Contractor Lead Qualification and Dispute Policy

This policy governs the commercial relationship between the operator of this website and independent contractors who purchase or receive customer leads through it. It forms part of each contractor's written agreement and must be accepted in the contractor portal before billable leads are delivered.

1. What counts as a Qualified Lead

A Qualified Lead must satisfy all of the following criteria:

1. The inquiry comes from a genuine individual or an authorized business representative.
2. The customer provides at least one usable contact method, such as a valid phone number or email address.
3. The inquiry relates to a water damage restoration service actually offered by the receiving contractor.
4. The affected property is within the contractor's agreed service area.
5. The customer has a genuine water damage restoration requirement or is requesting an estimate or consultation.
6. The customer has consented to the relevant use and sharing of their inquiry information.

Services may include water damage restoration, emergency water removal, water extraction, flood cleanup, structural drying, water damage repair, burst pipe water damage cleanup, sewage cleanup, commercial water damage restoration, and other restoration services agreed upon with the contractor.

2. Invalid leads

The following may qualify for a dispute:

1. Fake or fabricated contact details.
2. Automated spam or fraudulent submissions.
3. Duplicate inquiries for the same customer, property and incident within 90 days.
4. Inquiries unrelated to the contractor's agreed services.
5. Properties outside the contractor's agreed service area.
6. Test submissions or internal website testing.
7. Inquiries where the required customer consent was not obtained.

A duplicate lead is evaluated based on the same customer, property and incident — not merely because the same customer has requested different services.

3. Situations that do not automatically invalidate a lead

The following do not automatically qualify for a refund or lead credit:

• The customer does not answer the phone.
• The customer does not respond to email.
• The customer chooses another restoration contractor.
• The customer decides not to proceed.
• The customer requests a quote but does not accept it.
• The contractor does not win the project.
• The contractor fails to respond promptly.
• The contractor is unavailable when the inquiry arrives, unless availability was an agreed qualification requirement.

The platform sells qualified customer inquiries, not guaranteed restoration contracts or completed jobs.

4. Dispute process

1. Contractors have five business days from lead delivery to dispute a lead.
2. Every dispute must include the lead reference number.
3. The contractor must select a dispute reason: invalid contact details, duplicate lead, spam or fraudulent submission, wrong service, outside service area, no genuine restoration requirement, consent issue, or other.
4. Supporting evidence may be requested.
5. The website administrator reviews the dispute.
6. Approved disputes receive a credit or refund according to the contractor's written agreement.
7. Rejected disputes remain billable.
8. Disputed leads are excluded from billing until the review is completed.
9. A lead cannot receive duplicate credits or refunds.

5. Lead credit and refund rules

• Approved invalid leads receive a full lead credit or refund according to the applicable contractor agreement.
• Credits can be applied against future invoices.
• Cash refunds are handled according to the contractor's agreed payment terms and applicable law.
• Unresolved disputes are not automatically billed.
• Rejected disputes remain billable.
• No double credits or duplicate refunds are issued.

No payment, credit or refund is issued automatically. Every credit or refund requires administrator approval.

6. Contractor obligations

Before purchasing or receiving billable leads, contractors must accept the current version of this policy in the contractor portal, including the lead qualification criteria, the dispute deadline, the credit and refund rules, their pricing arrangement, any lead exclusivity arrangement, and their data protection and customer contact obligations. Customer contact information received through this platform may be used only to respond to that customer's inquiry and must be handled in accordance with applicable privacy and telemarketing laws.

7. Contact

Questions about this policy: help@houstonwaterdamagerestorations.com. Website operator: [Legal business name — to be added by the site owner].

See also our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.