ABIA's Review Policies
Customer reviews are an integral part of the Wedding Couple’s experience on ABIA. Couples use these reviews to learn more about the products/services, assess whether it fits their needs, and make an informed purchase decision. Customer reviews also help vendors understand the customers’ sentiment about their products/services, which features or aspects of the product/service customers like, and which areas need improvements. Reviews also provide vendors with ideas on how to improve their products/services. In order for customer reviews to continue to provide these benefits to wedding couples and vendors, they have to remain a true and authentic reflection of Couples’ experiences with the products and services.
ABIA recognises that its Review Platform must never compromise standards for commercial benefit, otherwise, credibility is lost. When a business receives one or a few bad reviews, that doesn’t mean the end of the world, particularly when that same business has received multiple high-quality reviews. A negative review amongst a multitude of good or great reviews indicates;
- The reviewing platform is credible.
- That there will always be some customers that no matter what you do, you will never satisfy.
- It shows that you are human and there are some things, sometimes which are outside your control.
ABIA Policies
ABIA has specific policies that are meant to protect the authenticity of Customer Reviews, and we ask you to comply with these policies and report any violations you might notice. Note that ABIA has a zero-tolerance policy toward any customer review violations. If we detect any attempts to manipulate customer reviews, we take immediate actions that include, but are not limited to:
- Immediate and permanent withdrawal of the vendors’ listing on the ABIA Platform or participation in the ABIA Wedding Awards.
- The removal of all reviews and preventing the business from receiving future reviews or ratings.
- Permanent delisting of the business from ABIA’s Platform
Violations to ABIA's Reviews policies include, but are not limited to, these actions:
- A Vendor posts a review of their own product/service or their competitor's product/service.
- A Vendor offers a third party a financial reward, discount, free products, or other compensation in exchange for a review on their product or their competitor’s product. This includes using services that sell customer reviews, websites, or social media groups.
- A Vendor offers to provide a refund or reimbursement after the buyer (Couple) writes a review and asks the Couple to change or remove the review, before or after the refund or reimbursement.
- A family member or employee of the Vendor posts a review of the Vendors product/service or a competitor's product.
- A Vendor asks a reviewer to change or remove their review. They might also offer a refund or other compensation to a reviewer in exchange for doing so.
Disputing a Customer Review
As Australia’s largest wedding review platform, ABIA is required to operate with integrity and that extends to protecting the rights of consumers to voice fair opinions and feedback based on their experiences, whether that be positive or negative. ABIA reserves the right to remove reviews that are in violation of ABIA’s policies, this includes;
- False or misleading accounts of the description or quality of a product or service
- Content that has been incentivized by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods, and/or services.
- Content using profanity or obscenity to offend other users or emphasize criticism.
- Posting the same content multiple times or posting content for the same business from multiple accounts.
- Posting content with no meaning in any language, such as a group of characters.
Understand which reviews to report for removal
- Report only reviews that violate ABIA policies
- Don't report a review just because you disagree with it or don't like it.
- ABIA generally doesn't get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts where there is a lack of evidence to support the dispute.
- There's no reliable way to tell who's right about a particular customer experience.
Tip: Be patient. It can take several days to assess a review.
ABIA Weddings will always endeavor to protect consumers while acknowledging credible wedding vendors. It is ABIA’s mission to set greater standards for the Australian Wedding Industry and Marketplace.