A Bad Review Dragging Your Recommendability Score? Here’s What Gets Removed

Can Businesses Remove UpCity Reviews?

Yes, in specific cases — UpCity removes reviews with no genuine client engagement, an undisclosed conflict of interest, or content like hate speech, privacy violations, defamation, or spam. A review that’s simply lowering your Recommendability score isn’t itself grounds for removal, since the score also depends on profile completeness and activity you control directly.

"Delete" and "remove" mean the same thing here — UpCity doesn't let a business unilaterally delete a review either way. Both routes go through the same flagging process against the same content guidelines below.

Which UpCity Reviews Can Be Removed?

UpCity evaluates a flagged review against specific categories, regardless of how positive or negative it is. A review is a genuine candidate for removal if:

• It doesn’t reflect a genuine client engagement — the reviewer was never actually a client of this provider.
• Conflict of interest — the review was left by a competing agency or provider, a current or former employee, or someone with an undisclosed commercial stake.
• Hate speech, threats, or discriminatory language — content attacking a person or group, or containing threats, regardless of whether it’s tied to a genuine engagement.
• Privacy violations — the review discloses another person’s private information without consent.
• Defamatory or unsubstantiated accusations — claims that go beyond describing a bad experience and instead allege specific misconduct without any basis.
• Spam, duplicate, or off-topic content — the same review posted repeatedly, or content that isn’t actually about this provider.

For the complete breakdown — including the misconceptions that waste the most time and how to build a flagging case that's actually likely to work — see the full guide: Can Businesses Remove UpCity Reviews?

How to Report or Flag a UpCity Review

Reporting works best when the flag names a specific, checkable guideline violation rather than simply disagreeing with the review — "this reviewer has no matching record with us" is actionable; "this isn't fair" generally isn't.

What If UpCity Refuses to Remove the Review?

If the review doesn't violate UpCity's guidelines, removing it may not be an available option — that's the realistic outcome for most negative reviews, since being genuine and unflattering isn't a policy violation. In that situation, the focus shifts from deletion to the overall profile: a thoughtful public response to the review that stays up, and a larger base of genuine reviews so a single negative one carries proportionally less weight in the average.