Trustpilot.co.uk reviews

I was using Trustpilot for years to post reviews, mostly good ones, then I discovered what happens if you post negative reviews about paying customers.
If a company is using their FREE services, then they do not care what gets posted. However any company who is paying for Trustpilot's premium service can just request for any negative review to be removed, and they will remove it. They will then request that you provide ridiculous evidence to prove your review is true. Such as written statements from the police, court orders, proof of phone calls etc.

I have posted reviews on trustpilot of various companies. I was doing so just a week ago where I posted one review and it was accepted, then I went to post another. Its at this point that I was logged out. I contacted them by email to explain the problem. Just got a reply back today. Apparently their "advanced software" had noticed "patterns" and this was why it happened. They have not explained what they mean by pattern nor offered to rectify the situation. I am just without being told (manipulation) banned from posting out of the blue with no adequate explanation. So ironically I am posting on sitejabber about trustpilot - ha!

[UPDATE] - OK, since the above this has happened. They reinstated my account - or did they? You see despite being now able to login and see my reviews, I can only see my reviews when I am logged in. If I am not logged in my reviews do not appear in the general timeline. I have contacted them about this a couple of times, and they claim that there is no problem. So I made a more thorough check. I used two browsers. One browser I was logged in to trustpilot, and the second I was not. Sure enough, I could not see my reviews on the browser where I was not logged in, but could with the browser I was logged in with. So I made one final complaint. I mentioned yet again what I had read twitter were doing, and that is "shadow accounting". This practice is exactly as I have just described. It is where for all intents and purposes when logged in you can post and see your reviews - but no one else can. This is what trustpilot is doing as well.

[Further update] - They have relented and given back full site privileges.

I used to trust TrustPilot, but I have recently discovered for myself what others here say about it - that for its paying customers, it suppresses bad reviews and ignores blatant fake good review campaigns.

I tried to report some very obvious manipulation of TrustPilot ratings by a particular company, even providing proof. In May and October 2015 their rating was elevated from 3.6 to 9.4 by two blocks of five star reviews, one over 2 days and the other over 10 days. Most of the reviews were simple one liners by accounts with only a single review. At the same time as the first block of fake reviews, there was a posting in the client's own forums that urged forum users to elevate the sites ratings on TrustPilot.

No action was taken by TrustPilot. It would appear that the client in question is one of those that are a 'paid subscriber', In the meantime, I have observed a negative review in the process of being removed at the behest of this same client.

Looking more closely at a random selection of reviewed websites, it is obvious to me now that TrustPilot is not impartial, as it favours its paying clients, and its ratings are easily manipulated by clients and by other vested interests.

Trustpilot was well advertised but it's most likely most of that advertising comes from charging the companies reviewed which if correct would lead to a large conflict of interest.

Certainly when Sammydress.com failed to provide the goods or a full refund, Trustpilot did everything they could to take down my negative review of them. Reviews of the company on independent sites was very low and was filled with unhappy customers whilst Trustpilot had 4 to 5 stars for the company.

The reviewed company constantly sniped at the review, which I had to change because it didn't meet their rules on format, then wasn't linked to an order, then didn't have documentary proof and then they took it down anyway.

They also insisted on having me provide personal data, even though they aren't registered in the UK as a data controller and hide behind weaker protection of the Danish system.

If all negative reviews are deleted then the site is of little use.
They were also reported in several papers to be constantly abused by fake reviews of companies to bolster there rating illegitimately.

The irony of the "TrustPilot" name is there for all that want to look for it.

If you post a negative review based on your experience, after a little while they will remove it. You will be sent an email to provide proof that you are in fact a customer. This in its self seems fair enough and you could argue that it does indeed improve the trustworthiness of the site as it would stop competitors posting false reviews.

However, when you provide this proof you will receive no acknowledgement, either positively or negatively and after 7 days all trace of your review will be removed.

Take for example, Savi.co.uk, a website currently scamming people with EPC's. They do not provide a service, cannot be contacted, when you try to cancel you get charged for nothing and given just 24 hour to pay before they start adding £15 surcharges to this cancellation fee. They have many negative TP added every week and within hours these are censored by TP and removed under the no proof of customer policy Go have a look, you can see this happening for yourself. This leaves only positive reviews. To add insult to injury, check out the number of reviews posted previously by these reviewers, 2 at most. Its not too much a leap to suggest that not all these positive reviews are real.

All in all, it would suggest TrustPilot is very much not to be trusted. I strongly suspect we will see it shut down by Trading Standards or exposed by the press in the not too distant future.

For those wondering about Trustpilot, let me tell you about them. I can easily summed it up with only one word...CROOKS!

You see, Trustpilot actually charges a lot of money to those who don't want bad reviews. I guess money does talk doesn't it?

If you post a bad review to a paying customer, you can rest assured that they will do all that they can to make sure it is never posted. I dealt with them for months just to have my review posted. My review was right to the point including dates, order numbers...everything but sure enough, Trustpilot hated it and refused to post it for a long time...well until they couldn't ask me anymore stupid questions.

Again, TRUSTPILOT are CROOKS...Plain and simple. Any review site that actually charges fees to companies are CROOKS as they will clearly make sure only good reviews are posted and a handful of already prepared ones where the company comes out and fixes everything. Just look at my other post about selectspecs.com where I described my story and how those selectspecs.com aka CROOKS not only robbed me but NEVER EVER attempted to fix the problem even when they were well aware of it.

Don't bother with Trustpilot if you have negative reviews. I think they should change their name to nevertrustpilot.com Much more suitable.

I'm sure that many of you will agree with me, when I say that more and more businesses are letting us, the customer down. They all want our custom and actively seek to impress us before we buy. All goes well until we the customer have a problem or just want to ask a simple question, then the bottom falls out of their glossy world and we are left annoyed, stressed and in some cases, out of pocket. I know there are companies around that do go the extra 1500 metres, (good old metrication) when things go wrong but they seem to be the exception, not the norm. This is where review sites and especially Trustpilot can really help, for the one thing a business hates is a really bad factual review. Consumer reviews hit them where it proverbially hurts, their profit margin, for we all read and are influenced by a well written review.

The Trustpilot review site gives us the consumer, the means to be noticed by businesses big and small; furthermore, a Trustpilot review shows us the companies that we can trust. Trustpilot uses software to monitor, as they say "coarse language"and so keep us the reviewer in check when writing, shall we say, a heartfelt review. This I found out when trying to express a term in the vernacular, I had to settle for the term "hen up", surprisingly they wouldn't allow me to use the male of the species. This review site really does work, only the other week I was let down badly by a supplier of garden furniture, I won't mention their name, as they say; to protect their guilty. Anyway, after the "protected ones" had failed to deliver twice! Had failed to answer several emails and phone calls, I signed up with Trustpilot, then put it all in scathing, detailed print. A few hours after it went live the company was on the phone to me, I got a good discount and the furniture. REMEMBER, never underestimate the power of the review and never underestimate the power of a TRUSTPILOT REVIEW..