I know this might sound odd, but one of my clients has been in a long-running feud with another local business owner. They both operate landscaping companies in the same small town and let’s just say things between them are far from friendly. Honestly, the whole situation feels like something out of a sitcom, but lately, it’s started bleeding into my work, and I’m not sure whether to step in or just keep my head down.

From what I understand, the rival used to work for my client before branching off to start his own competing business. Since then, it’s been a constant back-and-forth. My client once caught the guy, or one of his employees, tearing down roadside signs, and things escalated from there. They’ve been known to undercut each other on bids (even at a loss), post signs side-by-side, and now… they’ve taken it online.

That’s where things have gotten complicated for me. I’ve been working behind the scenes to help my client improve his visibility of his Google Business Profile, everything from cleaning up listings to making sure his presence on certain platforms is consistent and trustworthy. Things were going really well until recently when I started receiving a flood of alerts. We’re talking 10 to 20 negative reviews per day, all one-star, and none of them from familiar or verified profiles. Definitely suspicious behavior.

After flagging it to my client, we both agreed the reviews were bogus, and fortunately, many of the fake accounts were quickly removed since Google has cracked down on fake reviews lately. But some of the damage was already done as our rankings slipped down to the 2nd and 3rd positions, and visibility has dropped which is notable in this month’s report.

As if that wasn’t enough, I noticed someone’s been submitting inaccurate edits to his online listings, changing his address, and phone number, and even tampering with some directory entries we had cleaned up months ago. It’s clearly intentional, and it’s exhausting.

I’ve tried to steer my client away from retaliating, but he seems more focused on asking if we can “return the favor” instead of just staying above the drama. I really don’t want to play this game and I also don’t want my work to suffer because of their old beef.

Any advice from someone who’s dealt with clients like this or been caught in the middle of a business rivalry?