For home services business owners · Marketing and reviews
Reply to a bad review without making it worse
A calm public reply to a bad review that shares no job details and moves the talk offline, plus a private message offering only what you chose.
The prompt
Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Owners who answer their own reviews.
I run a home services business. A customer left a bad review. I want to answer it in public in a way that is calm and fair, and then reach out to them in private. What I have: - The review, word for word: [THE REVIEW] - What happened on the job, from our records, and anything I know we got wrong: [WHAT OUR RECORDS SHOW] - What I am willing to offer, if anything: [WHAT I WILL OFFER] - How I want to sound in public: [MY TONE] What I want: 1. Tell me in two lines what the customer is upset about, in their words, and where our records agree or differ. 2. Write a short public reply that thanks them, owns only what I said we got wrong, and asks them to call or message so we can talk it through. 3. Write a private message to the customer that offers only what I listed. 4. If the review mentions damage, an injury, safety or a lawyer, stop and tell me. Write nothing. Rules: - Write a draft for me to read. Do not send or post anything. - Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing. - The public reply never argues, never blames the customer or a tech, and never shares job details, prices or the address. - Never offer a refund, a discount or a free visit I did not list. - Leave out card details, door and gate codes, and anything else private. Give me back: - A two-line read on what they are upset about - The public reply, ready for me to edit - The private message, ready for me to edit
When to use it
A customer left a low review about a job, a late tech, a price or a mess, and you want to answer in public without starting a fight.
When not to
Do not use it if the review mentions damage to the home, an injury, a safety problem or a lawyer. Talk to your insurance agent first. Any refund or redo is your call.
What to paste in
- [THE REVIEW]: The review as posted, without the reviewer's last name.
- [WHAT OUR RECORDS SHOW]: The job, the day and what happened, from your tickets and texts, plus anything you know you got wrong. No address.
- [WHAT I WILL OFFER]: What you are willing to do, such as a call from you or a return visit, or nothing yet.
- [MY TONE]: Three or four words for how you want to sound in public.
Never paste
- The customer's last name, street address, phone number or card details
- Anything about the customer's home that they did not put in the review
A filled-in example
Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.
THE REVIEW: Two stars. They said they'd be here between 8 and 10, nobody showed until after 12 and nobody called. The repair seems fine but I took a morning off work for this. WHAT OUR RECORDS SHOW: Oct 14, toilet rebuild. Tech got held up on an earlier leak. The office did not call her. Tech arrived 12:20, finished the job, she paid. We got the late call wrong. WHAT I WILL OFFER: A call from me and an apology. Nothing off the bill. MY TONE: Calm, owns it, no excuses.
What you should get back
- A two-line read on what went wrong, from both sides
- A calm public reply with no job details, prices or blame
- A private message offering only what you listed
- A stop if the review mentions damage, injury, safety or a lawyer
What stays with you
The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a customer until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.
Related
- Ask for a review after a finished job. A short review ask that mentions the actual job and the tech who did it, sent the day the work is done, with nothing offered in return.
- Reply when a finished job acts up again. A calm reply to a customer whose repair is acting up again that gets the facts for a return visit, without saying who pays.
More: every prompt for home services, marketing and reviews, and AI for home services.
Which three fit your home services business?
The free quiz scores your home services business on sixteen things and picks the three prompts aimed at your three lowest. It takes about three minutes.