The purpose of this website is to enable a visitor to obtain information about local events, services and news via our comprehensive "thebestof" central guide. The following terms and conditions relating to the use of the site are intended to reflect this on a common sense basis. All visitors to this site agree to be bound by these conditions and by any subsequent variation or amendment to them.
References below to "subsidiary sites" are to the sites maintained by authorised franchisees trading under the style "thebestof" in the particular areas described within those sites, all of which are linked into this site.
thebestof is a trade mark owned by N5 Limited, a UK limited company whose registered office is at Unit 2635 Kings Court, The Crescent, Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham, B37 7YE, UK company registered number is 4590601. Save for content submitted by advertisers or made available for access via the subsidiary sites, the copyright in all written material, design, text and graphics made available upon or portrayed by this site and the subsidiary sites is owned by N5 Limited. Nothing contained within these conditions or elsewhere upon this site and the subsidiary sites confers or may be taken to confer any licence upon a visitor in respect of these intellectual property rights. In the event that a visitor is proved to have infringed any of these intellectual property rights, N5 will seek to recover all loss and damage arising therefrom together with all costs associated with such recovery.
N5 Limited does not seek to control or influence the use by visitors to this site and the subsidiary sites of any material appearing upon those. In particular any subsequent contact that a visitor makes with an advertiser upon this site and the subsidiary sites, and any subsequent trading or other activity or interaction following from this, is the sole choice and responsibility of the visitor. Subject to the above, visitors to this site and the subsidiary sites must refrain from any infringement of advertisers’ copyright or of any related intellectual property rights and from any misuse of whatsoever nature of material submitted to those sites by advertisers and other contributors. In the event that N5 Limited suffers any loss and damage consequent upon a failure by a visitor to observe these provisions, it will seek to recover such loss and damage in full.
Neither N5 Limited nor any company or individual associated with it (including but not limited to its directors, shareholders and employees and its franchisees under the trading style "thebestof") shall be liable for any loss or damage incurred by any visitor to this site and the subsidiary sites, whether arising from access to the site contents, use of any of the material contained upon those sites, temporary or permanent unavailability of the whole or any part of those sites, or otherwise. In particular it is the exclusive responsibility of visitors to this site and the subsidiary sites to satisfy themselves in every respect as to advertisers upon those sites and the quality and nature of any goods or services provided by such advertisers.
N5 Limited and its franchisees reserve the right at all times to make any change to the contents of this site and the subsidiary sites and to these terms and conditions. It is the responsibility of all visitors to this site and the subsidiary sites to ensure that they are fully aware of the most up to date version of the site contents and of these terms before entering into any commitment in reliance in whole or in part upon the site contents or these terms.
No material may be submitted via this site or the subsidiary sites to N5 Limited or its franchisees or to any of its advertisers on those sites or registered users, whether via their forums or otherwise, which is in any way in breach of any legislation or the legal rights of any third party, knowingly inaccurate, threatening or offensive, or calculated or likely to interfere with the proper functioning of those sites. Any breach of this provision will render the party in breach liable to indemnify N5 Limited and its franchisees against any damages, claims, costs or other liabilities that it may suffer or incur as a result (whether directly or indirectly) of such breach.
These conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales. Any dispute arising hereunder shall fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Who Determines if a business is best?
All businesses that feature on thebestof need to be able to prove that they are good businesses, offering great service. Of course, the best can have different meanings to different people; one furniture shop, for instance, could be best for value (because you can furnish a whole flat for less than £1000) whereas another might be best for quality because all their pieces are designed and made to order from hardwood. Ultimately, it is the franchisee in each area who decides whether a particular businesses gets featured on their local thebestof website or not.
A lot of your reviews are 5 star – why is this?
The reality is that we typically work with really good local businesses so it’s not surprising that they naturally receive many positive reviews on a regular basis.
We do have lots of reviews that are less than 5 star across the Site.
Do you only publish good reviews?
No, we publish all verified reviews left on thebestof providing they meet our Review criteria. This means that if a review is less than 10 characters, out of date, or deemed to be malicious or include swearing, for instance then it won’t normally be published.
Where we pull through reviews from other platforms we normally only show 3 star reviews and above on thebestof.
Why do you only show 3* and above reviews from other sites on thebestof?
To be clear, we show ALL validated reviews that are left directly on thebestof website, whatever their star rating.
Where we show Reviews that are 'fed' from other Sites on thebestof we only show 3* reviews and above. There are several reasons for this:
How can you prove that your reviews are real?
When reviews are added directly through our website (as most reviews are) a validation process is required before a review is made ‘live’. This includes the reviewer having to confirm their email address (by opening a tracked validation email we send to them), or the reviewer leaving a review using a confirmed Facebook account. Some reviews are submitted on postcards which are then keyed by hand and uploaded. These reviews are validated either by the reviewer confirming their email address (as above) or via text message validation. All cards are saved to show proof of each review. All reviews on the Site are ‘reviewed’ by our local franchisees who are trained to spot fictitious or fake reviews and remove them. If you believe a review is not real then please contact us and we will investigate and, if appropriate remove it from the site. We take the integrity of our reviews very seriously.
Some of the businesses have hundreds of reviews – How can this be possible?
Lots of businesses have been with us for a long time and we’ve been collecting reviews since 2007 so it’s not a surprise that some businesses have lots.
We also run campaigns during the year like Business of the Year Awards and Buy Local for instance, when we actively go out into the local community and encourage local people to ‘show some love’ for their favourite local business – which they can do, of course, by submitting a review.
What happens if a business consistently gets negative feedback?
If a business consistently receives poor feedback from customers then it will be removed from thebestof. The first time a review that is less than 3 stars is received, a conversation takes place with that business and they have the chance to ‘put right’ the problem. We may also ask the reviewer to provide more specific information at this stage to fully understand their issue or complaint and again, where possible, we will work with the business to get things put right.
Why is there a recommended minimum 10 character limit?
We want to encourage ‘real’ reviews, and we just don’t feel super-short responses are as useful or sufficient to ‘review’ a business. That’s why every review should be a minimum of 10 characters.
What happens if I want to write a negative review?
That’s fine – we encourage this and our integrity is very important to us.
My review isn’t shown straight away – why is this?
Not all reviews go up on the Site automatically. If your review is negative we may contact you to make sure you are real (!) and to understand more about your complaint. Once we have this further information the franchisee gets feedback from the business member and the review is then posted with Talk-Back such as the example below;
https://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/walsall/business-guide/feature/carpets-direct-2-u/reviews/
If the reviewer has taken legal action against the business being reviewed, then no reviews from that person about that business will be published on thebestof website, either before, during or after legal proceedings are completed. If the business takes legal action the same conditions apply
Who decides on which reviews are published?
All valid reviews are normally published. Any reviews which appear to be not genuine, suspicious, and malicious or that include swearing would be removed immediately. Ultimately it is the local franchisee who controls the content on their part of the website and as such they have editorial control.
Our franchisees do remove reviews which they believe to be “suspect” – whether that is 'suspect good' or 'suspect bad'. We take very seriously the integrity of the reviews that we show. If any reviews are flagged with us as being suspicious or not genuine, then they are investigated fully and, if there is substance to the accusation, those reviews are taken down immediately.
For any further questions regarding our Reviews Policy we would welcome your questions simply email support@thebestof.co.uk
These rules set out the terms of use for submitting Reviews of businesses, services or places which appear on thebestof web site or its subsidiary sites. Any submission of a Review by you confirms your acceptance of the terms and conditions below.
The Reviews section of our web site is fully moderated. Every Review submitted will be checked by us for compliance with our Content Standards before it is published. We will try to publish as many Reviews as we can but we cannot guarantee that all Reviews will be published. We also cannot guarantee how quickly Reviews will be posted as this will depend on other editorial commitments.
Although the Reviews are fully moderated, we are under no obligation to you or any other person to oversee, monitor or moderate the Reviews or any other service we provide on our web site and we may stop moderating the Reviews section at any time. We reserve the right to not publish any Review which we deem to be potentially defamatory of any person or which we deem unlawful or in violation of our Content Standards or any third party rights.
To add a Review, please register on the website and follow the simple steps to submit your Review.
You agree that your first name and the first letter of your surname (e.g. ClaireT or JasonD) will be used to identify your Review when published. All information you provide will be kept strictly in accordance with our Privacy Policy
These Content Standards apply to your Review. The Content Standards must be complied with in spirit as well as to the letter. We will determine, at our sole discretion, whether a Review breaches our Content Standards. We reserve the right not to publish Reviews, to amend content or remove Reviews at any time from our web site without notice. Publication of Reviews does not mean that we agree with or endorse any opinion or advice expressed.
Your Review must:
1) Be accurate (where it states facts), truthful and be genuinely held (where it states opinions).
2) Comply with the law applicable in England and Wales and in any country from which it is posted.
3) Be relevant, constructive and helpful to other users of the site and be from your own genuine personal experiences.
To allow reviews to be published it's imperative to the authenticity that the reviewer has used the service or product of the business. We reserve the right to not publish and remove a review where it is found that there is no evidence of use of the business. Feel free to explain any negative experiences, but your Review will not be posted if we deem it to be in breach of these conditions.
You agree that your Review will not:
1) Be defamatory of any person; obscene; offensive; hateful or inflammatory.
2) Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
3) Disclose the name, address, telephone, mobile or fax number, e-mail address or any other personal data in respect of any individual.
4) Infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person.
5) Breach any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence or be in contempt of court.
6) Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person. Your Review should be of the business not the individuals involved.
7) Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.
8) Advocate, promote, incite any third party to commit, or assist any unlawful or criminal act.
9) Contain any advertising or promote any services or web links to other sites.
10) Be submitted using methods generated by script, macro or the use of automated devices and/or via an email address or domain that is owned or operated by the business for whom the review is related to.
You understand and acknowledge that information posted or transmitted by reviewers is the sole responsibility of the person from which such material originated.
thebestof shall not in any way be held responsible or liable for reliance by users on any information that is obtained from a Review. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content, information or usefulness for any particular purpose.
You shall remain solely liable for the content of any Review you submit. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless thebestof, and its parent, affiliates, directors, officers and employees from and against any claim, liability, cost, damage other expenses or loss we may incur (including, without limitation, legal fees) as a result of any material you post in a Review or any violation by you of your obligations under these terms and conditions.
By submitting a Review, you agree to grant thebestof a non-exclusive licence to use that Review and the unrestricted right to freely use, edit, alter, reproduce, publish and/or distribute the material contained in your Review for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, as we see fit, without acknowledgement or compensation to you. This licence will be free of charge, perpetual and capable of sub-licence. thebestof may exercise all copyright and publicity rights in the material contained in your Review in all jurisdictions, to their full extent and for the full period for which any such rights exist in that material.
If you wish to complain about any Review, please contact us at support@thebestof.co.uk. We will then re-examine the Review and decide whether it complies with our Content Standards. We will deal with any Review which, in our opinion, violates our Content Standards and will remove any offending content and take such action as we deem appropriate. We will inform you of the outcome of our Review within a reasonable time of receiving your complaint.
We may revise these terms and conditions at any time. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are legally binding on you.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by English Law.
By posting a review on thebestof.co.uk deemed eligible for entry into the Business of the Year/Buy Local Campaign Prize Draw, you agree to the following Terms and Conditions. N5 Ltd reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions, at any time or without prior notice.
By playing thebestof games you are eligible for entry into the Games Local and National prize competitions, you agree to the following Terms and Conditions. N5 Ltd reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions, at any time or without prior notice.
Below are the rules ("Official Rules") that apply to all N5 Ltd competitions and draws.
Rules for competitions and prize draws featured or promoted on thebestof.co.uk, but which require registration for entry on a 3rd party site are not governed by these official rules.
In the event of a prize monetary value, this will be for spend with a current business member of thebestof only.
For a copy of the Winner's List, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the following address upon completion of the prize draw;
thebestof Games Manager
N5 Ltd
Unit 2635 Kings Court
The Crescent
Birmingham Business Park
Birmingham, B37 7YE.
thebestof work with an external provider Fatsoma, that provides an integrated facility to allow consumers to buy tickets online for events that appear on thebestof website.
For Fatsoma’s Terms and Conditions of purchasing tickets please click here
The following Cookies are used on this Site. Users who allow all the Cookies will enjoy the best experience and all functionality on the Site will be available to you.
You can choose to disable any of the Cookies by un-ticking the box below but if you do so your experience with the Site is likely to be diminished.
In order to interact with this site.
To help us to measure how users interact with content and pages on the Site so we can make
things better.
To show content from Google Maps.
To show content from YouTube.
To show content from Vimeo.
To share content across multiple platforms.
To view and book events.
To show user avatars and twitter feeds.
To show content from TourMkr.
To interact with Facebook.
To show content from WalkInto.