How to Respond to Good and Bad Reviews.

The reviewer reads your reply, but so does everyone checking you out after them. A calm, specific reply shows there's a real person behind the business. An argument puts people off, even if the review was unfair.

• Google Business Profile: your free business listing on Google Search and Google Maps.
• Service area business: a business that goes out to customers, rather than customers coming to it.
• Reply: your public answer under a review. Anyone can read it.
• Report: asking Google to check a review that breaks its rules.
• Fake review: a review that isn't from a real customer experience. Illegal for businesses to post or buy in the UK.

Mention one small detail so it sounds real. Keep it short so you'll keep doing it.

Don't paste the same reply under every review. Have a rough pattern, but change the detail.

Don't reply when you're angry or between jobs. Check the job, talk to whoever was there, and work out what you can sensibly offer.

• Acknowledge the problem without repeating the worst of it
• Don't mention names, addresses, prices or private conversations
• Don't admit fault in public without thinking it through
• Correct a key fact briefly and calmly, if you need to
• Give them a way to contact you directly
• Say what happens next, not the whole story
• Get someone else to read it before you post

A complaint about the service

Hi Alex, I'm sorry to hear we didn't keep you updated the way we should. I'd like to look into this properly rather than talk about your job in public. Please get in touch with me on [number or email] with your job details and I'll come back to you.

A review you can't match to a job

Hi Jordan, we take this seriously, but we can't find this job in our records. Please contact me on [number or email] with the date and postcode so we can look into it.

A review can't be removed just because it's bad or you disagree. Report it if it breaks Google's rules: it's fake, it's abusive, or it shares someone's personal details.

Keep screenshots for yourself. Don't get friends or staff to pile in, and never post reviews to balance it out: fake reviews are illegal for businesses in the UK since April 2025.

If you've genuinely put it right, you can thank them and say they're welcome to update their review if they want to. Never make a refund or a repair depend on them changing or removing it.

Even if the customer has shared details, don't add more. Sometimes even confirming they're a customer is too much. Take the details to a private message and keep the public reply short.

Group what people say: turning up on time, updates, tidiness, invoices, aftercare. If something keeps coming up, change how you work.

• Note the problem, not the customer's personal details
• Check if it's come up before
• Change how you work if it has
• Tell your team what's changed
• See if the complaints stop