“Expensive”: Replying to Price Complaints Without Apologising

"Expensive." One word, three stars, nothing else.

Price complaints are among the most frequent reviews and the hardest to answer — because they are the only ones you cannot fix. You can't apologise and lower the price, you can't ignore it, and you can't argue.

But they have a property that makes them more important than they look: the reader who sees your reply uses it to decide whether you're for them.

Key takeaways:

• Never apologise for your pricing — apologising concedes the point.
• Don't defend sharply, and don't itemise your costs.
• A good reply is positioning, not justification: what the customer is paying for.
• Repeated price complaints are a marketing signal, not an operational one.
• Never offer a discount in a public reply.

Why it's different

Every other complaint has a fix: waiting gets shortened, errors get corrected, products get replaced. Price is your commercial decision — changing it for one customer means it was wrong to begin with.

Which is why the reply isn't really for the reviewer. It's for the reader comparing you to a cheaper competitor and looking for a reason to pay the difference.

The shape: three lines

1. Acknowledge price matters — without apologising. 2. Name what they're paying for. 3. Close warmly, without pleading.

We understand price matters. We work with [ingredient/method/experience], and that's what sets the cost. We hope the experience earned it, and we'd be glad to see you again.

The second line is everything. Don't say "our quality is high" — empty words everyone uses. Say something specific and checkable:

• Restaurant: "we use fresh meat daily, never frozen."
• Salon: "genuine [brand] products, and a 90-minute appointment, not 45."
• Clinic: "a full 30 minutes with the doctor, no double-booking."
• Workshop: "genuine parts with a one-year warranty."

Specificity persuades; generalities confirm the reader's suspicion.

Four things you never write

❌ "Sorry our prices didn't suit you" — apologising for the price reads as admitting it's too high.

❌ "Rents and salaries have gone up" — your cost problems aren't the customer's, and complaining about them makes you look weak.

❌ "Try our competitors and see the difference" — a dare, and an explicit invitation to visit them.

❌ "20% off your next visit" — the worst. A discount in a public reply tells every reader that price is negotiable by complaining, turning negative reviews into an approved discount channel. And if it's tied to editing the review it is an outright violation: incentives in exchange for reviews are prohibited in Google's policy.

The three variants

"Expensive" alone, no other complaint → the positioning reply above. Two sentences is enough.

"Expensive for what you delivered" → this isn't a price complaint but a value complaint. Address what fell short:

Sorry the experience didn't reflect what we charge for. What wasn't up to standard? Email us at [email].

"Expensive and nobody told me the price" → a transparency complaint, and the most serious because it touches trust. Apologise for the ambiguity specifically, and name what changed:

You're right — the price should be clear before we start. We've added [a price list/upfront confirmation] to prevent this. Apologies for the experience.

When it repeats: read it as a marketing signal

Five reviews mentioning price over two months isn't necessarily a pricing problem — usually it's an expectation problem.

A customer who arrives with no sense of your price level is surprised, and surprised people write. The fix isn't discounting but filtering earlier:

• Add prices, or a range, to your Business Profile.
• Real photos that show the actual level of the place: photos and posts.
• A clear description of the service and what it includes.

That reduces the number of people arriving who were never a fit — and they are the source of most price complaints.

FAQ

Should I state the price in the reply?

If it's fixed and published, yes — "the 90-minute session is 250 SAR" helps the reader. If it varies, no.

A customer compares you to a named competitor?

Ignore the comparison entirely and never comment on the competitor. Reply only about what you offer.

A price complaint from someone who didn't buy?

Same reply. The reader doesn't know whether they bought, and your reply is for the reader.

Three stars with "expensive but excellent" — do I reply?

Yes, and thank them for the positive half first. Middle ratings are usually neglected and are the easiest to improve.

The bottom line

A price complaint is the one review you are not supposed to resolve. The right position is to explain clearly what the customer is paying for, once, without apology and without a discount.

A reader who sees a confident reply about value leaves with a clearer impression than one who sees an apology.

And when these arrive among twenty reviews a week, holding that confident, consistent tone is the hard part. Raddly drafts each reply in the brand voice you define — so the price reply doesn't slide into an apology on a busy day.