Reviews courseModule 3 of 7: ReplyingLesson 3.2
A Real Process for Negative Reviews, and Taking It Offline
A written, repeatable way to handle every negative review: sort it, acknowledge it the same day, give one calm public reply, and take the detail somewhere private. And a rule, agreed in advance, for when a conversation moves offline.
By Morgan King, founder of Reyse Facts checked October 2026 Jump to Your turn
Why it matters
A defensive, copy-pasted or slow reply to a bad review tells every future reader what to expect, and a public argument is worse.
The evidence
Evidence: Practitioner view
Practitioner view and common sense, with official guidance for complaint handling (the redress schemes' codes) and Google's reply rules. No UK study on replies to negative reviews.
Do this first
Write a one-page process: who sorts it, who replies the same day, and when it moves to a phone call.
01What it is
Someone shouts across the street that your lemonade is sour. You can argue in front of everyone, or say “I’m sorry, come over and let me fix it”. The people watching care more about how you answer than about who’s right.
Think of it like
The defensive script
A reply that clearly wasn't written for this particular complaint tells every future reader you don't listen. It can do more damage than the review itself.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
Readers do look at the bad reviews, and at how you answered them. In YouGov's 2025 survey, 69% of British adults said mostly negative reviews would put them off. A specific, calm, accountable reply is often why someone still books a valuation despite the review above it. A public back-and-forth about dates, figures and who said what reads as messy even if you're right, and a phone call usually resolves things faster than typing.
buyers
See how you treat someone who's unhappy, and whether you give out private details.
tenants
Often write about repairs and deposits. They're watching for a calm, fair answer.
sellers
Compare how agents handle complaints before choosing who to invite.
landlords
Are often the writers of the complaint, and the readers who compare answers most closely.
To Google, the platforms and AI
Evidence: Practitioner viewNo direct ranking effect: search engines don't read tone, but customers do. Google only removes reviews that break its policies; a dispute between you and a customer isn't enough. Trustpilot lets you reply and flag, but says flagging must be consistent and not done "too quickly or for the wrong reasons". Some AI tools summarise review themes, and we don't know whether they read replies, so write the calm reply for the human reader.
An agent example
Harbour and Vale Lettings got a one-star review from a landlord about a late rent payment. The branch manager posted a three-sentence apology that mentioned no figures, called him the same afternoon, found a bank delay, and logged the complaint. She didn't ask him to change the review. Three weeks later he updated it to four stars himself and added a line about the call. That doesn't always happen, and she hadn't expected it.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1Reread your last three replies to negative reviews as a stranger would.
- 2Does each name the specific issue, or could it be pasted under any complaint?
- 1Mark any public reply longer than two or three sentences, or that mentions dates, figures or who said what.
- 2Each of those should have moved offline sooner.
- 1A one-star review lands at 5pm on Friday. Who sees it, who replies, by when, and who's told?
- 2If you can't answer in a minute, you've found your gap.
- 1Check your written complaints procedure, and whether anyone logs a negative review as a complaint.
- 2Compare it with your redress scheme's code. For lettings, that's the Property Ombudsman's code or the Property Redress Scheme's terms.
Here are three anonymised replies to one-star reviews from an estate agency. Which sound defensive or copy-pasted? Which include details that should stay private? Suggest a calmer version of each, with one apology, one specific point and an invitation to call. Don't admit facts I haven't given you.
- 1Fair complaint: something did go wrong. Acknowledge it, apologise where it's due, fix it.
- 2Misunderstanding: the facts differ but the feeling is real. Reply calmly and move offline.
- 3Fake, or not a client: you can't match it to anything (lesson 3.3). Reply once, factually, and flag it.
- 4Abusive: threats, hate or private information. Flag it, and don't reply in kind.
- 5Legal: alleges a crime, discrimination or a safety problem, or threatens legal action. Post at most a holding line and go to a director or solicitor first.
- 1Thank them, apologise for how they feel (that isn't admitting the facts), name who'll call, and give a way to reach them.
- 2Holding reply: "Thank you for telling us, [first name]. We're sorry you're unhappy and we're looking into this today. [Name] will contact you directly."
- 3A review that arrives after hours is answered first thing next morning.
- 1One named person owns each negative review until it's closed, and tells the branch manager the same day.
- 2Log it in your complaints log. Whether a public review counts as a formal complaint for your redress scheme is for you to confirm with them; treating it as one is the safe default.
- 3The Property Ombudsman's lettings code (from 1 May 2026) says acknowledge written complaints within 3 working days, send a formal outcome within 15 working days, and keep complaint records for six years.
- 1One calm public reply. Anything involving dates, figures, documents or names goes to a call or a private message.
- 2Wording: "Thank you for raising this, [first name]. We'd like to understand and put it right. Please call [name] on [branch number] or email [branch email]."
- 3No personal mobile numbers or reference numbers in public, and no screenshots of private messages.
- 1A plain factual error about public information (opening hours, a fee on your website): one short public correction is fine.
- 2A serious or legal allegation: post only a holding line and take advice first.
- 3Never use "let's take this offline" to bury a review, or make a fix depend on it being removed.
- 1Only after a genuine fix, and never as part of the fix. Never offer money, a discount or a favour for changing or removing a review: Google, Trustpilot and the CMA all say no.
- 2If the matter is closed and the client is happy, you may say once, separately, that they're welcome to update their review if they feel it no longer reflects their experience, with no pressure. Often the best route is to say nothing.
Then: Keep a row in your tracker for every negative review: date, platform, rating, group, owner, reply date, outcome and complaint reference. It's also your evidence if a review turns out to be fake.
04Keep it up
As they arrive. A slow reply to a negative review loses most of its value.
Go deeperThe Renters' Rights Act: be ready before the review lands
Phase one in England (1 May 2026) ended section 21 evictions, limited rent increases to once a year and banned rental bidding. There's no evidence yet on how it changes reviews, but expect landlords upset about losing section 21 and tenants upset about rent increases. Have your holding reply and escalation route ready.
Go deeperWidely quoted figures we couldn't trace
You'll often read that 87% of unhappy customers contact a business before posting, and that 68% of negative reviews go unanswered. We couldn't trace either to a study. What we can source: in UENI's study of 229,882 Google reviews (2026), only about 10% of one-star reviews had a reply, and those that were answered waited an average of 19.5 days.
Sources
- 1.How UK shoppers check if an online store is legit before purchasing · YouGov, 2025
- 2.Google review response study · UENI, 2026
- 3.Codes of practice · The Property Ombudsman
- 4.Fake reviews: guidance for businesses (CMA208) · Competition and Markets Authority
Facts checked October 2026, and re-checked every quarter. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
That's lesson 3.2
Worked through it? Mark it done and we’ll keep track on this device.