Hello everyone,

I’m Giovanni Rosso. It has been a few months since I last checked into the forum. I am actually a commercial photographer, and I occasionally help local businesses set up or manage their profiles when I shoot for them—so this isn’t my primary job. To provide a clear overview of a complex case that has generated a 41-page documentation log on my Google Drive, I asked Gemini to summarize the facts and technical roadblocks below.

I am seeking advice—or ideally an escalation from a Product Expert—regarding an ongoing verification and ownership impasse with Tier-1 Google Business Profile support.

Case Background & Current Status:​

1. Business Acquisition & Corporate Subvention:
   The original legal entity associated with the Google Business Profile was acquired by a new company. The previous entity no longer exists, and the original owner’s email address linked to the live listing is defunct and completely inaccessible.
2. Dashboard Conflict ("Duplicate" Status & Role Management):
   • As the digital consultant retained by the new business owner, I claimed the profile and acquired ownership rights to perform the verification. However, the profile in my dashboard is currently flagged as "Duplicate" relative to the live listing on Google Maps.
   • I sent an ownership/manager invite to the new business owner, which she successfully accepted. However, due to a lack of technical skills, she is unable to navigate or complete the subsequent steps on her end.
3. Inability to Complete Standard Verification Methods:
   • Phone Verification Failure: Phone verification is not working due to technical issues (VoIP / line setup).
   • Video Verification Impasse: The system prompts for a live Video Verification on-site. However, I am based 500 km away from the physical location and cannot record it myself, while the new business owner finds the video recording workflow too complex to execute correctly.
4. Official Documentation Submitted:
   We submitted a formal appeal attaching unedited, official documentation to prove physical presence and legal operation at the physical address:
   • Utility Bills: Recent electricity utility invoices issued to the new legal entity for the exact physical location.
   • Signage Photographs: High-resolution outdoor photos displaying the active storefront signage and entrance.
5. The Support Loop:
   • Tier-1 support has repeatedly rejected manual document verification, defaulting to an automated response that strictly demands a custom domain email address (e.g., name@company.com) to confirm affiliation.
   • As a local service business, the client operates via standard email and does not own a private mail server with a custom domain.
   • After the standard 3-day ownership request window expired without a response from the defunct previous owner account, support refused to process the transfer or review the legal documentation manually.
   • We submitted a formal appeal providing a custom-domain agency email address to satisfy the system's structural requirement for a domain affiliation check, alongside the new owner's contact details.

Key Question for the Community / Product Experts:​

Given that phone verification fails, live video verification is unfeasible remotely (500 km distance) and too complex for the non-technical owner, and the business operates without a custom domain email, the automated support scripts are causing a complete dead end.

How can we escalate this case to a Google Support Specialist or Product Expert for a manual document review (utility bill + signage photos) to clear the "Duplicate" status and validate the profile under the new legal ownership?

Any guidance or escalation help from Product Experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!