Frequently Ask Questions

General

Is Travel-pal.org safe?

The vast majority of Travel-pal experiences are not only safe, but outright life changing. Taking responsibility for your personal safety when traveling is important. And it’s just as important when you’re using Travel-pal.org. We take your safety seriously. So should you. Contact us safety-related incident.

How can I change my privacy settings?

You can review and update your privacy settings under my account in your account

Can I block specific people from viewing my profile or contacting me?

You can can block your profile from all members at any time by deactivating your account. You can always reactivate it when you want to use the site again by sending a email to us support@travel-pal.org. If there is a specific member who you would like to prevent from contacting you, Yes you can block them.

I think my profile has been hacked. What should I do?

First, contact us support@travel-pal.org regarding your profile. Once you do this, we will deactivate your profile immediately in order to prevent the hacker from accessing it. Please note: all of your data will be preserved. We’ll then work with you to help restore your profile. Always have a unique, strong password and don’t share it with anyone. When checking your account from public computers, be sure to sign out before closing the page.

Reporting an Issue

If I write to Travel-pal.org about a problem with another member, will my report be confidential?

Yes. All member concerns are confidential. We will not discuss your specific issue with anyone outside of the Trust and Safety Team unless we need to work with law enforcement or obtain legal advice. We will not tell a member that you reported them, but if we need to take action based on your report, the member may make the logical assumption that you have been in contact with us. For example, if we need to report an inappropriate feedback that a member has left for you, the person will be contacted to edit the reference.
We may choose to share anonymous information from a member report if it can help a group of members protect themselves from a specific risk. For example, on occasion we have notified members in certain regions when we have received evidence of scammers targeting those areas. In these circumstances, we never reveal the name of the person who contacted us or the incident that prompted the report.

What happens when I use the Report Abuse button?

Report Abuse should only be used to report abuse of the website or content-related abuse issues (such as profiles you believe to be fake, profiles sending dating spam, etc.). Any safety threat or incident should be reported directly to us (support@travel-pal.org). When you use the Report abuse button to report a profile, event, travel post, this information will be entered into our internal system. If we confirm that the reported content is in fact abusive, we may remove the content or warn the member who created it. Only bt us be able to see your report. All reports are confidential and will not be discussed with anyone outside of the team, unless we need to work with law enforcement or obtain legal advice.

Feedbacks

What are feedbacks?

References are feedback members write on each other’s profiles describing their experiences with one another. Members cannot delete or change any feedbacks left for them.

Will you delete someone when they receive a negative feedback?

No. Travel-pal.org is a self-moderating community, and we believe that each member of our community has the ability and the responsibility to make decisions about who they would like to meet. feedbacks, even negative ones, share information with the community. A behavior that one person finds offensive may not bother others, which is why we believe our role is not to make judgments in the case of disputes but rather to encourage both parties to share information openly with the community. If you would like to make a formal complaint against another member due to a violation of our Terms of Use or Privacy Policy, please contact us directly.

Can you remove a feedback from my profile?

We rarely remove feedbacks. We do not consider it appropriate for us to intervene in member descriptions of their experience. The most common instance in which we will completely remove a feedback is if it is clearly from someone who you have never met or interacted with. We will, however, report a feedback if it is outside of our guidelines. A reported feedback is hidden from view and will not be visible again until the member who left it has edited it to meet the guidelines. If you are concerned about a negative or neutral feedback on your profile that does not break our guidelines, please remember that anyone who reads it will also be able to read your response. In your feedback for that person, clearly and calmly explain your side of the story. People who visit your profile will be able to read both feedbacks and decide for themselves what they think.

Messages

Do I need to reply to every message?

It’s up to you! But the community is better for everyone when people are friendly and participative. Even if you’re busy, sending a quick message in response is a nice gesture.

I received what I think is a spam message.

Please use the “Report Abuse” button on the message to report it to us. Your report will help us take appropriate action in this particular case, as well as prevent spam in the future.

I received an offensive message from another member.

Please use the “Report Abuse” button on the message to report it to us. As well as alerting us to this particular message, using this system helps us investigate whether this member has a tendency towards offensive messages so that we can take appropriate action.