Can I contact someone who leaves a Google review?
Not through Google: it does not give businesses a reviewer's email address or phone number, and your public reply is the only channel Google provides. If you can identify the reviewer as a customer from your own records, you can get in touch once, politely, but never pressure them or offer anything in return for changing or removing the review.
By Richard Thomas-Pryce, Founder · Updated
Google shows you what the public sees: the reviewer's display name, picture and review. It does not pass on their contact details, and the display name may be a nickname. The route Google gives you is a public reply under the review, and the reviewer is notified when you post one.
Use that reply to open a door. Something like 'Sorry to read this, Steve. I would like to put it right; please call me on the office number' does more than a long defence. It shows future customers you deal with problems, and it lets the reviewer contact you if they choose.
If you recognise the job from your records, a single polite call or email to sort out the problem is usually fine, because you are contacting your own customer about their own job. Keep it to one approach. Repeated calls or turning up at the door will feel like pressure, and that can end in a worse review or a complaint.
Whatever happens in that conversation, do not offer a refund, discount or anything else in exchange for the review being changed or taken down. Google's policy bans exactly that, and reviews influenced that way are removed. If you fix the problem, you can mention that the customer is welcome to update their review, and leave the decision with them.
If you cannot match the review to any customer, do not try to track the person down. Reply briefly to say you have no record of them, and report the review to Google as not based on a genuine experience.
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