Robert Rushing spent roughly two-thirds of 2023 correcting a problem that was not of his own making.
The Operations Manager of Aledo Overhead Door had to prove that his then five-year-old company existed, while another “company” called Aledo Garage Doors & Gate, whose listed address turned out to be an empty field in Aledo, was allowed to advertise fraudulently and with seeming impunity.
“Back in 2023, we tried for eight months to remove the fake listing Aledo Garage Doors & Gate that was located in an empty field at 241 S. Front St., Suite 400, Aledo, TX,” Rushing said. “We have on recording someone named ‘Jimmy Lee’ that was pretending to be our company, Aledo Overhead Door. Our listing was wrongfully suspended for those eight months while Jimmy Lee was able to continue operating under this fake, empty field listing.”
After several months of research, investigation, phone calls and emails, Rushing finally got this fake listing removed and the company’s real listing restored by January 2024.
The Aledo man thought the matter was over — until recently.
“So now they are back as TCAMM Door & Gate located at 6900 I-20, Suite 107, Aledo, TX 76008,” Rushing said. “I called them to see who they were a few nights ago and recorded the very same Jimmy Lee on the phone. I asked him directly if he was the same Jimmy Lee that tried to pretend he was in the empty field. He proceeded to cuss me out and then hung up.”
Rushing then went to Lee’s office and took photos of a picnic table with paper on it and two garage door samples on the floor.
Rushing said the facility was “completely unmanned.”
The Aledo man said he interviewed the two other tenants in that building, and they said that they have only seen Lee there one time in the last year.
“One of the tenants also said that when Jimmy Lee first rented that space, the landlord and Jimmy Lee were discussing how to work the lease so that when Google tries to verify everything that it will pass verification,” Rushing said. “This was because Jimmy Lee told the landlord that he probably won’t actually be in the office very much…this type of fraud should be illegal and punishable.”
Rushing took the step of submitting a Business Redressal Form last week and reported what he said were “fake reviews” that had just recently appeared.
The issue was brought to the Aledo business owner’s attention through a recent phone call.
“I received a call from someone that got ripped off for $1,700 to replace their springs,” Rushing said. “They needed help getting their money back. That’s what led me to check the listings again to see if the fake ones had come back. Press Cafe, The Community News, and Aledo Diner all had become garage door companies.”
Rushing said the Press Cafe, the Community News building and the Aledo Diner were all compromised on Apple Maps.
The Aledo man said the company has not broken any laws but has violated Google policy.
“We have notified Google using the Business Complaint Redressal Form,” Rushing said. “We also wrote the above statement (information) in Google Business Profile Help, which is a support forum. We submitted these on Aug. 8, and we have not received a response. It’s been three weeks.”
Rushing said TCAMM Door & Gate had zero reviews at the time of reporting this incident, and as of last week, they had 17 five-star reviews.
“The more reviews they get (whether fake or real) makes it harder to report,” Rushing said. “That’s why I’m trying to start this organization called stoplistingfraud.com. The idea is that we leverage the power of numbers to fight this. So instead of one report coming from me, there will be multiple reports coming from everyone in the organization. The reason Google isn’t paying attention is because the report is only coming from me.”
Rushing said the difference between this situation and the prior incident from 2023 is that this time around he is prepared and knows exactly what steps to take within “my limited ability” to fight this.
“This is why I am approaching this situation so aggressively,” Rushing said. “So, while that makes it a little easier it is still extremely difficult because what I am really fighting against is a concept. I feel compelled to help others with this because this is affecting small businesses across the country.”
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