Review and Reporting Policy

1. What this policy covers

This policy covers reviews and ratings on Street Eats, including Book a Truck reviews of Food hosts and of guests, the Street Eats Rating shown on truck cards and the map, and requests to check a review. It applies to guests, Food hosts, their crews, and Street Eats staff. It is part of our Terms of Use. Every staff investigation of a review follows this policy.

2. Who can review, and when

• Real bookings only. A review can be left only by the guest or the Food host on a booking made and paid through Street Eats, after the booking is completed, or after it is cancelled once a deposit was paid and a date was scheduled.
• One review per side per booking. Each review is 1 to 5 stars, a short comment, and an optional tag such as “On time”.
• A 14-day window. Reviews can be left for 14 days. They are double-blind: neither side sees the other’s review until both have reviewed or the 14 days pass.
• No self-reviews. A truck’s owner, admins, and crew cannot book or review their own truck.

3. How ratings are shown

A rating is the average of the stars on every review that counts, shown to one decimal with the number of reviews, a breakdown by stars, and the tags people mention most. Every review counts equally. Anyone viewing a rating can open the reviews behind it, sort them by most recent, oldest, highest, or lowest rated, and search them. Each review shows the writer’s first name and profile photo, or the Food host’s business name and logo, with the month and whether the booking was completed or cancelled. Reviews with only stars are listed too. Reviews of a guest are shown only to that guest and to Food hosts the guest has sent a request to. Street Eats does not sell, boost, reorder, or suppress reviews, and Food hosts cannot pay to change a rating.

The Street Eats Rating is shown on a truck when it has at least one Book a Truck review, whether or not it still takes bookings. Today it is the Book a Truck star average. If we add more parts to it, each part will show its own rating, and we will update this policy before the change takes effect.

4. What a fair review looks like

• It is about this booking and your own experience of it.
• It is honest, and it describes what happened rather than who someone is.
• It leaves out private information such as phone numbers, home addresses, or payment details.
• It is not written in exchange for money, a refund, a discount, or anything else of value.
• It is not written by someone with a conflict of interest, such as a competitor or an employee.
• It does not advertise, link to other businesses, or ask people to contact you off Street Eats.

5. When Street Eats removes a review or hides its comment

Staff may act on a review when the record shows that it:

• is about something other than this booking;
• states something the booking record shows is untrue, for example that a Food host never arrived when the arrival stamp and chat show it did;
• contains harassment, hate, threats, or sexually explicit content;
• shares private information about a person;
• was used as leverage, such as a threat to leave a bad review unless a refund or payment is made, or was left in exchange for one;
• was written by someone with a conflict of interest;
• relates to a booking that was never paid through Street Eats; or
• is unlawful.

There are three possible outcomes. We never edit the words of a review.

• The review counts. It stays and counts as written.
• The stars count and the comment is hidden. Used when the rating reflects the booking but the words break this policy, for example by naming a private person.
• The review does not count. It is hidden and removed from the rating.

We do not remove a review because it is negative, because the person reviewed disagrees with it, because it uses strong but civil words about the service, or because it reflects a cancellation that really happened.

6. How to ask Street Eats to check a review

1. Ask from the app. The person reviewed can tap “Report this review” on the review, or in the booking, within 60 days after the review was written. Pick the reason and explain what happened in at least 20 characters, pointing to the messages, times, or payments that show it.
2. The review keeps counting while staff look. A request alone never removes a review.
3. Both sides are heard. The other side is told right away. The booking chat reopens so both sides can add their side there, and a note in the chat records the request.
4. One request per side. Each side can ask once per review. If staff remove a review or hide its comment, the person who wrote it can ask once, within 14 days of the decision, for it to count again. Once both sides have used their request, the decision is final on Street Eats.
5. The decision is shared. Both sides get a notice, and the decision and the reason for it are posted in the booking chat.

7. How staff decide

Staff apply this policy to every review they check, and they decide from what is on Street Eats: the booking chat, the quote and its history, payments and refunds, cancellations, arrival stamps and check-ins, photos shared in the chat, what each side adds after the request, and past reports on the accounts involved. A staff member who is part of the booking, or on the truck’s crew, cannot decide it. We aim to decide within 7 days. That is a target, not a guarantee.

Specific circumstances may differ depending on the information available. Two requests that look alike may end differently when the record behind them is different. Where the record is missing or conflicts, staff use judgment under this policy, and a review stays up unless the record shows it breaks the policy.

8. Keep everything in the Street Eats chat

Agreements, changes to the menu, headcount, or times, arrival, problems on the day, and photos all belong in the booking chat. It keeps one complete record of the transaction that both sides and staff can see. Calls, texts, and other apps cannot be checked, so staff may not be able to consider them. Paying off Street Eats also removes the refund and dispute protections in our Terms.

9. Reporting and fair use of this process

You can also report a booking conversation, a problem with a booking, or a listing from the app. A report made in good faith never counts against the person who made it. Misusing this process can lead to limits on reviews, a paused account, or removal from Street Eats. Misuse includes repeated reports you know are false, pressuring someone to change or remove a review, offering anything of value for a review, or retaliating against someone for their review.

10. Records

Reviews, requests to check them, what each side adds, and staff decisions are kept with the booking they belong to, along with an audit record of who acted and when. See our Privacy Policy for how that information is handled.

11. Changes and contact

A decision under this policy settles the review on Street Eats. It does not limit your legal rights. We may update this policy and will post the new effective date. Questions are welcome at socials@eatonthestreets.com or through the contact form.