How to force Google to give me an alternative to Video Verification? (The "Taxi Trap")
Google support told me to create a new profile to "save" my reviews, then told me the transfer is impossible, and now they are demanding a video of a physical office that doesn't exist. I’m stuck in a loop and losing business every day. 🚕
The Story: I manage a legitimate taxi and transport company called Johnytraffic s.r.o. in Slovakia. We’ve been through a nightmare over the past few weeks:
Phase 1: Our original, verified profile (with years of history and reviews) was suddenly deleted/lost.
Phase 2: A support agent told us to create a NEW profile and promised they would transfer the reviews.
Phase 3: Once the new profile was live, they backtracked, saying the "information doesn't match" and the transfer is impossible.
Phase 4: Now, they are demanding Video Verification.
The Problem: We are a Service Area Business (SAB). We don't have a walk-in storefront or a fancy office with permanent signage — our "office" is our fleet of cars on the road. Google's video requirements (showing the street, entrance, and interior) are literally impossible for a taxi service to fulfill.
What I’ve tried:
I used the "Verification Troubleshooting Tool" and correctly identified as an SAB.
I have provided official business registration docs.
I even have the physical postal verification codes from our previous profile as proof of history.
The Question: Has anyone successfully bypassed the Video Verification "hard wall" recently? How do you get a human agent to manually trigger an SMS or Postcard verification when the automated system is stuck?
Any advice or "magic keywords" to use with support would be life-saving. We can't even run Google Ads because of this "unverified" status.