Update 5:00 PM EDT: Google employee Vanessagene notes in the forum: “Update: We have a handle on the issue now. Edits made from this point forward should not experience the phone number problem. As for the people that have already been affected, we’re still working on a fix for those accounts. We’ll keep you guys posted.”
Update 4:00: Joy Hawkins has reported in the forums that if you remove the phone number from the phone number field and add it back in and save the record, the display of the phone number will return to normal. I had to do this two times (where is that rubber chicken when I need it) for it to work. But it did work!
APB (for those of you that don’t watch TV detective shows that means all points bulletin):
Any Places edit seems to cause the smooshed phone number bug in Google Places. I repeat, the Places Dashboard is armed and dangerous. Do not approach, do not interact, immediately report any sitings of the smooshing bug directly to the forum.
In an effort to ascertain the full nature of the problem, I once again threw my brother’s Place Page listing under the bus. I changed a few words in the description field and the newly identified smooshing bug appeared immediately on the listing’s Places page and in the 7-Pack results, Maps, Places and Mobile search results.
I would not touch your Places listing until this issue is resolved!
Made an Edit to a Page this morning, and yes, the phone number is now “smooshed” everywhere.
Comment by Eric Marshall (11 comments) — September 27, 2011 @ 3:01 pm
@Eric
It seems to affect any listing that is edited, even in the most minor way. The forums will light up with this one.
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — September 27, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
Good lord… this is frightening. Keep us posted and thanks for the find. I hate it when my data gets smooshified. Reminds me of the time we had a store that got its listing concatenated with a scooter business that’d had the same phone number months earlier, and then went under. Death to Smooshie!
Comment by Frank Smith (3 comments) — September 27, 2011 @ 3:23 pm
Yikes! Thanks for the red alert Mike. Hands off until this is fixed.
Comment by MiriamEllis (636 comments) — September 27, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
Edited pretty well everything but the phone number and business name on a new Canadian account (entered PIN after editing today) and no smooshing. I feel left out… thank God
Comment by Andy Kuiper (232 comments) — September 27, 2011 @ 5:05 pm
Yikes!
Comment by jeffrey magner (82 comments) — September 28, 2011 @ 11:38 am
Hi Mike, This is totally off-topic, but I’m amazed that your brother’s main competitor named his/her shop Illusory Laptop Repair. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence!
Comment by Mary Bowling (26 comments) — September 29, 2011 @ 11:58 am
Ha Mary, too funny.
See Illusory Laptop Repair – A Most Elegant Google Places Hack
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — September 29, 2011 @ 12:13 pm
Mike,
Just fixed a phone number that was smooshed. Did exactly what you said and it worked perfectly.
Thanks Mike!
Michael
Comment by Michael Borgelt (6 comments) — October 2, 2011 @ 11:47 am
Glad it worked!
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — October 2, 2011 @ 11:57 am