What happens when a resident submits a review.
When a resident submits a review it goes through a 2 step process.
Step 1. When a resident leaves a review, they fill out their information including their full name and address/flat number. We only show their chosen display name on site to protect their identity in accordance with GDPR. This information is automatically sent to a third party verification company that checks the reviewer’s details against public records such as the electoral register. This comes back as a verification "pass" or a verification "fail".
Unverified reviews. When a review fails the automated verification process, they will be contacted by HomeViews and asked to either provide proof of address or use our geolocation tool for a one-time location share. Please note that only the resident can share proof of their address - we cannot accept any verification on behalf of the resident.
Step 2. The review then goes through a manual quality control check. Here HomeViews check that the review doesn't violate any of our guidelines. If a review fails our guidelines, HomeViews will contact the resident to give them the opportunity to edit their review to adhere to our guidelines and be re-submitted.
Step 3. The review is published on HomeViews. If you are a partner, you will see this review in your portal right away. To keep the consumer website running at an optimal speed for all visitors, the review will show on HomeViews.com the following day.
Partner preview mode. If a review for a partner development is classified as a "negative review", then the review goes into "Partner Preview" mode. This means the development team are notified of the review and have a period of time to look into the issue and draft a management response that will go live at the same time as the review goes live on the HomeViews site. The development team will receive an email to notify them that there is a new review in "Partner Preview" mode and is ready for a manager response.
A review is in "Partner Preview" mode for up to 7 days maximum, but usually within 48 hours. After this time, the review will be published onto the HomeViews site whether or not the development team have submitted a manager response to the review.
If the development team have submitted a manager response within the time limit, both the resident review and the manager response will be published to the live HomeViews site together.
Please note, manage responses to reviews are not published automatically, and are quality checked by HomeViews to make sure it adheres to our guidelines.