DMCCA & Reviews Policy

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) - Reviews Policy Statement. 

Introduction

This statement and policy are made in conjunction with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (‘the Act’) and sets out Custom Planet’s (the ‘Company’s’) actions to understand all potential risks of misleading current or potential customers, to what extent measures already exist, and what further measures may be required to prevent the proliferation of fake or misleading reviews taking place in any part of our business. Everyone in our organisation has a role in preventing misleading reviews and ensuring transparency.

Custom Planet’s attitude to fake reviews is one of zero tolerance. We are committed to opposing the misleading of customers in all its forms and preventing it by whatever means we can. The relevant areas of the Act in relation to reviews are summarised below.

We require that everyone working with or for us, and all who have, or seek to have, a business relationship with the Company and/or any member of our Group to familiarise themselves with our Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) - Reviews Policy Statement, and to always act in a way that is consistent with our standards and values. They must comply with this policy when reviews relating to our services are involved.

Our staff have all been informed of the DMCCA, its requirements and stipulations, and are aware that Custom Planet's policy is to not leave reviews for our own services, even in cases where a genuine service has been offered. Regardless of whether an employee is acting as a customer in the scenario, they cannot leave a review.

The Company

Founded in 2008, Custom Planet is a provider of printed and embroidered clothing and promotional products. Although our print and embroidery facility is based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, we serve a global market and therefore it is of the utmost importance that our review process is fair, accurate, and in line with global laws on the topic. 

Purpose of this Policy

The Act provides for the regulation of competition in digital markets; to amend the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002 and to make other provision about competition law; to make provision relating to the protection of consumer rights and to confer further such rights; and for connected purposes. The Act makes it illegal to:

  • Write reviews not based on genuine consumer experiences;
  • Hire or contract somebody to write reviews not based on genuine consumer experiences;
  • Offer fake reviews not based on genuine consumer experiences;
  • Conceal that reviews have been incentivised in any way;
  • Present reviews or review information in an unethical or misleading manner;
  • Fail to take active measures to prevent fake reviews;

At Custom Planet we take compliance and consumer trust seriously and will not tolerate the proliferation of fake reviews or the deliberate misleading of customers for personal or commercial gain. As a leading distributor we always work to the highest professional standards and comply with all laws, regulations, legislation, rules, and best practice relevant to our business and operations.

We are committed to conducting our review-related processes fairly, transparently, and responsibly. This policy sets out the risks we assess, the controls we use, and the measures we take to effectively implement our zero-tolerance commitment.

Our Review Collectors

Our review collection is actively monitored through Trustpilot. Our services are available to be reviewed on other platforms, and we have actively used Reviews.io in the past. Currently Trustpilot is the only review platform that we proactively send out invitations to review us on. We respond to all reviews on Trustpilot, and endeavour to do the same on our Google Business Profile page. Reviews of our products and services may be hosted on other platforms, though they are not or no longer actively monitored.

Our Policies on Reviews

We are committed to ensuring that there are no fake or incentivised reviews in any part of our business. Our Review Policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure reviews are accurate, ethically sourced, and presented fairly and without bias.

Due Diligence Processes for Reviews

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we have in place systems to:

  • Exclude Custom Planet, its employees, and any connected businesses from being asked to provide reviews for our products or services.
  • Go above and beyond the DMCCA to match Trustpilot's stance of not offering any incentives for reviews.
  • Ensure automatic reviews are sent to all of our customers that have successfully completed an order with us, whether the job was positive or negative.
  • Support internal reporting of concerns without fear of repercussions.

 

Trustpilot Adherence to the DMCCA

Trustpilot is our main review platform that we promote, maintain, and publicise. Both Trustpilot and Custom Planet are obligated to comply with the DMCCA.

Further information on how Trustpilot is implementing the legislation on its platform is available via their public guidance here:
https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/The-UK-s-new-fake-reviews-law-and-Trustpilot?language=en_US

We agree with Trustpilot's stance of not offering any incentives for reviews. This goes above and beyond the DMCCA's legislation which only requires that incentivised reviews be clearly displayed as such. We believe that offering no incentives reduces the potential impact for bias in either direction.

Training

Our staff have all been trained on the DMCCA, its requirements and stipulations. Training includes clear instruction that staff must not review our services under any circumstances, even when acting as genuine customers.

Even when staff purchase through us as customers, they must not review our services.

Date: 2025