Fix Wrong Information About Small Local Businesses
Wrong opening hours online cost small shops real customers - and anyone can suggest a correction in about a minute.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- Under 15 min
- People
- Solo / Duo
- Where
- Anywhere
- Bring
- Nothing in particular
Why this matters
Most people check opening hours online before going anywhere, so a business listed with the wrong times loses customers who never find out they were wrong. Small independents frequently don't manage their listings at all - many don't know they can. A correction takes a minute and quietly restores trade that was being lost invisibly.
How to do it
When you notice a local business listed with wrong information - hours, phone number, address, permanently-closed flags on places that are open - suggest an edit.
On Google Maps this is "Suggest an edit" on the listing. OpenStreetMap, Apple Maps and TripAdvisor all have equivalents.
What's worth correcting: - Opening hours, especially seasonal changes and bank holidays - Wrong phone numbers or dead websites - Businesses marked permanently closed that aren't. This is the most damaging error of all and it's surprisingly common. - Missing accessibility information: step-free entry, accessible toilets, hearing loops. Add these when you know them - this data is genuinely hard to find and people rely on it.
Ground rules: - Only submit things you actually know. Guessing makes the data worse, and bad edits are hard to undo. - Verify by looking at the door or asking inside, rather than assuming. - Tell the owner they can claim the listing themselves. Many small business owners don't know this is possible, and it's a far better long-term fix than you editing it.
If you use OpenStreetMap, you can go further and add missing shops, benches, footpaths and crossings entirely - it's open data used by hundreds of apps.