Google changed my café's opening hours. How do I fix it?

If you manage the café's Business Profile, open Edit profile, correct the hours and check the edit's status. Google says edits usually take up to 10 minutes to review but can take up to 30 days. Where Google offers it, "Collected info" shows what its calls and messages to you recorded. If you do not manage the profile, request ownership at business.google.com/add (the current owner has 3 days to respond), and meanwhile use "Suggest an edit" on Google Maps with a photo of the hours on your door. (Cupán Studio builds websites for Dublin cafés, so you know where I am coming from.)

Where the question came from

It was asked on r/smallbusiness on 16 October 2024. A restaurant owner said an employee from Google had phoned one of their staff to ask the opening hours, after which the listing showed the wrong hours and marked the restaurant a duplicate of the business next door. It is one thread, not a study. The steps below are from Google's own help pages. Some of them, as noted, are not offered in every country.

Why is Google changing my business hours?

Google says it may update a profile if it receives reports that the business info is not accurate. Google's help page says it uses reports "from various sources" to show customers the most accurate and up-to-date info. If it changes your profile this way, Google says you will get a notification and an alert in the "Edit profile" section.

A second route is a phone call. Google's "Edit your Business Profile" page says it may occasionally reach out by automated call, text or WhatsApp to the verified phone number on the profile, and that any information you give in response may be used to update the profile. On that reading, a staff member answering "what are your hours?" could change the listing. That feature is, Google notes, currently available for select regions, languages and business categories.

The thread has one more example. A commenter said Google showed their business as closed on Sundays because their website said no Sunday orders unless pre-approved. That is one person's account, and I cannot say how Google reached its conclusion. Google's pages above only say reports come from various sources.

How do I fix Google business hours?

If you manage the profile, edit the hours in your Business Profile and then look at the edit's status. Google's help page lists three: "Accepted", "Pending", and "Not approved". Google says it might not approve a change if it cannot confirm its accuracy, and that you might be able to appeal.

Then check what Google's calls collected. Google says to go to your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Collected info, where you can review what it gathered through its automated calls, texts and WhatsApp messages, with the source and the date. Google says this is available only in select regions, languages and business categories, so you may not see it. If you want to remove a piece of information, select Delete. Google adds a tip: deleting collected information removes it from Google's records but does not change other details already on your profile, so you still correct the hours themselves.

If you have not verified the profile, Google's page on edits says you can still edit some info, including hours. Verifying is covered in how to get your café on Google Maps.

How long does it take for Google to update my business hours?

Google says edits to a verified profile usually take up to 10 minutes to review, but sometimes it can take up to 30 days. Its help page says edits are reviewed to make sure they follow its guidelines. The status in your profile tells you where it is: Accepted means it is done, Pending means it is still in review.

What if someone else manages the listing?

Request ownership. Go to business.google.com/add, enter the name and address, choose the business, and where it says "Someone else may manage this Business Profile" select Request Access, fill out the form and submit. Google says the current owner is notified by email and has 3 days to respond. If you are denied, you get a rejection email, you can still suggest an edit to the profile, and you can try to appeal. If nobody responds after 3 days, Google says you may have the option to claim the profile, though it is not always available.

In the thread, the poster could not edit because a corporation that held the trademark managed the listing, and their ownership request was rejected. Commenters suggested working with whoever manages it and using a suggested edit. The poster said their own suggested edit, with photos of the hours on the sign and the website, failed at first. They later got through to corporate and thought either corporate or someone's suggested edit had fixed it. So a suggested edit is worth making, and it is not guaranteed.

Meanwhile, you can suggest the edit yourself where Maps offers it (Google says some place edits are only available in certain countries and regions). Google Maps Help says to sign in, search for the place, select Suggest an edit, make the changes and submit. For hours, you can add, edit or report when the place is open each day. Google's tip is to add a photo to help verify the suggestion, so photograph the hours on your door. It says photos are publicly available under your name. It also says edits that try to significantly change a business may be rejected, so keep the suggestion to the hours.

Was the call really from Google?

It can be. Google's page on fraudulent calls says automated calls come from a set of designated numbers and that it might call about things like checking your business info on Google Maps. Its example script starts "I'm calling from Google Maps to update your business hours." It adds that sometimes the calls are from a manual operator.

What Google says it will not do is ask for money or private details. It says it will never ask for payment information over the phone or guarantee a special spot in its products, that you will not be asked to sign up for a service, pay money or give personal info, and that it will never ask for private or sensitive information. So treat a caller who asks for any of that as suspect, and hang up. Businesses that do not want these calls can opt out by saying so on the call.

How do I stop it happening again?

Where Collected info is available, check it now and then and delete anything wrong. And, my advice rather than Google's, tell whoever answers the phone that hours given on a Google call can end up on the listing.

This next part is my view, not Google's. Write the hours the same way everywhere you control: the door, the website, Instagram. One commenter in the thread believed Google read their website, and Google says it uses reports from various sources; if every version agrees, there is less to misread. I cannot say how Google weighs them, and nothing in its pages above says.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help, Understand what happens to your Business Profile edits, read 3 October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, Edit your Business Profile, read 3 October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, Request ownership of a Business Profile, read 3 October 2026.
• Google Maps Help, Edit place information in Google Maps, read 3 October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, Help protect against fraudulent calls and texts, read 3 October 2026.
• Reddit, r/smallbusiness, Google won't fix my business hours, posted 16 October 2024, read 3 October 2026. One thread, not a study.

This is a summary of Google's help pages, not legal advice. Cupán Studio builds websites for Dublin cafés.