How do we check reviews?
New regulations have made it even more important to be able to check reviews for authenticity, both for companies and platforms. We very much welcome this. Only authentic and independent reviews have added value for consumers. As a 100% independent, free platform, we question the reliability of reviews on paid review sites. Companies pay a hefty monthly fee to use the functionalities of such sites and to be able to moderate reviews. We do not consider this the best way to form a truly independent opinion about a company.
It is good to know that we have no interest in the placement of either positive and negative reviews. There is no reason for us as a platform to present a better or worse view of reality, because we are not paid by companies for our services. We maintain this platform exclusively with affiliate income (a commission on purchases after a referral through our platform) and income from advertisements displayed on our website. We do not have any financial agreements or subscriptions with companies and do not offer the possibility to remove or modify reviews by companies for a fee. This means we can guarantee an authentic and independent review site with the most reliable view possible of the companies shown.
This is what we do:
Both for review writers on our platform and for the companies we showcase, additional functions have been added to be able to check the authenticity and reliability of our reviews even more accurately. For example, we ask you to leave an order reference, this can be order numbers, invoice numbers, shipping codes, etc. In this way we can link the experience to a reference of the relevant company. In case of doubt about the authenticity of a review, if this reference is not provided or incorrect, this may be a reason to remove the review. If the reference is correct and the review meets our guidelines, there is no basis for a company to have a review removed.
When writing a review, the writer must confirm that they have written this review truthfully based on a real experience. We take this very seriously. If it turns out that, despite approval, a review is still false, the writer is excluded from sharing experiences on our platform. We may email a request for additional information about a review if doubts have arisen about its authenticity. If there is no response within 7 days, or no convincing evidence is provided, this may be grounds for removing a review from our platform.
We do not use a “closed loop” system. This means that companies can automatically or manually invite customers based on a purchase in their online shop, for example, and that these are the only consumers who can write a review about a company. We believe that this method can encourage abuse, for example if companies decide to only send an invitation to customers of orders that were fulfilled without issues. A review of a consumer who has not yet made a purchase can also be of great value. For example, contact with customer service or the approach by the staff in a store. Providing an order number is not possible in such a case, which is why this field is optional. If you do have an order number or other reference, we ask you to always fill this in when writing your review.
In addition to these checks, we have a number of automatic monitoring systems in place which, for example, check that a person is not writing multiple reviews in quick succession, that fake email addresses aren’t being used or that suspicious activity is not coming from the same IP address. In addition, each and every review is verified manually by a moderator. In contrast to many platforms, we do not edit reviews, as we consider this to be inauthentic. A review will be posted 100% as written, or it will be deleted altogether if not all conditions are met. We do not quarantine reviews first (provided they meet the terms of use, click HERE) and you will never find an edited review on this platform.
A company’s overall review score is simply the sum of all reviews divided by the number of reviews. So if a company has 2 reviews, one of which is 2 stars (4/10) and one with 5 stars (10/10), the score will be 3.5 stars (7/10).
What can you do:
Would you like to report a review? Please use the contact form on this page and the review will be tested against our guidelines and checked for authenticity. You can also use this form if you wish to delete a review you have written. Please make sure to use the same email address as entered when writing the review, because a confirmation will be sent here to prevent misuse.
Checks by companies:
Due to regulations, it may be necessary for companies to test reviews for authenticity. We are very much in favour of this. Because not every customer of a company automatically receives an invitation on our platform, the amount of reviews is often much smaller than with paid platforms. As a result, reviews are actually read and for the same reason, they offer real added value for your company. You can submit a request to receive a notification for a new review. Every review is always checked in the manner written above. If you still have doubts about the authenticity of a review after your own assessment, you can submit these reports by completing the contact form on this page. We will then check the review manually, ask the writer for additional evidence if necessary, and make a decision on whether or not to remove the review. Please note: If a company repeatedly identifies misuse of the platform, this can be reported on the company page. We take the authenticity of the reviews on our platform very seriously and ask companies to do the same.