PatronCheck is the first offering of its kind, as it provides the opportunity for businesses to not only rate their customer's performance during a transaction, but report excellent, good, less then desirable, even fraudulent behavior connected to their customer's name and/or address and/or phone number and/or email address. Many of our members have questions concerning how they can and can't use information provided by PatronCheck, what should and shouldn't be entered in the optional comments section when posting a review, how to rate a customer and more. You'll find the most frequently asked questions and answers below.

Practicing Freedom of Speech
Required Information for Membership
Time Period for Reviewing Customers
Post Reviews Anonymously
Google Rankings of PatronCheck Reviews
No Results When Searching
Accepted Use of PatronCheck Reviews
PatronCheck and the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Posting Customers Information
Dos and Don'ts When Adding Comments
Rating Your Customer from 1 to 5 Stars
Interactive Computer Service
Motivation for Creating PatronCheck

I've never heard of businesses posting reviews on customers. Is this legal?

Yes. We've spent a lot of time with our attorneys and this process has been thoroughly vetted. Few business owners and authorized representatives realize that they have the right to share their subjective opinion on what took place when dealing with a customer, as well as the customer's behavior, just as customers have the right to review businesses, as they are exercising their right to Free Speech, provided to them by the First Amendment.

Why do you only require a username, password, name and email address for membership, but not require business name, address, etc.?

Most business review websites (through which customers review businesses) only require a username, password and email address for membership registration. Patroncheck was formed for the benefit of businesses, not consumers. It is our goal to "level the playing field", giving businesses the same rights and opportunities that consumers have received for well over 20 years.

Should I only review recent customers?

No. PatronCheck.com members review their customers' behavior during transactions as far back as 3 years, especially in cases of extremely bad behavior, or fraudulent behavior that led to chargeback losses.

Can I remain anonymous when posting a review?

Yes. Only your username is published with the reviews you post. Also, we do not require you to enter the specific date of your interaction with customers. Only the month and year can be entered, and that is optional. In addition, business owners and authorized representatives that prefer to remain anonymous only include general information in the optional comments section at the bottom of their review, so as to not identify themselves. There must be consequences when customers display bad behavior, and publishing a review concerning their behavior will serve that purpose, however, some members feel that remaining anonymous when posting is best. Click here to see the review submission page.

When I post reviews on customers, will they show up in the major search engines as well?

Yes. Should a member choose to include all four entries, name, address, phone number and email address of the customer, four new PatronCheck.com website review pages are immediately generated and published to the world wide web, one for each entry (for instance, click here to view a phone number review web page). All four web pages are submitted to Google within 24 hours. After posting a review, PatronCheck members receive a "search engine presence" email, soon after the reviews they post are listed in Google search results. A link is included in the email to the Google listing. So far, PatronCheck reviews are ranking in the top 1 to 3 positions, in many cases, above Facebook and White Pages. For instance, concerning one review that was posted recently, all four pages rank at the top of Google. Click the following and look for urls starting with "https://www.patroncheck.com/" to see Google rankings:

	Name
	Address
	Phone number
	Email address

What can I use PatronCheck reviews for?

YOU CAN use reviews posted on PatronCheck to decide whether or not to deal with people who have a history of being extremely hard to please, rude, argumentative, or have displayed verbally abusive or physically threatening behavior. You also may choose not to do business with customers who have a history of being a "review blackmailer", someone who threatens to give a bad review if the retailer doesn't do more than what was originally agreed. If you are an internet retailer, you may choose not to ship to addresses that have been associated with possible fraud, resulting in chargebacks.

YOU CAN NOT use PatronCheck reviews for decisions about employment, insurance, tenant screening, consumer credit or any other purpose requiring Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance.

When posting a review, am I generating a consumer report (credit report) as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act?

No. When defining the construction of a consumer report, the FCRA states in section 603d(2), "Exclusions. The term "consumer report" does not include (A) any report containing information solely as to transactions or experiences between the consumer and the person making the report."

Even though I want to give a good review concerning my good customers, is it considered an acceptable practice to post their name, address, etc. on the web?

Yes. Most are aware that many "people-search" websites, such as whitepages.com, Pipl.com, fastpeoplesearch.com, truepeoplesearch.com, and beenverified.com have already published their information on the web, including their name, address, phone number and email address. Giving your "5 star" customer a good review could be very beneficial to them.

After completing the multiple choice entries, should I choose to add a comment to the bottom of my review, what is acceptable and what should I avoid?

When posting a review:
1. DO describe the customer's behavior during a transaction in past tense, using words like, "was loud", "was cursing", "was horrible to deal with", "was drunk", "was insulting", etc.
2. DO post factually correct information like, "customer refused to pay", "gave us an unwarranted bad review", "threatened to tell others not to do business with us", "because of his behavior, we will never do business with him again", "caused us to suffer a loss", etc.

YOU CAN include the statements in both sections 1 and 2 above, as you have the right to give your opinion concerning what took place during the transaction, as well as describe the customers behavior, as you are practicing Free Speech, granted to you by the First Amendment.

1. DO NOT insult the customer (call the customer derogatory names).
2. DO NOT make damaging statements about the customer's overall present character (make sure you speak in terms of past tense when describing your customer's behavior during the transaction (e,g, "WAS rude" not "IS rude"). In other words, simply describe what took place during the transaction.
3. DO NOT post factually incorrect information.

RECOMMENDED: The following is an example of a "best practices" review posted by a restaurant owner: "This customer was very rude to my staff, loudly made disparaging remarks about the waitress and cook, and disturbed the rest of the customers. He was argumentative and actually displayed physically threatening behavior. Even though we did everything we could to please the customer, including comping his meal, we found out later that he gave us a 1 star horrible review online."

NOT RECOMMENDED: When adding a comment about your experience with your customer, do not call the customer derogatory names, or make negative comments describing their morality, character, and general reputation in present tense. For instance, do not post "is horrible", but rather you should post "was horrible". Do not post "is a nightmare", but rather post "was a nightmare", etc. The following is an example of what the restaurant owner should not post: "This customer is a dirt-bag! The inbred son-of-a-b**** is very rude. He always makes disparaging remarks about waitresses and cooks, and is very loud and obnoxious. He always disturbs other customers in restaurants as well. He is the kind of low life all businesses wish to avoid!" In this example, the restaurant owner called the customer derogatory names, as well as described the customer's behavior in present tense, in which both could be considered as "defamatory", and might be deemed as actionable offenses. Again, simply describe what took place during the transaction only.

When should I rate my customer as Excellent, Good, Average, Fair or Poor?

 Excellent - Perfect customer, (and/or) polite, personable, easy to please, didn't complain, paid as agreed, gave us a good review, would definitely recommend

 Good - Good customer, (and/or) cordial, somewhat easy to please, no complaints, paid as agreed, gave us a good review, would recommend

 Average - Ok customer, (and/or) not rude, minimal complaints, paid as agreed, gave us an average review, might recommend

 Fair - Undesirable customer, (and/or) was rude, was hard to please, complained a lot, almost didn't pay, was verbally abusive, threatened to give us a bad review if we didn't perform more than what was originally agreed, gave us a bad review, would possibly not recommend

 Poor - Undesirable customer, (and/or) was rude, was belligerent, did not pay, was extremely hard to please, was verbally abusive, was physically threatening, threatened to give us a bad review if we didn't perform more than what was originally agreed, gave us a bad review, caused us to suffer a loss, used someone else's credit card without their permission, transaction resulted in a chargeback loss, would not recommend

Can Patroncheck, its officers, directors, employees, and agents be held responsible for the content of reviews posted?

No. PatronCheck functions as an "interactive computer service" and is protected against actions filed as a result of content created by third party users, as set forth by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. We, however, advise our members (see questions and answers on this web page above) on what should and shouldn't be included in the optional comments section when posting a review. In addition, we vet every review, and alter and/or delete comments that could be considered as defamatory. We then inform the member that posted the review of the change(s) by email.