One review per business
Clients can leave one review per business. This keeps reviews easier to moderate and reduces repeated review abuse.
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Reviews
Reviews should help people understand what happened with a local business. They should be specific, fair and based on a real experience.
Clients can leave one review per business. This keeps reviews easier to moderate and reduces repeated review abuse.
Reviews and business responses require moderation before public display.
Reviews connected to completed platform conversations may later receive a clearer verification marker. Reviews are moderated manually before publication.
Mention the service used, what communication was like, whether the business was reliable, whether the work matched expectations and anything future customers should know. Avoid personal attacks, private details or claims you cannot support.
Businesses can flag reviews from their dashboard. Clients can contact VereLocal if they need a review removed or corrected.
Contact VereLocalReviews help people understand what it may be like to work with a local business.
They can highlight great service, explain where something went wrong and give businesses useful feedback. They can also cause real harm when they’re fake, exaggerated or used to threaten someone.
VereLocal’s review system is designed to protect both clients and businesses.
Clients should be able to share honest experiences, including negative ones. Businesses should be able to respond, challenge reviews that break these rules and expect reports to be considered fairly.
This policy explains:
- who can leave a review;
- what a review should be based on;
- how reviews may be labelled;
- what businesses can and can’t do when requesting reviews;
- when VereLocal may investigate, restrict or remove a review.
It should be read alongside our Conduct Rules, Acceptable Use Policy and Terms and Conditions.
Reviews must be:
- based on a genuine, first-hand experience;
- about the business being reviewed;
- relevant to the service provided;
- honest to the reviewer’s best knowledge;
- written without threats, discrimination or personal abuse.
A review doesn’t have to be positive.
Clients are allowed to describe poor service, delays, communication problems, unexpected charges, incomplete work and other genuine concerns.
However, a negative experience doesn’t give someone permission to publish information they know is false, expose private information or use a review to punish or threaten a business.
Businesses are allowed to disagree with a review and explain their side. They must do so without harassing, intimidating or retaliating against the reviewer.
You should only review a business when you’ve had a genuine and meaningful direct experience with it.
This would normally mean that you:
- paid for or received a service;
- arranged the service for someone else;
- were directly responsible for managing the work;
- had a genuine transaction or appointment with the business;
- can reasonably explain your connection to the experience.
You shouldn’t review a business simply because:
- you dislike its owner;
- you disagree with something it has posted;
- you’ve heard a story from someone else;
- you work for a competitor;
- you don’t agree with its prices;
- it declined your enquiry;
- it wasn’t available;
- it wouldn’t provide free advice or work;
- you saw an argument involving the business online.
Where no service took place, a full service review may not be appropriate.
Problems involving spam, harassment, discrimination, misleading profile information or another misuse of VereLocal can still be reported directly to us.
You may sometimes arrange a service for:
- a family member;
- someone you care for;
- your employer;
- a client;
- your household;
- another person who can’t reasonably leave the review themselves.
In these cases, your review should make your connection to the service clear.
You shouldn’t present someone else’s experience as though you personally witnessed every part of it.
VereLocal may ask for more information if it isn’t clear how the reviewer was involved.
Friends, relatives and personal contacts shouldn’t leave reviews simply to improve a business’s score.
A genuine customer relationship may still exist between people who know one another, but the review must reflect a real service that was provided.
We may restrict or remove a review where:
- no genuine service appears to have taken place;
- the relationship hasn’t been disclosed when it materially affects the review;
- several connected people appear to be coordinating reviews;
- the review appears to have been written mainly to manipulate the business’s rating.
Owners, employees and people directly involved in running a business mustn’t review that business as customers.
Where possible, reviews should explain:
- what service was provided;
- roughly when it took place;
- what went well;
- what could have been better;
- whether the work matched what was agreed;
- whether important changes were communicated clearly.
You don’t need to publish private details, exact addresses or unnecessary information about the people involved.
The most useful reviews focus on the service rather than making broad claims about someone’s character.
For example:
> “The cleaner arrived around 40 minutes late and didn’t let us know beforehand. The cleaning itself was completed well.”
This is more useful than:
> “These people are dishonest and don’t care about anyone.”
The first describes the experience. The second makes a much wider personal claim that may be difficult to support.
Not every review will have the same level of supporting information.
Where available, VereLocal may use labels to help explain how a review was received or checked.
These may include:
The review is connected to an enquiry, quote, booking or another relevant interaction recorded through VereLocal.
This shows that an interaction took place through the platform. It doesn’t mean VereLocal has independently confirmed every statement made in the review.
The reviewer has provided information that reasonably supports their connection to the service.
This might include an invoice, booking confirmation, written quote or relevant correspondence.
Supporting evidence isn’t normally displayed publicly.
The reviewer says the service was arranged outside VereLocal.
This allows genuine previous clients to leave feedback, while making it clear that VereLocal may have limited information about the transaction.
The reviewer has confirmed that the review is based on a genuine experience, but VereLocal hasn’t independently verified the transaction.
The review has been reported or is being considered by VereLocal.
This doesn’t automatically mean the review is false or that the business has broken any rules.
Review labels explain the information available to VereLocal. They aren’t a guarantee that a review is completely accurate or that the business will provide the same experience to every client.
Reviews mustn’t contain:
- information the reviewer knows is false;
- fabricated or significantly exaggerated events;
- threats or intimidation;
- racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist or otherwise discriminatory content;
- personal abuse unrelated to the service;
- unwanted sexual or seriously offensive content;
- private home addresses;
- personal phone numbers or email addresses;
- payment card or bank details;
- identity documents;
- private medical information;
- photographs taken in private settings without a reasonable basis or permission;
- allegations about someone’s private life that aren’t relevant to the service;
- malicious links, spam or advertising;
- copied content from another person’s review;
- content that infringes another person’s intellectual property rights.
Reviews shouldn’t be used to continue a personal dispute that goes beyond the service provided.
Clients can report genuine concerns about fraud, theft, threats, unsafe work or other serious behaviour.
However, serious allegations can cause significant harm and should be described carefully.
Where possible, explain what happened rather than presenting an unproven conclusion as established fact.
For example:
> “I paid a £200 deposit. The appointment was cancelled and I haven’t received the refund after three weeks.”
This is clearer than:
> “This business steals from everyone.”
VereLocal may ask for supporting information before publishing or continuing to display serious allegations.
We may also remove or restrict parts of a review that make unsupported claims while allowing the reviewer’s underlying experience to remain visible.
VereLocal isn’t a court, regulator or law enforcement body. We may not be able to determine whether a crime has taken place.
Immediate safety concerns or suspected criminal activity should also be reported to the appropriate authority.
A business doesn’t have to agree with a review for it to remain published.
People may reasonably disagree about:
- whether work was completed to an adequate standard;
- whether the result matched expectations;
- whether communication was clear;
- whether a delay was reasonable;
- whether the final price reflected the work;
- whether a problem was properly resolved.
A negative opinion isn’t automatically false.
We’ll normally distinguish between:
- an honest account or opinion;
- a factual claim that can reasonably be checked;
- abusive or prohibited content.
For example, “I didn’t think the finish was worth the price” is an opinion.
“The business charged me for materials it didn’t supply” is a factual claim that may require more information if challenged.
Clients may review their experience where there’s a genuine payment dispute, but the review should explain the circumstances fairly.
Clients mustn’t use reviews to avoid payment for agreed and completed work.
They mustn’t threaten a negative review to obtain:
- free work;
- an unrelated discount;
- additional services;
- a refund they know they aren’t entitled to;
- another personal or financial benefit.
Businesses mustn’t pressure a client to remove an honest review simply because payment is still being discussed.
Where a payment dispute is reported, VereLocal may consider:
- what was agreed;
- the quote or price information;
- whether the scope of work changed;
- whether the service was completed;
- relevant messages or documents;
- whether either side appears to be using the review improperly.
VereLocal isn’t a debt collection service and may not be able to decide who legally owes what.
We may still act where someone’s behaviour suggests they pose an ongoing risk to other users.
Businesses are encouraged to ask genuine clients for feedback.
Review requests should be:
- sent to real clients;
- optional;
- clear about where the review will appear;
- open to positive, neutral or negative feedback;
- sent without pressure or intimidation.
Businesses mustn’t:
- create reviews for themselves;
- buy reviews;
- ask people who haven’t used the service to leave one;
- tell clients what rating to give;
- provide a prepared positive review for the client to copy;
- only ask clients they know will leave a positive review as part of a deliberate review-gating process;
- discourage unhappy clients from using the normal review process;
- offer payment, discounts, gifts or free services in exchange for a positive review;
- make a refund or complaint resolution conditional on removing a fair review;
- ask employees to pose as customers;
- arrange reciprocal reviews with other businesses.
A business can remind a client that a review request has been sent, but it shouldn’t repeatedly pressure them to respond.
VereLocal may remove or refuse reviews that were created in exchange for payment, gifts, discounts or another benefit.
This is particularly important where the reward depended on the review being positive.
A business may run a general customer feedback activity outside VereLocal, but it shouldn’t use incentives to manipulate its VereLocal rating or make rewarded reviews appear fully independent.
Where an incentive has been offered, it must be disclosed to VereLocal and may need to be disclosed alongside the review.
Businesses can respond to reviews to:
- thank the client;
- provide relevant context;
- explain what they understand happened;
- describe steps taken to resolve the problem;
- correct inaccurate information;
- show future clients how complaints are handled.
Responses mustn’t:
- threaten or intimidate the reviewer;
- publish private information;
- reveal unnecessary details about the client;
- use discriminatory or abusive language;
- make unsupported allegations;
- encourage other people to contact or target the reviewer;
- offer a benefit in exchange for changing the review;
- pretend to be written by someone else.
A calm, factual response will usually be more useful than trying to win a public argument.
Businesses can disagree without attacking the person who left the review.
Reviewers may be able to edit their review where:
- they made a genuine mistake;
- circumstances changed;
- the business resolved the problem;
- they want to add relevant information;
- part of the original review is no longer accurate.
A reviewer doesn’t have to remove fair criticism simply because the business has asked them to.
Where a problem has been resolved, the reviewer may update the review to explain what happened afterwards.
VereLocal may keep a record of previous versions for moderation, security and dispute-handling purposes, even where only the latest version is shown publicly.
Businesses and clients can report a review or response that appears to break this policy.
A report should explain the specific problem.
For example:
- “This person wasn’t our client.”
- “The review includes our employee’s home address.”
- “The reviewer demanded a refund in exchange for removing this.”
- “This review was written by a competitor.”
- “The review says the job happened in June, but our business wasn’t trading then.”
Simply saying that a review is “unfair” or “damaging” may not be enough for us to investigate it properly.
Reports mustn’t be used to silence genuine criticism or overwhelm the moderation process.
Knowingly submitting false or malicious reports may itself breach our Conduct Rules.
When a review is reported, we may consider:
- whether the reviewer appears to have had a genuine experience;
- whether the content is relevant to that experience;
- the type of review label attached;
- messages, quotes or booking information available through VereLocal;
- information provided by the reviewer and business;
- whether the statements are presented as facts or opinions;
- whether private or prohibited content has been included;
- whether there’s evidence of threats, incentives or manipulation;
- whether either person has shown a repeated pattern of misuse.
We may ask either side to provide more information.
This could include:
- an invoice or receipt;
- a quote;
- an appointment confirmation;
- relevant messages;
- proof of payment;
- photographs directly related to the complaint;
- an explanation of the reviewer’s connection to the service.
Don’t send more personal information than is needed.
Evidence supplied for moderation will not normally be published as part of the review.
While we consider a report, we may:
- leave the review visible;
- add an “under review” label;
- temporarily restrict the review;
- hide particular information;
- ask the reviewer to edit part of it;
- prevent further public responses while we investigate.
After considering the available information, we may:
- leave the review unchanged;
- correct or remove prohibited personal information;
- remove part of the review;
- change or remove a review label;
- remove the review;
- restrict the reviewer’s account;
- take action against the business;
- take no further action.
A review won’t automatically be removed because:
- it’s negative;
- the business disagrees with it;
- it lowers the business’s rating;
- the client didn’t complain privately first;
- the business has offered a refund;
- the issue happened outside VereLocal.
A review may be removed where:
- there’s no reasonable evidence of a genuine experience;
- it was created by a competitor, owner, employee or fake account;
- it includes prohibited content;
- it contains serious unsupported allegations;
- it was submitted as part of a threat or demand;
- it was bought, rewarded or otherwise manipulated;
- it reviews the wrong business;
- it’s a duplicate;
- it no longer contains enough relevant content after prohibited material is removed;
- the reviewer refuses to provide reasonable information needed to support a challenged factual claim.
A complaint may also be considered by:
- a payment provider;
- an insurer;
- a trade body;
- a regulator;
- an ombudsman;
- the police;
- a court.
VereLocal doesn’t automatically remove a review because another process is taking place.
We may temporarily restrict or label a review where continuing to display it could be unfair, unsafe or interfere with a serious external investigation.
The outcome of another process may be considered if it’s relevant and reliable.
VereLocal may investigate patterns that suggest reviews are being manipulated.
This could include:
- several reviews created from connected accounts;
- unusual clusters of reviews;
- repeated wording across different reviews;
- reviews linked to the same person or business;
- coordinated negative reviews against a competitor;
- sudden review activity following a public disagreement;
- businesses creating accounts on behalf of clients;
- rewards offered for particular ratings.
We may remove individual reviews, adjust a business’s displayed review information or restrict accounts involved in manipulation.
Where appropriate, a warning may be added to a business profile if we believe its review history has been deliberately manipulated.
Where VereLocal displays an overall score, it may be calculated from one or more review dimensions.
Reviews that are removed won’t normally count towards the displayed score.
Some reviews may carry different labels depending on how the experience was confirmed. A verification label explains the supporting information available; it doesn’t automatically make one client’s opinion more important than another’s.
VereLocal may update how scores are calculated as the review system develops.
We won’t accept payment from a business to remove genuine negative reviews or artificially improve its score.
Paid businesses are subject to the same review standards as free businesses.
VereLocal doesn’t assume that clients are always right.
It also doesn’t assume that a business is at fault simply because someone has complained.
Clients deserve a proper way to share genuine experiences. Businesses deserve protection from fake reviews, non-paying clients, threats, personal attacks and accusations that can’t reasonably be supported.
Our role is to consider whether the review is genuine, useful and within these rules.
We may not always be able to establish exactly what happened between the people involved. Where the evidence is unclear, we’ll avoid presenting VereLocal’s decision as proof that either side was right.
We may update this policy as VereLocal’s review, verification and booking features develop.
The latest version will be published on this page.
Where a change significantly affects how reviews are collected, displayed or moderated, we may also notify affected users through the platform or by email.
To report a review, use the reporting option shown next to it where available.
For other review concerns, contact VereLocal through our Contact page and include:
- the business involved;
- the review you’re referring to;
- what part of this policy you believe has been broken;
- any relevant supporting information.
Businesses can flag reviews from their dashboard. Clients can contact VereLocal if they need a review removed or corrected.
Contact VereLocal