Reviews & Content Policy

Reviews help pet parents decide who to trust with their fur babies, and they give careful providers and responsible owners the credit they've earned 🐾 This policy explains who can review on Swipaw, what a review may say, and what happens when someone thinks a review is unfair.

In short: Only the two sides of a completed booking can review each other, and both reviews appear together, so walang gantihan. Write what you experienced, keep opinions as opinions, and leave out other people's personal details and contact info. No paid, swapped or pressured reviews. Honest negative reviews stay up (hindi namin binubura ang tapat na review dahil lang negatibo). We hide a review only while we check a report, act on it only for rule breaks, fraud or court and privacy orders, redact before we remove, always tell the author why, and hear appeals.

1. About this Policy#

1. This Reviews & Content Policy (the "Policy") forms part of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Swipaw is operated by Parada Technologies Inc. ("Swipaw", "we", "us"). The Policy covers every review (a star rating with any tags, sub-ratings, text and photos) and every reply to one; the Community Guidelines cover all other content. If a summary or in-app tip differs from a numbered clause, the clause governs.
2. The author writes a review; the reviewed party is the member it is about. In a booking, the requester is the member who booked and the provider is the member who offered the service or hosted the playdate. A booking is completed once the provider has marked it done and it has been confirmed: by the requester, automatically 48 hours later if no dispute is open, or by us when we close a dispute by releasing or splitting the payment. A free booking, such as a free playdate, is completed when the provider marks it done.
3. For a paid booking, completion is also when the payment is released under Payment Protection: Xendit, our payment partner, collects the payment into an account kept for the provider and holds it there until the service is done (Payments & Refunds Policy).
4. When pet-friendly places launch, this Policy also covers place reviews, which need a visit instead of a booking, publish when posted and can be edited or deleted by their author (Additional Services Terms).

2. Who can review, and when#

1. Only the requester and the provider of a completed booking can review it, once each: the requester reviews the service or playdate, and the provider reviews the requester and their pet. Writing a review needs a verified e-mail address and mobile number. Because only completed bookings can be reviewed, every published review comes from a verified booking.
2. You have 14 days after completion to write your review (the review window), and we remind you while it is open; once it closes, no review can be added. Cancelled, expired and fully refunded bookings cannot be reviewed: raise problems through the booking's dispute or a report instead.
3. Both reviews appear together. A submitted review stays pending, visible only to its author and our staff. Once both of you have submitted, both are published at once; otherwise a pending review publishes when the review window closes. If the other side writes first, we tell you that they did, never what they wrote, so neither side can retaliate.
4. While your review is pending you may change its rating, tags, text and photos, but you cannot withdraw it. Once it is published you can no longer change it yourself (clause 10.4 explains how to ask us about personal data in it).
5. Published reviews are public, including to visitors who are not signed in. They show the rating, tags, sub-ratings, text, photos, the pet involved and the author's display name, photo, badges and city, never contact details, the price or an address. We ask the author before using a review in advertising outside Swipaw.
6. If you delete your account, reviews you wrote stay up, shown under "Deleted user" without your photo once the account is anonymised (Privacy Notice), because other members rely on the ratings they support.

3. What a good review says — sariling karanasan#

1. Your own experience. Write only about the booking you took part in, from what you saw, heard and experienced, never on someone else's behalf or from rumours.
2. Facts and opinions, clearly apart. State facts as you witnessed them ("the groomer arrived 40 minutes late", "Mochi came home with a small cut on her ear") and give opinions as yours ("I felt rushed", "not worth the price for me"). Strong and negative opinions are welcome.
3. Stay on the booking. Review the service and the handover, not anyone's looks, family, home, beliefs, money or health. Providers reviewing requesters should stick to communication, punctuality, whether the pet matched its profile, instructions and handover.
4. Photos should show your pet, the service or the setting, and nothing that identifies other people.
5. Problems with Swipaw itself go to [email protected], not into a review of a member.

4. What a review must leave out#

A review or reply must not contain:

1. Other people's personal data: phone numbers, e-mail or home addresses, plate, ID or account numbers, anyone's full legal name (the reviewed party's display name is fine), anything about children, or screenshots of private messages (Data Privacy Act of 2012, RA 10173).
2. Contact details and links, including social media handles and invitations to deal outside Swipaw. Our automatic checks stop reviews and replies that contain links to other websites or words on our profanity list; contact details are not blocked automatically, so we redact them when we find them.
3. Accusations that someone committed a crime, carries a disease or holds a fake licence ("this hotel abuses dogs", "this stud has brucellosis", "he isn't really a vet"). Describe what you saw happen, and report the suspicion to us (section 8) so we can investigate and, where needed, alert the authorities.
4. Threats, harassment, profanity, slurs or discrimination on any ground the Community Guidelines protect, such as sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, disability or age.
5. Sexual content, graphic injury photos or images of cruelty. Send injury photos with your dispute or report instead, where our team can act on them.
6. Anything else the Community Guidelines prohibit, such as advertising, spam, or photos and text you have no right to use.

5. Honest reviews only — walang bayaran, walang pilitan#

1. Every review must reflect a genuine experience. Fake or bought reviews mislead pet owners and, from a provider, can be a deceptive sales act under the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) and the Internet Transactions Act of 2023 (RA 11967).
2. No incentives. Never offer, ask for or accept anything of value (money, discounts, refunds, free services or gifts) for writing, changing or withdrawing a review or for a particular rating, and never swap reviews.
3. No pressure. Don't threaten a bad review to get a refund, a discount or an early confirmation; use the booking's dispute instead. Providers may ask for an honest review with nothing attached, but never ask anyone to skip, soften or take down a review, and never make a refund, discount or future booking depend on one. Don't threaten, harass or shame anyone, on or off Swipaw, over a review.
4. No sham bookings or conflicts of interest. Don't create bookings to produce or skew reviews, whether through a second account or with a friend, relative or competitor, and don't review a business you own or work for, or someone you have a close personal or business tie with.
5. Our own reward is neutral. Swipaw gives the same fixed number of Paw Points for every review once it is published, whatever its rating or words. Swipaw never writes, buys or rewrites reviews, and nobody can pay us to remove, hide or reorder one.
6. Breaches can lead to removal of the reviews and of any Paw Points earned through them, and to warnings, suspensions or bans under the Community Guidelines. We may report extortion or threats to the police.

6. Replies#

1. Once a review is published, the reviewed party may post one public reply under it, and we tell the author. A reply cannot be edited or deleted afterwards and there is no further back-and-forth, so take your time.
2. Replies follow sections 3 to 5: stay factual and calm, explain your side or what you have improved, and never reveal the author's personal data or booking details the review does not mention, such as an address.
3. To report a reply, report the review it sits under and mention the reply in your note. We moderate replies on the same grounds and in the same way as reviews (section 7), and action on a reply never affects the review it answers.
4. Replying never counts against you in a dispute, and disputing never uses up your reply.

7. How we moderate reviews#

1. We don't pre-approve or fact-check reviews. Automatic checks stop links and profanity (clause 4.2), and our Trust & Safety team acts on reports and disputes. Illegal content, such as an intimate image shared without consent, is handled under the urgent rules of the Community Guidelines.
2. We act on a review or reply only on one of the grounds below, and we always tell the author which one we used: it is shown with the review in the author's own list of reviews and in our notice to them.

3. Redaction first. If only part of a review is the problem, we redact it: that passage is replaced with a "removed by Swipaw" mark, or the photo is taken down, while the rating and the rest stay and the review shows that Swipaw removed part of it. We remove a whole review only for fraud, when an order requires it, or when redaction cannot fix the problem. We never add words, reword or "correct" what anyone wrote.
4. Hiding is temporary. The app hides a published review automatically once 3 different members have open reports on it, and a moderator may hide one that seems to expose personal data, threaten someone or make a serious accusation while we check. A hidden review is not public, though its author and the reviewed party can still see it, and it returns when the reports are dismissed or a moderator lifts the hold, unless another ground applies.
5. Negative is not a breach. We never remove, hide, redact or bury an honest review for being negative or low-rated, or because the reviewed party asks, complains, threatens a case or offers to pay, in line with the Guidelines for Online Businesses (Joint Administrative Order No. 22-01, s. 2022).
6. Ratings and order. A rating is the average of every published review, negative ones included; pending, hidden and removed reviews don't count. Reviews are listed newest first unless you sort them by rating or helpfulness, and helpful votes never change a rating.

8. Reporting or disputing a review#

1. Anyone signed in who can see a review can report it with its Report option (one open report per member), choosing a reason such as "False or defamatory claim" or "Harassment or hate" and adding a note. Without the app, write to [email protected] with a link to the review.
2. The reviewed party can choose "Dispute this review" on a published review, or on one hidden while we investigate, explain what is wrong and attach evidence such as receipts or screenshots. A dispute is a report with the reason "False or defamatory claim".
3. What happens next. We confirm that we received it. A dispute on its own does not hide the review, and you keep your one reply. We aim to take a first look at every report within 24 hours and to decide a dispute within 7 calendar days, and we may ask either side for more information.
4. What we check. Whether the review breaks this Policy, and whether its statements of fact are contradicted by the booking record (its status timeline, start and completion times, and completion photos) or by reliable evidence you send. We don't judge whether an opinion is fair: if the evidence is unclear, the review stays and your reply gives your side.
5. The outcome. We tell the person who reported our decision and, if we act, the author too, with the ground; either may appeal (section 12). Knowingly false or coordinated reports break the Community Guidelines.

9. Defamation and cyber libel, in plain words#

1. Under Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code (Act No. 3815), libel is a public and malicious accusation against an identifiable person or business of a crime, vice or defect, real or imaginary, or of any act or condition that tends to dishonour, discredit or shame them. Committed online, including in a review, it is cyber libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (RA 10175), which carries a heavier penalty.
2. You are responsible for your review or reply. Swipaw hosts reviews but does not write, reword or endorse them. The Supreme Court has held that the cyber-libel provision reaches the original author, not people who simply receive a post and react to it (Disini v. Secretary of Justice, G.R. No. 203335, 2014).
3. Only a court can decide whether a review is libellous. Swipaw does not make that finding, does not give legal advice to authors or reviewed parties, and does not take sides in a complaint between members. If you are worried about a review you wrote or one about you, talk to a lawyer.
4. If a review about you may be defamatory, dispute it (section 8) so we can check it against this Policy; whether to file a complaint with the authorities or the courts is up to you.

10. Court orders, privacy orders and personal-data requests#

1. Court orders. When a Philippine court orders a review or reply removed or blocked, in whole or in part, we do what the order requires and keep a copy of it. The author sees "Court order" as the ground (clause 7.2), and we share the order's details with the author and the reviewed party unless the order or the law forbids it. We may verify an order with the issuing court first.
2. Privacy orders. We comply in the same way with orders of the National Privacy Commission.
3. Demand letters are not orders. A lawyer's letter or a threatened case is handled as a dispute under section 8, and the review stays up unless it breaks this Policy.
4. Personal-data requests. Anyone named or shown in a review or reply, member or not, may ask our Data Protection Officer at [email protected] to block or remove their personal data in it under the Data Privacy Act, and authors may ask the same about their own reviews. We confirm who you are, weigh the request against the author's freedom to describe a real booking and other members' interest in honest reviews, and answer within 30 working days, or the longer period the Privacy Notice allows for complex requests. By default we redact the personal data and keep the rest. A review of your booking is not removed just because it is about you: dispute it under section 8.
5. Authorities. Requests from the police, prosecutors and other authorities, including requests to preserve a review, follow our Law-Enforcement Guidelines.

11. What we keep after moderation#

1. A hidden or removed review or reply stays stored out of public view, together with the reports about it and our decision. Only staff handling reports, appeals and legal requests can open it; its author still sees their own review, with the ground, among their reviews and in their data export.
2. Once we redact, the removed words and photos are no longer shown on Swipaw. Our report records may keep a sealed extract of the original, open only to staff handling the case, and if a legal hold covers the review when we redact it, we keep its original text sealed.
3. We keep these records for 2 years after our decision, for appeals, repeat abuse and legal claims, and longer only under a legal hold, such as a preservation order, an open complaint or a court case; then we delete or anonymise them (Privacy Notice). Files attached to a report or dispute are deleted 180 days after it closes unless a legal hold applies.
4. Outside Swipaw, we disclose a moderated review only as section 10 allows.

12. Appeals#

1. If we hid, redacted or removed your review or reply, or decided a report or dispute you filed, ask us to look again by replying to our notice or writing to [email protected], saying which review and why.
2. Someone who was not involved in the first decision handles your appeal, aiming to decide within 7 calendar days. We may restore or unhide the review, redact it differently or keep our decision, and we tell you why.
3. Appeals are free and leave your other remedies open, including a complaint to the National Privacy Commission and the courts (Complaints).

13. Changes and contact#

1. We may update this Policy; the version and date at the top show the current text, and we announce material changes as our Terms of Service describe.
2. Questions about reviews: [email protected]. Personal-data requests: [email protected]. Swipaw is operated by Parada Technologies Inc., 24 Sheridan Towers North, Buayang Bato, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila 1550, Philippines.