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1 in 4 bad Google reviews of clinics are about not being able to reach them

Name: What patients complain about in Google reviews of clinics
Creator: Certu

Published September 25, 2026 · Measured by Certu, the company that runs ClinicConvo

25.3% of the negative Google reviews we read were about patients who could not reach the clinic: calls nobody picked up, WhatsApp messages nobody answered, days spent trying to book. That is 75 of the 297 one- and two-star reviews with text, out of 2,000 recent reviews of 400 medical clinics in Brazil. The clinics publicly replied to 4 of those 75.

Most reviews are good. The bad ones are very bad.

5 stars

78.9%

4 stars

3.3%

3 stars

1.3%

2 stars

1.6%

1 star

14.8%

2,000 Google reviews: the 5 most recent of each of 400 clinics in Brazil, collected September 25, 2026. Average: 4.3 stars.

Patients rarely leave a lukewarm review. 16.5% of the reviews had 1 or 2 stars, and almost all of those were 1 star. A single bad experience is enough for a patient to write one.

What the bad reviews are about

Could not reach the clinic

25.3%

Got through, but treated badly

2.0%

Share of the 297 negative reviews (1 or 2 stars) that had text. "Treated badly" = rude or unhelpful on the phone or WhatsApp. The other reviews were mostly about the visit itself: waiting, the doctor, the front desk in person, billing, the building.

"Could not reach the clinic" covers a few situations that came up again and again:

The phone rings until the call drops, or the line is always busy.
A WhatsApp number that never replies, or replies hours or days later.
Patients trying for days to book, reschedule or cancel an appointment.
No answer about exam results or a follow-up that was promised.

At least 49 of the 75 mention the phone and at least 41 mention WhatsApp or messages. 20 mention both: the patient tried one channel, got nothing, and tried the other.

Clinics rarely answer these reviews

4 and 5 star reviews

18.7%

1 and 2 star reviews

10.9%

"Could not reach you" reviews

5.3%

Share of reviews with a public reply from the clinic's owner or staff. "Could not reach you": 4 of 75.

Clinics were more likely to thank a happy patient than to answer an unhappy one. And the complaint that got the fewest replies was the one about not replying.

How common it is at a single clinic

55 of the 400 clinics (13.8%) had at least one "could not reach the clinic" complaint among their 5 most recent reviews. These are recent complaints, not old history: the median one was posted in May 2026, and 51 of the 75 in the last 12 months.

What this means for a clinic

Most bad reviews are about things that take real work to fix: delays, staffing, the way a doctor talks to patients. This one is different. A patient who can't get through is not unhappy with the care. They never got to it. Answering every call and message, including the ones that arrive after hours (more than 1 in 4 WhatsApp messages to clinics do), removes one of the most common reasons for a 1-star review. Our guide on answering services vs. AI compares the options.

How we measured

Clinics: 400 medical clinics and doctors' offices found on Google Maps by searching for "clínica médica" and "consultório médico". Each had a listed phone number and at least 5 Google reviews. Hospitals, emergency care, public health units, labs, imaging centers, dentists, vets, aesthetics, psychology, physiotherapy, nutrition and speech therapy were excluded.
Where: 15 to 16 clinics in each of 25 Brazilian cities (Aracaju, Campo Grande, Caxias do Sul, Cuiabá, Guarulhos, João Pessoa, Juiz de Fora, Jundiaí, Londrina, Maceió, Maringá, Natal, Niterói, Osasco, Piracicaba, Ribeirão Preto, Santo André, Santos, Sorocaba, São Bernardo do Campo, São José dos Campos, São Luís, Teresina, Uberlândia, Vitória), plus 9 in Manaus and 1 in São Paulo. 15 states in total.
Reviews: the 5 most recent Google reviews of each clinic, so a few large clinics can't dominate the sample. Collected September 25, 2026. The median review is from July 2026 and 79.5% are from the last 12 months; the oldest is from 2018, at clinics that get few reviews.
Labeling: each of the 297 negative reviews with text was read in full and labeled one by one, in a single pass done with an AI model reading every review. We did not use keyword matching: a keyword search found only about 9%, because patients describe the same problem in many different ways. The phone and WhatsApp counts above do use keywords, inside the 75 labeled reviews, so they are minimums.
Limits: Google reviews are written by the patients who choose to write them, so they show what upsets patients enough to post, not how often each problem happens. All clinics are in Brazil, where WhatsApp is the main way patients contact clinics. Patterns elsewhere may differ.
Privacy: we only publish totals. No review text is quoted, and no clinic, doctor or patient can be identified.

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