Review policy

In short

• We publish positive and negative reviews.
• We only hold back or reject a review for one of the 9 reasons in section 8. If we reject your review, or need you to change something before it can go live, we email you the reason.
• Reviews from invited customers, from people who got something for their review and from people in the industry are labelled.
• Brands and businesses can reply in public. They can't remove or edit reviews.
• We never edit or rewrite a review.

1. Who can post a review

• You must be 18 or over.
• You must have first-hand experience of the product, the business you bought it from, or its installation. DIYers, builders and installers are all welcome.
• One review per person (one email address) for each product range. You can update your review later using the link in our emails, and we'll show the date you updated it.
• You need a working email address. If you write a review straight on the site, we email you a link to confirm it, and we don't start checking it until you click the link. If you don't confirm it within 7 days, we delete it. If you write your review from an invitation we emailed you, that link already confirms your address.

2. What we publish

We publish your display name, your state, your star rating, title and review, what you liked and didn't like, whether the deck was a DIY or professional install, how long it's been in use, the date, and any labels from section 6.

We never publish your email address or postcode.

3. Writing a useful review

• Describe your own experience: what you bought, how it was installed, how it has performed, and for how long.
• Good and bad experiences are both welcome. Specific details help other people most.
• You can mention the business or installer you used.
• A review needs a title of at least 3 characters and at least 20 characters of text. It can have up to 2 links.

4. Connections you must tell us about

Tell us on the review form if you:

• work for, or are paid by, a business that sells the product;
• install decking for a living;
• work for, or are paid by, a decking brand; or
• have another connection, for example a close family member or friend who works for a brand or a business that sells decking.

Also tell us if you got the product free or at a discount, or got anything else for your review.

If you tell us about a connection, we usually still publish your review, with a label (section 6).

We don't publish reviews from anyone who works for, or is paid by, a decking brand, or anyone a brand pays or asks to write a review.

People who sell or install decking can review products, and we label the review "Sells or installs this product".

5. Incentives and invitations

Incentives. We don't offer anything for reviews. Brands and businesses must not offer you anything for a review on our site. If someone did, tell us on the form and we'll label your review.

Invitations. When a deck pack request is marked won or lost, whether or not the builder or supplier got the job, we may email the customer an invitation to review the decking they chose. Every invitation says the same thing and asks for an honest review, good or bad. We never choose who to invite based on what we think they'll say. Invited reviews are labelled "Invited". You can choose not to get invitations using the link in the email.

6. Labels on reviews

Label	When we use it
Verified purchase	Our records show the reviewer's deck pack request ended in a sale: the builder or supplier won the job. Reviews without this label are still published
Invited	We emailed the reviewer an invitation
Free product	The reviewer got the product free
Discounted product	The reviewer got the product at a discount
Incentivised: paid	The reviewer got money, a gift card or similar for the review
Incentivised: prize draw entry	The reviewer got an entry in a prize draw for the review
Sells or installs this product	The reviewer sells or installs decking
Connected to a brand, merchant or installer	The reviewer told us about another connection, such as a family member in the industry
Updated {date}	The reviewer changed their review after it was published
Response from {name}	A reply from a brand or business

7. How moderation works

1. You confirm by email, unless you wrote your review from an invitation. The form also has a bot check and limits on how often anyone can send it.
2. Automatic checks. Our system looks for personal details such as email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses, and for duplicate text. A review with personal details is paused and we email you to take them out. A possible duplicate is held for a person to look at. The automatic checks never reject a review.
3. A person checks it against this policy.
4. We publish it, or tell you why not. When your review goes live, we email you. If we can't publish it, we email you the reason code from section 8 and what you can do about it.

We don't run reviews through any writing-style check.

8. The only reasons we hold or reject a review

This is a closed list. We don't use any other reason.

Code	Reason	What we do
R1	Spam, advertising or links to unrelated sites.	Reject. You can send it again without the promotion or links
R2	Not based on the writer’s own experience of the product.	Reject
R3	Written by someone with an undisclosed commercial interest in the product or a competitor.	Hold and ask you. If the connection is one we allow, we publish with a label. If not, we reject
R4	Repeats a review the same person already submitted for this product.	Hold. You can update your first review instead
R5	Contains personal details such as a phone number, address or a private person’s name.	Hold and ask you to take the details out. We never reject a review for this reason alone
R6	Abusive, hateful, threatening or obscene language.	Reject. You can send it again without the abusive language
R7	Allegations about an identifiable person or business that could be defamatory.	Hold. We may ask you for details. We publish if the claim can be supported or is reworded, and reject if not
R8	Not about the product or the writer’s experience of it.	Reject
R9	Copies someone else’s words, or uses photos the writer didn’t take and has no permission to use.	Reject. You can send it again with only your own words

We never hold or reject a review because:

• it's negative, or has a low star rating;
• it criticises us, a brand or a business, including businesses that pay us;
• a brand, business or advertiser asks us to;
• it might reduce sales; or
• we disagree with it.

A review saying a product performed badly, or that you were unhappy with a business's service, is not a reason to hold it under R7.

9. Editing

We never edit or rewrite reviews. If something needs to change, such as personal details (R5), we ask you to change it.

You can edit your own review at any time using the link in our emails. An edited review is checked again before it goes back on the site.

10. How ratings are shown

• The customer rating is the average of all published customer reviews, out of 5 to one decimal place, shown with the number of reviews and the spread of star ratings.
• We show an average once a product has at least 3 published reviews.
• Reviews are shown newest first. You can also sort by highest or lowest rating. Sorting never hides reviews.
• We don't publish expert ratings of our own. See How we review.

11. Right of reply for brands and merchants

• A brand, or a business that sells or installs the product, can post one public reply to a review. Replies are labelled "Response from {name}" and can be up to 2,000 characters. There are no follow-up replies.
• A person checks every reply before it's published, against the same closed list in section 8.
• A reply can include the business's own contact details. It must not include the reviewer's personal details, any offer to the reviewer, or a request to change or remove the review.
• Brands and businesses can't remove or edit reviews. They can report a review under section 12, like anyone else.
• We never give them the reviewer's contact details.

12. Reporting a review, comment or reply

To report a review, comment or reply, email info@compositedecks.com.au with a link to it and the reason from section 8 that you think applies. A report on its own never removes a review: a person checks it against the same closed list.

Defamation complaints. Tell us:

• which words you're complaining about;
• why you say they're false or harmful; and
• how we can contact you.

We'll reply within 5 working days, and we may contact the reviewer.

13. Asking for a second look

If we rejected your review, reply to our email and ask us to look again. We'll reply within 5 working days.

14. Deleting your review

You can delete your review at any time using the link in any email we sent you about it, or by asking us. When you delete a review, we take it off the site and delete your words and your name. We keep a record of our moderation decisions.

15. Comments

Comments are replies to a review or a product range, one level deep. The rules in sections 1 and 7 to 14 apply to them. Comments don't have star ratings and don't count towards ratings.

16. Changes to this policy

We'll post any changes here with a new version and date. Reviews are checked under the policy in force when they're checked. If the policy changes while you're writing a review, the form asks you to reload the page and send it again.