Review Replies Missing - can we recover?

[AspiringMapExpert]

Hello GBP

This is the course of events:

The request for management access that we sent to the company was not accepted within 7 days so it flipped to get verified. We initiated the phone verification and entered the code. The listing was verified but we became the primary owner and the client notified us that their business listing had been marked as a duplicate.

Ramifications:

All of the coveted replies to reviews from the past seven years are no longer visible. Is this related? If not is there a fix?

Why does Google do this, are they duplicating the profile and content and does it live somewhere? I only see one business listing when I search the company. Google says they don't see the duplicate.

We want to make sure they are the primary owner so we sent the invite back and that has been accepted but we are in the 7-day period that we have to wait to transfer primary ownership back. Is this going to make a difference in the review replies potentially showing up?

Should we have done something different?

Thanks in advance for your expertise!

 

[ElizabethRule]

Not sure the primary owner switch will have any effect on the review replies.

Did all the reviews come back? If so, I would reach out to support and ask them why the replies to the reviews did not come back. My best guess is the account that replied to the reviews is no longer on the listing, BUT I would think Google could add the replies back if the reviews themselves are on the profile.

 

[AspiringMapExpert]

Not sure the primary owner switch will have any effect on the review replies.

Did all the reviews come back? If so, I would reach out to support and ask them why the replies to the reviews did not come back. My best guess is the account that replied to the reviews is no longer on the listing, BUT I would think Google could add the replies back if the reviews themselves are on the profile.

Thanks for this idea Elizabeth! All the reviews did come back and I'm going back and forth with Google Support- argh!!

If a request to manage a listing expires what is the next best step? All of this happened because I verified the listing.

 

[JS Girard]

When a profile is "stolen" via verification, it trigers the same process of "release from ownership", which means yes, this will always normally removes all the review response and owner-uploaded images.

HOWEVER, this is only for the reverification "steal". Elizabeth is correct that this does not happen with normal transfer of access.

 

[ElizabethRule]

If a request to manage a listing expires what is the next best step? All of this happened because I verified the listing.

Can you delete and resend the request? If not, you can provide/get access to directly by adding an email or account ID as a manager/owner to the listing or location group. How to add & remove owners & managers for your Business Profile - Google Business Profile Help

 

[AspiringMapExpert]

When a profile is "stolen" via verification, it trigers the same process of "release from ownership", which means yes, this will always normally removes all the review response and owner-uploaded images.

HOWEVER, this is only for the reverification "steal". Elizabeth is correct that this does not happen with normal transfer of access.

Oh boy! Thanks JS.

When the management request expired I guess I should never have taken the "get verified" step that populated from the original email confirmation. Does the duplicate have to be merged to resolve this? Google Support said the profiles have already been merged and the duplicate should be deleted. I do not see the duplicate and don't want to advise the client to do this unless I have 100% confidence. Google Support did not comment on the review responses returning. Thanks very much!

 

[AspiringMapExpert]

Can you delete and resend the request? If not, you can provide/get access to directly by adding an email or account ID as a manager/owner to the listing or location group. How to add & remove owners & managers for your Business Profile - Google Business Profile Help

In future, this is what I will do Elizabeth. We have transferred ownership back and are now just managers. The client added back the other managers that were writing the review responses but the responses have not reappeared. Google Support said to delete the duplicate but did not comment on the missing review responses.

"Thank you for your response, please understand that the business profile has already been merged. We cannot proceed further with the merging of the business profile and request you to delete the business profile. As a duplicate business profile. Please remember that according to the Guidelines for representing your business on Google, it isn’t possible to create two business profiles for the same location: "There should only be one profile per business, as it could cause problems with the way your information appears in Google Maps and Search." You can delete the last one created through the platform."

I can't delete the duplicate because I never saw it. I want to make sure to advise the client properly.

Hopefully you confirm. Thanks very much.