Trust is the whole point of Snag Scout — so we take real, proportionate steps to make sure every review is genuine, from a real resident, and fairly presented. This policy explains how we collect, check, moderate and publish reviews, and how we prevent and remove fake or misleading ones. It is written to align with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the CMA's guidance on fake and misleading reviews.
This is the foundation of everything. Before anyone can leave a review, they must prove they own or live at the specific propertythey're reviewing. We check that proof and confirm they are a genuine resident of that home. This means reviews can only come from real homeowners with first-hand experience — not from bots, competitors, marketing agencies, or the builders themselves.
Fake reviews are prohibited. We do not write, create, commission, buy, host or knowingly publish reviews that aren't based on a genuine first-hand experience, that misrepresent who the reviewer is, that are posted by a builder about themselves or anyone connected to them, or that are posted to unfairly attack a competitor. If we identify a fake or misleading review, we remove it.
No one is paid, rewarded or induced to leave a review, to change one, or to give a particular rating. We don't offer incentives for reviews, and we don't permit builders to do so either. If a review had ever been incentivised in any way, we would clearly disclose that.
Independence is central to who we are. No builder, and no one else, can pay to alter, remove, reorder, hide or promote reviews. We take no advertising and accept no payment that could influence what is published or how it is ranked. Reviews and their ordering are never for sale.
Please don't post a review if you are legally prevented from sharing your experience — for example by a confidentiality clause or settlement agreement you have signed. Those obligations are between you and the other party; if you're unsure, check your paperwork before submitting.
Before a review is published, we screen it against clear, objective standards: that it is factual, free of abusive language and unfounded allegations, and doesn't reveal information that could identify the reviewer or another individual. We apply the same rules to positive and negative reviews alike. If a review breaks our standards, we ask the reviewer to amend it in their own words — we do not rewrite reviews or change their meaning.
Positive and negative reviews are treated the same way and shown together. We do not selectively hide negative reviews or push positive ones up the page, and ordering is never influenced by payment.
Every builder can respond publicly to a review about them, free of charge and permanently. A fair record includes both sides, so a builder's response is shown alongside the review.
We take reasonable and proportionate steps to detect and remove fake, misleading or manipulated reviews, including verification at source (our strongest safeguard), ongoing checks for signs of fake, duplicated or manipulated activity, a reporting route for anyone to flag a review, and removal and sanctions — we remove reviews found to breach this policy, and may suspend or ban users who repeatedly try to abuse the platform.
If you believe a review is fake, inaccurate or breaches this policy, tell us and we'll look into it — use our report a concern page or email hello@snagscout.co.uk. We acknowledge reports, assess them fairly, give the reviewer a chance to respond, and amend or remove content where a report is well-founded.
We remove or correct content that is fake, inaccurate, unsupported, abusive or identifying. We do notremove a genuine, verified review simply because its subject would prefer it wasn't there — a fair record can't be edited to hide legitimate feedback. Where an issue is resolved, the review is updated to reflect that, rather than deleted.
We review this policy regularly and update it as our platform and the law develop. Questions about this policy, or reviews on our platform: hello@snagscout.co.uk. This policy is provided in good faith and reflects how we operate; it is not legal advice.