Website terms and conditions of use agreement

Scotland Trusted Trader is a trading name of Trusted Trader operated by Trusted Directory Services (TDS) under license from the City of Edinburgh Council.

Contents

1. In general
2. Trusted Trader scheme
3. Business/trader displayed information
4. Review moderation policy
5. Business reviews and dispute resolution
6. Intellectual property
7. Electronic information submitted to this website
8. Disclaimer
9. Indemnity
10. No agency
11. No guarantee of continuous use
12. Survival
13. Agreement
14. Jurisdiction
15. Registered address and contact

1. In general

1. All references to Scotland Trusted Trader in this agreement are also applicable to TDS.
2. Businesses and traders displayed on this website will be referred to as members. Members will be deemed to be the business owner or person responsible for maintaining their Trusted Trader status.
3. By accessing, using or subscribing your business to this website or downloading materials from this website, you agree to be legally bound by the terms and conditions set forth below without any modification. Please review them carefully. If you do not agree to the terms then please do not use this website.
4. By accepting these terms and conditions, you agree that you hold the relevant copyright to all images, logos and text placed on this website, and you are authorised to display any approved trademark.
5. TDS cannot be held responsible for any services or goods supplied, or held responsible for prices of such services, products and goods, availability, competency, suitability of venues and suppliers listed on or linking to this website.
6. Any data held or captured from either a Trusted Trader member or website visitor who leaves a review, or contacts a trader, will be held in strict confidence and in full compliance of the Data Protection Act. The TDS data protection registration number is ZA081479 and can be verified with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO.org.uk).
7. The reviews of members published on this website are provided by members of the public and do not represent the opinion of TDS or any participating Council.
8. Any reviews are individual opinions of members of the public based upon their individual experience. All reviews submitted to this website therefore express the views and opinions of the authors and hence neither TDS or any participating Council will be held liable.

2. Trusted Trader scheme

1. Only businesses and traders that have been vetted and conform to the Scotland Trusted Trader Code of Practice will be displayed on this website.
2. Members will pay an annual subscription fee to become and remain members of the Trusted Trader scheme in accordance with the Trusted Trader Code of Practice. This fee is to enable processing of applications, vetting and promotion of the scheme.
3. The relevant Trusted Trader Code of Practice can be viewed here: Code of Practice

3. Business/trader displayed information

1. Members are able to display their business details and promotional material on this website.
2. Members can edit their information at any time. It is the responsibility of the Trusted Trader member to ensure accuracy and authenticity of any displayed information, including but not restricted to: address, contact information, promotional claims, promotional content and images.
3. Members will be held entirely responsible for any uploaded imagery, ensuring any images are free from copyright or, where applicable, you have obtained any required permission to use such images. Any copyright infringements will be the direct responsibility of the member who will responsible for any resolution or legal representation.
4. Any images you use on this website of work being carried out, or completed work must be work completed by you, employees of your business or subcontractors that you employed. Under no circumstances should generic images be used that purport to be work that you have carried out when in fact you have not.
5. Any displayed member information and subsequent edits will be held within an internal audit log, viewable by TDS and Trading Standards Officers. Information here may be used to settle disputes between parties and passed to legal authorities if requested by an authorised person or body, but will remain within the full constraints and law of the Data Protection Act.
6. A member’s subscription and listing can be cancelled at any time by notifying by e-mail to admin@trustedtrader.scot or by telephone to 0333 444 0195 confirming cancellation. No part or full refund of any subscription fees will be given.
7. TDS reserves the right to exclude, suspend or remove a member at any time. Examples include business no longer trading, complaints regarding obscene or illegal business practices, adult related services such as erotic massages and escort services. Or other consumer complaint issues or advisement from Trading Standards or any other legal authority. No part or full refund of any subscription fees will be given, except with management discretion.

4. Review moderation policy

All reviews will begin the moderation process within three business days of submission of an electronic review, or receipt of a hardcopy review. No review, positive or negative will be accepted for work done from more than two years ago.

1. Reviews with five and four stars
1. As long as the review passes the schemes security checks, it will normally be approved and published by a human moderator the same day. If there is any cause to doubt the authenticity of a review, then the review will be marked for further investigation, which should take no more than ten business days, before a decision to publish or delete is decided.
2. Once any four or five star review is published, the system will randomly select a minimum of 25% of reviews for secondary verification. The admin team will contact the reviewer with the details given, and confirm the review was genuine, the reviewer wasn’t co-coerced or offered an incentive to leave a review. If there is any doubt, then the review may be flagged for further investigation or deleted. This approach ensures the integrity of the review system.


2. Reviews with three, two and one stars
1. These are deemed to be negative reviews or to convey consumer dissatisfaction. As a Trading Standards scheme, all negative feedback is taken very seriously. Members that generate continual negative feedback are not acting in the high standards expected of the scheme, so may find themselves being removed. While all businesses will have a bad day or difference of opinion with customers at some point, it is important to see if any lessons can be learnt, or further action is required.
2. The team has to follow strict guidance from Trading Standards and will not suppress reviews. To be fair to the members, and the serious implications a negative review can impact on a Trusted Trader, all negative reviews are thoroughly moderated using the following process.
3. Before leaving negative feedback, a customer must have already raised their grievance with the trader.
4. If the member claims the review is not genuine or is unaware of the issue, then the administration team may contact the reviewer asking for proof of work done, such as an invoice, or confirmation that the issue has already been raised with the trader.
5. Negative feedback that contains abusive language or blatant slander will be deleted. If the majority of a review is factual but contains elements of inflammatory language, we may request that the review is amended before being published.
6. Once the moderation process begins, the aim is to have the negative feedback either published or deleted with ten business days. If deleted, an explanation will be given, along with an appeals process.
7. The moderation team will also investigate to see if there is any scope for the customer to engage in dispute resolution and resolving any perceived issues. If the customer is happy for a negative review to be escalated to a complaint, then the negative review will be removed. The customer is then welcome to leave a review once any issues have been resolved, including negative feedback.
8. If review comments are deemed acceptable by the moderation team, then the member will have the right to reply with their own comments added after the review. This may be a simple apology, a justification or explanation of the issue. A right to reply can be added before or any time after a review has been published.
9. Negative reviews will not be removed simply because a business asks us to. If a business strongly disagrees with a review decision, they need to put this in writing to their local Trading Standards team which can be found in the Appeal Process section of the Code of Practice.
10. If a member demands that their listing is removed in order to remove any negative reviews, then their membership will be terminated, which will mean forfeiture of the Trusted Trader scheme and any benefits. The member may be subject to an exclusion from re-joining this or other Council operated Trusted Trader schemes.
11. We reserve the right to remove any reviews where the content is deemed to be inappropriate or risks bringing the scheme into disrepute. Under these circumstances, it may be more appropriate to refer the parties to the complaint and dispute resolution process or escalate directly to Trading Standards.
12. If you have submitted a review and it has not been published, then it is probably in the process of being investigated. If it has been longer than ten business days (two weeks), then feel free to contact us and ask for an update.


3. Fake Reviews - Zero Tolerance Policy
It is an offence in the UK for a business to leave fake reviews and falls under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Any current member or applicant caught leaving fake reviews will be suspended, pending an investigation which may result in further action being taken. Any reports of fake reviews are taken very seriously at the highest level and all schemes operate a zero tolerance policy.

5. Business reviews and dispute resolution

1. The reviews of members and associated products and services published on this website are provided by members of the public and do not represent the opinion of any participating Council, TDS or its owners.
2. To leave a review, a reviewer must confirm their identity via e-mail address and telephone number. This information will be kept confidential and not passed to any third party or used for any marketing purposes. It will be used by TDS if required to confirm authenticity of review comments or if arbitration or dispute resolution is required. Reviewer internet protocol address information will also be stored and used to assist in review moderation.
3. Reviewers must leave their name but may choose not have their name published with the review. This enables TDS to establish the authenticity of any review comments. Any review left without a name or displaying anonymous or similar will be deleted.
4. TDS reserves the right to remove or not publish any negative review that has been published elsewhere on a different review platform. This is stop this website from being used to punish a business or trader where duplicated negative feedback has already been left elsewhere.
5. TDS cannot accept reviews of work completed more than two years ago. Although depending on the size of the job work may still be within warranty, there are too many variables involved once the passage of more than two years has passed. If remedial work has been done to an original job, then this is eligible for review as long as it was done within two years. This policy applies to both positive and negative reviews.
6. Reviewers are welcome to add images with their review, which may show work done. Any images must be free of copyright and have full permission to be used on a public website. Any copyright, trademark or permission infringement will be the responsibility of the reviewer.
7. If there is an issue with any particular review comments then contact us and state the business name concerned and outline the issue. TDS is not a legal body but will conduct a thorough investigation and act in what it believes to be the correct manner, to resolve the dispute under guidance from Trading Standards. In the event of escalation, dispute resolution will be passed to the relevant participating Council, which, with the consent of the parties involved, may decide to refer the matter to the schemes Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service which is provided by Kent County Council Trading Standards. Select the following link to see the complaint and dispute resolution process.

6. Intellectual property

1. The copyright across this entire website, unless stipulated, is held by TDS. Trusted Trader logos are reproduced under license and with permission from Dundee City Council and other relevant Councils. All material provided on this website is protected under international copyright laws and treaty provisions. Except as expressly provided herein, none of the material provided on this website may be copied, distributed, republished, reproduced, downloaded, displayed or transmitted in any form for commercial use without the prior written permission of TDS.
2. Hosted review data will remain the intellectual property of the relevant Council that operates the Trusted Trader scheme. In the event review data is required to be exported or republished via an official or approved source, TDS will be reimbursed for time and materials to carry out this task, including but not restricted to creation and supporting of API's, project management and bespoke coding.
3. Individual visitors of this website are permitted to download or print one copy of material published on this website solely for their personal, non-commercial use, provided that they do not modify the materials and that they retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the materials. This permission terminates automatically if you breach any of the terms and conditions contained herein. TDS does not grant any express or implied right to you under any patents, trademarks, copyrights or trade secret laws.
4. Other than Trusted Trader logos under Dundee City Council trademark, the trademarks, logos and service marks (collectively referred to as "trademarks") displayed on this website are displayed with permission or claimed by TDS and no trademark license, either express or implied, is granted by TDS. You do not have any right to use any trademark or service mark displayed on this website except as expressly provided under the doctrine of fair use or without the prior written permission of TDS. In the event of unauthorised use or misuse of its trade marks TDS will pursue its legal remedies without delay.
5. Any use of this website for telemarketing or direct marketing purposes is forbidden and any complaints will be fully investigated and compensation will be claimed.

7. Electronic information submitted to this website

1. Any communication or material other than your personal information submitted to this website by electronic mail is the exclusive property of TDS and is considered to be non-confidential and non-proprietary. Such communication may include without limitation questions, comments, suggestions and ideas. TDS shall be free to use them for any purpose whatsoever without restriction or compensation.
2. TDS assumes no responsibility for, or is otherwise legally responsible for remarks posted upon this website by third parties or private individuals, even if those remarks are defamatory. Opinions deemed inappropriate will be deleted. The final decision as to what is deemed appropriate and shall be allowed to be published on the website will lie with TDS.

8. Disclaimer

1. THE INFORMATION IN THIS WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. TDS SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR TECHNICAL INACCURACIES IN THIS WEBSITE.
2. TDS is constantly improving its products and services and reserves the right to make such improvements or changes to this website, the materials, products, services or prices posted in this website without prior notice as it deems necessary.
3. As a convenience to you, TDS may provide links to websites operated by local authorities or third parties. TDS makes no representations about websites accessed from this website which are not maintained, controlled or created by TDS and does not endorse any linked websites or the information appearing thereon. Links do not imply that TDS is affiliated with or associated with such linked websites, their owners or operators or any related companies.

9. Indemnity

1. You agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend TDS, its subsidiaries, affiliates, sponsors, or any related organisations (including those which share substantially common ownership), and its officers, directors, employees, agents, insurers, and representatives of any of them (collectively the "Release Parties") from any and all claims, demands, actions, causes of action, suits, sums of money, judgements, controversies, and liabilities whatsoever, at law or in equity, arising from or in any way resulting from your use of this website, as far as the law permits.

10. No agency

1. You and TDS are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee/employer or franchiser/franchisee relationship shall be deemed to exist, or is intended to exist by this Agreement.

11. No guarantee of continuous use

1. We do not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to our services, and operation of our site may be stopped due to factors outside our control.

12. Survival

1. In the event one part of this Agreement is found to be invalid, the other provisions shall remain valid and enforceable.

13. Agreement

1. Your use of this website signifies that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

14. Jurisdiction

1. Insofar as it is permitted by law, this agreement shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

15. Registered address and contact

TDS Registered Office: Minerva Mill, Station Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 5ET.
Registered in England and Wales: Company Number 9173565.

VAT Registration number provided on all invoices and can be provided on request.

TDS Customer Services Contact: 0333 444 0195 or contact us.