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# Dealing with Negative Reviews
Your name is your business. A bad review on Checkatrade, Google or Facebook feels like a punch in the gut, especially when you know the work was solid. This guide covers the law, the platforms, how to respond, and how to stop one bad review from defining you.
Rule of thumb: respond to every negative review. Calmly, factually, professionally. Future customers read your response more carefully than the complaint itself.
The Law on Reviews
Defamation Act 2013
To sue someone for a defamatory review, you have to prove "serious financial loss." That means showing actual lost income directly caused by the review. It's expensive, slow, and rarely worth pursuing unless the review is extreme and clearly false. Most solicitors will tell you the same thing.
CMA Rules
The Competition and Markets Authority has clear rules. You cannot:
- Buy positive reviews
- Offer discounts or incentives for positive reviews
- Suppress or hide negative reviews
- Post fake reviews (including getting mates to leave five-star reviews for work you didn't do)
Breaking these rules can lead to enforcement action. The CMA has been cracking down since 2022 and they are not messing about.
GDPR
Never post customer details, photos of their property, or personal information in a review response. Even if the customer shared details in their review, you sharing them back could breach GDPR. Keep your response about the work, not the person.
Platform-Specific Processes
Checkatrade
You can dispute a review through Checkatrade's resolution process. You'll be asked to provide your side, any evidence (photos, messages, contracts), and Checkatrade will mediate. Reviews that breach their policy can be removed, but it takes time and persistence.
The Checkatrade trap: your score drops from 9.8 to 9.5 and suddenly you feel like the world's ending. One review among 200 doesn't define you. Customers look at the pattern, not the single outlier. A 9.5 with one bad review and a thoughtful response looks more credible than a perfect 10.
MyBuilder
MyBuilder has a feedback process where you can respond to reviews and flag ones that breach their terms. They're generally fair but slow. Keep your response professional and factual.
Google Business Profile
You can flag a Google review if it violates their policies (spam, fake, off-topic, conflict of interest). Google's removal process is inconsistent. Sometimes they act in days, sometimes never. Always respond to the review even while waiting for a flag decision.
Facebook recommendations can be reported if they violate community standards. The bar for removal is high. Your best move is a calm, professional response that future customers will see.
Tip for new starters: set up Google Alerts for your business name. It takes 30 seconds and you'll get an email whenever someone mentions your business online. Finding a bad review early means you can respond before it sits unanswered for weeks.
Response Scripts
Genuine complaint
"Thanks for your feedback. I'm sorry the [specific issue] wasn't up to the standard I expect of my work. I'd like to put this right. Could you contact me on [phone/email] so we can arrange a time for me to come and sort it out?"
Unfair or exaggerated complaint
"Thanks for leaving your feedback. I want to address a few points for anyone reading this. [Factual correction, e.g., 'The delay was caused by materials being out of stock with the supplier, which I communicated at the time.'] I'm still happy to discuss any outstanding concerns directly."
Suspected fake or competitor review
"I don't have a record of this job or this customer. I've flagged this review with [platform] for investigation. If you are a genuine customer, please contact me directly so I can look into this."
Keep every response:
- Under 100 words
- Factual, not emotional
- Free of customer details or personal attacks
- Professional enough that a future customer reads it and thinks "I'd hire this person"
Never Do This
- Don't get into a back-and-forth argument in the review thread. One response. That's it.
- Don't post photos of the customer's property in your response.
- Don't name the customer's address or personal details.
- Don't threaten legal action in a public response. If you're genuinely going to pursue it, do it privately through a solicitor.
- Don't ask friends or family to leave counter-reviews. It's obvious and it looks desperate.
- Don't offer money or discounts to get a review removed. That's bribery and it's against CMA rules.
Tip for new starters: save your review responses as templates. You'll see the same types of complaints again. Having a calm, pre-written framework stops you firing off something angry at 11pm after a bad day.
Building Reviews Proactively
The best defence against a bad review is 50 good ones. Ask for reviews at handover when the customer is happiest. The kitchen's in, the bathroom's gleaming, the extension is finished. That's when people are most willing to leave a positive review.
Make it easy. Send a text with a direct link to your Checkatrade or Google review page. "Thanks for having me. If you're happy with the work, a quick review would really help. Here's the link."
Don't be pushy. One message is fine. Chasing them three times is not.
The Emotional Side
When your name is the business, a bad review feels personal. Because it is personal. You did the work with your own hands. You showed up on time. You did the job properly. And someone just told the internet you're rubbish.
Give yourself 24 hours before responding. Write your first response, read it back, delete it, and write a calmer one. Talk to another tradesperson who's been through it. Almost everyone has.
If negative reviews are affecting your mental health, talk to someone. One bad review does not define your career. The Samaritans are free and available 24/7.
Sources
- Defamation Act 2013, Section 1
- Competition and Markets Authority, "Online reviews and endorsements guidance," 2022
- UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018
- Checkatrade, "Review dispute process," 2025
- Google, "Review policy and flagging process," 2025
Common questions
How do I respond to a bad review as a builder?
Reply publicly within 48 hours. Stay calm, thank them, give your side in one short paragraph, offer to resolve offline. Don't argue, don't insult, don't share private details. Future customers read your reply more carefully than the original review, so a measured response wins more work than the bad review costs.
Bad Reviews on Checkatrade and Google guide.
Can I sue someone for a fake Google review?
In principle yes, under the Defamation Act 2013 if you can prove serious financial harm. In practice, identifying the reviewer and proving the loss is hard and expensive. Cheaper routes work better: report it to Google, respond publicly, and consider a Norwich Pharmacal order only for serious damage.
Online Reviews and False Review Rights guide.
Know someone who needs this?
Templates you might need
This topic is sponsored by The Online Accountant.
www.theonlineaccountant.com/?utm_source=sitekiln&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=business-section →SiteKiln's editorial team writes every guide independently. Sponsors do not review, edit or sign off on content. See our editorial standards.
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