The star rating
Out of 5. The simple average of every star rating customers have left on this business in the last 12 months.
Star rating | Label |
4.5 – 5.0 | Excellent |
3.5 – 4.4 | Great |
2.5 – 3.4 | Average |
1.5 – 2.4 | Poor |
0.5 – 1.4 | Terrible |
The star rating answers one question: are most customers happy with this business right now?
TrustIndex
Out of 10. TrustIndex is Hellopeter’s own score, and it goes a step further than the star rating.
It combines what customers say (their ratings and reviews) with what the business does (how actively it responds to feedback, especially when something has gone wrong). A business that’s quick to acknowledge problems and resolve them publicly will score higher on TrustIndex than one that ignores complaints, even if their star ratings look similar.
That’s by design. Trustworthiness isn’t only about whether people are happy. It’s also about what happens when they’re not.
The star rating tells you how customers feel. TrustIndex tells you how the business behaves.
The AI Review Summary
Below the star rating and TrustIndex, you’ll see a short paragraph that reads something like:
“Customers consistently praise this business for fast claims handling and friendly agents. Some report frustration with multi-week delays on complex repairs, particularly for vehicles…”
That paragraph is generated by Hellopeter’s AI. It reads every review the business has received in the last 12 months and identifies the recurring themes: what customers love, what they’re frustrated with, what specific issues come up most often.
It’s more useful than a star rating on its own. A business could have a 3.5-star average and be brilliant at communication while struggling with pricing. The star rating won’t tell you which is which. The AI summary will.
The 5 theme scores
Every business is also scored on 5 specific themes that matter in their industry. The themes change by industry, because what matters in insurance (claims handling) is different from what matters in retail (delivery speed) or fitness (cancellations and memberships).
Some examples:
Insurance: Claims Handling, Communication & Responsiveness, Agent Quality, Pricing & Premiums, Repair & Service Provider Quality
Online Shopping: Delivery Speed & Reliability, Product Quality, Customer Service, Returns & Refunds, Pricing & Value
Wellness & Beauty: Customer Service & Staff Experience, Memberships & Cancellations, Product Quality & Treatment Results, Pricing & Billing, Communication & Complaint Resolution
Each theme gets a score out of 5 with a colour label, so you can read it at a glance:
Score | Colour | Label |
4.5 – 5.0 | Green | Excellent |
3.5 – 4.4 | Lime | Great |
2.5 – 3.4 | Yellow | Average |
1.5 – 2.4 | Orange | Poor |
0.5 – 1.4 | Red | Terrible |
The 5 theme scores combine into an Overall AI Score, which is a simple average of all 5.
The theme scores answer one question: which parts of this business are strong, and which need work?
Industry ranking and Best in Class
Every scored business is ranked against others in its industry. On a profile you’ll see something like “#4 in Insurance”, the business’s position out of every insurer scored on Hellopeter.
On the industry page itself you’ll also see Best in Class designations: the single highest-scoring business in the industry on each specific theme. So if you care most about Claims Handling specifically, Best in Class for Claims Handling shows you the insurer with the strongest customer feedback on exactly that theme, not just the highest overall.
This lets you compare like for like. Not “is this business good?”, but “is this business better than the alternatives I have for the thing I actually care about?”
Why some profiles show less than others
Not every business has enough reviews yet to receive a full AI breakdown. The amount of analysis we show depends on how many reviews the business has received in the last 12 months:
Reviews in last 12 months | What you’ll see |
100 or more | Full analysis. Star rating, TrustIndex, AI summary, all 5 theme scores, industry ranking. |
50 – 99 | Full analysis with a “Limited Data” flag. Directionally accurate, will sharpen as more reviews come in. |
10 – 49 | AI summary and popular topics, but no theme scores yet. |
Under 10 | Star rating only. Not enough reviews for an AI analysis. |
If a profile shows less than another, it isn’t because we’re hiding anything. It’s because there aren’t enough reviews yet to score it accurately. Help us fix that by leaving your own honest review.
Why we only show the last 12 months by default
The default view on every Hellopeter profile is reviews from the last 12 months. The full archive, every review going back as far as the year 2000 in some cases, is one click away.
The reason: recent matters more. A business that struggled three years ago and has since improved deserves credit for the change. So does the opposite. Twelve months gives you the current reality without dragging in stale signal.
If you want to see the full history of any business, click the date filter on the reviews list. Everything is still there.
How reviews are verified
We don’t accept anonymous one-line ratings. Every review on Hellopeter requires:
• A registered account
• Mobile-number verification by OTP
• A minimum of 10 words
• Active moderation for fake reviews, abuse, and defamation
If you ever see a review that looks fake or abusive, click the report icon on it. Our moderation team investigates every report.
What businesses can and cannot pay for
Businesses pay Hellopeter for tools that help them collect reviews at scale, respond to feedback faster, and understand their customer experience through our AI analysis. That subscription revenue is what keeps the consumer side of Hellopeter free.
What businesses cannot buy:
• A higher star rating
• A higher TrustIndex
• A favourable AI Review Summary
• The removal of a genuine negative review
• Suppression of theme scores
The numbers and language you see on a profile are the numbers and language customers wrote. Same standard for every business, paying or not.
How to use all of this to decide
A complete profile read takes about a minute. Here’s the five-step approach:
1. Glance at the star rating. Are most customers happy with this business?
2. Check the TrustIndex. Does this business engage with feedback when things go wrong?
3. Read the AI summary. What specifically do customers praise, and what do they complain about?
4. Check the theme that matters most to you. If you’re shopping for insurance, look at Claims Handling specifically. If you’re choosing a delivery service, look at Delivery Speed. Don’t just rely on the overall score.
5. Compare against Best in Class. Is there a better-rated alternative in the same industry? The industry page will tell you.
That’s it. You’ll know more about this business in sixty seconds than most consumers ever do.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between the star rating and TrustIndex?
The star rating is the simple average of customer ratings. TrustIndex includes that, and adds how actively the business responds to its customers, especially negative reviews. A business that ignores complaints will score lower on TrustIndex than one that engages with them, even if their star ratings are similar. Star rating tells you how customers feel. TrustIndex tells you how the business behaves.
How often are scores updated?
Star ratings update in real time as new reviews come in. AI scores and theme breakdowns refresh once every quarter, so the AI analysis you see today reflects the customer feedback collected through the previous quarter.
Why does the AI score not match the star rating?
They measure different things. The star rating averages how customers rated the business. The AI Overall Score averages performance across the 5 specific themes that matter in the industry. A business could have a high star average but score lower on AI because customers consistently flag one specific theme (say, Pricing). Both views are valid. They tell you different parts of the same story.
Why are the themes different for different businesses?
Because what customers care about varies by industry. Insurance customers talk about claims and agents. Retail customers talk about delivery and product quality. Banking customers talk about fees and digital experience. Generic themes wouldn’t capture what actually matters in each sector, so we tailored them.
Why do some businesses show fewer reviews than I’d expect?
The default view on every profile is the last 12 months. The full review history is available via the date filter on the reviews list. If a business has been on Hellopeter for years, every review is still there.
Can a business pay to remove a bad review?
No. Genuine reviews stay. Businesses can respond, contest reviews through our reporting process, or appeal moderation decisions. They cannot pay Hellopeter to remove a real customer review.
What if I see a review I think is fake?
Click the report icon on the review. Our moderation team investigates every report. If a review is found to be fake, defamatory, or abusive, it is removed.
Only from the reviews customers have written about the business in the last 12 months. The AI does not pull from external sources, social media, or the business’s own marketing. Everything in the AI summary and theme scores comes from real verified consumer reviews on Hellopeter.
How is “Best in Class” decided?
It’s the business with the highest score on a specific theme within an industry. So if four insurers score 4.6, 4.5, 4.4 and 4.3 on Claims Handling, the 4.6 insurer is Best in Class for Claims Handling.
What if my favourite business isn’t on Hellopeter?
You can add them. Search for the business on Hellopeter, and if no profile exists you’ll see an option to create one. We index over 100,000 South African businesses, and the list grows whenever a consumer needs to write a review about one we don’t yet have.