Can I hand customers a QR code when they pay?

Google's help suggests putting the link or QR code on receipts and displaying the QR code in your store. The policy also bars requiring or pressuring a review while the customer is on the premises, and it does not say what counts as the premises. Our advice: put the card in the bag, say nothing more, and let the email do the asking.

My shop software already texts customers. Can GossipGarden text them too?

Not yet. Texting is not switched on, so every request goes by email today, and a customer with only a phone number is not asked. When it is, a customer can be texted only after you record that they agreed, in the words they agreed to; a CSV import cannot record that. What is stored is the wording you collected, so make it name review texts, not only status updates.

What about a customer who argued about the bill?

Add them like everyone else. Leaving someone out because of how the visit went is the selective solicitation Google bars. GossipGarden has no step that asks how the visit went, and every customer you add gets the same email.

How do I get customers in from my shop management software?

There is no direct link to shop management software. You can import a CSV file on the Contacts page, and any tool that can send a webhook or save to a Google Sheet can send customers in. The guides are at /help/connect.

Asking auto repair customers for reviews: after pickup, and never on Yelp

Pickup and payment happen at the counter. We suggest asking after the customer has driven the car, not while they stand there. This page covers when to add them, which sites you can ask on, and what Google and the FTC say.

For your trade › Auto repair · Facts checked October 16, 2026

When to add the customer after a repair

A repair order runs from estimate to approval, work, invoice and pickup. Nothing goes out until you add the customer. Then GossipGarden sends the first email within about 10 minutes, inside your sending hours (8am to 8pm unless you change them). Add a customer at 9pm and the email waits until morning. So the moment you add the customer is the moment of the ask.

At the counter
Take payment, hand over the keys and the receipt, and stop there. Google's help suggests putting the review link or QR code on your receipts ^[1]. We suggest not asking out loud while they stand at the counter.
At closing time, or the next morning
Add everyone who picked up a car with quick-add (Add & ask). To add a list, import a CSV file on the Contacts page, then choose Ask all new. They have driven the car by then, and the email reaches them away from your counter.
72 hours later
By default, one polite reminder follows in your shop's name.

If your shop software asks at checkout, send ours later in the day. Timing can differ by kind of job: an oil change that evening, a transmission job the next morning. It should never differ by how the customer seemed.

Review sites for a repair shop, and where we ask

Google comes first. If you run Google's Local Services Ads, Google says star ratings and the number of reviews affect how your business is ranked ^[2]. Auto Repair Shop is one of the business types it lists for those ads ^[3]. All of this was read on 16 October 2026.

Site	What it says	Do we ask there?
Google	Google's Local Services Ads help says customers are more likely to leave a review if the request comes from you directly ^[2].	Yes.
Facebook	Meta's Community Feedback policy covers ratings and reviews on Marketplace and Shops, and bars incentives for them unless disclosed under its branded content policies. It does not mention Page recommendations ^[4].	Yes.
BBB	BBB does not accept incentivized customer reviews. Reviewers give a name, which is shared with the business ^[5].	Yes.
Yelp	Yelp's guidance of 7 March 2025 says it is against its policy for businesses to ask for reviews ^[6].	Never. More below.

You turn on a site by pasting its review link. If you turn on several, each gets a weight that sets how often an ask points to it. The site never depends on the customer. GossipGarden does not ask on RepairPal.

Yelp: a link, never an ask

Yelp asks businesses not to request reviews, so GossipGarden never does. A Yelp blog post from January 2017 adds that its recommendation software is designed to identify solicited reviews and treat them as less trustworthy, placing them in its “not recommended” section ^[7]. GossipGarden will not accept a Yelp write-a-review link if you paste one.

What you can do instead is what Yelp suggests: a “Find us on Yelp” sticker for the storefront and service vehicles, check-in signage, and replies to the reviews you get ^[6]. If you add your Yelp page to GossipGarden, your review page shows a “Find us on Yelp” link and nothing more.

A sample email after pickup

Every customer gets the same email, sent in your shop's name. It offers nothing and does not mention ratings. Google's help lists thank-you emails among the places to put the review link ^[1].

An email the evening after pickup

Subject: Thanks for bringing your car to [Your business]

Hi [First name],

Thanks for letting [Your business] work on your car.

If you have a minute, a short Google review in your own words helps other drivers choose a shop:

Leave a review on Google

Thank you,[Your business]

Square brackets mark what GossipGarden fills in for each customer. You can write wording like this in Settings › Templates; the link is the button GossipGarden adds under your words.

GossipGarden adds your shop's postal address and a one-click unsubscribe link below your message.

What Google and the FTC say about asking

As read on 16 October 2026, Google's help says customers can be asked to visit a Google link or scan a QR code, and calls incentives for reviews “strictly prohibited” ^[8]. Its Maps content policy, which shows no update date, says merchants must not “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”, and should not “require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises” ^[9].

The FTC's review rule, 16 CFR 465.4 (as read in the eCFR on 16 October 2026), bars “compensation or other incentives in exchange for, or conditioned expressly or by implication on,” reviews “expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative” ^[10]. Its Endorsement Guides (16 CFR 255.2(e), Example 11) describe a marketer who invites only purchasers who give very positive feedback to post reviews. That “may be an unfair or deceptive practice” if it makes the posted reviews substantially more positive. Had the marketer “simply invited all recent purchasers”, the solicitation “would not have been unfair or deceptive” ^[11].

In a repair shop:

Add every customer you served.
Offer nothing for a review, not even a price break on the next service.
Give service advisors no review quota, and do not ask customers to name a technician. The policy lists both ^[9].
Ask for no particular content, such as a mention of the estimate.

Questions repair shops ask

Can I hand customers a QR code when they pay?: Google's help suggests putting the link or QR code on receipts and displaying the QR code in your store ^[1]. The policy also bars requiring or pressuring a review while the customer is on the premises ^[9], and it does not say what counts as the premises. Our advice: put the card in the bag, say nothing more, and let the email do the asking.
My shop software already texts customers. Can GossipGarden text them too?: Not yet. Texting is not switched on, so every request goes by email today, and a customer with only a phone number is not asked. When it is, a customer can be texted only after you record that they agreed, in the words they agreed to; a CSV import cannot record that. What is stored is the wording you collected, so make it name review texts, not only status updates.
What about a customer who argued about the bill?: Add them like everyone else. Leaving someone out because of how the visit went is the selective solicitation Google bars ^[9]. GossipGarden has no step that asks how the visit went, and every customer you add gets the same email.
How do I get customers in from my shop management software?: There is no direct link to shop management software. You can import a CSV file on the Contacts page, and any tool that can send a webhook or save to a Google Sheet can send customers in. The guides are at /help/connect.

Sources

Each number in the text points to the source it came from, as read on the date shown. Rules and prices change; check the source before you rely on one.

Google Business Profile Help: Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews (read October 16, 2026)
Google Ads Help: Reviews and Ratings on Local Services Ads (read October 16, 2026)
Google Local Services Help: Getting started with Local Services Ads, United States (business types) (read October 16, 2026)
Meta policies: Community Feedback (read October 16, 2026)
BBB: Frequently asked questions about customer reviews (read October 16, 2026)
Yelp for Business: How to get Yelp reviews without asking (7 March 2025) (read October 16, 2026)
Yelp Official Blog: Don't Ask For Reviews: Why Yelp Does Not Recommend Solicited Reviews (18 January 2017) (read October 16, 2026)
Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews (read October 16, 2026)
Google Maps User Generated Content Policy: prohibited and restricted content (read October 16, 2026)
eCFR: 16 CFR Part 465, the FTC rule on consumer reviews (current text; last amended 21 October 2024) (read October 16, 2026)
eCFR: 16 CFR Part 255, the FTC Endorsement Guides (current text; last amended 26 July 2023) (read October 16, 2026)

Every customer gets the same ask. GossipGarden never filters, screens or routes anyone by rating or sentiment. Why that matters.

More pages like this

Add your customers without typing

If your customers already live in one of these, the step-by-step guides show how to send them to GossipGarden: Google Sheets, Zapier.