If you didn't find what you were looking for we'd still love to hear from you.
Your feedback is vital and helps us improve. We'll publish comments if they are appropriate, genuine, and relevant.
The information will be recorded on computer and used for the purposes of keeping Derbyshire Trusted Trader records and website up-to-date, and also for the monitoring of scheme standards. This information may be disclosed to officers within Trading Standards, but it will not be disclosed to any other organisations without your permission.
This form is for giving general feedback about a Derbyshire Trusted Trader. Please don't use it to make a complaint. If you do need to complain about a Trusted Trader, you should email: trusted.trader@derbyshire.gov.uk or telephone: 01629 536148.
Give Trusted Trader feedback
There are 2 elements to customer feedback on the website:
- a satisfaction 'tick' rating which is shown for all Trusted Traders
- more detail in the form of feedback comments from customers who have used the trader
By using customer feedback we aim to ensure that those Trusted Traders who provide the best service are recognised.
There are many things to consider when choosing a trader and the online feedback is merely intended as a guide. Any comments are the opinions of other people. You need to be sure that trader you choose is right for you. We're not responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result.
How we collect feedback about Trusted Traders
We want to make sure that Trusted Traders are dealing with customers in a way which meets the rules of the scheme. Trusted Traders are encouraged to leave a card which has details of how you can provide feedback online.
If you don't get a card or you didn't use the Trusted Trader you can still rate a Trusted Trader.
How we deal with customer feedback
National guidance issued by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2016 requires us to have procedures in place which allow the publication of all genuine, relevant and lawful feedback, regardless of whether any comments made are positive or negative.
Genuine
We can't accept anonymous feedback. We need your name and some way of contacting you (phone number or email address) in case we have to verify your feedback.
Relevant
The feedback has to be about your experience with the Trusted Trader. This can include using them to do work in your home or to buy goods or services from.
Feedback can include how happy you were with work carried out, goods or services, if the Trusted Trader failed to keep appointments without letting you know, or how well they dealt with a complaint.
Your feedback must represent your genuinely held opinion about the service you received.
Lawful
Feedback comments which are offensive, contain abusive language or defamatory remarks will not be published.
To safeguard the reputation of the scheme, we reserve the right not to publish any comment, in whole or in part, which is regarded as inappropriate in any way. Our decision in such cases is final.
How feedback ratings are developed
There are 2 parts of a customer's feedback which affect a Trusted Trader's rating.
Firstly, the customer's overall satisfaction with the Trusted Trader they used. If customers are 'very satisfied' the Trusted Trader gets the maximum 5 tick rating. We give 4 ticks for 'satisfied' and this continues all the way down to one tick in the rare cases where a customer is 'very dissatisfied'.
The level of satisfaction reported by the customer is their own opinion of the service they got from the Trusted Trader they used. It will always be used to update Trusted Trader's tick rating.
The overall tick rating for a Trusted Trader is an average of the individual satisfaction scores they've received from each customer giving feedback.
Secondly, we consider any additional customer comments. Customers are invited to give additional comments. Provided the comments are genuine, relevant and lawful they will be published on our website for others to see. This applies to both positive and negative comments. They may be checked and edited for spelling.
We won't publish the names or telephone numbers of any customers leaving feedback. And we won't disclose these details to third parties without the customer's consent.
We want our feedback system to be up-to-date. To do this, the tick ratings and comments we show are limited to feedback received over the last 4 years.
The tick rating and customer comments for each Trusted Trader are updated every 2 weeks.
Trading Standards checks on feedback
We carry out checks on selected customer feedback to make sure that it is genuine, relevant and lawful.
Positive feedback is very much in the majority. It's not possible to verify each submission individually. We do periodic spot checks on positive feedback and reserve the right to speak to the person submitting it if we need to.
If we get negative feedback, we'll contact the person submitting it to verify that it is genuine, relevant and lawful. If it is, the national guidance we operate under requires us to publish it.
If we can't make contact with the person submitting the negative feedback we'll not be able to establish that the feedback is genuine, relevant and lawful. So it will not be published.
When a negative comment is received from a customer, the Trusted Trader concerned will be informed of the comment before its publication. They are asked if they want to submit a response. Any response must be submitted within 7 days and will be published with the customer's comment.
Responses from members which don't comply with our published rules on feedback will not be published. If no response is submitted by the member, the customer's comment will be published in accordance with our feedback rules.
Members of the scheme don't have the right to block reviews that they do not agree with.
The process of inviting a response from the member concerned can't be open ended. It will be limited to consideration of the customer's original feedback and one response from the member. We will not accept additional feedback submissions or responses.
Fake reviews
If we find out that feedback we have published is not genuine, relevant or lawful, it will be removed.
Any Trusted Trader who abuses the feedback system by submitting fake positive reviews for their business, or submitting fake negative reviews for a competitor, will have their membership revoked.
Privacy notice
We are the data controller for the Trusted Trader scheme. The scheme is run to help local people find reliable traders and to support local businesses.
The feedback ratings for individual members rely on the voluntary submission of information from members of the public who have used or contacted a Trusted Trader.
What personal information is collected and how it is used
In order to be sure that feedback is from real (or prospective) customers of a Trusted Trader we have to collect personal information in the form of:
- your name and
- your phone number or email address
This information is not published on the Trusted Trader website and will not be shared with anyone outside Derbyshire County Council without your consent unless we are legally required to do so.
The information is recorded by Trading Standards and may be used to contact you to check that your feedback meets our rules, deal with any issues you have raised, or ask whether you want to participate in any publicity about the scheme.
Provided they meet the rules set out, any comments you make about a Trusted Trader are published on this website.
How long the information is retained
The Trusted Trader website only displays the most recent 4 years feedback for any trader. Consequently, your personal information will be removed from the Trading Standards database 4 years after the date you submitted it. Removal will actually take place a short time later, when a feedback deletion report is run.
Your rights
Providing feedback is voluntary and our use of your personal information is subject to your consent.
You can withdraw this consent at any time by emailing trusted.trader@derbyshire.gov.uk
For more information on how we use the data we hold about you, how long we keep it and your rights relating to it, such as to have it corrected, erased, restricted, transferred or to see your data, please see our information about GDPR. If you would like to contact our data protection officer please telephone: 01629 538303.
You have the right to contact the Information Commissioner's Office if you have any concerns about how we handle your data.