The same complaint keeps coming up in your reviews? What to do

One bad review can be bad luck. The same complaint in many reviews is a pattern. New customers notice it. Fix the cause first, then answer the reviews calmly, in public.

Lakshmi runs a small tiffin and meals place near an office area. Her food got good words. But four reviews in two months said the same thing: "Long wait at lunch."

She replied to none of them. She thought the food would speak for itself.

Then a regular said, "My colleague read the reviews. She will not wait."

This is an example, with a made up name and business.

Pulse reads your recent reviews and sorts what people say. If one complaint comes up again and again, Pulse names it. For example: "People complain about this: waiting. It is in 4 of the 12 reviews we read." Pulse never shows a customer's name.

1. Open your Business Profile and tap Reviews.
2. Read every review with that complaint. Note the time, dish or service.
3. Find the real cause. Talk to your staff. Watch the busy hour yourself.
4. Fix one thing you can change this week. For a long wait, you might add a helper at lunch.
5. Reply to the newest review with the complaint first. Then reply to the others.
6. In your next check, see if the complaint still comes up.

• Thank the customer for telling you.
• Name the problem in their words. "Sorry about the long wait at lunch."
• Say what you are doing about it. "We have added a helper at lunch time."
• Invite them to come again.

Do not:

• argue, or blame the customer,
• share their order, phone number or any private detail,
• offer money or gifts in public,
• promise that it will never happen again.

If it needs a private talk, invite them to visit the shop. Our guide on how to reply to Google reviews has more example replies. To lift a low rating over time, read how to raise your Google rating.

Can I ask Google to remove these reviews?

Only if a review breaks Google's rules. A real complaint does not. Fix it and reply.

Can I get a lot of good reviews to push the complaints down?

Do not pick who you ask. Ask every customer the same way. Never offer a gift for a review, and never write reviews yourself.

Will my rating go up once I fix it?

Nobody can promise that. But new reviews can start to say something better.