How to reply to a bad Google review, with examples you can copy

A bad review stings, especially when you think it's unfair. But the people who matter most aren't the reviewer. They're the people reading it later, deciding whether to ring you. Your reply is written for them.

Who you're really replying to

Someone looking for a plumber, a physio or an accountant knows no business gets every job right. When they find a bad review, what they're really checking is how you responded. Did you care? Did you try to fix it? Or did you argue?

A calm, short reply that owns what's fair and offers to sort it out tells them a lot about what you'd be like to deal with. Plenty of people will choose the business with a well-handled complaint over one with no replies at all.

Before you reply

Don't reply in the first ten minutes. Give yourself time to cool off, but not too long: aim to reply within a day or two.

Check your records first. Find the job, the booking or the invoice, and talk to whoever was there. You want to know what actually happened before you write a word.

If you can, get someone else to read your reply before you post it. A second pair of eyes will spot the sentence that sounds defensive.

A simple structure for any reply

1. Thank them, using the name shown on the review.
2. Acknowledge the problem without arguing about the details.
3. Own what's fair. If something went wrong, say sorry for it plainly.
4. Take it offline. Give a real name and a direct phone number or email.
5. Keep it short. Three to five sentences is usually enough.

And a few things to avoid:

• Don't argue line by line, even if parts of the review are wrong.
• Don't mention their address, what they paid, or anything else personal.
• Don't offer a refund or discount in exchange for changing or removing the review. Google treats incentives to change or remove reviews as fake engagement.
• Don't ask friends or family to post good reviews to drown it out. That breaks Google's rules too.
• Don't paste the same reply under every review. People notice.

A special rule for health businesses

If you run a physio clinic, dental practice, GP, chiropractor, optometrist or any other health service, take extra care. Health providers in New Zealand are bound by the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, which strictly limit how health information can be disclosed.

Information about the care you gave someone counts as health information, and that includes the fact that you treated them at all. Someone choosing to post a review doesn't give you permission to discuss their care in public. So in your reply:

• Don't confirm they're a patient or client.
• Don't mention their condition, appointments or treatment.
• Do talk about how you generally work, and invite them to contact you directly.

Vets aren't covered by the health code for the animals they treat, but the owner's details are still personal information under the Privacy Act, so keeping replies general makes sense there too.

Four examples you can adapt

Change the names, details and numbers to suit your business. The structure is what matters.

A plumber who turned up late

A physio clinic, keeping it private

Notice what the reply leaves out. It doesn't confirm Sam is a patient, mention a shoulder, or say how many sessions there were.

A mechanic with a price complaint

This reply doesn't admit fault or deny it. It states how the business normally works, shows it takes the complaint seriously, and moves the detail to a phone call.

A review from someone who isn't a customer

Check your records properly first. People sometimes review under a nickname, or a family member's name is on the invoice. If you're confident the review breaks Google's policies, for example because it's spam or isn't based on a genuine experience, report it. In your Business Profile, go to Read reviews, select the report icon next to the review, choose a reason and send it.

Google only removes reviews that break its policies, not ones you disagree with, and it can take several days to assess a report. Its help article on removing reviews from your Business Profile has the full details. In the meantime, a short, polite reply like the one above shows readers you're not hiding from anything, without accusing anyone.

Replying to good reviews

Good reviews deserve a reply too. Keep it short and personal, and vary the wording so it doesn't read like a template.

For health businesses, the same privacy rules apply to good reviews. Skip the details and keep it general:

Make replying a habit

Turn on review notifications for your Business Profile, or set a time each week to check. Replies are much easier to write when there are two waiting instead of twenty.

ReviewLoop drafts a reply for every new review in your voice. You read it, change it if you want, and approve it with one tap. It's one way to make sure nothing sits unanswered.

The more reviews you have, the less any single bad one matters. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers the asking side, and our post on review gating explains why you should keep asking everyone, not just the customers you expect to be happy.