Find an Engineer Reviews Policy

1.1 This Policy explains how Whitegoods Help collects, checks, moderates, publishes, displays, calculates, investigates and removes reviews concerning businesses listed through Whitegoods Help - Find an Engineer.

1.2 Find an Engineer is operated by:

Whitegoods Help Ltd
Company number: 14702046
Registered in England and Wales
Registered office: 4 Calder Close, Calder Park, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF4 3BA
Email: help@whitegoodshelp.co.uk

1.3 This Policy applies to:

• people submitting reviews;
• listed businesses;
• business owners, workers and representatives;
• people responding to or reporting reviews; and
• anyone reading or relying on review information.

1.4 This Policy forms part of the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use and the Find an Engineer Business Listing Agreement.

1.5 If this Policy conflicts with the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use, the Terms of Use take priority unless this Policy addresses the review matter more specifically.

In this Policy:

"Business" means a repair business listed or formerly listed through Find an Engineer.

"Review" means a rating, written review or other customer feedback intended for publication.

"Reviewer" means the person submitting a Review.

"Review Information" includes individual Reviews, average ratings, review counts, rating distributions, rankings, percentages, summaries and other information derived from Reviews.

A "Fake Review" is a Review that does not represent a genuine experience or is otherwise falsely presented as genuine.

An "Incentivised Review" is a Review submitted in connection with money, a discount, refund, gift, free service, competition entry, benefit or other incentive.

A "Concealed Incentivised Review" is an Incentivised Review whose incentive has not been clearly disclosed to Whitegoods Help and to readers.

3.1 We aim to present a fair and useful account of genuine customer experiences.

3.2 We will:

• take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove Fake Reviews, Concealed Incentivised Reviews and misleading Review Information;
• apply appropriate checks to positive and negative Reviews;
• publish genuine, relevant and lawful negative as well as positive Reviews;
• not allow a Business to edit, hide or remove a Review merely because it is critical;
• not make publication of a negative Review dependent on the Reviewer first completing a complaints process;
• not prevent a Review merely because the customer received a refund or the dispute was later resolved;
• explain how ratings, review counts and rankings are calculated;
• identify paid placement and material commercial relationships where required;
• retain appropriate moderation and evidential records;
• correct ratings or Review Information affected by a removed Review; and
• review the effectiveness of our fake-review controls periodically.

3.3 Moderation does not mean that Whitegoods Help guarantees the truth of every Review.

4.1 You may submit a Review if:

• you are at least 16;
• you had a genuine, first-hand experience with the Business;
• you are reviewing the correct Business;
• the Review concerns that experience;
• you submit it in your own capacity; and
• you describe the experience honestly.

4.2 A genuine experience may include:

• making a repair enquiry;
• requesting or receiving a quotation;
• arranging an appointment;
• a Business attending or failing to attend;
• receiving a diagnosis;
• receiving repair or maintenance work;
• purchasing parts as part of a repair;
• cancellation;
• payment or refund handling;
• warranty or return-visit handling; or
• customer service connected with the proposed or completed repair.

4.3 A completed or successful repair is not required. A customer may review a quotation, cancellation, failed attendance or other genuine interaction.

4.4 You must not submit a Review if:

• you did not have the experience described;
• the experience belonged solely to another person and you were not sufficiently involved;
• you are reviewing your own Business;
• you are acting on behalf of the Business without disclosure;
• you are a competitor seeking to damage the Business;
• you have been asked to submit false or misleading feedback;
• you are impersonating another person;
• the Review duplicates one you have already submitted about the same experience; or
• the Review is intended primarily to manipulate a rating or ranking.

4.5 A person may assist a vulnerable or disabled customer to submit a Review, provided that:

• the Review represents the customer’s genuine experience;
• the assistance does not alter the customer’s intended meaning;
• the relationship is disclosed to Whitegoods Help if requested; and
• only one Review is submitted for the experience.

5.1 We may ask for:

• a public display name;
• a private contact email;
• a numerical rating;
• written feedback;
• the appliance concerned;
• an approximate service or interaction date;
• the general area in which the service occurred;
• confirmation of a genuine first-hand experience; and
• acceptance of this Policy and the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use.

5.2 A private email address or verification information will not normally be published.

5.3 The Reviewer’s chosen display name, rating, Review text, Review date, appliance information and general area may be published.

5.4 We may shorten or redact a name where reasonably necessary to protect privacy. We recommend using a first name and surname initial rather than a complete legal name.

5.5 Unless clearly labelled otherwise, the displayed date is the month and year in which the Review was submitted or originally collected, not necessarily the date on which the repair occurred.

5.6 You must not submit another person’s contact information, precise address, payment information or other private information without a proper lawful reason.

By submitting a Review, you confirm that:

• the Review describes a genuine experience;
• the information is accurate to the best of your knowledge;
• statements presented as facts are honestly believed to be true;
• opinions are genuinely held and based on your experience;
• you have not omitted a relationship or incentive that could mislead readers;
• you have the right to submit the content;
• the Review does not infringe another person’s rights;
• you accept this Policy and the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use; and
• you understand that the Review is intended for public display.

You remain responsible for these confirmations if an AI or another person helped you write the Review.

7.1 Fake Reviews are prohibited.

7.2 No person or Business may:

• submit or arrange a Review for an experience that did not occur;
• buy or sell Reviews;
• commission someone to submit a Fake Review;
• create accounts or identities to manipulate ratings;
• submit Reviews through employees, owners, family members or agents without clear disclosure;
• submit a negative Review about a competitor without a genuine customer experience;
• use automation, bots or AI to mass-produce Reviews;
• copy a Review from another website and falsely present it as a new first-hand submission;
• divide one experience into multiple Reviews to alter a rating;
• coordinate a campaign intended to inflate or damage a Business’s score;
• pressure a customer to leave a particular rating;
• threaten or disadvantage a customer for submitting genuine criticism;
• make complaint resolution conditional on removing or changing a genuine Review; or
• falsely report Reviews to suppress lawful criticism.

7.3 A Reviewer may use an AI or assistive writing tool to help express a genuine experience. The Reviewer remains responsible for the accuracy and substance of the Review. AI-generated material must not invent or exaggerate events.

8.1 A Business must not offer money, discounts, gifts, free services, refunds, competition entries or another benefit conditional on:

• submitting a positive Review;
• giving a particular rating;
• changing a rating;
• removing a negative Review;
• not publishing a genuine Review; or
• making particular statements.

8.2 A neutral invitation to review a genuine experience is permitted if:

• positive and negative feedback is invited equally;
• no particular rating or sentiment is requested;
• the customer is not selected because the Business expects favourable feedback;
• no benefit depends on what the Review says; and
• the customer is not discouraged from describing a negative experience.

8.3 Any incentive connected with a Review must be disclosed clearly to Whitegoods Help before publication.

8.4 Where an incentive is lawful and does not depend on sentiment, we may publish the Review with a clear disclosure.

8.5 Concealed Incentivised Reviews are prohibited and will not be published or will be removed.

8.6 We may refuse to publish an Incentivised Review where disclosure would not adequately prevent it from misleading readers.

9.1 A Review should:

• identify the correct Business;
• concern a genuine experience;
• be relevant to the service or interaction;
• distinguish material facts from opinion;
• explain the basis for serious criticism;
• be reasonably understandable; and
• avoid unnecessary personal information.

9.2 A Review must not contain:

• a statement the Reviewer knows is false;
• fabricated or materially misleading information;
• an allegation unrelated to the customer experience;
• threats, blackmail, harassment or abuse;
• hateful or unlawfully discriminatory material;
• obscene or sexually explicit material;
• another person’s private address, telephone number, email address or other unnecessary personal information;
• payment-card, banking, password or security information;
• confidential information the Reviewer is not entitled to disclose;
• material that infringes copyright, privacy or another person’s rights;
• impersonation;
• spam, advertising or affiliate links;
• malware or a harmful link;
• an offer to change or remove the Review in exchange for money or another benefit; or
• other unlawful content.

9.3 Strong criticism is not prohibited merely because it is unwelcome. A Reviewer may describe a poor experience and express an honestly held opinion.

9.4 Criminal, fraudulent or similarly serious allegations require an appropriate factual basis. We may request supporting information or remove unnecessary allegations while allowing the underlying service criticism to remain.

9.5 A Review should concern the Business named. Where the service involved a subcontractor, network or associated business, the Review should explain which organisations were involved where reasonably possible.

10.1 Reviews may consist of:

• Reviews submitted directly through Find an Engineer;
• Reviews collected through an earlier Whitegoods Help or associated system;
• historical Reviews lawfully transferred with the Whitegoods Help business;
• Reviews supplied or syndicated from another identified source where Whitegoods Help is entitled to display them; or
• Reviews collected through another process clearly described to readers.

10.2 We will not label a Review as a "verified booking" merely because it is published. Find an Engineer does not ordinarily arrange the repair and therefore may not hold a booking record.

10.3 Where we use terms such as "verified", "confirmed customer" or similar, the accompanying explanation will identify what was actually checked.

10.4 Verification of an interaction does not prove that every statement or opinion in the Review is correct.

10.5 Reviews from materially different sources or verification processes should be labelled or explained where necessary to avoid misleading readers.

10.6 A Business must not upload or transfer Reviews from another source unless it has the necessary rights and a reasonable basis for believing they are genuine, accurately attributed and lawfully supplied.

11.1 Reviews submitted directly through Find an Engineer are moderated before publication.

11.2 Our checks may include:

• confirming required fields have been completed;
• confirming a contact email or other contact method;
• reviewing the Review for prohibited content;
• checking whether the Reviewer has submitted duplicate or unusual Reviews;
• considering technical and behavioural information connected with the submission;
• comparing submission patterns across Reviewers and Businesses;
• checking for suspicious timing, language, account or rating patterns;
• considering whether the named Business could have provided the service;
• asking the Reviewer or Business for information;
• requesting evidence of a genuine interaction; and
• using automated tools to identify suspicious activity.

11.3 We do not disclose every fraud-detection rule because doing so could help people evade the controls.

11.4 Evidence may include:

• an invoice or receipt;
• an appointment confirmation;
• correspondence with the Business;
• a quotation;
• proof of payment with unnecessary information redacted;
• evidence of a visit or cancellation; or
• other material showing that a genuine interaction occurred.

11.5 Evidence will be requested proportionately. Not every Review will require documentary evidence.

11.6 Positive and negative Reviews are subject to checks of appropriate rigour. A positive Review is not presumed genuine merely because it benefits the Business, and a negative Review is not presumed false merely because it is disputed.

11.7 Review checks reduce risk but cannot guarantee that every published Review is genuine or completely accurate.

12.1 Some Reviews may have been collected before the current Find an Engineer service, under previous ownership or through earlier systems.

12.2 A historical Review may remain published and be included in ratings only where Whitegoods Help has a reasonable basis for believing that:

• it records a genuine customer experience;
• it is attributed to the correct Business;
• its date and source are not presented misleadingly;
• Whitegoods Help is entitled to publish it; and
• no identified issue requires restriction or removal.

12.3 Historical Reviews must not be presented as Find an Engineer verified bookings.

12.4 Where historical provenance or verification differs materially from current Reviews, we will provide an appropriate explanation or label.

12.5 We may audit historical Reviews and request information from a Business or previous data source.

12.6 If we cannot establish a reasonable basis for continuing to publish or count a historical Review, we may exclude it from public display, ratings and rankings.

12.7 A change of ownership, trading name or legal entity may affect whether earlier Reviews remain correctly attributed. We may transfer, relabel, separate or remove Reviews where reasonably necessary to prevent readers from being misled.

13.1 After moderation, we may:

• publish the Review;
• ask for clarification or supporting information;
• redact personal or confidential information;
• remove a limited prohibited passage;
• withhold the Review while proportionate checks are completed;
• reject a Review that breaches this Policy; or
• refer a serious issue for legal or specialist review.

13.2 Genuine, relevant and lawful Reviews should be published without unreasonable delay once appropriate checks are complete.

13.3 We will not withhold or delay a genuine negative Review merely because:

• it gives a low rating;
• the Business disputes it;
• a complaint remains unresolved;
• the customer received a refund;
• the Business offered remedial work; or
• publication may be commercially inconvenient.

13.4 A Business does not have a right to approve a Review before publication.

13.5 We may correct obvious formatting, redact prohibited information or make limited editorial changes that do not alter the Review’s meaning or sentiment.

13.6 We will not knowingly:

• change the numerical rating;
• turn criticism into praise;
• make a Review more negative;
• add an allegation the Reviewer did not make; or
• misrepresent what the Reviewer intended.

13.7 We retain the original submission and an appropriate moderation record, subject to our retention policy.

14.1 A Business’s displayed average rating is the arithmetic mean of all its published numerical ratings, rounded to one decimal place.

14.2 Each published Review counts equally. A Review is not weighted differently because:

• it is positive or negative;
• the Business pays Whitegoods Help;
• the Reviewer spent more or less money;
• the Review is longer;
• the Business disagrees with it; or
• the Review was submitted through a particular permitted source.

14.3 The displayed review count is the number of published Reviews included in that Business’s rating.

14.4 Marketplace-wide figures are calculated as follows:

• "Reviews published" means the number of individual Reviews currently included in the marketplace dataset;
• "Average rating" means the arithmetic mean of the published individual numerical ratings across the marketplace, rounded to one decimal place;
• "Rated five star" means the percentage of those published Reviews carrying a five-star rating, rounded as displayed; and
• "Businesses reviewed" means the number of distinct listed Businesses with at least one published Review.

14.5 A Review that is rejected, removed or temporarily excluded during an investigation does not count towards ratings, percentages, review counts or rankings while excluded.

14.6 If a Review is restored, its rating may be restored to the relevant calculations.

14.7 The "Top rated" presentation includes only Businesses with at least 15 published Reviews.

14.8 Eligible Businesses are ordered by:

1. highest average rating;
2. where average ratings are equal, highest number of published Reviews; and
3. where both remain equal, business name in alphabetical order.

14.9 Paid status, commercial relationships and listing fees do not improve a Business’s customer rating or position within the "Top rated" presentation.

14.10 Other directory search results may use factors unrelated to customer rating, such as postcode coverage, service relevance, availability or clearly labelled paid prominence. Those results must not be described as a customer-rating ranking unless that is how they are ordered.

14.11 Review figures may change when a Review is published, corrected, removed, excluded or restored.

14.12 A marketplace-wide rating does not become the rating of an individual Business. Each Review remains attributed to the Business concerned.

15.1 Where response functionality is available, a Business may respond to a Review.

15.2 A response must:

• be professional and relevant;
• address the Review rather than attack the Reviewer;
• not threaten, harass or shame the Reviewer;
• not reveal private customer information;
• not make unsupported allegations;
• not falsely deny a documented relationship;
• not pressure the Reviewer to remove or alter genuine criticism;
• not offer a benefit conditional on changing the Review; and
• comply with this Policy and the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use.

15.3 A Business response represents the Business’s position, not that of Whitegoods Help.

15.4 We may moderate, restrict or remove a Business response under the same general content principles applied to Reviews.

15.5 Resolving a complaint does not automatically remove the original Review. The Reviewer may ask to update the Review to describe later events.

16.1 A Reviewer, Business or other affected person may report a Review by emailing help@whitegoodshelp.co.uk with the subject "Review report".

16.2 The report should include:

• the Review URL;
• the Business concerned;
• the particular words or rating disputed;
• the Policy provision said to be breached;
• an explanation of the concern;
• relevant supporting evidence; and
• the reporter’s name and contact details.

16.3 A Business cannot require removal merely because it disagrees with the Reviewer’s account or opinion.

16.4 A legal threat, denial or assertion that a Review is defamatory does not automatically establish that it should be removed.

16.5 Where a report alleges defamation, privacy infringement or another legal wrong, the information required by the complaints provisions of the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use should also be supplied.

16.6 We may ask the Reviewer and Business for proportionate information and give each an opportunity to respond where appropriate.

16.7 We will consider:

• whether a genuine interaction occurred;
• whether the correct Business is identified;
• available documentary and technical evidence;
• whether a statement is presented as fact or opinion;
• whether an opinion has an adequate factual basis;
• whether information is materially misleading;
• whether prohibited personal information is included;
• whether an incentive or relevant relationship was disclosed;
• patterns suggesting manipulation; and
• the rights and legitimate interests of both parties and readers.

16.8 Knowingly false, repetitive, retaliatory or abusive reports may result in restrictions under the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use.

17.1 A Review will not automatically be removed because it has been challenged.

17.2 During an investigation, we may:

• leave the Review published;
• mark it as under review;
• restrict it temporarily;
• exclude it temporarily from rating calculations;
• redact a specific passage;
• request supporting information; or
• take another proportionate interim measure.

17.3 We will consider the seriousness and credibility of the concern, the available evidence, potential harm and the risk of misleading readers.

17.4 Investigations should be completed within a reasonable period. Genuine Reviews, particularly genuine negative Reviews, must not be suppressed through unnecessary delay.

17.5 Failure by a Reviewer to provide requested evidence may be considered but does not automatically prove that a Review was fake.

17.6 Where Whitegoods Help has no reliable means of contacting a historical Reviewer, we will consider the available provenance and other evidence before deciding whether the Review can remain.

18.1 We may restrict or remove a Review where we reasonably conclude that it:

• is fake;
• does not concern a genuine experience;
• concerns the wrong Business;
• materially misrepresents its source or origin;
• is a Concealed Incentivised Review;
• contains materially false or misleading information;
• results from rating manipulation;
• duplicates another Review;
• contains prohibited personal or confidential information;
• contains unlawful or rights-infringing material;
• is subject to a binding legal requirement; or
• otherwise materially breaches this Policy.

18.2 Where possible, we may remove only the prohibited part and retain the genuine remainder.

18.3 We may restore a Review if later information shows that restriction or removal was not justified.

18.4 When a Review is removed or excluded, we will correct affected ratings, review counts, percentages, rankings and summaries.

18.5 Depending on seriousness, frequency and available evidence, action against a Reviewer or Business may include:

• a warning;
• enhanced review checks;
• loss of review-submission or response privileges;
• account restriction or closure;
• removal of affected Reviews;
• temporary removal of Reviews from a Business profile;
• a public warning where necessary to prevent consumers being misled;
• suspension or removal of a Business listing;
• termination under the Business Listing Agreement;
• preservation of evidence;
• referral to a regulator or law-enforcement body where appropriate; or
• legal action.

18.6 Sanctions will be proportionate and may escalate for repeated or deliberate conduct.

18.7 We may notify the Competition and Markets Authority where evidence indicates systematic prohibited review activity by a Business.

19.1 A Reviewer, Business or person directly affected by a moderation decision may request a further review by replying within 30 days of being notified.

19.2 The request should explain:

• why the original decision is said to be incorrect;
• what evidence was overlooked or misunderstood; and
• the outcome requested.

19.3 Where reasonably practicable, the further review will be conducted by someone who was not solely responsible for the original decision.

19.4 We may decline repeated requests that provide no material new information.

19.5 This process does not prevent a person from exercising legal rights or contacting an appropriate regulator.

20.1 A Review is submitted for public display to inform other users.

20.2 A complaint asks the repair Business to investigate or resolve a service problem.

20.3 A customer may both complain to the Business and submit an honest Review.

20.4 We will not treat a negative Review solely as a private complaint in order to prevent publication.

20.5 Complaints about workmanship, diagnosis, attendance, charges, payment, property damage, parts, warranties or engineer conduct should normally be made directly to the Business that supplied the service.

20.6 Reporting a concern to Whitegoods Help may cause us to investigate a Review or listing. It does not make Whitegoods Help:

• a party to the repair contract;
• responsible for the repair;
• an insurer;
• an adjudicator; or
• an alternative dispute-resolution provider.

21.1 Our Privacy and Cookie Policy explains how we use Reviewer, verification, technical and moderation information.

21.2 Information published with a Review may include:

• the display name;
• numerical rating;
• Review text;
• displayed date;
• appliance information;
• general area; and
• the Business reviewed.

21.3 Private contact details and documentary evidence will not normally be published.

21.4 Evidence should be redacted where possible to remove unnecessary payment, address or other personal information.

21.5 We may retain:

• original Review submissions;
• contact and verification information;
• moderation decisions;
• evidence supplied by Reviewers or Businesses;
• reports, responses and appeals;
• technical fraud-prevention records; and
• records of sanctions.

21.6 Records may be retained where reasonably necessary for moderation, fraud prevention, legal compliance, risk assessment and defending claims, subject to our retention policy and applicable data-protection law.

21.7 Do not include information in a public Review that you do not wish to be publicly accessible.

22.1 Reviews and Business responses are User Content under the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use.

22.2 A Review represents the Reviewer’s account and opinion. A Business response represents the Business’s account and opinion.

22.3 Publication, moderation or verification does not mean that Whitegoods Help adopts, guarantees or endorses every statement.

22.4 Ratings and Reviews are one source of information. Readers should not treat them as a guarantee of a Business’s future conduct or the outcome of a repair.

22.5 Reviewers and Businesses remain responsible for the content they submit and for complying with applicable law.

22.6 Rights granted to Whitegoods Help in submitted content are set out in the User Content provisions of the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use.

22.7 Whitegoods Help’s responsibility is governed by the Whitegoods Help Terms of Use. Nothing in this Policy excludes liability or legal rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

23.1 We will assess the risks of Fake Reviews, Concealed Incentivised Reviews and misleading Review Information arising through Find an Engineer.

23.2 The assessment may consider:

• how Reviews are collected;
• historical and imported Review sources;
• unusual activity involving particular Businesses;
• positive and negative rating patterns;
• duplicate content;
• technical and behavioural indicators;
• complaints and user reports;
• previous investigations;
• emerging manipulation methods; and
• whether current controls remain effective.

23.3 We will review the assessment and the effectiveness of our controls periodically and when a material new risk is identified.

23.4 We may change verification, moderation and fraud-prevention measures in response to the assessment.

23.5 Appropriate internal records of assessments, investigations and actions will be retained.

24.1 We may update this Policy to reflect changes in:

• law or regulatory guidance;
• review functionality;
• review sources;
• rating and ranking methods;
• moderation practices;
• identified risks; or
• the Whitegoods Help Services.

24.2 The current version will state its effective date.

24.3 Material changes will not be used retrospectively to manipulate genuine ratings or suppress lawful negative Reviews.

24.4 If the calculation of a rating or ranking changes materially, the revised method will be explained before or when the change takes effect.

Questions, Review reports and requests for further review:

Email: help@whitegoodshelp.co.uk

Post:

Whitegoods Help Ltd
4 Calder Close
Calder Park
Wakefield
West Yorkshire
WF4 3BA