Dispute Policy

This Dispute Policy sets out Plebble's policies on disputes concerning ratings and comments on Plebble. It deals with 2 situations:

1. where a business/organisation that is listed on Plebble (a "Business/Organisation") wishes to dispute a rating/comment; and
2. where a user of Plebble (a "Plebbler") wishes to report a rating/comment.

Overriding principles

Plebble facilitates communication between Plebblers on one hand and Businesses/Organisations on the other.  It does not review or moderate individual ratings/comments or the activities of those Businesses/Organisations who have subscribed to Plebble's services.  Plebble's Terms & Conditions say:

" ...Plebble is independent from, accepts no responsibility for, does not monitor and in no way endorses or supports any ratings and comments and any other posts, content, external links, information and any other material that is published on this website by its users."

As such, Plebble relies to a large extent on the honesty and integrity of both Businesses/Organisations and Plebblers.  In the first instance, Plebble's community has an opportunity to regulate this – Plebble's nature as an “e-mocracy” allows the majority view about a particular issue to prevail.  False or inaccurate ratings/comments, posts or other content will generally be obscured by a majority view to the contrary.

Nevertheless, Plebble has a number of monitoring and security procedures in place to ensure that its values are being upheld.  If they are not, Plebble reserves the right in its Terms & Conditions to take any steps it deems necessary to prevent this, including deleting content and revoking access rights.

Business/Organisation reporting

All ratings are subject to Plebble's Terms & Conditions (which can be seen in Tab 1).  Plebble's Rate It! page clearly states that:

"To comply with Plebble's Terms & Conditions of Use, any rating/comment that you submit must (among other things) be fair, accurate and true."

Plebble allows any Businesses/Organisations that have become a member to respond to comments about them. Businesses/Organisations are encouraged to use this feature in the first instance to address any differences of opinion – it is one of the things that Plebble is designed to do. Customers/potential customers of the Business/Organisation can then judge the respective merits of the comment and its response.

Businesses/Organisations that are not subscribers to Plebble's packages may request a response to be posted on their behalf on an ad hoc basis by sending the proposed text of the response to moc.elbbelp#lagel. Plebble reserves the right to levy an administration charge for this.

However, if you as a Business/Organisation wish to escalate matters, you can send a formal notice to Plebble (described as a “Moderation Notice” in Plebble's Terms & Conditions):

"[Moderation Notices] should be sent either:

1. By Post: to Plebble's current registered office, marked for the attention of “The Legal Department, Plebble Loyalty Limited”; or
2. By Email: to moc.elbbelp#lagel..."

The Moderation Notice should include details of:

1. the date, time and listing of the rating(s)/comment(s) concerned;
2. the action that you wish Plebble to take in respect of the rating(s)/comment(s); and
3. the basis on which the action requested in (b) above is requested (e.g. questioning the validity of the rating or alleging it to be defamatory, abusive or otherwise in breach of Plebble's Terms & Conditions).

On receipt of the Moderation Notice, Plebble will, in most circumstances:

1. immediately suspend the rating(s)/comment(s) concerned;
2. commence an investigation into it/them; and
3. contact the Plebbler(s) concerned:
• with a copy of your Moderation Notice;
• giving them an opportunity to make representations to Plebble in connection with their rating(s)/comment(s) and any points you made in your Moderation Notice; and
• requesting that they respond to Plebble within 21 days.

If Plebble does not receive a response from the Plebbler(s) within 21 days, Plebble will permanently delete the relevant rating/comment(s).

Once Plebble has received a response from the Plebbler(s), it will take a decision within 21 days on whether to reinstate the rating(s)/comment(s), permanently delete it/them or keep it/them suspended pending further investigation.

Once Plebble has taken its decision, it will notify you and Plebbler(s) concerned as soon as possible. When notifying you of the decision, Plebble will attach a copy of the Plebbler(s)' representations (if any), redacted to protect their identity.

For the purposes of openness and fairness, Plebble will send copies of all relevant correspondence addressed to it to all parties, again redacted where appropriate to protect the Plebbler(s)' identity.

Plebbler reporting

If, as a Plebbler (i.e. a non-Business/Organisation user of Plebble), you suspect that a rating/comment is false or inaccurate, you can:

1. in the first instance, submit your own rating with detailed reasons why you disagree with the rating/comment concerned; and/or
2. email Plebble at moc.elbbelp#lagel, giving details of:
3. the date, time and listing of the rating/comment concerned; and
4. the reasons why you think it is false or inaccurate.

Once Plebble has received your email, we will investigate it and let you know our conclusions within 21 days. We will not suspend ratings/comments during these investigations as a matter of course, although in some circumstances it may be appropriate to do so.