consumerdisputes.org
Effective 2026-05-09Last updated 2026-05-09

Consumer Terms of Service

Effective: 2026-05-09 Last updated: 2026-05-09 Applies to: consumers, browsers, account holders, reviewers

1. What this is and who it covers

These Terms of Service govern your use of consumerdisputes.org (the "Service"), operated by Consumer Disputes LLC ("we," "us," "our"). They apply to anyone who visits the site, browses business profiles, creates an account, posts a review, or otherwise interacts with the Service as a consumer.

A separate "Business Terms of Service" governs anyone who claims a business profile, purchases an accreditation subscription, or pays a fee to appeal a customer review. If you do those things, those terms apply in addition to these.

By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Words we use

In these Terms, the following words have specific meanings:

  • "Service" means the consumerdisputes.org website and any related online services we operate.
  • "User Content" means anything you submit, post, or transmit to the Service — reviews, photos, ratings, votes, profile information, messages.
  • "Review" means User Content describing your experience with a specific business.
  • "Appeal" means our paid process by which a business may request human review of a Review on its profile.
  • "Agent" means an internal staff member trained to evaluate Appeals.
  • "Accredited Business" means a business that has paid for and currently maintains our annual accreditation subscription.

3. Who can use the Service

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or post User Content. By using the Service, you represent that you are 18 or older.

Account information must be accurate. You are responsible for keeping your password secure and for everything that happens under your account. You may not share, sell, or transfer your account. One person, one account.

If you violate these Terms, we may suspend or close your account.

4. Your license to use the Service

We give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial purposes, subject to these Terms.

You may not:

  • Copy, scrape, harvest, or systematically extract data from the Service
  • Use any automated tool, bot, or script to interact with the Service
  • Reverse-engineer or attempt to derive source code from the Service
  • Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit access to the Service
  • Frame, mirror, or redistribute the Service or any substantial portion of it
  • Bypass, disable, or interfere with any security or content-protection feature
  • Use the Service in a way that violates any law, regulation, or third-party right

5. Your content stays yours; what we need to operate

You own your User Content. Posting it does not transfer ownership to us.

To run the Service, we need limited rights from you. By posting User Content, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable, non-exclusive license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, modify (only as needed to format or display), translate, and create excerpts of your User Content for the purposes of operating, improving, and promoting the Service.

This license is for our use of your content on the Service. You keep the right to publish your review anywhere else, including other review platforms, social media, your own website, or anywhere you wish. We do not require exclusivity. We do not claim you cannot say the same thing somewhere else.

The license survives termination of your account, because reviews of past experiences remain accurate and useful to consumers even after you leave the Service. You may, however, request removal of your specific User Content from public display through our deletion request process; we will honor that request within a reasonable time consistent with our retention obligations.

6. What you promise when you post a Review

When you post a Review, you represent and warrant that:

  • The Review reflects your honest, first-hand experience with the business as a customer or person who interacted with the business in a marketplace context
  • You are not currently or formerly employed by the business and you have no personal, family, financial, or competitive relationship with the business
  • You have not been paid, offered anything of value, or otherwise incentivized by anyone to post the Review or to slant it positively or negatively
  • You are not posting on behalf of the business, its competitors, or anyone trying to manipulate the business's reputation
  • The Review is your own work, not copied from another source
  • The Review does not contain anything you know to be false
  • The Review does not include personal information about anyone other than yourself, unless that information is necessary and lawful to include (for example, the business's own name and public contact details)

If any of those things change after you post — for example, the business resolves the issue and you want to update the Review — you can edit your Review.

7. What you may not post

You may not post or transmit User Content that:

  • Contains threats, harassment, intimidation, or incitement of violence
  • Is defamatory or contains statements you know to be false
  • Targets a person or group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristic
  • Contains sexually explicit material, content sexualizing minors, or other content prohibited by law
  • Reveals a third party's private information without their consent — addresses, phone numbers, identification numbers, financial information, medical information
  • Discloses confidential or proprietary information you do not have the right to share
  • Infringes copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property right
  • Promotes spam, advertises a product or service, includes affiliate links, or is intended to manipulate search rankings
  • Has been generated by a bot, an AI tool, or any automated means without your active first-hand experience underlying it
  • Attempts to evade our detection systems through misspellings, character substitutions, or other obfuscation
  • Is paid for, exchanged, traded, or otherwise compensated by anyone
  • Is duplicative of a previous Review you have posted about the same business within the last 6 months
  • Is unrelated to a marketplace experience with the business — for example, complaints about the business as an employer rather than as a service provider
  • Otherwise violates any law

We may decline to publish, may remove, or may flag any User Content that violates these standards. The complete list of removal categories and how we apply them is in our publicly published Removal Taxonomy.

8. Your rights when a business challenges your Review

This section describes specific commitments we make to you about how we handle Appeals.

A business that has claimed its profile may pay a flat fee to ask one of our trained Agents to review a Review you posted. We call this an Appeal. The fee a business pays buys our process — not an outcome. It does not give the business any right to remove your Review. The Agent's decision is independent and based on the evidence and our published policies.

When a business files an Appeal on your Review, you have the following rights:

  1. You will be notified. We will email you at the address on your account before any decision is made about your Review. The notice will tell you which Review is at issue, what grounds the business has cited, and what evidence the business has submitted.
  2. You have 14 days to respond, free of charge. You may submit your perspective and any counter-evidence you have. You are not obligated to. The 14-day window is yours.
  3. If you don't respond, your Review stays. We do not remove a Review simply because you didn't engage. Silence on your part is not a concession.
  4. The decision is binary and the rationale is shared with you. The Agent will decide either to leave your Review in place or to remove it. We will email you a templated explanation identifying the policy code under which the decision was made.
  5. If your Review is removed, the public record will say so. We do not silently remove Reviews. The Review's slot will display "REVIEW REMOVED" along with the policy code, so anyone reading the business's profile can see that something was here and was removed and on what basis.
  6. You may request one free re-review of any removal. If you believe the Agent got it wrong, you can ask us to re-review the decision once, at no cost to you. A second Agent will independently re-evaluate the original record.
  7. We will not transmit threats from a business to you. If a business sends a communication through our platform that threatens legal action against you, demands you withdraw your Review, or otherwise pressures you, we will not pass it on. Communication between you and a business through our platform must go through our structured process; we do not provide a free-form back-channel.

9. When we may remove or restrict content

We may remove, restrict, edit (for formatting only), or refuse to display User Content if:

  • It violates the standards in Section 6 or Section 7
  • We receive a valid takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or other applicable law
  • A court of competent jurisdiction orders us to do so
  • An Agent makes a good-faith determination, after the Appeal process described in Section 8, that the Content should be removed under our published Removal Taxonomy
  • We must do so to comply with the law or to protect the rights, safety, or property of any person

The categories under which we will remove a Review on appeal are listed in our public Removal Taxonomy. The Removal Taxonomy is content-based — we remove for what is in the Review, not for whether it is positive or negative.

10. About the paid Appeal process — what reviewers should know

We want you to understand how the Appeal process works because it affects you as a Reviewer:

  • A business pays a flat fee to have a human Agent review a Review on its profile.
  • The fee buys time and attention — not an outcome. The Agent decides based on evidence and policy.
  • Whether the business is an Accredited Business or pays for any other premium feature has no effect on the Agent's decision. Our Agents do not see payment information about the appellant business while making decisions. We audit this.
  • The fee is not refunded if the business "wins" the Appeal, and the fee is not refunded if the business "loses." There is no incentive on our part to favor one outcome over the other.
  • We publish per-business and platform-wide statistics on Appeals — how many Reviews are appealed, how many are upheld, how many are removed, broken down by removal category and accreditation status. You can see them.

11. What we do not do — affirmations under the Consumer Review Fairness Act

We make these affirmations to you in addition to the rights you have under federal law (15 USC § 45b — the Consumer Review Fairness Act):

  • We will never charge you a fee for posting a Review.
  • We will never charge you a fee for the content of a Review you post — including a negative one.
  • We will never demand you remove a Review as a condition of any service.
  • We do not require you to assign or transfer ownership of the substance of your Review to us.
  • We do not restrict your right to post the same Review on any other platform.
  • We do not enforce non-disparagement clauses against you arising out of any other contract.
  • We will not sue you, retaliate against you, or facilitate a third party's effort to do those things, for posting an honest Review.

12. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information as described there.

A few specific privacy commitments to be aware of:

  • We do not give your name, email, or contact information to a business without your express consent.
  • When a business challenges your Review through the Appeal process, the business sees only what we have determined is necessary for them to argue their case — not your full account profile.
  • We mediate communication. Any contact between you and a business about a Review goes through our structured tools. The business does not get a back-channel to you.

13. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies. Our Cookie Policy describes them and your choices. By using the Service, you accept cookies as described there.

14. Our intellectual property

The Service — the software, design, layout, trademarks, logos, taxonomies, and content we create (excluding User Content) — is owned by us or licensed to us. You may not use our brand or trademarks without our written permission. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of our intellectual property rights to you.

15. DMCA notice and takedown

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated DMCA agent at the address below. The notice must include:

  • A signature (physical or electronic) of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed
  • Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, with enough specificity for us to find it (URL is best)
  • Your contact information
  • A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized
  • A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner

DMCA Agent: DMCA Designated Agent Address: [your registered business address] Email: dmca@consumerdisputes.org

If we remove content in response to a DMCA notice, the user who posted the content may submit a counter-notification, and we will follow the process required by 17 USC § 512(g).

We have a policy of terminating accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

16. Third-party content and links

The Service may include or link to content from third parties — government databases, news sources, other public records. We do not endorse third-party content and we do not guarantee its accuracy. Use it at your own risk.

17. Disclaimer of warranty

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ABOUT THE SERVICE, ITS CONTENT, ITS AVAILABILITY, OR ANY OUTCOME FROM USING IT. WE DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF INFORMATION ABOUT ANY BUSINESS LISTED ON THE SERVICE. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE ANY BUSINESS WILL BEHAVE A PARTICULAR WAY.

YOU USE THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

18. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THIS LIMITATION DOES NOT APPLY WHERE LAW PROHIBITS LIMITATION — INCLUDING WHERE THE LIMITATION WOULD VIOLATE STATE-LAW PROTECTIONS AGAINST WAIVING LIABILITY FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE OR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT.

19. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of:

  • Your User Content
  • Your breach of these Terms
  • Your violation of any law or third-party right

We will give you reasonable notice of any claim, and you may control the defense provided you do not settle without our written consent.

20. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. You may close your account through your account settings or by contacting us.

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, if we believe in good faith that you have violated these Terms, that termination is necessary to protect another user, or that the law requires us to terminate.

The license you granted us in Section 5 to your User Content survives termination, except for User Content you specifically request we remove from public display.

21. Governing law and where disputes are heard

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the arbitration provisions in Section 22.

For any matter that, under Section 22, is not subject to arbitration — for example, small-claims-court matters or claims for injunctive relief involving intellectual property infringement — you and we agree that the exclusive venue is the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and you and we each consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

You and we acknowledge that we have selected Texas law and Travis County, Texas as the venue because Texas's anti-SLAPP statute (the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 27) provides a predictable and balanced framework for resolving disputes arising from speech on matters of public concern, including consumer reviews. Either party may invoke the Texas Citizens Participation Act in any court proceeding governed by this Section.

22. Arbitration and class-action waiver

This Section 22 is the most important section in these Terms. Read it carefully. It limits your right to bring claims to court and to participate in any class action.

22.1 Informal dispute resolution required first

Before either of us files a demand for arbitration, the party with a dispute must give the other party written notice of the dispute and a 60-day opportunity to resolve it informally. You may send notice by email to the address in Section 26 or by mail to our registered address. We may send notice to the email address on your account. The 60-day informal-resolution period is a precondition to any arbitration; an arbitration filed without first satisfying this period may be dismissed by the arbitrator without prejudice.

22.2 Binding individual arbitration

If the informal-resolution period expires without resolution, the dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its then-current Consumer Arbitration Rules and the Consumer Due Process Protocol. The arbitration will be seated in Travis County, Texas, though hearings may be conducted by telephone or video where the AAA rules permit. The arbitrator's decision is final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.

22.3 Class-action and representative-action waiver

You and we each agree to bring any dispute only in our individual capacity. You and we each waive any right to participate in a class action, collective action, mass action, private attorney general action, or any other form of representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, and the arbitrator may not preside over any form of class, collective, mass, representative, or aggregate proceeding. If a court finds this Section 22.3 unenforceable as to any claim or remedy, that claim or remedy is severed and may proceed in court, but all other claims continue in arbitration.

22.4 Mass-filing protocol

The parties acknowledge that coordinated filings of substantially similar individual arbitrations by the same or coordinated counsel ("mass filings") raise practical issues that the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules alone may not adequately address. If 25 or more arbitration demands raising substantially similar claims are filed against us within a 90-day period by the same counsel, by counsel coordinated with each other, or otherwise as part of a coordinated effort, all such filings will be batched and proceed under the following protocol:

  • The first ten cases proceed as bellwethers, selected five by claimants' counsel and five by us. The bellwethers are conducted to final award before any other case in the batch proceeds.
  • After the bellwethers conclude, the parties will mediate in good faith for 30 days using the AAA-appointed mediator, with the goal of resolving remaining cases on the bellwether outcomes.
  • Cases that do not resolve in mediation proceed serially, ten at a time, in the order filed.
  • During the bellwether and mediation phases, statutes of limitation and other timing-based defenses are tolled as to all batched cases.
  • Filing-fee and arbitrator-compensation obligations for the batched cases follow the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules schedule, allocated across the batch by the AAA.

22.5 Carve-outs

The following matters are not subject to arbitration and may be brought in court (subject to Section 21's venue requirements):

  • Claims that may be brought in small-claims court, provided the matter remains in small-claims court
  • Claims for temporary or preliminary injunctive relief involving alleged infringement of intellectual property rights
  • Either party's enforcement of an arbitration award

22.6 Right to opt out

You may opt out of this Section 22 by sending us written notice within 30 days of the date you first accepted these Terms (or, for existing users, within 30 days of the effective date of any material amendment to this Section 22). The notice must include your full name, the email address on your account, and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms. Send the notice to the address in Section 26.

22.7 Severability of arbitration clause

If any part of Section 22 (other than Section 22.3, which has its own severability rule) is found to be unenforceable, the remainder of Section 22 will remain in effect.

23. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms. If we make material changes, we will:

  • Email account holders at the address on file
  • Post a notice on the Service for at least 30 days before the change takes effect
  • Update the "Last updated" date at the top

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of a change is your acceptance of the change. If you do not accept a change, your remedy is to stop using the Service before the change takes effect.

24. Severability, waiver, assignment, survival

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest of the Terms remain in effect. If we don't enforce a provision, that does not waive our right to enforce it later. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or by operation of law. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent.

The following sections survive termination of these Terms or your account: Section 5 (User Content license), Section 14 (our intellectual property), Sections 17–19 (disclaimer, limitation of liability, indemnification), Sections 21–22 (governing law, arbitration), and Section 24 (this section).

25. Electronic communications

You agree we may communicate with you electronically — by email to the address on your account, by notice on the Service, or by other electronic means. Electronic communication satisfies any legal requirement that communication be in writing.

26. How to contact us

For general questions: hello@consumerdisputes.org For DMCA notices: DMCA Designated Agent (registered with U.S. Copyright Office) For privacy requests (CCPA, CPRA, similar): privacy@consumerdisputes.org For legal notices: Consumer Disputes LLC, [your registered business address]