Issues With Getting a Review From Ex Employee Removed on Google

[aaronb]

I have a client that had an ex-employee leave a one-star review on Google. She mentioned working there in the review but then removed all content and left a two star in its place. The business owner was able to get a screenshot of it before it was changed. I have tried Google phone support, GMB Facebook and Twitter and cannot get a response on this. Does anyone know a way of actually getting ahold of someone at Google on this as it is a direct violation of their review guidelines? Any help would be appreciated

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Thanks,

 

[djbaxter]

We're beginning a long weekend for many here in Canada with Canada Day on July 1 so I'm not sure how many will be logging in in the next few days.

However, getting a review removed is never easy. Have you thought about replying to the review instead, pointing out that this was left by a disgruntled former employee and not by a customer?

 

[aaronb]

We have not replied to this one yet. I have had others that are similar in the aspect that we know they are from fake/spam accounts and cannot get ahold of or any actual response from Google. This is after the business has replied that they have no record of the customer etc. It seems as if there is no real way for businesses especially small service area businesses to protect themselves from spam reviews.

 

[djbaxter]

It's not a matter of getting the review removed. Rather it's about mitigating any damage done by the review.

 

[aaronb]

Personally, I feel like when Google has guidelines that are being violated then they need to actually enforce them and remove the spam reviews not just force businesses to respond. People see the one star and look at the total and do not care to look at the response of the business in the matter. These reviews not getting monitored and pulled is really hurting small companies.

 

[djbaxter]

We're beginning a long weekend for many here in Canada with Canada Day on July 1 so I'm not sure how many will be logging in in the next few days.

Sorry for any confusion. I spent all day yesterday (Thursday) thinking it was Friday. Joys of working from home without fixed hours.

 

[aaronb]

I fully understand that! No worries.

 

[Tony Wang]

How long have you waited for a FB or Twitter response? Sometimes it can take a couple weeks, maybe more if they're busy. It's hard to get a review removed unless you have solid evidence, you can't just say "I know that person was my former employee, I can tell by the things they said". However, with a screenshot of the original review, I think you have a good chance of removal.

 

[aaronb]

I have been waiting for close to two weeks now for any response from them. Yeah basically I just need to be able to provide the screenshot to someone in review support and it should be enough evidence to get it taken down.

 

[Belen C]

Have you try by chat? I had a problem with a review in one of my listing that contain racist comments. Ive been flagging this review and nothing happened. I got in contact to the support via chat, and when he read the review it was clearly violating the guidelines of Google. He escalated this issue and by 24 hs i have that review remove.

 

[aaronb]

Yes. The first thing I tried was the FB chat with GMB support. No luck so far. I'll need to try again and see what happens.

 

[Belen C]

Well Good luck! btw the link that i send you is not the FB chat

 

[pony]

Thanks for the GChat idea Belen. I have been trying to remove a spammy review for 9 months with no luck.

Trying GChat now and will follow up on my results.

 

[Belen C]

Hi @pony yes try talking to them by that chat, it was effortless. And by the next day the review was deleted.

 

[pony]

I spoke with a representative through GChat support last week who said they would have the fake review removed in 72 hours but 5 days later it still persists.

I chatted with them again today and was told I would receive some sort of contact from them within 24 hours. The review is so obviously fake it shouldn't take more than 2 seconds to tell.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[laurenschuster_]

This actually, ironically, just happened to us too. Our team let go of an employee and two days later, a negative review was left on our GMB listing. The review was left under a fake Local Guide account but discussed details that only an internal source would know about. We decided to respond to the review in a polite manner saying "we can't find you in our records, contact us so we can get this resolved" etc., and then proceeded to flag the review as a conflict of interest. We then, from inside our GMB dashboard, contacted support and were able to fill out a form that provided more info as well as include screenshots of what happened. A rep contacted us via email within 24 hours, and currently, the reviews specialist team is looking into the matter. Hope this helps!

 

[pony]

24 hours later and still the fake review persists on my profile! Chatted again with the support team for the 3rd time today and they said they are still working on it.

It has been 8 days since they originally informed me that the review would be removed. Going to keep my journal of sorrow here.

 

[Belen C]

Hi Pony, thats strange. Did you reach them out by the chat?
On Tuesday i have another situation like this, 6 ex employee left bad reviews, i contact the chat and today when i check out they were erase.
Did someone from Google send you and email confirming that was violates the guidelines?

 

[pony]

I've spoken with someone through chat 3 times now but have not been contacted through email yet, although I was told a couple days ago that I would be.

The review I am trying to get removed is not from an ex employee, but looks like it might be from a competitor is it's obviously very fake. The reps I have talked to agreed it was very fake and assured me it would be removed soon.

Hoping I receive an email soon.

 

[pony]

So extremely frustrating. After 10 days of deliberation I heard back from the support team today and was told that because the review does not violate any guidelines, it will not be removed.

The review in question is the only non 5 star review at a small business with only 9 total reviews, and is the first one that is displayed when clicking from the GMB panel. The business sells clothes in Arizona and the review in question is about art in San Francisco, California but somehow Google us unable to tell this

Does anyone have any other suggestions?