Introduction
This review policy has been created to provide clear guidelines for collecting, publishing and managing customer reviews and experiences on both our own platform CompanySpotter, as well as external websites. Our goal is to collect and share honest and transparent feedback so that potential customers and users can make informed decisions about our services.
By using our platform and posting reviews, you agree to this review policy and the processing of your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy. We value your feedback and strive to provide a fair and transparent environment for customers to share their experiences.
1. Collection of customer reviews
1.1. Active collection: after purchasing a product or service, we may send customers an email asking them to leave a review. We encourage customers to share both positive and negative experiences.
1.2. Passive collection: customers can leave reviews on their own initiative on our platform and external platforms. We encourage customers to share both positive and negative experiences.
2. Publication of customer reviews
2.1. Our platform: all customer reviews can be published on the corresponding product or service page, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. We reserve the right to remove reviews that are offensive, discriminatory, defamatory or otherwise in violation of these terms and conditions. Please see article 2.3 for further explanation of this.
2.2. External Websites: Customers may also leave reviews on external platforms (including Google and Trustpilot). We have no control over the initial publication of reviews on these websites, but encourage customers to provide honest and constructive feedback. We require both customers who leave a review, as well as the external platforms that facilitate the generation and publication of reviews, to at all times at least comply with applicable laws and to exercise all due diligence to verify that it represents genuine customer experiences. We reserve the right, if the situation so requires, to remove (or have removed) reviews if they are not posted in compliance with applicable law. See article 7 of this review policy for further explanation of this.
2.3. Customer reviews on our own platform as well as those on other external platforms must always (at least) meet the following conditions:
- A review (whether positive or negative) may not be posted if a reward is received or offered for it. Incentives include discounts, loyalty points, gifts, coupons and other rewards. Incentives undermine the integrity of reviews.
- You are prohibited from posting reviews that claim (or suggest) to be from actual customers, without an actual customer relationship that exists or may have existed.
- Do not fabricate experiences or write reviews on behalf of others. If you work for, are closely associated, or are a competitor, you may not review our company. CompanySpotter's own employees are not permitted to post reviews either.
- We expect you to act in a respectful manner. Keep it clean. Don't share anything that is harmful, hateful, discriminatory, defamatory or obscene. Don't lie, intimidate, blackmail, threaten anyone or do anything illegal.
- Do not engage in slander or libel. Slander is the making of false and damaging statements about a person/organization, while libel refers to spreading these statements through written or published media. Both cases involve intentional harm to a person's reputation or character. In accordance with civil law, these can result in liability and compensation.
- Keep your feedback relevant. You should not advertise other companies or products in your reviews. Posting links (especially commercial in nature) are not intended.
- It is never allowed to include personal information of others. This includes names, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and any info that could be used to track, identify, contact or harass someone. We want everyone's privacy and safety to be respected and protected.
3. Reviews on our own platform
3.1. Verification: to ensure the reliability of reviews, we verify the identity of customers who leave a review on our webshop.
3.2. Comments: we strive to respond to every customer review, both positive and negative. Our team will deal with criticism professionally and constructively and try to solve any problems.
3.3. Escalation: if a customer shares a negative experience, we will escalate this information internally to investigate and improve the situation.
3.4. Reporting: we monitor and analyze customer reviews to continuously improve our products and services and address any issues.
4. Reviews on external websites
4.1. Monitoring: we actively monitor customer reviews on external websites such as ( i.e.) Google and Trustpilot. This enables us to respond to feedback in a timely manner and gain insight into customer experiences outside of our own platform.
4.2. Comments: As with reviews on our webshop, we strive to respond to each customer review on external websites and resolve any issues.
5. Confidentiality and data protection
5.1. Personal data: when collecting, publishing and managing customer reviews, we will protect customers' personal data in accordance with our privacy policy and applicable data protection laws.
5.2. Anonymity: customers may choose to post their reviews anonymously. In this case, we will only publish non-identifiable information, such as the nature of the product or service purchased and general feedback. If we are unable to confidently link the anonymous review to a genuine customer experience, we reserve the right to remove it (or have it removed).
5.3. Removal of personal data: customers may request to remove their personal data from a review at any time. To do so, they must contact our customer service department, which will take the necessary steps to fulfill the request.
6. Modifications to the review policy
6.1. Changes: we reserve the right to modify this review policy at any time. Such changes will take effect as soon as they are published on our web shop.
6.2. Notification: if significant changes are made to our review policy, we will notify customers via email or by posting a notice on our webshop.
7. Context working method review policy
Our policy is fully in line with the Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, see: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/NL/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02005L0029-20220528&from=EN and the Guidelines on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and the Council concerning unfair business-to-business commercial practices in the internal market, see: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/NL/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021XC1229(05). Below we provide a brief summary of the content of these directives.
Posting reviews of products and services is a common practice on the Internet. However, it is important that these reviews come from real customers who have used or purchased the product. It is prohibited to post reviews that claim (or suggest) to be from customers without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to verify that the reviews are actually from customers. This applies both to the merchant itself and to third parties who process solicited or unsolicited reviews. The rules on this should prevent merchants from misleading their potential customers by inaccurate positive reviews or from being unfairly victimized by false negative reviews. Reviews must in all cases come from real users so that they give a realistic picture.
Merchants and review platforms may not claim or suggest that the reviews they make available are from real users unless they take reasonable and proportionate measures that increase the likelihood that these reviews reflect the experiences of real users. Thus, the merchant's presentation of reviews should clearly indicate whether they are from real users and what measures have been taken to verify this. The reviews need not necessarily be presented in these terms - more general references to "customer/user" reviews may also lead to them being interpreted as reviews from other customers who have used or purchased the product.
When taking steps to verify the origin of reviews, the merchant's business model, the scope of the merchant's activity and the level of risk must be taken into account. For example, online marketplaces that present reviews from their own customers should apply different measures than specialized review services that solicit reviews from the general public without having a contractual relationship. Large platforms with a high risk of fraudulent activity and larger resources must devote more resources to countering review fraud than smaller merchants. However, steps to verify the origin of reviews should also be proportionate in that they should not make posting reviews excessively difficult, discouraging those who have actually purchased or used the product from submitting reviews.
8. Contact
Questions or comments: if you have any questions or comments about this review policy, please contact our customer service department at [email protected].