Review Bullying?

[ForwardMotion]

I have a client that is being bullied by a non client. Sounds like it is a friendship/acquaintance gone awry and the ex-friend/acquaintance is out to destroy my client. He put up a 1 star review with the text, "Sketchy People" and that was it. We tried to get it removed and it never was. Then after a few weeks he went on and changed his review and said some very vile things about my clients trying to destroy their name. We again reported this to Google and this time they removed the review for violating their guideline policy. Great! It was removed and we can move on. Nope! First thing this morning I get notifications that he has now left two reviews under two different profiles, but with his name for both. Both reviews give my clients a 1 star and say "Sketchy People" and "Sketchy Owners". This harassment has been continuing on for weeks and it doesn't seem to be letting up as he has now started to trash their names on different online groups.

My clients are now seeking legal avenues, but I'm trying to figure out how we can get these reviews removed and get this person blocked from ever leaving a review again. I would have thought Google would have blocked him after the removed review, but not the case. He isn't a client and they have never done work for him. He is just a past acquaintance that wants to destroy them.

Is there any way to remove these reviews and block this person from ever doing this again? I have seen mentioned in another post taking legal action, which my clients are, but if they do get legal documents to block this person, how do we report this to Google to stop this insanity? This person just won't stop his harassment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Legal options are your best bet. If you have a case ID for the ones Google has already removed, I would suggest replying to that email with the details about the new reviews so all the history is there.

 

[WilliamGMBE]

@ForwardMotion

You might like my answer here about a similar experience we had: My Profile Is Suspended Because Of Those Who Ask For Money Because There Is An Update Can You Help | Help & Support for Google Local


I am not sure how your clients mainly get customers; if it is through a website I would suggest using a product like testimonial.io or senja.io ( How to add Google reviews to your website in 3 easy steps. - Senja ) to proactively show the good review on your site. This way you are pre-emptively showing them the reviews rather than them having to go to google to see them.

Hope this was helpful.