What to do when you get a bad Google review

You can't make an honest bad review disappear, so don't build your response around trying. Google does not let a business delete reviews, and it removes only ones that break its content rules — spam, fakes, hate speech, a review left for the wrong business, a clear conflict of interest. A real patient saying the wait was long or the receptionist was short stays up, however unfair it feels. What you can control is how you respond, and how many recent, genuine reviews sit around it.

Start with what is legitimately removable. If a review is fake, posted by a competitor, abusive, or plainly about another business, flag it through your Google Business Profile and Google may take it down — though that can take days to weeks, and simply disagreeing with a review is not grounds. Be wary of anyone promising to remove "any" review for a fee: as the local-search firm Sterling Sky has documented, those services lean on abused copyright takedowns and mass-reporting tricks that are unethical, often temporary, and can rebound on you. The only clean path is policy-based reporting for genuine violations.

For a dental practice, the reply carries a risk most businesses never face. The instinct is to defend yourself by explaining what really happened — but the moment you confirm the person was your patient, or mention their treatment, you have disclosed their private health information. "Sorry your root canal was so painful, Jane" tells the whole internet that Jane had a root canal, which is a POPIA breach dressed as customer service. Health information is special personal information under POPIA, and a public reply is the wrong place for it.

So the response has a shape, and so does the mistake:

What you can do

Flag genuine policy violations — fakes, competitors, abuse, wrong-business reviews — through your profile.
Reply warmly and generically. Thank them, say you take feedback seriously, invite them to contact the practice directly so you can help. Never confirm they are a patient.
Take it offline. Resolve the actual issue by phone or email, where no private detail is public.
Out-review it. A steady stream of recent, genuine reviews pushes one bad one down and into context.

What not to do

Don't try to delete an honest review. You can't, and the attempt wastes the energy a good reply would use.
Don't pay a "removal" service. The tactics are dodgy and the results often undone.
Don't disclose anything clinical. No treatment, no confirmation they were seen, nothing a privacy law would protect.
Don't get defensive in public. A combative reply does more damage than the review, because every future reader sees it.

The practices a bad review hurts most, in our audits, are the ones with no recent reviews at all — so a single one-star sits alone at the top, with nothing current around it to give a fair picture. The review isn't the real problem; the silence around it is.

And the reply is written for the next reader, not the angry one. A calm, generous response to an unfair review often earns more trust than the review ever cost — a stranger reading it sees a practice that handles a complaint with grace. Answer for them.

We set up the request flow that keeps recent reviews coming, as part of a build — but replying well, and within the rules, is something you can start on the next review you get.

General guidance on Google's policies and POPIA, not legal advice.