We want reviews to provide a genuine and useful picture of consumers’ experiences. We welcome both positive and negative reviews and do not remove reviews simply because a business disagrees with them.
How we collect reviews
Consumers submitting a review are required to provide contact details. These details are not necessarily published with the review and allow us to contact the reviewer if we need to clarify their experience or verify a review.
We may contact reviewers to:
- clarify what happened;
- confirm that they used the product or service;
- request further information; or
- verify their experience if a business challenges the review.
Challenged reviews
Businesses have the right to challenge a review if they believe it is inaccurate, fraudulent or does not relate to a genuine customer experience.
Where a review is challenged, we may contact the reviewer and ask them to provide reasonable evidence of their purchase or experience. This could include a receipt, order confirmation, customer number or other relevant evidence.
If a reviewer is unable to provide reasonable evidence that they had the claimed experience, we may remove the review.
We do not automatically remove a review simply because a business disputes it. Our aim is to assess the available information fairly.
Businesses have a right of reply
Businesses can respond to both positive and negative reviews.
A business response provides an opportunity to explain its position, correct factual information or respond directly to the customer's concerns.
A business cannot require us to remove a genuine review simply because it is negative or critical.
What we moderate
We may reject, edit or remove reviews that:
- contain excessive or inappropriate swearing;
- contain personal or sensitive information about an individual;
- identify private individuals unnecessarily;
- contain threats, bullying, harassment or abusive language;
- are defamatory or make serious allegations without reasonable supporting evidence;
- appear to be fake, fraudulent or submitted by someone without genuine experience of the product or service;
- contain spam, advertising or promotional material;
- are irrelevant to the product, service or business being reviewed;
- contain malicious or deliberately misleading information; or
- breach our website terms or applicable laws.
We may make minor edits for spelling, formatting, privacy or clarity, provided we do not change the substance or meaning of a genuine review. Our review moderation policy can be found here.
What we don't do
We don't remove reviews simply because they are negative.
We don't allow businesses to pay to remove negative reviews or to guarantee positive reviews.
We also don't allow commercial relationships or advertising arrangements to determine whether a genuine review is published.
Where a business and customer provide conflicting accounts, we will consider the information available to us and may contact either party for clarification.
Our aim
Our goal is to maintain reviews that are genuine, fair, relevant and useful to consumers, while giving businesses a fair opportunity to respond.
If you believe a review is fake, inaccurate or breaches these guidelines, please contact us and we will investigate.