Guide · Local Services Ads
How do I dispute a Local Services Ads lead? You can't. Here is what replaced it.
Google removed manual disputes in July 2024. It now reviews every lead itself, credits the invalid ones within about 30 days, and no longer refunds calls for jobs you do not do or areas you do not serve. Here is how the system works and how to stop paying for leads you cannot use.
If you are looking for the dispute button, it is gone, and it has been gone since July 2024. Google reviews every Local Services Ads lead itself now, and credits the ones it judges invalid. Your job changed from arguing each lead to rating each lead, and two kinds of bad lead that used to be refunded no longer are. Most advice still online describes the old system.
What replaced disputes
Google's automated review looks at every charged lead, and keeps looking. In Google's words, charged leads are reassessed by its models over time and may be credited automatically if later judged low quality. Leads that are obviously invalid at first contact are not charged at all. Credits usually reach your account balance within 30 days. The original charge stays on the invoice and the credit appears as a separate line.
The categories Google credits are the ones you would expect: spam and robocalls, wrong numbers, sales and solicitation calls, duplicates of a lead you were already charged for, and calls meant for a different business. The full list is on Google's automated credits page.
Three groups get no credits at all: health care verticals, tax specialists, and advertisers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
What no longer gets credited
This is the part that costs owners money without them noticing. Under the old system you could dispute a call for a job you do not do, or from a town you do not serve, and usually win. Google no longer supports credits for either. Its page says so directly, and tells businesses to tighten their job types and service areas instead.
So a call from forty miles away asking for a service you dropped two years ago is a paid lead. The only protection is upstream: enable only the job types you want, draw the service area around where your customers actually come from, and brief whoever answers the phone to find out the job and the location in the first sentence.
Since 1 October 2026 there is a third unrefunded lead: a call you did not answer during business hours, once the caller has waited 20 seconds. That rule has its own page, Does Google charge for missed calls on Local Services Ads?
What rating a lead actually does
Open the lead in your account and choose Rate this lead. That opens Google's lead feedback survey, where you say what was wrong. Two things happen.
First, the rating feeds the automated review. Google's models learn what an invalid lead looks like for your business, and a consistently rated account gets more accurate credits over time. Second, Google's page says a credit may come through autocrediting or as a bonus credit for leaving feedback. Rating is not a dispute, and a rating alone does not force a credit. But an unrated bad lead is one Google has to catch on its own.
The status to watch is In review. It means Google is still deciding. If the lead is judged not a good match, the credit follows.
How we run it for clients
Every account we manage gets its leads rated within a day, not once a month. For Griffin Automotive Solutions we listen to the calls and rate every lead daily. For Justen Funeral Homes we wrote a one-page call handling and lead rating guide for the staff, so that the people answering the phone know how to handle a vendor call or a request for service times, and how to rate it afterwards. Then we read the lead list weekly and rate what staff missed.
The weekly read does something else. The calls tell you where families, or drivers, or homeowners are actually coming from, so the service area and the job types get adjusted to match. That is what stops the unrefunded calls before they happen.
- Rate every lead within a day. Spam, wrong number, solicitor, duplicate, wrong business. Be specific in the survey.
- Check your job types against your bays, your crews or your services. Anything you do not want more of comes off.
- Draw the service area around real customers. Nobody tows a car forty miles for a brake job. Nobody drives an hour to a funeral home when there is one in town.
- Brief the phone. Job and location in the first sentence. End a wrong-fit call politely and fast.
- Read the lead list weekly. Rate what was missed, and move the settings to match where the good calls come from.
Get a Local Services Ads audit › We start by reading your lead history, and we can usually see which calls you paid for that a tighter setup would have stopped.
Common questions about Local Services Ads lead credits
Can I still dispute a Local Services Ads lead?
Not manually. Google removed the dispute button in July 2024. It now reviews every lead automatically and credits the ones it decides are invalid. Rating each lead is how you give it feedback.
How do I get credited for a bad Local Services Ads lead?
Open the lead, choose Rate this lead, and say exactly what was wrong. Google automatically credits leads such as spam, robocalls, wrong numbers, sales calls, duplicates and calls meant for another business. Its help page says leaving feedback can also earn a bonus credit.
Will Google credit a lead for a service I don't offer or an area I don't serve?
No, not any more. Google stopped crediting both and tells businesses to tighten their job types and service areas instead. If you are paying for these calls, the fix is in your settings.
How long do Local Services Ads credits take?
Google says most credits are applied to your account balance within 30 days. The original charge stays on your invoice and the credit shows separately.
What does "In review" mean on a lead?
Google is still deciding whether the lead was valid. If it decides the lead was not a good match for your business, a credit is applied.
Does rating a lead guarantee a credit?
No. Rating is feedback, not a dispute. It helps Google's review learn what invalid looks like for your business, and Google says it can earn a bonus credit, but the decision is Google's.
Why am I getting so many spam calls from Local Services Ads?
Some spam gets through, and Google's automatic credits are meant to catch most of it. Rate every spam lead so the system learns. If the calls are real people asking for the wrong thing rather than spam, the problem is your job types or service area, and those calls are not credited.
Are missed calls credited?
Not if the caller was a genuine customer. Since 1 October 2026 a missed call during business hours is a charged lead once the caller has waited 20 seconds. Only an invalid caller, such as a robocall, would be credited.
Who cannot get lead credits at all?
Google's page excludes health care verticals, tax specialists, and advertisers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Did disputes stopping make leads more expensive?
For loosely set up accounts, yes, because wrong-job and wrong-area calls are now paid for. For a tight account, little changed, and Google has said it credits more leads overall than it did under manual disputes. The difference is whether your settings and your phone handling do the filtering.
Can an agency get my bad leads credited?
An agency cannot file disputes either. What it can do is rate every lead quickly and specifically, tighten the settings that cause unrefunded calls, and train the people who answer. That is how 5for5 manages Local Services Ads accounts. Book a call and we will start with your lead history.