Reporting, blocking and staying safe

1. What this is for

ToolBox puts strangers into contact and then into each other's homes. Most of the time that goes exactly as it should. This document is for the times it does not, and it exists so that the first thing you do when something feels wrong is obvious and takes one tap.

It applies to everyone: homeowners, tradespeople, and anyone working under a tradesperson.

2. Report

Every profile, review, reply, photograph and message on ToolBox carries a Report option. Reporting from there is better than emailing us, because the content, the account and the job come with the report and nobody has to ask you what you meant.

Reports go to a person, not only a filter. We read every one. A report that alleges a safety issue, a threat, discrimination, sexual misconduct, or anything involving a child or a vulnerable adult is read the same day.

What you can expect:

1. Within 1 business day we confirm we have it, unless it is a safety report, where you hear the same day.
2. We look at the content, the account and the history, and we may ask you or the other person for more.
3. We act under the Acceptable use policy and the sanctions policy: removing content, warning, restricting, suspending or removing an account.
4. We tell you the outcome, within 10 business days, without revealing another person's private information.

Reports are confidential. We do not tell the other person who reported them unless the law requires it, and never where doing so would put you at risk.

3. Block

You can block any account from its profile or from a conversation. When you do:

• They can no longer message you.
• They no longer see your jobs, and cannot quote on them.
• You no longer see their profile in search results.
• They are not told. Nothing changes on their side except silence.
• A job already agreed between you is not cancelled by blocking. Finish it or cancel it under Cancellations, changes and refunds, then the block takes full effect.

Blocking is yours to use for any reason, and you do not have to report someone to block them. Unblock from Settings, Blocked accounts.

4. What we filter before you see it

Some things are stopped before they reach anyone:

• Photographs added to a job are shown only to the homeowner and the tradespeople the job was sent to, for as long as the job is open to them or theirs to do, and the location a phone camera stores in a photo is taken out first.
• Messages and reviews are checked for spam, scam patterns, and prohibited content. A message with strong swearing, sexual content, a slur or a threat is not sent, and its writer is asked to say it another way.
• Photographs sent in a message are checked as they are sent. One that may be explicit is held for a person to look at before anyone sees it; one that may be sensitive arrives covered, for the person it was sent to to open or not. Photographs added to a profile or a portfolio are checked the same way, and one that is explicit is not taken.
• Before a hire, phone numbers, email addresses, links, social media names, street addresses and bank details are taken out of messages before the other side sees them, and phone numbers, email addresses, links and bank details out of job details; both sides see a note where that happened. A photo in a message that shows contact details opens for the other side once the job is booked. The person who wrote a message still sees their own words; a number taken out of a job description is not kept.

Automated screening can be wrong in both directions. Hiding contact details before a hire is not a decision about anyone, so it happens on its own, and so does stopping a message before it is sent, since nothing reaches anyone. Anything automated screening would remove goes to a person first, and the Report option exists for what it misses.

5. In someone's home

If you are a homeowner and a tradesperson's behaviour in your home makes you uncomfortable, you are entitled to ask them to leave. You do not owe an explanation, and you do not owe payment for work not done. Then tell us at safety@toolbox.africa or from the job.

If you are a tradesperson and a homeowner's behaviour makes you unsafe, leave. Tell us the same way. The sanctions policy applies to homeowners too, and we act on it.

6. If you are in danger

Phone the SAPS on 10111. If you cannot speak, SMS your location to a person you trust. Deal with us afterwards.

When you do tell us, we act on the account immediately, we preserve the record of the job and the messages so that the police can have it, and we support their investigation. Send us the case number and we attach it to the account.

7. Other places to turn

• Gender-based violence command centre, 0800 428 428, any hour.
• Childline, 116, if a child is involved.
• Lifeline, 0861 322 322.
• SAPS Crime Stop, 08600 10111, to report anonymously.

8. Contact

Safety reports go to the front of every queue. If you are not sure which desk, use safety.