'It’s brutal': Calgary company steaming mad after Google removes business profile

Calgary business owner Bryce Gilbert is frustrated and looking for answers after Google removed his business' profile without warning, resulting in a loss of bookings and damage to his company’s reputation.

Mr. Steam Calgary provides carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and auto detailing services.

Gilbert says he created a business profile on Google when he launched Mr. Steam in 2019, and he has worked hard to earn a 4.9-star reputation with some 130 positive Google reviews from customers.

Gilbert said he’d never had any issues flagged by Google, and that’s why he was shocked and confused to receive an email on Oct, 8 indicating his profile had been restricted.

"It’s kind of emotional," he said. "I just woke up and it said my whole profile has been suspended, and now when you look me up on Google I’m not there. It looks like I closed or something.

"A lot of customers have told me, 'Oh I thought you were closed,' which is definitely not the case."

Gilbert's email from Google states Mr. Steam's business profile was suspended due to a policy violation, but it doesn’t outline what policy was violated.

"Whatever it is, it’s a super minor thing that I don’t think warrants basically removing me from the public eye for two weeks now," he said.

"I’ve been working for five years on this. It’s been really important to me, making sure my customers are treated perfectly, so I can earn those five-star reviews."

Gilbert thought it might have been an accident or misunderstanding, so he appealed the suspension and submitted his business licence.

To his disappointment, his appeal was denied a week later, with Google citing "content that violates our policies on deceptive content."

Gilbert said he’s read through the policies and made slight changes to his business hours to see if it would help, but says because Google has an automated system, he has struggled to find out what it will take to get his business profile back online.

Since it was taken down, Gilbert says he has gone from booking around three jobs four or five days a week to no new bookings, which he says has already cost him thousands of dollars.

"It’s brutal, I’ve got a six-month-old baby at home, my wife is on maternity leave, and this is how we pay for our house. The truck is like $800 dollars a month for the truck payment. It’s horrible. I mean, I worked through COVID-19 and that was hard – but this is worse," he said.

Gilbert also worries about his company’s reputation.

"Financially, obviously it’s a big deal, but it’s also pride right? Five years building up your reputation and you find out Google owns it and find out some automated system took it down without the respect or fairness to contact you about what kind of issue they have with you.

"People go there to find information about businesses, and if they can’t find it, they assume you’re not real, and also they would assume if you’re taken down it’s for a legitimate reason."

Thomas Keenan, a professor at the University of Calgary and the author of Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy, says it's stories like Gilbert’s that have contributed to a landmark court case against Google from the U.S. Department of Justice over its advertising practices, and accusations the company is anti-competitive. 

"It really feels like a David and Goliath situation," Keenan said. "You have this company that makes hundreds of millions of dollars from advertising, they suspend this little guy and then they won’t really explain themselves.

"I looked at their policies, and they’re kind of vague. Like, even a duplicate listing might be enough to get you banned."

Keenan said there is little recourse for small business owners in these situations aside from sharing their stories online and through the media.

Gilbert said he has heard from other companies who’ve experienced the same situation and is sharing his story in hopes of getting his profile reinstated, but also to raise awareness for other businesses owners about how much power Google has over them.

"They just don’t care about the harm they’re doing to businesses. I will do whatever I can to make my profile compliant, but so far, they haven’t told me what I need to change.

Gilbert said he’s since tried to create other profiles but they too been blocked.

Google responds

In a statement sent to CTV News, Google said merchants of all sizes use the search engine to manage how their businesses show up online.

"We take that responsibility very seriously," said a spokesperson.

"We reviewed this case in detail and are working with the business to help them make some necessary edits to their profile. We aim to resolve issues in a helpful and timely way, and are always improving how we do that."

According to Google, it has policies and controls in place to keep users safe and prevent businesses from misleading or taking advantage of users looking for information, including rules for representing the services they offer to policies for service-based businesses.

It also offers guidelines for service businesses which outlines how they should represent their operations on Google.