Review Guidelines

Our three basic rules

1. Your own experience, truthfully told. Only write about things you experienced yourself – and describe them as they were.
2. Facts instead of attacks. Criticism is welcome and important. Insults, threats and insinuations are not.
3. No third-party data. Names of employees, private phone numbers, addresses, health or payment data do not belong in a public review.

What does “verified” mean?

TrustStar distinguishes two paths – both protect customers and companies:

• With review code (QR card): The code is tied to a specific order and valid once. The review counts as verified immediately and is published right away.
• Without code (website or widget): The review arrives with status “awaiting confirmation”. The company initially sees only the name, the date and the short mandatory note “What was it about?” (e.g. “painting work”, “purchase” – for orientation, without revealing the content) – not the stars, not the text. If the business confirms the customer relationship, the review is published and only then becomes readable for the company; if it declines, the review stays unpublished and the person is informed (with the option to object).
• Deadline expiry: If the company does not react within 3 working days, the review is published automatically – visible without the verified badge (“Unconfirmed”); the company can report the entry at any time afterwards, and we review and remove inadmissible content.
• Objection after a decline: If the company cannot confirm the customer relationship, the entry stays unpublished and the person is informed. If they object with credible evidence (e.g. invoice or order number, order date), TrustStar reviews the case individually and neutrally. If the customer relationship is confirmed, the review is published with the label “✓ checked by TrustStar” – the decline itself is not made public and the company suffers no disadvantage; it is informed and can reply as usual.

Duty of truthful confirmation (companies): Companies are obliged to examine the customer relationship to the best of their knowledge and conscience and to confirm it truthfully. If the company recognises the reviewing person or the transaction – or if the connection can be clearly established from the details provided – the review must be accepted. Declining “despite better knowledge” violates these guidelines and the terms of service. Consequences: if the customer relationship is confirmed in the objection procedure, we publish the review with the label “✓ checked by TrustStar” – even against the decline. In cases of repeated abuse of the confirmation procedure, we reserve the right to withdraw the verified status of the company profile, mark this publicly and block paid features.

We additionally mark entries as verified when we can trace a connection to an actual business transaction. One of the following criteria is sufficient:

• the company confirms on our enquiry that an order existed,
• the reviewer provides an order or invoice number the company can match,
• the account contains verifiable, consistent details about location, time period and service.

If we cannot provide any of this evidence, we publish the review without a label. It remains visible and counts towards the overall rating – but we do not artificially upgrade it. Entries imported via the Google Business Profile API always carry the Google label; Google's guidelines apply to them, and our moderation duty applies in addition.

Who may write a review?

Entitled to review is any person who had an actual business contact with the company and reports from their own observation:

• Direct customers and clients: persons who themselves ordered, purchased or used a service.
• Witnessing persons (“indirect” experience): anyone who was personally present when the service was provided, or received it within their immediate personal environment – e.g. spouses and partners, family members, housemates or employees of the client (for instance when accepting a craftsman's work). What matters is the person's own, direct perception of the transaction – not who signed the contract.

Not entitled are pure hearsay reports (“an acquaintance told me …”), persons without any point of contact with the company, as well as competitors and employees of the reviewed company.

If the company does not recognise you: witnessing persons often review under their own name or a pseudonym – the company may then be unable to match them and might decline although everything is correct. In your objection, simply explain the connection briefly (e.g. “spouse of the client, invoice number …, appointment on …”). We assess the case neutrally; if the genuine connection is confirmed, the review is published with the label “✓ checked by TrustStar”. Tip: state the connection when writing the review – via the mandatory field “What was it about?” and optionally in the text (e.g. “review as a relative of the client”) – this greatly speeds up the matching.

Inadmissible content

Content that is not published or is removed includes anything that

• contains insults, defamatory criticism, abuse or threats,
• asserts untrue facts or deliberately misleads,
• names personal data of third parties (real names of employees, private contact details, account data, diagnoses),
• is discriminatory, incites hatred, is pornographic or glorifies violence,
• contains advertising, links to competitors, affiliate links or chain letters,
• originates from a fake account, is automated, or is submitted multiple times for the same transaction,
• was written for payment or on the instruction of third parties,
• discloses internal processes, trade secrets or copyrighted texts of third parties,
• consists solely of a price mention without relation to the service (“too expensive”) or has no content at all (“great!!!”).

Company replies

Companies may publicly reply to every review. The following applies:

• No real names or contact details of the reviewer.
• No internals from contracts, invoices or health data – not even in defence. Write instead: “We would be happy to clarify the matter with you directly.”
• No demeaning wording, no accusation of lying without a provable basis.
• No offers of money or benefits for withdrawing a review.

Replies can be edited at any time. The original version remains logged internally so that we can trace manipulations.

Asking for reviews the right way

Asking for reviews is allowed and explicitly welcome – as long as it stays fair.

Reports and review procedure

Any person and any company can report a review. This is how the review works:

1. Report received – via the “⚑ Report” button directly on every review (company profile and embedded widget; no login required), for logged-in companies additionally in the company dashboard, or informally via the contact form (topic “Report a review”) or at recht@truststar.eu. Every report requires a category and a short justification; a contact address for feedback is optional.
2. Initial screening within two working days by our moderation team. In case of obvious legal violations the entry is immediately marked “under review”.
3. Hearing of the author, provided contact details are available. They receive five working days to respond.
4. Decision within five working days of receipt of the complete report. Possible outcomes: the review stands, inadmissible passages are shortened, removal, upgrade to “verified”.
5. Written reasoning to both sides. Decisions are documented internally so that we can demonstrate consistent practice.
6. Appeal – every decision can be contested within 14 days; the appeal is reviewed by a different person than the first instance.

Reviews are never removed merely at a company's request, but exclusively for violations of these guidelines or of applicable law. We inform the author about deletions and state the reason.

What makes a helpful review

• Specific instead of general: “The appointment was postponed twice; the third time the team arrived on time” helps more than “unreliable”.
• Mention all sides: What went well, what did not? A balanced review is more credible than a hymn of praise.
• Establish a time reference: How did a complaint develop after four weeks? Are promises kept?
• Put price and performance in context: A high price is not a defect – what matters is whether the service matches it.
• Add updates later: If a problem was resolved after your review, add that information. Everyone benefits.

Questions about these guidelines?

Our moderation team is happy to answer: recht@truststar.eu or via the contact form with the topic “Report a review”.

Version of 19 September 2026. These guidelines are continuously updated with new insights from moderation practice; changes are published on this page.