Have a question?  Well, we hope to have an answer.   Please see the below FAQ's.  

How do I claim my company?

The “Claim” process was introduced to provide a mechanism for a representative or employee from a Provider to claim “ownership” of their company’s directory listing. This process also allows a company's representative to update or correct information as appropriate about their company. To claim your company and gain access to the Claim/Update your company button (see below), you must first become a member of commonground if you are not already.  Membership is free.  Once a member, find your company and click the Claim/Update button on the company group page to begin the claim process. Then, follow the instructions on the form, enter in all required information, select your level of participation, and accept the terms and conditions.  Upon submitting your claim, you will have the opportunity to review it prior to posting.

 

My company is not listed. How do I add it?

First, you need to become a commonground member, which is free.  As a member, you can add your company by clicking on the add your company button on the provider directory main page or below.  Once you submit your company, your submission will then be reviewed  to determine if it is appropriate for the directory. Upon approval, it will be added to the directory and you can claim your company by first finding it, then clicking on the claim button on the company's group page. Follow the instructions on the form, enter in all required information, select your level of participation, and accept the terms and conditions.  Upon submitting your claim, you will have the opportunity to review it prior to posting. 

My company is big and we have a number of regional offices. What is the best option for us?

All providers, whether large or small, are required to be listed by their company's corporate headquarters.  If yours is not listed, you may claim it make to the appropriate corrections.  As a Provider Plus level partner, you have your choice to include information on an unlimited number of your regional offices.    Please visit the Become a Provider page for additional information on the provider plus option.

It appears that my company has been claimed and I want to claim it too. What should I do?

Don't panic! Just send an email to us at commonground member support and a team member will help you out.

My company received a negative review. I am not sure what to do...

Many companies receive great reviews.  Some receive unfavorable reviews. Why? Because no company is 100% perfect, as hard as they may try to do a great job 24/7/365. A negative review is an opportunity to potentially address a customer’s concern or directly address an erroneous claim included in the review.  Often times, a satisfied customer will counter a negative claim.

If you are concerned about negative reviews and are looking to quickly learn why they can be valuable and some best practices on how to handle them, we encourage you read 5 Ways Negative Reviews are Good for Business and reference the other articles and blogs in the resources section on this page.

Will commonground remove a review that is negative or that my company deems libelous?

This is a common question. Commonground is a social network, or a forum, of members who represent a variety of backgrounds. We provide the forum and remain impartial when it comes to factual disputes.

If you have concerns about a review, bring it to the attention of the commonground support team. Be sure to include your company name, city and state, and as many details as possible to help expedite a response.

Please note that we do our best to keep an eye on the reviews too and will intervene when a review or comment violates commonground’s Rules of Engagement or Terms of Service. If you or your company receive a negative review, we encourage you to either contact the reviewer directly or post your response publicly in order to clear up any misunderstanding.

It seems like one of my provider reviews disappeared. What should I do?

Sometimes that happens. Here are a few reasons why.

1. A reviewer may decide to delete his/her own review.   They have the right to make that change as part of their membership.
2. The review was determined to be in violation of the Rules of Engagement or Terms of Service.
3. The reviewer’s membership was suspended as we deemed the reviewer to be using fake profile information or for writing a questionable review.
4. We may have deemed the review to be fake.

If a review is removed by a member of the commonground member support team, we will suspend it for a period of time while we review next steps. We reserve the right to re-post it upon further investigation.

We welcome the opportunity to receive your feedback on our removal procedures. Please feel free to email them to commonground member support.

Will commonground remove my company from its provider directory if I don’t want it listed?

No.  The information contained in a Basic Provider profile is public information.  None of the listings on commonground are in violation of any trademark laws. 

 

It seems like the amount of information for providers varies. Does commonground allow a provider to buy a sponsorship?

Yes. Please visit our become a provider page for additional information on opportunities available.

Does commonground allow a paid sponsor to modify or determine the display order of a review?

No, we do not. Company's are listed with the most recent review, or recently commented upon review, first.  We do reserve the right to modify that system in the future.  The order is managed by the commonground support team and the actual provider cannot change the display order or content.

Will commonground pull or remove a bad review because a paid sponsor asks for it to be removed?

No, the only time that something will be removed is if the commonground support team reviews the content and determines that it is in violation of the Rules of Engagement and Terms of Service.

No one company is perfect. Let’s be honest – we aren’t either. Negative feedback or a review is part of conducting business. We encourage providers to look at the feedback regularly because nothing is more powerful than when you publicly respond quickly and proactively.

We will treat our basic providers and paid sponsors equally with respect to managing reviews. Please note that provider complaints will be expedited in order of priority, but paid sponsors will receive upgraded support and issue resolution as part of their annual sponsorship.

I am concerned that most people who may add a comment are unhappy and they are going to write something negative. True?

You might be surprised to hear this, but it is not true. Numerous studies have indicated that the majority of reviews are positive instead of negative. Bazaarvoice, a company with expertise in word of mouth marketing and online reviews, reported in their Online Reviewers Driven Mostly by Altruism survey done with 1,300 consumers that 79% of the reviews were done to reward a company for good work and that 87% of the reviews that were done were positive. Most participants felt the need to provide feedback to others on companies who were doing a good job as they consume information about providers in return. Again, if there is an unhappy customer from time to time, we encourage you to respond publicly to their comment so that others can see your rapid response and then take it offline if appropriate.

Is it in our best interest to ask our customers to write reviews on behalf of our business?

Instead of asking your customers to review you on commonground, we encourage you to post a “Review Us on commonground” badge on your website instead. We can send you the specifics. Doing so will allow your customers to act independently and opt-in to make a choice to review you based on their experience.

Best approach is always to do great work, give your customers an easy way to offer an opinion, and you will be surprised to see the positive results.

First thing you should do is either claim your company or add your company if you are not listed as part of the commonground provider directory to ensure that you have as much opportunity as possible to let your reputation help you win business. That is our goal – to enable your reputation to help you win business and to help our members minimize the risk in selecting a provider.