Effective date: 25.06.2026

Reviews are at the heart of VerifiedPlumbers.co.uk. This policy explains who can leave a review, how we check that reviews are genuine, how we moderate and remove them, how to report one, and how we present review information. It applies to everyone who uses the Site, and forms part of our Terms of Use.

We are committed to taking **reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent, detect, and remove fake reviews**, and to **never presenting review information in a misleading way**. This reflects our obligations under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

1. Two kinds of review information

The Site shows two distinct things, and we keep them clearly separate:

– **VerifiedPlumbers Reviews** — reviews left directly on our Site by customers, covering their own experience with a plumber. These are described in the rest of this policy.
– **Independent review scores** — review ratings gathered from other platforms (such as Google, Checkatrade, or Trustpilot). These are **a point-in-time snapshot, not live data.** We show the date we last checked them (for example “Independent reviews checked June 2026”). We do not control these external scores; we display them as a summary and show when they were captured, so you are not misled into thinking they are current to the minute.

2. Who can leave a VerifiedPlumbers Review

2.1 Anyone who has genuinely used a plumber listed with us can leave a review of that plumber. You do not need an account.

2.2 To leave a review, you must **confirm (attest) that the plumber actually did work for you, and roughly when**. A review must be about your own, real experience. You must not review a plumber you have not used, review on someone else’s behalf as if it were your own, or review your own business or a competitor.

2.3 You must not be paid or otherwise incentivised to leave a review, and you must not leave a review on behalf of, or at the request of, the plumber.

3. What we collect, and how we verify reviews

3.1 When you leave a review we ask for your ratings, your comment, your name, your email address, a contact phone number, optionally one photo, and roughly when the work was done. How we handle this is set out in our Privacy Policy. In short:

– your **name** and **comment** are shown publicly;
– your **email** is used only to contact you about the review and is not shown publicly;
– your **phone number is used only to validate that the review is genuine.** It is **never shown publicly, and never shared with the plumber.** We keep it for **[60] days** and then permanently anonymise it.

3.2 **Why we ask for a phone number.** It is our evidence that a review is real. We do not phone every reviewer. Our checks are **reactive and proportionate**: if a review is reported or looks suspicious, the contact details let us verify that it came from a real customer. This is how we keep fake reviews — whether fake **positive** reviews planted by a plumber, or fake **negative** reviews planted by a rival — off the Site.

3.3 **”Verified enquiry” label.** If you contacted the plumber through our “Get Quotes” tool before reviewing, our system may automatically recognise that and add a permanent **”Verified enquiry”** label to your review. It means an enquiry genuinely came through the Site. It does not reveal any of your details, and its absence does not mean a review is fake — many genuine customers find a plumber another way.

4. How we moderate: authenticity, not agreement

4.1 **We moderate for authenticity, not for whether a review is positive or negative, or whether we or the plumber agree with it.**

– A **genuine** review stays — even if it is critical, and even if the plumber disputes it. Honest negative feedback is a normal part of a trustworthy directory.
– A **fake or fraudulent** review is removed — whether it is positive or negative. Examples include reviews that are not from a real customer, reviews that have been bought, incentivised, or solicited, reviews planted to attack a competitor, and reviews written by the plumber or someone connected to them.

4.2 We do **not** remove a review simply because a plumber asks us to, because it is unflattering, or because it lowers a plumber’s score. We also do not allow a plumber to offer or condition a refund, a repair, or any other benefit on a customer removing or changing a genuine review — that is prohibited, and we treat it as serious misconduct.

4.3 We may **remove or edit** a review (and, where appropriate, contact the reviewer) where it:

– is not from a genuine customer, or does not reflect a real experience;
– is fake, bought, incentivised, or solicited;
– is fraudulent, or planted to manipulate a plumber’s reputation (up or down);
– is unlawful, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, obscene, or harassing;
– contains another person’s personal information, or confidential information;
– is about the wrong plumber, or is not genuinely about the plumber’s work; or
– otherwise breaches our Terms of Use or this policy.

Where we only need to fix formatting or remove a small offending part, we may edit rather than remove. We are not obliged to publish or keep any particular review.

4.4 **We do not arbitrate the underlying dispute.** Moderating a review for authenticity is **not** the same as deciding who is right about the work. We check whether a review is genuine; we do not act as judge or mediator of the work dispute itself. That remains between the customer and the plumber.

5. Reporting a review

5.1 If you believe a review is fake, unlawful, or otherwise breaches this policy, you can report it. There is a reporting link at the foot of the reviews on each plumber’s profile; it lets you pick which review you are reporting and tell us why (for example: not a genuine customer, wrong plumber, offensive or unlawful, or something else).

5.2 When we receive a report, we review it and may contact the reviewer (using the details in section 3) to check the review is genuine. Based on what we find, we may keep, edit, or remove the review. We aim to deal with reports promptly and fairly. We may also act on our own initiative where we detect a problem, without waiting for a report.

5.3 Plumbers can report reviews the same way. A plumber reporting a review must act in good faith; repeatedly reporting genuine reviews in an attempt to remove honest criticism is itself a breach of our policies.

6. A plumber’s right to respond

6.1 We notify a plumber when a review is left about them, and a plumber may **publicly respond** to a review in a professional manner. A response must comply with our Terms of Use and must not include abuse, threats, or another person’s personal information.

6.2 A plumber who believes a review is fake or breaches this policy should **report** it (section 5) rather than pressure the reviewer. Attempting to identify, contact, intimidate, or retaliate against a reviewer is a serious breach of our Plumber Listing Terms.

7. Action against review fraud

Submitting, soliciting, incentivising, or facilitating fake reviews, or trying to suppress or manipulate genuine reviews, is prohibited by law and by our policies. Where a plumber is involved in review fraud, we may suspend or remove their listing and decline to relist them, as set out in our **Plumber Listing Terms**. Where a reviewer abuses the system (for example by planting fake reviews), we may remove their reviews and block further submissions. In serious cases we may report matters to the relevant authorities.

8. How reviews are shown

8.1 **Publishing.** By default, a genuine review is published promptly after it is submitted. We may hold a review for checking before it appears where we operate the Site in that mode, or where a review is flagged for review.

8.2 **Scores.** A plumber’s VerifiedPlumbers rating is based on the genuine reviews they have received. To avoid showing a misleading score from a tiny number of reviews, a plumber’s **review summary appears on their listing card once they have at least [5] reviews**; individual reviews are visible on the plumber’s profile from the first review. We do not hand-pick which genuine reviews to show or hide to flatter a plumber.

8.3 **Independent scores.** As explained in section 1, scores gathered from other platforms are shown as a dated snapshot, with the date we last checked them, so they are not mistaken for live figures.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be posted on the Site, with the effective date shown above. Questions can be sent to **[contact email]**.