Yell is committed to being a trusted online destination for consumers to connect with businesses. Central to this trust is Yell Reviews. We ask all users – including reviewers, business owners and any other third party - to share our values so that consumers can trust the credibility of our reviews and continue to post new ones.

 

This Policy explains how reviews can be posted, requested and managed on Yell.com. It applies to:

 

  • Individuals who are eligible to post reviews (“reviewers”)
  • Businesses receiving and responding to reviews (“businesses”); and
  • Third Parties - any other individual or organisation interacting with reviews, including but not limited to those who read, share, report, refer to, or otherwise engage with reviews or review content on Yell.com.

 

By posting, requesting, responding to, reporting, or otherwise engaging with Yell Reviews, you agree to comply with this Policy and the Yell.com Conditions of Use.

 

Posting a review (For Reviewers)

Our review service provides you with the opportunity to rate and review your experiences with businesses.


To submit a review, you must:

  • be at least 18 years of age
  • create a Yell Reviews account and validate your email address (or log in using an approved third-party account).


When you post your first review, you will be prompted to create a Yell reviews account and validate your email address before your review can be published. Alternatively, you can log in with your Facebook or Google profile.


Where you have had a bad experience with a business, we encourage you to explain why in a constructive way in your review. Genuine negative feedback is welcome - constructive criticism is more useful to both business and potential customers.


Your review must comply with the following:


1. It is your genuine, first-hand experience of engaging with the business 

  • An ‘experience’ is where you actively engaged with the business as part of a buying process or the delivery of a service
  • For example, if you obtained a quote from a business but did not accept the service, you can review the experience of obtaining a quote, but not the ongoing service.
  • The experience must have occurred within the 12 months before the review was submitted 

2. No conflicts of interest

You must not write a review about a business that:

    • you or a family member has any financial interest in;
    • owned or operated by a friend or family member; or
    • that is a competitor of a business in which you or a family member has any financial interest in or works.

3. No incentives

  • You must not have been offered, promised, or received any incentive or reward to post a review
  • An ‘incentive’ includes (but is not limited to) discounts, monetary rewards, free products, loyalty points, gifts, coupons, or any other benefit
  • Yell does not permit the publication of incentivised reviews under any circumstances
  • Any review found to have been incentivised, whether disclosed or undisclosed, will be removed and may result in your account being suspended or permanently disabled.

4. No promotional or unrelated content

  • Your review must not contain advertising or promotional content, including links to an unrelated business, promotional codes and/or promoting scams/ spam

5. No fake, misleading, illegal or harmful content


Please remember that your review will be publicly available on Yell.com and must therefore be appropriate.


Your review must not:

  • be fake, misleading, or otherwise misrepresent your genuine experience. 
  • contain abusive, harmful, discriminatory, hateful, threatening, defamatory, or offensive language. This includes the use of profanities, threats, prejudiced comments, hate speech, sexually explicit language, and/ or, 
  • contain illegal content or encourage or promote illegal activity.

6. Original work

  • Your review must be your own, unique work
  • Do not upload content that you do not own or have permission to use, or is not based on your own genuine experience. 

 7. No personal data

  • Your review must not contain sensitive or personal information relating to an individual, for example, names, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, or payment details.
  • You may include contact details if they are already published on the business’s Yell listing or its website


Requesting and Responding to Reviews (For Businesses)


We encourage businesses to proactively manage their online reputation by inviting genuine customers to leave reviews and by responding to reviews appropriately.


Businesses can invite customers to leave a review using the ‘Request a New Review' feature in their Yell online account or through the Yell Business App.


Businesses may also invite customers to leave a review offline by directing them to Yell.com/reviews.


Additional guidance and resources on managing and promoting reviews are available via the ‘Promote Your Reviews’ section within the Yell online account.


Yell will calculate and display an overall review star rating for your business using an algorithm that takes into account the number and rating of reviews received. Star ratings are displayed on your Yell listing and business profile and may appear in third-party search results, such as Google.


You must not:

  • request or procure fake or misleading reviews
  • leave a review for your own business
  • request, encourage or facilitate reviews from any person where you know, or ought reasonably to know, that the review would breach this Policy
  • selectively invite only customers whom you believe are likely to leave positive reviews, where doing so could create a misleading impression of your business's overall customer feedback  
  • offer, promise, or provide any reward, compensation, discount, or other benefit in exchange for leaving, amending, or removing a review 
  • arrange, procure, or facilitate incentivised reviews through third parties
  • pressure or coerce a customer into removing or amending a review
  • make the resolution of a customer complaint contingent upon the customer not leaving, amending, or removing a review

 

Yell will not present, highlight, or omit reviews in a way that could mislead consumers, for example, by displaying only positive reviews or altering their order or visibility to give a false impression of a business’s reputation.


Responding to a review


Where review notifications are enabled in your Yell online account, you will be informed whenever a new review is posted.


You can respond to reviews via the ‘Received Reviews’ page within your Yell account. Responses are published in real-time and are visible to anyone who visits Yell.com, so they must be constructive, appropriate, and written in a non-biased, professional tone. Responses will be identified with a “Business Response” flag.  For further guidance on how to respond to reviews, see here.


Third Parties


This Policy also applies to anyone who interacts with Yell Reviews other than as a reviewer or business.


Examples include individuals or organisations who:

  • report or flag reviews;
  • share, quote, or otherwise refer to Yell Reviews content elsewhere;
  • represent or act on behalf of a business or reviewer; or
  • otherwise engage with reviews through Yell.com or other related channels.


All third parties must comply with this Policy. This includes that they must not offer, promote, or facilitate the creation, procurement, or publication of incentivised or fake reviews, or any service that assists in doing so.

If a third party is found to have breached this Policy, Yell may suspend or disable their access, revoke any permissions, or refuse to engage further with that individual or organisation.


Reporting a Review (Applies to All Users)

We actively encourage anyone to report a review that they believe breaches this Yell Reviews Policy.


You can report the review by using the ‘report review’ link on the specific review you want to report.


If your review is reported to us, we will investigate in a fair, impartial, and timely manner. We may temporarily remove your review whilst we investigate the report.


We may contact you to request proof of your experience, for example, emails, phone calls, text messages, order confirmations, invoices or receipts.


Yell will initiate investigations without undue delay (typically within 7 business days of receiving a review report) and will remove or hide any review confirmed to breach this Policy as soon as practicable.


Outcomes of an investigation


Following an investigation, we will determine whether the review:

  • Complies with this Policy – in which it will remain in place; or
  • Does not comply with this Policy – in which case we may take one or more of the following actions:
  • Ask you to amend your review or your response to a review (as applicable);
  • Remove the review;
  • Issue a warning;
  • Suspend or permanently disable your reviews account or reviews functionality; and/or
  • Take such other action as we believe is appropriate


We will not remove a review solely because it is negative or because a business disagrees with its content. If we believe a user is misusing the reporting process (for example, repeatedly reporting legitimate negative reviews), we may refuse to investigate further reports.