frustrated with fake google reviews killing my hvac rep in greenville

stumbled on this post in the hvac contractors facebook group asking for reputable companies in greenville sc, and damn if my name didnt come up but then i see some 1-star crap from a guy claiming i botched his carrier infinity install and left him without ac for weeks. been in the chicago area my whole career but i travel down there for jobs sometimes and this bs is tanking my google business profile. had to fight a similar fake review last month after installing a mitsubishi hyperheat system, took forever to get it removed. these karens and randos are ruining legit techs like us, how do you guys handle the fake ones without looking petty? saw a thread on r/hvacadvice about review gating and it sounds shady but tempting. anyone use service titan for monitoring this stuff?

same here, fake reviews suck the life outta ya.

set up alerts in google my business for new reviews and respond professionally every time, even the bs ones. document everything from the job with photos on your phone.

dont engage, just report and move on. wasting energy on trolls aint worth it.

we all been there with the review wars.

google is a crapshoot anyway.

ask satisfied customers to leave reviews right after the job, drown out the noise.

sue the liar if you can prove its fake, small claims.

shady but true, some services remove bad reviews for a fee.

this is why i hate online reviews.

big tech screwing small businesses again.

had a fake one after a trane xr replacement, customer never even existed.

we get it man, reviews are brutal.

totally feel you on this.

use yelp too, diversify your profiles.

screw google, focus on referrals.

boss makes us respond to every review, positive or not.

pissed me off too when it happened.

same, lost a bid because of one star.

encourage video testimonials on youtube, harder to fake.

i got so mad i almost quit responding.

weve all dealt with fake bs.

controversial take: pay for good reviews from real customers.

nah, thats against tos.

had one say my r410a charge was wrong, total lie.

man that sucks, stay strong.

big corps buy reviews, us little guys suffer.

frustrated as hell with this system.

we hear ya, its rough.

haha, one guy reviewed me for plumbing when im hvac only.

get a pr firm if you can afford it.

we all in this together.

one fake review cost me 10k in leads last year.

controversial: ignore google, build email list.

we feel the pain.

asking how do you prove its fake without the customers info?

monitor with tools like birdeye.

we been burned too.

pe and google teaming up to kill independents.

dont touch sketchy review services.

offer discounts for reviews, legal way.

we sympathize.

had a similar fake after mini split install.

lmfao my fake review said i installed ac in their fridge.

document jobs meticulously from start.

insurance companies buy fake ones to lower claims lol.

got so pissed i wrote a blog post calling it out.

we get the frustration.

frustrated af, lost a commercial gig over it.

how do you track down the faker?

use google alerts and respond fast.

we all hate this.

haha remember when reviews were just word of mouth?

one time a competitor faked a review on me.

we feel ya.

dont do it, but some guys hire review farms.

thats funny, had a review complaining about my coffee being cold.

proud of my 4.9 after fighting fakes.