This protocol explains how we handle complaints. There are two main types:

Part A: Complaints about vendors or venues (typically from couples)

Part B: Complaints about posts in our communities (typically from venues or vendors)

Skip to the section that applies to you.

PART A: COMPLAINTS ABOUT VENDORS AND VENUES

This section applies if you’re a couple (or other community member) who has had a problem with a vendor or venue and wants La Lista to look into it.

Try to resolve it directly first.

Before making a formal complaint, we’d encourage you to contact the other party directly. Many issues come down to miscommunication and can be sorted out with a conversation.

If you’re not sure how to approach this, you’re welcome to email us at hello@lalista.com for advice – we’re happy to help you think through what to say.

If you’ve already tried to resolve things directly and got nowhere, or if the issue is serious enough that direct contact doesn’t feel appropriate, read on.

How to make a complaint to us

Email hello@lalista.com with ‘Complaint’ in the subject line. Please include:

– Your name and contact details

– The vendor or venue name

– When the issue happened

– What went wrong

– Any evidence you have

EVIDENCE

We need something to work with. Useful evidence includes contracts, payment receipts, emails, messages, photos, or screenshots with timestamps. It includes direct evidence, not hearsay from other people or posts in other forums.

You’ve got 7 days from when we acknowledge your complaint to send us your evidence. If nothing comes through, we’ll close the complaint.

SHARING NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN OUR COMMUNITIES

If you want to share a negative experience in our Facebook group or The Community, that’s fine – honest feedback is valuable for other couples. But please read this section first. Reviews can have real consequences for businesses, and for you if you get it wrong.

The full rules are in our Community Guidelines, but here are the key points:

Stick to facts you can back up. “The flowers arrived two hours later than the production schedule” is a fact. “They’re the worst florist in Italy” is not. If you make factual claims, be prepared to provide evidence if asked.

Be fair and balanced. If there were positives as well as negatives, include both.

Don’t exaggerate. Describe what actually happened, no matter how strongly you feel.

Focus on the service, not the person. Avoid personal attacks or offensive language about individuals.

Think twice if there’s an ongoing dispute. If you’re in the middle of a complaint, legal dispute, or chargeback, consider waiting until it’s resolved. Posting publicly during a dispute can complicate things and may expose you to legal risk.

Disclose any conflicts of interest. If you have a personal or business connection to a vendor (friend, family, received a discount), you must say so.

A word on defamation: Defamation is illegal in Italy. A review that contains false statements of fact, is exaggerated, or is written maliciously to damage a business could be defamatory. If a vendor believes they’ve been defamed, they may take legal action against you. Make sure you can evidence everything you write.

If your post doesn’t follow these rules, we may ask you to edit it or provide evidence, and we may remove it if you don’t. Repeated breaches could result in you being banned from the community. See the Community Guidelines for full details.

HOW WE ASSESS COMPLAINTS

We categorise complaints, whether they have been made to us or posted in our member communities, in three categories:

Minor – slow replies, small misunderstandings. We’ll notify the vendor and give them a chance to respond.

Moderate – proper service failures, or repeated complaints about the same vendor. We’ll investigate and may add a warning to their file.

Serious – no-shows, allegations of fraud, major contract breaches. We’ll investigate immediately and may suspend their Directory membership while we do.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

1. We acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours.
2. If it’s a public post, we’ll comment saying it’s under investigation and turn off comments.
3. We notify the vendor by email within 24 hours and invite them to respond.
4. We ask both sides for evidence (you and the vendor have 7 days to supply this).
5. We review everything. For Supplier members, we assess whether they’ve met the professional standards in the Supplier Terms & Conditions.
6. We tell both parties our decision within 3 working days of finishing. Investigations usually take up to 14 working days.

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

For Vendor members:

– Complaint not substantiated: complaint closed, and (if posted publicly) post removed

– Minor issue: noted on file, warning given

– Bigger issue: membership suspended until resolved

– Serious breach: removed from Directory, no refund (see Clause 13 of the Supplier Terms & Conditions)

For non-members: our role ends after we’ve notified them. We keep a note on file which we’ll consider if they ever apply to join the Directory.

We’ll tell both parties whether the complaint was upheld, partially upheld, or not upheld, with a summary of why. Specific outcomes about Directory membership stay confidential.

PART B: COMPLAINTS ABOUT POSTS IN OUR COMMUNITY

This section applies if you’re a vendor or venue and you’ve seen something posted about your business in our Facebook group or one of our membership forums that you believe is unfair, inaccurate, or breaches our Community Guidelines.

How to report a post

Email hello@lalista.com with:

– A link to the post (or a screenshot if you can’t link to it)

– Why you believe it’s inaccurate or unfair

– Any evidence that supports your position

You can also use the ‘Report’ function on Facebook for posts in our Facebook group.

WHAT WE’LL LOOK AT

We’ll review the post against our Community Guidelines. In particular:

– Is the poster sticking to facts they can back up?

– Is it fair and balanced?

– Does it avoid personal attacks?

– Could it be defamatory (false statements that damage your reputation)?

– Does it comply with the other rules in the Community Guidelines?

We won’t remove a post simply because you disagree with someone’s opinion. Opinions like “I was disappointed” or “I wouldn’t recommend them” are allowed, even if they’re unflattering. What’s not allowed is false statements of fact, exaggeration, or content designed to damage your business maliciously.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

1. We acknowledge your report within 24 hours.
2. We review the post against the Community Guidelines. We may hide the post while we investigate.
3. If we think there might be an issue, we’ll contact the poster and ask them to provide evidence for their claims or to edit the post. They’ve got 7 days to provide this.
4. If they provide evidence and the post complies with the Guidelines, it stays up.
5. If they don’t respond, can’t back up their claims, or won’t edit the post, we may remove it.
6. We’ll let you know the outcome.

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

– Post stays up (complies with Guidelines, or is opinion not fact)

– Poster asked to edit (remove inaccurate parts)

– Post removed (breaches Guidelines or poster does not provide evidence)

– Poster warned or banned from community (serious or repeated breaches)

For paid community members, repeated breaches of the Community Guidelines may also result in their membership being revoked.

You can respond instead

If a post is critical but doesn’t breach the Guidelines, you’re welcome to post a response underneath rather than asking us to remove it. This can actually work in your favour – couples often appreciate seeing how vendors handle criticism. Just keep it professional and accurate.

APPEALS

If you think we got it wrong, you can appeal once, but only if:

– You have new evidence that wasn’t available before, or

– We made a genuine mistake in how we handled the complaint

You’ve got 14 days from our decision to appeal. Email hello@lalista.com with ‘APPEAL’ in the subject line. We’ll respond within 14 working days. Decisions on appeals are final.

MISUSE OF THIS PROCESS

We watch out for:

– Made-up complaints or complaints filed just to cause trouble

– Threatening vendors with bad reviews to get freebies or refunds

– Vendors trying to silence legitimate criticism

– Competitors trying to sabotage each other

If we think any of this is happening, we’ll dismiss the complaint and may restrict the person from our communities.

RECORD KEEPING

We keep complaint records for 2 years, then delete them. Notes about vendors stay on file longer as we use them when assessing Directory applications. For more on how we handle personal data, see our Privacy Notice.

LIMITATIONS AND LIABILITY

OUR ROLE AND DECISIONS

La Lista is not a court, regulator, or arbitrator. We provide a complaints process as a service to our community, but our decisions are made at our sole discretion and are not legal rulings. We do not determine legal liability, fault, or entitlement to compensation.

By using this complaints process, you acknowledge that you are not entitled to any particular outcome, and that our decision to uphold, partially uphold, or dismiss a complaint (or to remove, edit, or leave up a post) is final, subject only to the appeals process above.

NO VERIFICATION OF CLAIMS

We are not able to independently verify the accuracy or completeness of information provided by complainants, venues, vendors, or anyone else involved in a complaint. We make decisions based on the information and evidence provided to us, acting in good faith and using our reasonable judgement. We do not guarantee that our decisions are correct, and we accept no responsibility for any inaccuracies in information provided to us by any party.

EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY

To the fullest extent permitted by law, La Lista shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from or in connection with:

– any decision we make under this protocol, including decisions to uphold or dismiss complaints, to remove or leave up posts, or to suspend or terminate memberships;

– any delay in handling a complaint or any failure to meet the timeframes set out in this protocol;

– any action we take (or decline to take) in response to a complaint;

– the content of any complaint, review, or post made by any user of our communities;

– any reliance you place on the outcome of a complaint;

– any dispute between a complainant and a vendor or venue, regardless of whether we have been involved.

This exclusion applies to direct loss, indirect loss, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, reputational damage, and any other loss or damage of any kind, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

You are responsible for the content of any complaint you make or any post you publish. If your complaint or post is false, misleading, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful, you (not La Lista) will be legally responsible. If a third party brings a claim against La Lista because of something you posted or a complaint you made, you agree to indemnify us for any costs, damages, or losses we incur, including legal fees.

Nothing in this protocol limits liability for:

– death or personal injury caused by our negligence;

– fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or

– any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited by law.

DETAILED TERMS

This section should be read alongside the liability and indemnity provisions in the Community Guidelines (Clause 11), Supplier Directory Terms & Conditions (Clauses 17-18), and Club Membership Terms & Conditions (Clause 13), which also apply to your use of this complaints process. In the event of any conflict, the relevant membership terms will take precedence.

A NOTE ON CONDUCT

Please be civil with our team. If anyone is rude or abusive to La Lista staff, we’ll end the conversation.

CONTACT

For complaints or questions: hello@lalista.com

This protocol was last updated in December 2025, and is subject to change.