It’s time for the company to take reponsibility for its actions and to do the right thing.

Mike

I often think ” I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy”

Must be a difficult cross to bear… But I’m glad you do so.

The second goes back to the need for a customer support/customer relations model that offers real opportunities to get questions answered.

Miriam noted:

I’m pretty sure that Mike would agree that, while he truly enjoys giving his best thoughts on troubleshooting Maps, he doesn’t work for Google

Ahmen to that….yet on some days, I am the only person in the Maps Business help group answering questions…half of which I ignore because there is no way to fix them without Google intervention.

Mike

Businesses put a lot of stock in Google Maps and are very frustrated with the lack of coherent answers I can give them. My favourite is
“Google is another word for challenging.”

I have no idea as to when data up dates really – I have to approximate from last uploads. I have listings that are now showing as “not verified” (as we learned perviously) which worries clients.
Now they are not even loading URLs as I’ve provided to them – just because the wind is coming in from the NorthWest. I have no understanding of any type of logic that they may be using. If any at all.
They decide what information they are going to upload and what they aren’t – regardless of what we send them. I’m at my wits end most days.

I’m all for Maps Guide Jen. Provided that she’s going to be able to talk on behalf of Google and not put anyone off as in the case of Diane(?) and Will. Such a wonderful experience I don’t doubt. Yikes.

As a matter of fact why don’t we start a Facebook group ” Maps Guide Jen for the public Face of Google Maps” ?

Joan

I’m pretty sure that Mike would agree that, while he truly enjoys giving his best thoughts on troubleshooting Maps, he doesn’t work for Google and all of us have been left talking to one another, trying to figure out what is going on rather than being able to get the straight talk from the horse’s mouth.

You were pretty straightforward with the lady from Google, Will. I wish the folks in Mountainview would take seriously what you said.

BTW, I’m so eager for news from the conference.

Miriam

Your story of your interaction with Diane (?) really speaks to why they need a public spokesperson that can not just act sincere but be sincere.

As to Maps Guide Jade advice…what good is changing a record in Maps if it doesn’t change in the main SERPS? If a business needs to do both things, than she should say so…otherwise I stand by my statement that it is bad advice.

Mike

A. Totally agree
B. I’m not sure Mapsguide Jade was wrong given statements from Jen @ SMX West yesterday. It appears community edits do go live immediately in the maps, but require manual validation before they go live in the main SERPs.

As an aside, I had a conversation with one of Jen’s colleagues (I believe her name was Diane) who is the product manager for maps.

She said she was very interested in my feedback and asked if I had any questions regarding maps

I said, “I wish I had a way to out spammers without identifying myself, and no I don’t really have any questions. I have smart people like Mike and David to help me out and they know more than you’ll ever tell”.

And then I shared with her my philosophical view “I think you guys are negligent for releasing a product which has so much impact on small businesses and is so clearly a work in progress”.

She said, we realize this has an impact and of course didn’t agree with me that it was negligent.

So I asked for her card. She said they don’t carry cards. I asked for her email and she said “you can communicate with me through Jen”.

Arrogance of the highest order! You want my feedback but block any attempt at communication? BS! It’s really that they want us to feel like our feedback is valued and they then arrogantly block access to real dialog.

It was a very frustrating experience and made me once again wish for FTC action to break up this hideously arrogant monopoly.

Will