The fact I had to push to get their real name shows they know their service is not ethical. They are very careful in how they disguise themselves just skirting past the law. Please realize, this company is not calling on behalf of Google. After some further digging on the call, I was able to get her to admit she was with a company out of Cedar City, Utah. I then asked the name of the company, she stated their name was “Local Listings”. She did say they are not Google but a “Google Certified Partner”. I asked her if they are Google just to see if they would lie here. She quickly claimed that our listing had become unlisted in February of 2016 (not true) and is scheduled for deletion (again another lie). Update : Today we received a call from another company. Google will even deal with you via their support system, regardless of the size of your business. When I asked what “PDS” stood for, they would not say.īe aware, this is not true. When I asked the name of their company, they told us a fake name of “PDS a Google Listings Authorized Company”. They stated that they are a Google Authorized group who will take down your information and claim your listing as Google only works with Fortune 500 companies and that Google has authorized companies such as them to work with small and medium-sized businesses. Update : We received another call and were able to gather additional information. The suit is still working itself out, but, the suit claims that the marketing company is making false or misleading claims during the sales process to confuse consumers into believing there is some type of relationship between them and Google. Google has even gone as far as filing a lawsuit against one of these unethical “marketing” companies. While selling services to help companies claim their listings is a legitimate service, the approach these companies take is what makes this unethical. These are unethical “marketing” companies that are trying to sell you marketing plans for verification packages. ![]() These type of calls, known as robocalls, are illegal in the United States as defined by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Who Are Theyįirst, realize, these companies are not Google. Google provides a page of information on current scams that are running including telemarketing scams. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Never give this information to anyone who calls you. Ask you for your password or verification code.If you are interested in this type of service, Data Driven Labs offers Local Search Optimization packages. Offer to improve your search ranking or manage your business’s online profile.It is free to add your site for both of these. Charge you for inclusion in Google My Business or Google Search.This is something they will do, however, they do provide these items that Google does not do. From time to time, Google may call you to verify your business or confirm business listings. Google has created a page about this phone call from Google Business Listings to help you understand how to spot them. Protect Yourself From Non-Legitimate Phone Calls From Google Anyone can claim their listing, no group is “Google Authorized” to claim your listings. ![]() These companies claim to be a Google Authorized group that can claim your listing. Unfortunately, I could not get to this point to find out how much they were charging or discover their true identity. Once they find your Google Business Listing is not claimed, they will then proceed to sell you a service to claim your listing for you. Rather, their representatives act as if they are “looking you up in the system” to give you the illusion that you are talking to someone at Google. This caller never Identifies themselves as Google, however, they never state they’re not Google. After speaking with him, I did realize they are not a scam in the legal sense, however, they are running a very shady and unethical practice. He then told me that they are a company which you pay to claim your Google Business Listing. I decided to push a little more, as I still have not discovered if this was a scam. Immediately he told me that we do not need a Google Business Listing for that type of service. The representative asked me what type of service we offer and not thinking, I told him we offer “Digital Marketing” services. Even though I no longer am part of this business, I decided to play along to discover more about this call to find out if it is a scam or something else. Once I was connected, a representative asked me to verify that I am the owner of “insert business name here” which was actually a business I ran many years ago with a partner. ![]() Report Call To Google Fake Google Business Listings Call Is A Scam
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