THE SHORT ANSWER
A fair replacement policy covers four things free of charge: unreachable or invalid contact details, enquiries outside your agreed area, job types you do not sell, and duplicates. Five to ten percent of any honest feed will fall into those categories, and the claim window should be at least 72 hours, because a policy you cannot practically use is not a policy.
The four categories that should always be replaced
Invalid contact details - number disconnected, wrong person, email bouncing. Not the same as someone who simply did not pick up.
Out of area - outside the postcodes you agreed. Region-level rather than postcode-level matching is the usual cause.
Wrong job type - a service you do not offer, or a scale you do not handle.
Duplicate - the same enquiry delivered twice, or an existing customer resold to you.
What should not be replaceable, and why that is reasonable
A homeowner who answers, takes a quote and chooses someone else is not a faulty lead, it is competition. A homeowner who decides to postpone is not faulty either. A homeowner who did not answer three calls over two days is usually reachable and often a timing problem rather than a defect.
A supplier who replaces on any of those grounds is either pricing that generosity into the unit cost or will not survive as a supplier. Neither is good for you.
The terms that decide whether a policy is real
Claim window. Under 48 hours is difficult to use in practice. Seventy-two hours or more is workable.
Evidence required. A note of what happened is reasonable. Call recordings as a condition of every claim are a deterrent dressed as diligence.
Replacement, not credit. Credit against future volume is weaker than a replacement lead, especially if you may stop buying.
Claim ceiling. A cap is fair. A cap below 10 percent of volume is not, since normal feeds run to that.
How to use the policy without becoming a difficult customer
Claim promptly, in a consistent format, with the outcome of each attempt logged. A supplier who sees clean, specific claims will fix the underlying filter, which is worth far more than the individual replacements. Batching vague claims at the end of the month gets both parties nowhere.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
What replacement rate is normal?
Five to ten percent of delivered volume. Consistently under two percent suggests claims are being discouraged; over fifteen percent suggests the filters are not working.
Should I get a refund instead of a replacement?
A replacement is usually better value while you are still buying. Insist on a refund option only if you are winding down.
Does claiming affect my lead quality?
It should improve it, because specific claims are how a supplier finds a broken filter.
What is Flock's policy?
Leads that fail the postcode, job-type or contactability checks are replaced, and unused volume rolls over under the Flock Lead Promise rather than expiring.
NEED A CLEARER PLAN?
Let’s turn your next move into momentum.
Talk to us →