Corrections and right of reply

Before a card is published we send the findings and every exhibit to the contact address the vendor lists on its site, and we record the date and the address used. The company has 7 days from that date to respond. Anything the company sends is published verbatim in the company response block on the card, with the date received. If nothing arrives, the block states that no response was received by the deadline.

The right of reply does not end at publication. A response received later is added to the card with its date, and the block is updated to say so.

Write to audits@coawatchdog.com with the vendor domain, the card URL, the exhibit or finding you dispute, and the evidence. Vendors, laboratories and readers can all request a review. We acknowledge every request within 2 business days and answer within 7 days.

A request that names a specific exhibit and explains what is wrong with it is resolved fastest. A request that asks for a card to be removed without naming a finding is answered with a pointer to this page.

• A response from the issuing laboratory, sent from the laboratory’s own domain, confirming the report and its fields. We will write to the laboratory ourselves to confirm.
• A verification portal result that differs from the one we captured. We repeat the lookup, capture it again with a new timestamp, and publish both.
• The original report file with a SHA-256 that matches the laboratory’s copy.
• Evidence that an identifier was misread: for example, a task number or key we entered that differs from the one printed on the report.
• Evidence that a report we attributed to the vendor was not published by the vendor.

A vendor’s own copy of a report, a screenshot without a source, or a statement that the report is genuine are not evidence on their own. They are published in the company response block if the company asks.

The response window is 7 calendar days from the date we sent the findings, counted in UTC. The card shows the send date and the deadline. Publication does not wait past the deadline. A vendor that needs more time can ask for it within the window, and we grant one extension of 7 days when the request names a reason, such as waiting on the laboratory.

Review requests after publication are answered within 7 days of receipt. While a review is open the card stays live and shows a dated note that a review is in progress.

• A correction appears directly beneath the finding it corrects, as a dated note that states what was wrong and what is now shown. The original text stays readable.
• A changed verdict is recorded in the timeline with the date and the reason. The earlier verdict, its date and its evidence remain on the timeline.
• New exhibits are added with their own capture time and SHA-256. Existing exhibits are never edited or replaced.
• The card header shows the date of the latest update.

A correction is a change to something we said. A new audit after a vendor fixes an issue follows rule M-10 in the methodology and results in a new timeline entry, not a correction.

We do not remove a finding because a vendor has since taken the report down, because the vendor disputes it without evidence, or because the vendor has a commercial reason to prefer silence. A report that the issuing laboratory database returned as not found on a stated date was not found on that date; the card says so with the evidence, and a later fix is recorded beside it with its own date.

Legal notices should be sent to the same address and will be answered by the operators. Questions about what the site is and is not are answered in the disclaimer.