Content Integrity- Keeping the Review Platform Fair

TipTopAdvisor is a place for locals and businesses to connect. Part of this connection experience is our review platform. Reviews are essential for businesses, both to showcase their relationship with customers online and help improve their search engine ranking.

However, we know in the heat of the moment, things can be said, and reviews can be left that aren’t necessarily fair to the business. To maintain an even playing field (and in accordance with The Competition and Consumer Act 2010), there are a few things to remember, both as the person leaving a review and a business receiving reviews. Our in-house review management team upholds the following review guidelines and policies. This team assesses each review submitted on every profile page of TipTopAdvisor.com.

Our review guidelines for reviewers

We believe in fair play, and we get not all experiences are positive. Reviewers are encouraged to leave honest feedback for businesses to help them improve their service and give them a chance to rectify any misunderstandings or issues. However, we do ask you to do so in accordance with our review guidelines.

If your submission includes any of the following, please understand your review will not be approved:

  • Swearing or offensive, threatening, derogatory, defamatory or racially or sexually explicit language.
  • Vague submissions. Reviews must outline a personal experience with the business.
  • Personal disputes—any matters outside of a business interaction or transaction.
  • Submission of private details (of the reviewer of the business), including personal phone numbers, full names, emails or addresses.
  • Reference to matters currently before the court, that may evoke legal action or proceedings, or ACCC  complaints or submissions.
  • The submission is not a review, such as an enquiry.
  • Reviews written by the owner, employees, family or friends.
  • Reviews submitted using a fake email.
  • False or misleading reviews.
  • Submissions by competitors.
  • Reviews copied from competitors’ websites, listings or social media platforms.
  • Duplicated content from a previous review.
  • Targeting a specific employee in an unnecessary manner.
  • Reference to individuals under the age of 18.
  • The review is for a medical profession or establishment and refers to language associated with experience, advice or a direct statement regarding the outcome.

All declined reviews (other than a fake email submission) will receive an email response outlining the reasons for not being published. Unless the review has been declined for legal reasons, you’re welcome to resubmit your experience in accordance with our guidelines.

Our review guidelines for businesses

Our TipTopAdvisor’s Verified Businesses are able to reply directly to reviews as the business owner. This notifies the reviewer and displays as an attached response to the original submission. We recommend businesses respond to both positive and negative reviews. If you have received a negative review, we recommend the following steps:

  • Speak to the reviewer privately to resolve the issue. If they’re happy with the result, you can then ask them to remove the review. They must contact us using the email given to submit the review for identification.
  • Reply to the review politely. This is for two reasons. Firstly, it helps resolve the matter with a customer. Secondly, it shows browsers your customer service in good and bad times. Trust us; an excellent response can be as powerful as a 5-star review.
  • Request for your review submission feature to be removed; although we do not recommend this as having reviews (good and bad) on your profile page has been found to help improve your search engine rankings. Please note only TipTopAdvisor’s Verified Businesses can have their review feature removed.
  • As a business owner, review tampering of any sort can result in legal action from the ACCC. This may result in prosecution. Review tampering can include, but is not limited to, having reviews removed for any purpose outside of the reasons outlined in our policies, paying for review submissions, altering review text to change the context, or submitting false reviews. We recommend all businesses become familiar with the ACCC guide for businesses and review platforms.

Requesting for a review to be removed

If you believe you have received a defamatory review, and you have made reasonable attempt to contact and resolve the issue with the reviewer, we want to know. Please email reviews@tiptopadvisor.com with the following information:

  • Your name (business owner).
  • Business name.
  • Business address or service area.
  • The review in question.
  • Your reason for requesting the review to be removed.
  • Evidence to support your claim, if any.

Our review management team will get back to you in one to two business days. Remember, our review management team are bound by The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and their decision is in your business’s best interest—so be nice.