A restaurant in Australia may just have suffered losses of almost $8,000 USD due to an unfortunate Apple Maps glitch. Located in Queensland, Australia, Pum’s Kitchen is a beloved Thai restaurant with many positive reviews. So it came as a surprise to both customers and owners alike when Apple Maps apparently listed the restaurant as permanently closed. Not the first instance of Apple’s services glitching out, this particular instance might have cost the restaurant thousands of Dollars.
Apple Maps glitch listed the restaurant as permanently closed
The glitch in question was first brought to the attention of the restaurant by a regular customer. Chris Pyatt, an operator of the restaurant in question, was quite surprised when he was asked why the restaurant had been closed down. When he inquired about it further, he found out Apple Maps had been listing the restaurant as permanently closed. “We have no idea when this change went through,” says Pyatt. However, a lot of things started making sense all of a sudden.
According to Pyatt, the restaurant had seen “a significant downturn” during December. He described it as a “sudden and drastic change in customer behavior”. Pyatt reckons the restaurant saw a loss of around $12,000 AUD, or $7,877 USD. He also mentioned that Apple Maps had been listing the wrong location for the restaurant. This in turn lost them another customer who had been using Apple Maps. “This is our livelihood,” Pyatt exclaims, pointing out the importance of these issues.
A less-than-satisfactory response from Apple support
Chris Pyatt and his wife, Pum, use Android and Windows systems. This resulted in them having completely missed the changes to their business on Apple Maps. When they found out, they immediately turned to Apple’s customer care helpline. Disappointingly, they were told they could not be helped because they were not Apple customers. Instead, they were directed to provide feedback online. This didn’t go anywhere, either; as all they received in response was an unhelpful automated message.
Finally, the couple found out they could use Apple Business Connect to claim ownership of the restaurant and submit changes. After one last hurdle, where the service refused to work on Microsoft Edge, the changes were finally submitted via Chrome. It still took a few days for them to be implemented, but the entire ordeal had finally come to an end.
“It’s not right to close any online presence,” Pyatt says. “If you have a particular company which is precluding you from being able to access information about yourself, or your business, that’s quite a scary situation to me.”
With thousands of Dollars lost, this whole scenario shines a light on Apple’s poor customer service for non-Apple customers. It also signifies the importance of regularly checking your information on services you don’t use too often. Meanwhile, many regulars must be quite glad to see their favorite Thai food place back online.
2024-01-25 15:05:28