Competition business owner has left a fake negative review for me on Google

[Grogu]

I'd really appreciate some advice on how to deal with a negative review problem on Google. Just some information on the review itself, the person who has left this review has also left a positive review for her own business, I contacted her through the phone number on her business page and she admitted to having left the review and she said she'd look into removing it, however, it's been a week and she hasn't done that yet and now she's not responding to my texts. This is our only negative review on Google and it's really bothering me because I work really hard to make sure that the our customers leave have positive experience. I've gone through the different steps such as flagging the review which was rejected by Google, I then made an appeal, that was also rejected, in the email that I've received from Google it doesn't mention the exact reason for rejection.

Surely, it's not legal (is what she's done libel or defamation?) for her to leave this fake review, and Google also should have a responsibility to make sure that it's not showing fake reviews. I don't have that much experience in this field, and I don't know really if there's anything else that I can do, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[echat11]

Hi GROGU

Google is being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority with regards to 'fake reviews'.

Unfortunately the CMA don't investigate individual complaints.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...r-fake-reviews

Who did you speak / write to at Google? Yes, you should be given a reason why the review hasn't been removed (they must have a tick box sheet to establish the facts / reasons for action / non action).

[Grogu]

Hi GROGU
Who did you speak / write to at Google? Yes, you should be given a reason why the review hasn't been removed (they must have a tick box sheet to establish the facts / reasons for action / non action).

I haven't spoken to a specific person yet, all of done so far is go through the official steps of first flagging the review, and then making an appeal, both attempts were rejected by Google unfortunately. The rejection email to my appeal seems very generic and computer generated, it states the following:

"Our team can't remove these reviews. We investigated and found that these reviews don't violate our policies."

It's a bit odd because there's only one review that I had contacted them about.

[echat11]

Google the following, it should take you to 'contact us', an online form where you can provide more details.

How to remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google

[Grogu]

Google the following, it should take you to 'contact us', an online form where you can provide more details.

How to remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google

I've gave that a try already, I got a automated response saying that I need to use the official flagging/appeal process, which I've also already done.

I was wondering, is there anything legally that I can do about this? Can I sue the woman who's left this negative review? Or sue Google for displaying libellous/defamatory information about my business?

[johnhunter]

I was wondering, is there anything legally that I can do about this? Can I sue the woman who's left this negative review? Or sue Google for displaying libellous/defamatory information about my business?

If this review is untrue, you could begin a libel claim but the costs of bringing such an action usually end up in high six (if not seven) figures. The juice is almost never worth the squeeze.