Reviews Policy

Twinings.co.uk - Reviews Policy

1. Introduction

At Twinings we are dedicated to upholding strong principles of honesty and openness across all areas of our business, and this includes how we handle and display consumer feedback.

This policy applies to all consumer reviews, and all consumer review information published on Twinings.co.uk. Consumer review information means information that is derived from, or is influenced by, consumer reviews, including aggregate star ratings.

We understand that authentic reviews are essential for earning and maintaining consumer confidence. For this reason, we are committed to ensuring that all consumer reviews that are displayed on Twinings.co.uk are genuine and are not fake or misleading, and that all consumer review information is not false or misleading. This approach is focused on ensuring clarity, accuracy, and fairness in consumer reviews, in line with the requirements of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA).

As we are committed to continuous improvement, we may update this policy from time to time.

2. Consumer reviews and consumer review information

Twinings strictly prohibits the submission of fake or misleading reviews. All reviews must be based on genuine experiences with the product or service being reviewed. Consumers are prohibited from submitting reviews that are fake or misleading.

We do not offer incentives in return for positive reviews. If we offer any incentive for leaving a review, that consumer must give a genuine, unbiased opinion and this must be clearly and prominently disclosed as an incentivised review. Twinings prohibits any incentivised reviews that are not clearly marked as being incentivised.

We partner with third-party reviews company Reviews.io to help collect, process and display consumer reviews of our products and masterclasses. In addition, and in support of our own processes as detailed in this policy, Reviews.io has robust policies and procedures aimed at ensuring and monitoring authenticity of consumer reviews. Full details of the Reviews.io’s fake review policy can be found at https://www.reviews.io/legal/fake-review-policy.

Consumers who purchase products or masterclasses directly from Twinings.co.uk will receive an invitation from Twinings to submit a review on the Reviews.io website. For transparency, a “verified customer” badge will be displayed next to reviews that have been left by following an invitation link.

Consumers may also leave reviews of our products or masterclasses directly on Reviews.io’s website without requiring an invitation from Twinings.co.uk, but those reviews will not be marked with the “verified customer” badge.

When a review is published on the Reviews.io website, a widget will then directly publish the review, along with an aggregate review score (provided by Reviews.io for each relevant product or service), on Twinings.co.uk.

3. Rules for reviews

Consumer reviews displayed on Twinings.co.uk must:

a. reflect genuine consumer experience (both positive and negative);

b. fully and clearly disclose any incentive received in connection with the review (e.g. compensation, discounts, or other benefits);

c. not be submitted by a reviewer who has a financial interest, employment or commercial connection with Twinings;

d. not be manipulated (e.g. consumers cannot submit multiple reviews for the same product); and

e. comply with Reviews.io’s guidelines as updated from time to time, for example, reviews must not be offensive or defamatory.

4. Removal and investigation of concerns

Twinings continually assesses the risks of fake, banned, or misleading reviews (or false or misleading consumer review information derived from those reviews) appearing on Twinings.co.uk. We take proactive and proportionate steps to prevent, monitor and address such issues, including regular monitoring of Twinings.co.uk to identify any reviews or consumer review information which may violate our policies.

Twinings does not remove, suppress or fail to publish genuine consumer reviews or consumer review information solely because they are negative or critical, or in favour of positive ones, nor do we give greater prominence to positive reviews or consumer review information over negative ones (or vice versa). Twinings also does not omit information that is relevant to the circumstances in which a review has been written. For example, where a review has been incentivised, the consumer will be asked to fully and clearly identify and disclose this in that review. Leaving a review and making a complaint are two different things. A review is your honest opinion about a Twinings product or service, published on our website so other customers can read it when making their own decisions. A complaint is a direct query or concern raised with our customer services team (see here). You are welcome to do both, and one does not affect the other.

We will never discourage you from sharing your honest opinion, and we will not treat a negative review as a complaint in order not to publish it.

If you suspect there to be a review, or consumer review information that is fake, misleading or otherwise non-compliant, please help us and report this by emailing us at twinings.direct@twinings.com or by emailing Reviews.io at support@reviews.io.

Following investigation, if we and/or Reviews.io consider that a review and/or consumer review information does not meet our policies, we reserve the right to take action, which may include removal.