How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Dispute a Local Services Ads lead you were charged for
Updated October 11, 2026
10 minutes, then up to 30 days
There is no dispute form now. Where credits apply, Google rechecks charged Local Services leads for up to 30 days and may credit low-quality ones itself. Watch the lead's charge status, rate the lead, and fix your job types and service areas: Google no longer credits leads for a job or area you do not serve.
Before you start
- Access to the Local Services Ads account, or to the Leads page in Google Ads.
- The lead's date and time, to find it in the lead list.
- An account that gets credits at all. Google says lead credits aren't available for health care categories, tax specialists, or advertisers in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). The same help page elsewhere limits the region to accounts in European Economic Area countries, so an advertiser in Europe outside the EEA, the Middle East or Africa may or may not get them.
Check the lead against Google's charge rules
Many leads that feel wrong are valid by Google's rules, and a valid lead is never credited. Compare first.
- A call you answered, or returned and spoke on, is judged on the conversation, however long it rang first.
- A missed call during business hours and, if you use an ad schedule, inside it, is charged once the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds. A call that reaches voicemail or a greeting in those hours counts as connected and is charged after 20 seconds, whether or not a message is left.
- With a phone menu, a caller who hangs up before pressing a key is not charged. The 20 seconds start at the first key press.
- A repeat call or message from the same number or email within 15 days of the last contact is part of the lead already charged, and is not charged again.
Read the charge status and rate the lead
The charge status shows whether Google has already credited the lead, and the lead feedback survey is where Google asks you to report a poor one.
- In Google Ads, open the Leads page and read the lead's Charge Status: Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited. The lead reports in the Local Services Ads account show the same four statuses.
- Give a Charged lead time. Google reassesses charged leads over 30 days and puts a credit on the account balance when it finds one low quality, duplicate or invalid.
- In the Local Services Ads account, select the menu at the top left, then Leads.
- Select Rate this lead at the top right of the page.
- Select Open to start the survey, say what was wrong with the lead, and submit it.
Google says the survey trains its models and that it may occasionally credit leads reported as poor quality there. Treat a credit from the survey as possible, not promised.
Stop paying for the same kind of lead
Google no longer credits leads for a job type or area you do not serve. Those are fixed in your settings, before the next one arrives.
- Select the menu at the top left, then Profile & Budget.
- On the Job types card, select the pencil icon, select the arrow beside your industry, turn off the job types you do not do, and select Save.
- On the Service areas card, select the pencil icon, add areas under Include these service areas, exclude the ones you do not cover under Exclude these service areas, and select Save.
- If general searches bring the wrong work, uncheck broad search on the Settings card. Google warns this may mean fewer leads. It turns off general searches for every industry on the account.
- Make the hours on the Business hours card match the hours on your Business Profile. One Google page says missed calls are judged against the Business Profile's hours, another sets hours in the ads account, so matching both closes the gap. That is a judgment, not a Google instruction.
Check it worked
Look at the lead's Charge Status again after 30 days. Google says most credits land within that time. Credited means the credit went to your account balance; the original charge still appears on the invoice.
Over the following weeks, read the Job Type column for new leads in the lead list. The job types you turned off should stop appearing. A dash in that column marks a Broad Category lead, which still arrives while broad search is on.
Why your own lead count never matches Google's
Google counts one lead per customer, keeps repeat contacts from the same number or email within 15 days on the lead already charged, and includes messages and booking requests that a call tracking number never sees. A call log or tracking tool counts differently, so the two totals will not agree even when nothing is wrong.