Someone's left you a one star. Maybe they're a competitor, maybe they've got the wrong business, maybe they're just angry about something that wasn't your fault. First thing to know: anyone telling you they can get it removed for a fee is lying to you. That's not a service that exists.
What Google will actually remove
Google removes reviews that break its content policy. Not reviews that are unfair, and not reviews that are wrong. The ones that come down are:
- Spam or fake. Posted by someone who was never a customer, or part of a pattern of bot reviews.
- Off topic. A rant about politics, or about a different business entirely.
- Conflict of interest. Left by a competitor, a former employee, or you.
- Harassment or hate speech. Personal attacks, slurs, threats.
- Personal information. Someone's posted a phone number, address or other private detail.
- Wrong business. They've clearly reviewed someone else and left it on you.
What won't come down: "overpriced", "rude", "took too long", "wouldn't use again". Even if none of it's true. Google treats those as opinion, and opinion is the entire point of the platform.
How to report one
- Open the review in your Google Business Profile and hit the three dots, then Report review.
- Pick the policy it breaks. Pick the one that genuinely applies, not the one you wish applied.
- Wait. It's usually a few days, sometimes a couple of weeks.
- If it's rejected and you're confident it breaks policy, escalate through Google Business Profile support and say which specific policy and why.
Defamation, and why it's usually not worth it
Australia does have defamation law and it does cover online reviews. Businesses have won. But under the 2021 reforms you generally need to show serious harm, there's a concerns notice process to go through first, and small companies face limits on who can sue at all. It's slow, it's expensive, and a legal fight over one review tends to attract more attention to the review than the review ever would have got.
Worth a conversation with an actual lawyer if someone is running a sustained campaign against you. Not worth it over one bad night.
What to do instead, which works better anyway
Reply to it
Short, calm, no arguing. Acknowledge it, give your side in one line if there is one, offer to sort it out offline. You're not writing to the reviewer. You're writing to the next hundred people who read it while deciding whether to call you.
Something like: "Sorry to hear this, that's not how we normally do things. I'd like to understand what happened, can you give me a call on 0490 777 151." That's it. Never defensive, never a wall of text, never calling them a liar even if they are one.
Bury it in volume
This is the real answer. One bad review out of eight is a 4.1 and it's the first thing people see. One bad review out of eighty is a 4.9 and it's on page three. The review didn't change. The weight of it did.
Most businesses only notice they have a review problem the moment a bad one lands, because they've got nothing to absorb it. The fix isn't fighting that review. It's making sure the next one doesn't land on a profile with nothing underneath it.
Don't want to chase reviews yourself? Our review management asks every customer at the right moment, with your direct link, and replies to what comes in.