There are lots of frustrating scenarios that I read regularly where small businesses are plagued by negative reviews on Google. This one that I helped on the Google My Business forum caught my attention because I was really surprised that Google wouldn’t remove it.
This business owner has had a customer update his negative review several times over the last 2 years. The users likely do this because newer reviews show up closer to the top of the list and are way more visible. The business owner said this particular review has been updated at least 8 times over the past 2 years by just simply updating a single letter.
In my opinion, this type of behavior seems abusive and should be against Google’s terms of service. They tell users not to post simply to “manipulate a place’s ratings”. I don’t see how this could possibly be classified as anything else. Dealing with negative reviews is stressful enough without having to worry about one customer for several years. Google, if you’re reading this, this is really disappointing, and you can do better.
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