Review sites are a minefield for small shops now

I run a two person landscaping crew in Austin and last month a customer left us a 1 star review because we showed up 20 minutes late after a storm. The review said we 'ruined their garden', but the photos they posted clearly showed our work was fine. I replied politely with the timestamp and weather report, but the platform still won't remove it. Has anyone else had to deal with fake or unfair reviews that you can't fight, even with proof?

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keithyoung9d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy who runs a food truck. He had this lady post a photo of a half-eaten taco and claim it was poison, but you could see in the picture she had clearly eaten most of it. He tried everything from showing his health inspection records to the city food permit, and the platform still said it "met their standards" for staying up. It's wild how these sites basically hold your whole reputation hostage and there's just NO appeal process that actually works with a human being. We all just gotta keep doing good work and hope the regulars see through the junk, I guess.