Consumer Reviews Notice

Consumer Reviews, Testimonials, and Feedback Notice

The Motor Ombudsman values feedback from consumers and accredited businesses as users of our service. Feedback helps us understand what we are doing well, identify areas for improvement, and maintain confidence in our dispute resolution services.

This notice explains how The Motor Ombudsman collects, uses and displays reviews, testimonials, and feedback.

Consumer Reviews, Testimonials and Feedback

The Motor Ombudsman may collect or display different types of review and feedback information, including:

• Consumer reviews published through third-party review platforms, such as Trustpilot.
• Testimonials provided by consumers, accredited businesses and other stakeholders.
• Other feedback gathered from parties using The Motor Ombudsman’s services, including Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Codes of Practice and accreditation services.

These different types of information serve different purposes and are handled in different ways.

Our Commitment

The Motor Ombudsman is committed to ensuring that any review, testimonial or feedback published on its website or other publications is presented in a fair, transparent and responsible manner.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that any review information we publish or display is accurate, genuine and not misleading. The Motor Ombudsman does not condone fake reviews, misleading review information or concealed incentivised testimonials, and we will not knowingly publish or promote them.

Where concerns are raised regarding the authenticity, accuracy or presentation of review information displayed on our website, or other publications we will consider those concerns and take appropriate action where necessary.

Consumer Reviews Published Through Trustpilot

The Motor Ombudsman uses Trustpilot as an independent third-party review platform and provides live excerpts from Trustpilot’s website.

Trustpilot is responsible for the collection, verification, moderation and publication of consumer reviews submitted through its platform. Trustpilot operates its own independent policies, procedures and mechanisms designed to promote the authenticity and reliability of consumer reviews and review information.

Consumer reviews displayed on The Motor Ombudsman’s website via Trustpilot widgets, feeds or embedded content are sourced directly from Trustpilot and are published in accordance with Trustpilot’s systems and processes. The Motor Ombudsman does not edit, alter, suppress or selectively publish reviews collected through Trustpilot.

Trustpilot’s policies and review processes are available on its website.

Testimonials

From time to time, The Motor Ombudsman may publish testimonials from accredited businesses or other stakeholders describing their experience of our services.

Testimonials are published only where the relevant individual or organisation has agreed to their use. We do not offer incentives in exchange for testimonials, and we will not knowingly publish testimonials that are false, misleading, or otherwise inaccurate.

Testimonials are distinct from independent consumer reviews published on third-party review platforms.

Feedback Collected Through Our Services

Internal feedback is collected at different stages of our service to help The Motor Ombudsman monitor quality, understand user experience and identify areas for improvement.

Internal feedback may be requested from parties using our service. It is provided voluntarily, is not incentivised, and is primarily used for internal quality assurance, service monitoring and continuous improvement purposes.

Trustpilot and external reviews are separate from internal feedback. Consumers may be invited to leave or update a public review as part of the internal feedback process as they progress through the case journey.

Review invitations are issued to all consumers using our service at every stage to ensure a fair reflection of our service.

Consumers may also choose to leave an organic review independently on Trustpilot or any another external review website.

• Public reviews submitted through Trustpilot, or other external review websites may be published on those platforms.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, internal feedback gathered through our internal service surveys is not published as a consumer review and is handled separately from reviews submitted through Trustpilot or other external platforms.

Business Reviews

The Motor Ombudsman also invites consumers to provide feedback on their experience with accredited businesses. This feedback is separate from public consumer reviews about our service collected through Trustpilot or other external review platforms.

Consumers may only provide this feedback where they have evidence of purchase of a product or service from the accredited business. This helps ensure that feedback is based on a genuine consumer experience.

Feedback received about accredited businesses is not published, displayed, used to generate ratings, used to rank or promote accredited businesses, or otherwise presented as consumer review information for the purposes of influencing consumer decisions.

This information is used internally for sentiment monitoring, quality assurance, and oversight of The Motor Ombudsman’s approved Codes of Practice and accreditation activities.

Consumers who provide this feedback may be entered into a prize draw. Entry into the draw is not dependent on leaving positive feedback and applies equally to any eligible feedback submitted. The existence of the incentive is made clear to consumers when feedback is requested.

Reviews and Complaints

Providing feedback or leaving a review is different from making a complaint.

Reviews and feedback provide an opportunity to share experiences and help us improve our services. Complaints are handled through separate procedures designed to investigate and address specific concerns.

Consumers, businesses and other stakeholders may provide feedback on their experience and may also raise a complaint where appropriate.

Information about our complaints processes can be found elsewhere on our website.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about consumer reviews, testimonials or feedback information displayed on our website, or if you believe any published review or testimonial is inaccurate or misleading, please contact The Motor Ombudsman using gdpr@tmo-uk.org.