Complaints about reviews

What can be complained about

• False statements of fact that damage a business or a person, for example "they sell stolen phones" when that isn't true.
• Threats, abuse or harassment aimed at a named or identifiable person, such as a member of staff.
• Fake reviews: written by someone who was never a customer, for example a competitor, or paid for.

Honest opinions are not taken down. "The staff were rude", "the food was bad", "too expensive" describe a customer's own experience. They stay, even when they're harsh. Businesses can reply to any review publicly.

How it works

1. The business makes a formal complaint from its ZedReviews dashboard: the exact words it disputes, why they're false or unlawful, evidence, and a signed declaration. Complaints that don't meet the rules (an opinion, words not in the review, no evidence, too many complaints) are turned down and the review stays.
2. The review is paused: hidden and left out of the ZedScore while we check. The page shows that a review is paused.
3. The reviewer gets 7 days to stand by the review, with anything that shows it happened, or to remove it. If they don't answer, the review is removed.
4. If the reviewer stands by it, ZedReviews staff look at both sides and decide. Reviews written after the business's own invitation are always decided by staff.
5. Court orders are followed straight away.

The numbers are in our transparency report. A false complaint can be passed to the authorities.

Records and the police

To help with crimes such as threats or fraud, we keep the internet address and time of each review and post, encrypted, for 365 days, then delete them. We give them only when a Zambian court orders us to, and every request is logged. Reviews can stay anonymous on the site: businesses never see this information.

Not a business owner?

If a review names you personally and you think it breaks the law, WhatsApp us on +260764001551 with the link to the review. For anything else, use the Report link under the review.