What has worked to get a large lead-gen listing network removed? (appliance repair, DC / N. Virginia / MD)

[appliance.surgeon]

Hi all,
I run a small appliance repair company in Alexandria, VA. Since August a lead-generation network has filled the Maps results for appliance repair in Northern Virginia, DC and suburban Maryland, and it now takes most of the local calls. I'd like advice from anyone who has dealt with a network this size.
What we see:

• About 200 listings that don't appear to be real businesses at the address shown (174 still live on 18 Oct). Template names ("Elite / Prime / Ace / AAA" + town + "Appliance Repair") at addresses that belong to restaurants, office towers and a mall; many claim 24 hours.
• Calls to several of them are forwarded to one company that answers under a different name.
• 78 listings share 10 blocks of consecutive phone numbers.
• Review bursts: groups of 3 to 15 listings each get a 5-star review within the same 30 minutes, with reviewer first names in alphabetical order. When Google removed the reviews on 11 listings, 9 got new ones within 16 minutes.

What we've done: Business Redressal Complaint Form submissions since 8 Oct (seven cases), with a spreadsheet each time. Google removed reviews on 18 listings, but almost all the listings are still up.
List with Google Maps links (view only):
Questions:

1. For a network this size, what has actually moved Google: redressal forms in smaller batches, Suggest an edit on each listing, or something else?
2. Is there evidence that Google's team responds to better than the rest (the call forwarding, the phone blocks, the review timing)?
3. Is it worth reporting the review bursts separately from the listings?

Thanks,
Javid

 

[JS Girard]

For me it's been relentlessly reporting. I would block out an hour or two each week and go through the list, Reporting every listing three times: non existent, spam, not open to the public.

As long as you're not in that weird buggy space where clicking on "send" does not actually send in the report, it's been pretty good for me so far. it leverages a "report while other reports are open" tactic that @Phil Rozek wrote about some time ago.

 

[ElizabethRule]

For a network this size, what has actually moved Google: redressal forms in smaller batches, Suggest an edit on each listing, or something else?

If you have already submitted the redressal form multiple times, your only recourse is the GBP community forum and asking a PE to escalate it. You can also mass report them on maps from multiple accounts, especially local guide accounts with more trust.

GBP community forum: https://support.google.com/business/thread/new

Is there evidence that Google's team responds to better than the rest (the call forwarding, the phone blocks, the review timing)?

Your best bet to get them removed is to prove they are all part of the same network. If they all share the same fake reviews and if they all answer the phone the same way, that would be good to highlight. The fact they share a number block probably won't be enough. If they had the exact same phone numbers, that would be better.

The bigger the network the better. If you can connect these to other networks outside of the DC area, that would mean it impacts more users.

Is it worth reporting the review bursts separately from the listings?

Not really imo, even if you get the reviews removed they will just go and buy more.