Corrections and replies.

What a company can raise

• A factual error

  The wrong product, a capability with a public source we missed, stale evidence, a feature credited to the wrong vendor.

  The score is recomputed on the corrected evidence, and the vendor page carries a dated correction line.

• A reply

  Disagreement with the assessment itself.

  The reply is published word for word, up to a set length, on the vendor page, labeled as the company’s statement. The score does not move.

• A Peer Rating concern

  A rater who is not a customer, a competitor, or a conflict of interest.

  We check the contributors’ eligibility and never say who rated. A rating is never removed for being unfavorable.

• AI-drafted text

  A false sentence in analysis a model drafted.

  Corrected or removed within the acknowledgment window. It is our text, so no escalation is needed.

• The method

  Disagreement with a capability or its weight.

  Goes to the next method review with the operator panel. A change is dated and applies to every vendor at once, never to one.

What never moves a score

Payment, advertising, membership, sponsorship, a threat of litigation, a request to be left out, or disagreement without new evidence. Inclusion follows the published criteria, so a company cannot opt out of being rated. A product that is misattributed or discontinued is a factual error, and is handled as one.

The clock

1. 1

   Received

   In writing, with the evidence, to [email protected]. Acknowledged within 2 business days.

2. 2

   Decided

   By the analyst of record, in writing and with reasons, within 10 business days.

3. 3

   Reviewed

   On request, by a second reviewer who did not make the first decision, within 10 business days. Its decision is final for that reading.

4. 4

   While under review

   A disputed passage of AI-drafted text is hidden. A disputed score stays up, marked “Under review”, because taking a score down on request is itself a lever a company could use.

5. 5

   Before publication

   A company whose score is published for the first time, or moves by more than half a point, is sent its own entry 5 business days before it goes live. The window is for factual errors only, not placement. A company that does not answer is published with a note naming the public sources used.

The record

Every upheld correction and every published reply is listed with its date on the vendor’s page and in the public correction log, which also counts each quarter’s requests by outcome, including the ones not upheld. We keep an internal record of every request, its evidence, the decision and its dates. Once a year the Operator Advisory Council, which reviews the method, receives a summary. It does not decide individual disputes.

Reusing a rating

Quoting a reading is free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, with its date and a link. Using the Verinode name or mark in marketing needs the reading’s date, a link to the vendor page, no change to any graphic, and no claim of “#1”, “best”, “winner” or “endorsed by Verinode”. A company that breaks these may no longer use the name; the score stays, because it is not ours to withdraw as a penalty. Verinode sells no badges and no reprints.