Every business eventually deals with a review that doesn't match reality: from a competitor, someone who was never actually a customer, or an unrelated dispute that has nothing to do with the service provided. This is a genuinely different situation from a real customer's honest, if harsh, complaint, and it has its own path to resolution.
First, confirm it's actually fake
Check whether the review references any real detail about an actual transaction. Sometimes what feels like an obviously fake review turns out to be a real customer, misremembering a detail or upset about something legitimate. Responding calmly, as described in how to respond to a negative review, is the right move if there's any real chance it's genuine.
Flag it through the platform's official process
Google, and most other review platforms, have a specific flagging or reporting process for reviews that violate their content policies, including reviews from someone who was never a customer, reviews containing unrelated content, or reviews used as harassment. This is a different path from responding publicly, and it's the one that can actually get a genuinely fake review removed.
Provide specifics when you report it
A vague report is less likely to succeed than one that clearly explains why the review doesn't reflect a real transaction: no record of that name or date, no matching service, or details that don't match anything the business actually does.
Don't escalate publicly while a report is pending
Getting into a public back-and-forth about whether a review is fake, before the platform has ruled on it, usually does more harm to the business's public appearance than just waiting for the resolution process, however slow it can feel.
Understand it may not get removed
Not every disputed review gets taken down, even when a business is confident it's fake. In that case, a calm, professional public response, written the same way you'd handle a real complaint, is still the right fallback.
Questions
How long does a review removal request typically take?
It varies significantly by platform and case complexity, sometimes resolved within days, sometimes taking weeks for a less clear-cut case.
Can I sue over a fake review?
That's a legal question outside the scope of this article, and one worth discussing with an actual attorney if a review causes serious, demonstrable harm and clearly violates a platform's policies or the law.
Should I ask satisfied customers to leave more reviews to offset a fake one?
That's fine as an ordinary, honest review request, not a manipulation tactic, as long as it isn't specifically timed or framed as "outweighing" the disputed one in a way that reads as gaming the system.