Last updated: 6 October 2026
TL;DR
- Dealer groups put one contact channel under a negative review: the branch manager’s mobile number, an email address or the central customer service number.
- Contact details belong under one- to three-star reviews only; under a compliment they make the reply look like a template.
- A public reply to a complaint does not promise a deadline nobody tracks, does not admit fault in public and does not argue the details.
- In Repmanager you set contact details, preferred channel and signature per star band and per dealership, and Rep Shield holds back complaints about management itself.
Why add contact details to a reply to a negative review?
To move the conversation from online to offline. You do not solve a complaint in a five-sentence public reply. What you can do in public is show you take the complaint seriously and offer a concrete next step. Whoever calls or emails then gets the real conversation.
Without contact details you are left with “feel free to get in touch”, and the customer has to work out who to contact. That works badly, especially in a dealer group with dozens of dealerships. One marketing manager summed up the question: what do we want from a negative reply, who do we want to respond, and which contact details do we want to share? That is where it starts.
Which three contact channels do dealer groups use?
Across the dealer groups working with Repmanager we see three choices: the branch manager’s mobile number, an email address, or the number of a central customer service team. Each has an upside and a cost. Choose one channel per dealership, not all three.
The branch manager’s mobile. The most personal and the fastest. A customer who gets the manager on the line feels heard. The cost: the manager receives every angry call, including outside office hours, and has to be able to handle that. One large group does this on purpose and puts the manager’s name and mobile under every low review.
An email address. Calmer for the dealership and easier to track. A premium dealer group chose this deliberately because it did not want angry calls at night. The cost: email feels more distant, and the inbox really has to be read.
Customer service. One number for every dealership, with a fixed team behind it. Works well if you already have a customer contact centre. The cost: less personal, and the team has to pass the complaint to the right dealership quickly.
| Manager’s mobile | Email address | Customer service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | High | Medium | Medium |
| Personal | Very | Medium | Low |
| Load on the dealership | High, including out of hours | Low | Low |
| Biggest risk | Manager unreachable or overloaded | Inbox not read | Complaint stuck between team and dealership |
| Best for | Groups with hands-on branch managers | Groups that want calm and control | Groups with an existing contact centre |
What should and shouldn’t a reply to a complaint say?
Acknowledge the experience, apologise for how it felt, and give one way to get in touch. Do not argue the details, do not admit fault in public, and do not promise a deadline nobody tracks. A broken promise in a public reply looks worse than no promise at all.
That last point is a lesson from practice. A dealer group that routinely wrote “we will contact you as soon as possible” found every reply turned into an obligation they then had to chase. So choose deliberately between “we will contact you” and “please get in touch with us”. The first needs a call-back process that works. The second puts the ball with the customer.
Do not go into detail either. The more you explain in public, the more hooks the customer has to stay angry. For how to build the rest of such a reply, read how to respond to negative reviews. Why replying matters at all is shown by the complaint gap.
When should you leave contact details out?
In three situations: when the complaint is about the person who would sign the reply, when the customer has already been spoken to at length and the conflict is settled, and when the review contains a legal or media threat. Then you do not want an automatic reply with a mobile number, but a person who decides what goes public.
If a complaint is about the branch manager, their name and number under the reply is tactless. We have seen it happen: a template sent an angry customer straight back to the manager they had fallen out with. That is why you switch on holding reviews about management in Rep Shield.
How do you set up contact details in Repmanager?
You set contact details once per dealership, and the AI only uses them for low ratings. Start at organisation level with the preferred channel, then fill in name, role and number or address per dealership.
- Go to AI Guidelines and open contact details. Add the email address and phone number, and choose one preferred channel. Pick the channel your team responds to fastest.
- Under behaviour per star rating, switch on “always include contact details” for one to three stars. Switch it off for four and five stars.
- For one to three stars, fill in the signature with the branch manager’s name and role, without a greeting. The system adds the sign-off itself.
- Choose whether you actively invite the customer to get in touch, or whether you call them yourselves.
- Only set the response timing to “follow-up within 24 hours” if someone really tracks it. Otherwise, mention no timing.
- In Rep Shield, switch on holding reviews about management and reviews with a legal or media threat.
- To brief the dealership internally, email the branch manager from the reviews overview. They do not need an account for that.
You can set different contact details per dealership. Note that a location with its own settings overrides the organisation completely. You can see how the AI reply generator uses those details in the Testlab.
What usually goes wrong with contact details?
Four mistakes come back again and again. They almost always sit in a setting that was once well meant but no longer matches how the dealership works.
Contact details under a compliment. A mobile number under “Great service!” looks like a template. Low ratings only.
A number nobody answers. A general line outside office hours or an inbox nobody reads makes the invitation hollow. Only add details that are staffed.
Two channels at once. Phone and email and WhatsApp under one reply is too much. Choose one.
A promise nobody keeps. “We will call you within 24 hours” only works if someone works through that list every day.
Frequently asked questions
Can you apologise in public?
Yes, for the customer’s experience. That is different from admitting fault in public. “We are sorry your visit went this way” is always fine. “Our technician made a mistake” is better discussed in the conversation itself.
Should the branch manager reply personally?
Not necessarily. In many dealer groups, marketing or a coordinator replies in public and the branch manager calls. Which model fits your group is covered in who replies to which review.
Do you add contact details under a three-star review?
Usually, yes. A three-star review is often a customer with a point who can still turn positive after a good conversation. Some groups prefer to ask what could have been better at three stars, without contact details.
Can an automatic reply include contact details?
Yes. Groups that also reply automatically to low ratings put the branch manager’s details in the reply and always have the manager call back. Whether that suits you is covered in which reviews to answer automatically.
Ready to set it up?
Managing several dealerships, each with its own manager and number? In a 15-minute demo we show how to set that up per dealership.
