Handle a customer's data request

A customer can ask you for three things: to show them what you hold, to stop messaging them, or to delete their details. Each is handled from their page under Customers. This is not legal advice. If you are unsure what you owe a customer, check with your own adviser.

If they ask what you hold

1. Tap Customers, then the customer.
2. Read their details and Feedback history: name, number, consent, and each request with the score and comment they gave. Older requests sit behind Show all.
3. Under POPIA audit trail, tap Download CSV for a record of what RateMate did with their data. The columns are time, action, who did it, the record it applies to, and a note.

Check the CSV before you hand it over. The "who did it" column shows your team members' email addresses, and the note column can include staff names. It also leaves out events about low-score alerts, so it is not the whole picture. The download is itself added to the trail.

The trail covers what happened in RateMate. If you keep the customer's details anywhere else, such as a spreadsheet or your phone, that is yours to check.

If they ask you to stop

Opt them out so nothing more is sent. Members and owners can both do this. See Opt a customer out or back in. Customers can also reply STOP themselves: see How customers opt out.

If they ask you to delete their details

Only owners can do this. If you are a member, ask your owner.

1. Open the customer and scroll to Danger zone.
2. Tap Delete this customer’s data….
3. Type delete in the box.
4. Tap Permanently delete. You land back on your customers list.

This cannot be undone.

What is deleted

• Their name is replaced with "Deleted customer", their company is cleared, and their phone number is destroyed.
• Their consent details are replaced with "erased", and they are marked opted out, so nothing can be sent to them again.
• Every comment they wrote, and any job reference you typed on their requests.
• Any note you wrote when you resolved one of their alerts.
• Anything they submitted when they were offered a chance to recommend another business. You cannot see that, and it is deleted with them.
• Requests still waiting for an answer are closed. Their rating links stop working.

What is kept

• Their scores, with no name or number attached, so your averages stay correct.
• The audit trail, including a line recording that the data was deleted.

Copies RateMate cannot delete

• Low-score alerts that already reached your WhatsApp or email inbox. They can contain the customer's name and comment, so delete them yourself.
• Messages held by WhatsApp (Meta) and the SMS provider.
• Anything you saved yourself, such as an exported file or a spreadsheet you imported from.
• Erased data can remain in RateMate's backups for up to 90 days, after which those backups are deleted.

Good to know

• You cannot delete the same customer twice. The button no longer shows once the data is gone.
• Opting out is not deletion. An opted-out customer's details stay on your list.