Reply to a fake Google review the way you would reply to a real complaint from someone you can't find in your records: briefly, politely, and without calling them a liar. Then report the review to Google through the proper channel. The reply and the report are two separate jobs, and mixing them up is how a bad review turns into a worse one.
Write for the reader, not the faker
Whoever posted the review isn't going to read your answer and feel ashamed. The people who will read it are prospective customers scrolling your profile, and they can't tell which reviews are fake. All they can judge is your tone.
An angry reply that says "this person was never here, this is a lie" looks the same whether you're right or wrong. A calm one makes you look like the adult in the room. That matters more than winning the argument, because you can't win it in a comment box.
A reply that works
Three sentences is enough:
- Thank them for the feedback, with no sarcasm.
- Say you can't find a visit or order matching what they describe.
- Give them a way to reach you offline.
For example:
"Thanks for taking the time to write this. We looked for a booking under your description and couldn't find one, so we'd like to understand what happened. Please email us at [contact] with the date and we'll look into it properly."
Notice what's missing. There's no "we have no record of you ever being a customer" in a flat tone, no mention of competitors, no hint about who you think wrote it. If the person is genuine and you simply misplaced the booking, nothing in that reply embarrasses you. If they're not, the silence on the other end tells readers everything they need.
What not to say
- "This is fake." You might be right, but you usually can't prove it in public, and readers hear defensiveness.
- Anything about the reviewer personally. Don't speculate about their motives, their profile, or their other reviews.
- A counter-review or a threat of legal action. Keep that for a lawyer, not a comment thread.
- Names, order details or anything private. Even a genuine customer's details don't belong in a public reply.
If you're unsure whether a review is fake or just from someone you don't remember, check your booking system, till records or staff roster first. Our guide on how to spot and report fake Google reviews covers the signals worth checking, like a complaint about a service you don't offer or a burst of near-identical reviews arriving the same day.
Report it separately
Replying doesn't remove anything. To get a review taken down, flag it to Google as a policy violation, such as fake engagement or a conflict of interest, rather than because you disagree with it. "I didn't like this review" isn't a category Google acts on. The steps and what to expect are in how to remove a bad Google review.
Do both. The reply protects your profile in the meantime, and the report is the only route to removal. Removal can take a while or never come, so write the reply as though the review will stay up for good.
What not to do about it
Don't ask your regular customers to "balance it out" with a wave of reviews timed to bury the fake one. A sudden cluster looks odd and invites the kind of scrutiny you don't want. And never offer anything in return for a review, a changed review or a deleted one: Google's policies prohibit incentivised reviews, and that includes the person who is actually upset with you. Our piece on how to reply to a negative Google review has more on keeping the tone right when the complaint is real.
Make one bad review matter less
A single fake one-star hurts most on a profile with few reviews. The durable fix is steady, ordinary review volume from real customers, asked the same way every time, so any one outlier barely moves your average.
With Starboard, a QR rating flow gives every customer the same prompt and lets them decide whether their feedback goes to a public profile or privately to you. It also means real complaints reach your inbox the same day, so a public review that comes out of nowhere stands out as the odd one it is.
Fake reviews will keep turning up. Reply once, calmly, report it properly, and get back to your customers.