Who this applies to
Everyone with an account: homeowners, service pros, and anyone holding both. It covers what you post, what you send in messages, and how you behave toward other members.
We are a small local marketplace. The people you deal with here live in the same cities you do, and many will meet in person on a job site. That shapes how we handle problems: quietly where we can, firmly where we must.
What we expect
Be who you say you are. Use your real business name and real contact details. Do not list a business you do not own or operate.
Say what you mean to do. If you post a job, you intend to hire someone. If you submit a bid, you intend to do the work at that price.
Keep it civil. Disagreement is fine. Abuse, threats, slurs and harassment are not.
Do not discriminate. Refusing service, or treating someone differently, because of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability or family status is not allowed here, and in many cases is against the law.
Write reviews only for work that happened. Reviews are for real jobs by the person who hired the pro. Do not review yourself, your own business, or your competitors.
Do not pressure anyone over a review. Asking a customer to review you is fine. Offering them something in return for a good one is not, and neither is threatening someone over a bad one.
What you can report
- Harassment, threats or abuse. Repeated unwanted contact, insults, slurs, intimidation, or anything that makes you feel unsafe.
- Discrimination. Being refused service or treated differently for one of the reasons listed above.
- Fraud or scam. Payment taken for work not done, a demand to pay outside the agreed terms, a request for card or bank details through messages, or an attempt to move you off the site in order to avoid accountability.
- Impersonation or a false listing. Someone using a business name, licence number or photographs that are not theirs.
- A fake or dishonest review. A review from someone who was never a customer, a review of a business by its own staff or their relatives, or a review of a competitor.
- A review that breaks the content rules. Reviews containing personal information about someone else, obscene or abusive content, discriminatory content, or content that is clearly false.
How reporting works
You report from the conversation, the review or the profile itself, so we can see exactly what you are referring to. Tell us which reason applies and add anything we would not be able to see for ourselves.
We keep a copy of what you reported, as it was at the moment you reported it. Content can be edited or deleted afterwards; the record we act on cannot.
We aim to respond within two business days, and to tell you the outcome in general terms. We will not tell you what action was taken against another member's account — that is their private information — but we will tell you whether we found a violation and whether we acted.
Reporting in good faith never counts against you. Reporting somebody because they left you a bad review, or to gain an advantage in a dispute, does count against you.
What happens to reported content while we look at it
A reported review stays visible and keeps counting toward the rating while we investigate.
That is deliberate. Federal rules on consumer reviews treat the suppression of reviews as deceptive unless the grounds are applied equally to every review regardless of whether it is positive or negative. A system where a pro can hide a one-star review by flagging it is exactly the practice those rules exist to prevent, and it would make every rating on this site worth less.
A review is only removed if it meets one of these grounds, which we apply the same way to a five-star review as to a one-star:
- it contains someone's personal information, or another person's likeness
- it is defamatory, harassing, abusive, obscene or sexually explicit
- it is discriminatory
- it is clearly false or misleading
- we reasonably believe it is fake
- it has nothing to do with the work, or with services offered here
Being unfair is not one of those grounds. A negative review of work that genuinely happened stays, even if you disagree with it. Every pro can reply to any review publicly, and a measured reply is usually more persuasive to the next homeowner than a removal would have been.
Reported messages are different — they are private, so nothing is displayed either way. We read the reported thread, and only that thread.
What we do about it
We take the smallest action that solves the problem.
A warning, for a first violation that looks like carelessness or a bad day.
A restriction, where the problem is specific: removing a listing from featured placement, blocking review requests, or preventing new messages.
Suspension, for repeated violations or a serious first one.
Removal from the platform, for fraud, threats, discrimination, impersonation, or a pattern that has not changed after a suspension.
Where several members report the same account, we look sooner. We weigh who is reporting: a homeowner who hired that pro knows more about them than a competitor does. Reports never remove an account automatically — a person decides.
Reviews and job records belong to both parties, so removing an account does not erase the history of work done through the site.
Blocking
You can block another member at any time, for any reason. You do not need to report them, and you do not need to explain.
We do not tell the person they have been blocked. Telling them turns a quiet exit into a confrontation, which matters more here than on a national platform because our members share a small area.
When you block someone: their conversation leaves your inbox, they cannot send you new messages, and they see only that the member is not accepting messages — not that it was personal, and not who did it.
Appeals
If we act against your account, we will tell you what rule we found you broke. You can reply once to contest it, and a person will read that reply — not an automated system. If we made a mistake, we will say so and undo it.
Problems we do not handle
Poor workmanship, disputes over price, and disagreements about what was agreed. We are not a party to your contract and we cannot adjudicate it. Use the messages on this site as your record of what was agreed, talk to each other first, and if that fails your remedies are the ones you would have anywhere else: the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for licensed trades, small claims court, or your own legal advice.
Emergencies, threats of violence, and suspected crimes. Call 911 if you are in danger. Report it to the police first and to us second. We will preserve and provide records in response to a lawful request, and we will act on our side, but we are not an emergency service and we cannot protect you in the moment.
Records and privacy
We keep reports, and the content they concern, for as long as the accounts involved exist and for a reasonable period afterwards. We keep them even when the original content is deleted, because a report is only worth as much as the evidence behind it.
We do not share the identity of a reporter with the person reported, unless we are legally required to.
Questions about this policy: support@hamptonroadshomeservices.com