Is Trustpilot a scam ?

Niallworldwide

They have been calling one of our companies for years to take a premium service with them and have been bombarding us with sales calls to the point one of our staff pretty much told them to !!!!!! off or they would be reported to offcom for unsolicited calls.

This happened last week and we see today over 800 reviews have been taken off one of our company accounts we spent 11 years collecting from happy customers and a sticker put on there saying we have detected a large number of fake reviews on this platform dont worry we have removed them.

We dont need trustpilot to get more leads as we spend 20k per month through google adwords to get our enquiries, they were told this but kept on calling and calling and calling.

Dont want to get into too much detail about which company it is but surely this should not be allowed or can they do what they want as they own the platform and are based in Denmark?

It seems very much like they are strong arming companies to take the paid service i am sure if we did all reviews would be re instated overnight.

We are seeking legal advice but any expert advice from any members is welcomed. Surely this is illegal ?

ThisnotThat

It's their service and if they think that reviews are suspect they can remove them.  I doubt there is anything illegal about this and if it was, it'd be up to the authorities to do something about it, not you.

Not excusing anything Trustpilot do but they are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place.  They need to get money off someone to keep their service going.  As consumers are unlikely to be willing to pay fees to read reviews, that leaves ad revenue and collecting revenue from the companies listed on their site.  They need to offer a compelling reason for companies to pay them money, as you don't have to pay anything to get listed (or else rogue companies would just not pay them anything) so it's not surprising that what they do offer might be what some might consider to be a little unethical.

MattMattMattUK

Niallworldwide said:

We are seeking legal advice but any expert advice from any members is welcomed. Surely this is illegal ?

I would not say it is a scam, I am fairly certain it is not illegal, I agree with ThisnotThat that it might be a little immoral, but that is always going to be subjective. 

Niallworldwide said:

We dont need trustpilot to get more leads as we spend 20k per month through google adwords to get our enquiries, they were told this but kept on calling and calling and calling.

What someone told them, was that you are happy to spend £20k pcm on marketing. They are offering a product which costs £200-1,000 pcm, so all you did was inform them that their product is well within your budget.

Niallworldwide said:

This happened last week and we see today over 800 reviews have been taken off one of our company accounts we spent 11 years collecting from happy customers and a sticker put on there saying we have detected a large number of fake reviews on this platform dont worry we have removed them.

It seems very much like they are strong arming companies to take the paid service i am sure if we did all reviews would be re instated overnight.

Either you want their service or you do not, the free version is entirely at their cost, they get to do with as they like, if you pay they allow you a wider ability to "curate" the reviews. If those represent a value to you then you can manage that by signing up for the premium service, if they are irrelevant to you then TrustPilot removing them has no impact and so there is no point in complaining. 

Note to add, I disagree with these business models, I think TrustPilot review are entirely pointless due to the ability to game the system, but if you want to complain about a service level it usually requires paying for that service first. 

Pollycat

Interesting thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6188453/trustpilot-whistleblower/p1

A pity the OP of that thread never came back to update us on the outcome of her talks with the BBC.

naedanger

If they are deliberately misrepresenting the reviews your firm has received because you won't pay them then that sounds highly suspect and I would have thought you would have had at least a civil remedy (and quite possibly a criminal one).  But I suspect the problem will be proving the removal was because you didn't pay them and not for the reason they are giving.

I must admit I would never place any reliance on Trustpilot reviews but I know others do.

Niallworldwide

Pollycat said:

Interesting thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6188453/trustpilot-whistleblower/p1

A pity the OP of that thread never came back to update us on the outcome of her talks with the BBC.

thanks for this it seems this is not the first time 

Niallworldwide

naedanger said:

If they are deliberately misrepresenting the reviews your firm has received because you won't pay them then that sounds highly suspect and I would have thought you would have had at least a civil remedy (and quite possibly a criminal one).  But I suspect the problem will be proving the removal was because you didn't pay them and not for the reason they are giving.

I must admit I would never place any reliance on Trustpilot reviews but I know others do.

This is exactly what happened its funny how our reviews were allowed to stay on for 11 years but when we told them to get lost down the phone or we would report them everything was removed - we only had 4 and 5 star reviews all gone all which were verified by email invite to each party 

Niallworldwide

https://michaels.me.uk/trustpilot-can-they-be-trusted/
just found this on the other link thanks everyone for the help it seems we might have a case i have passed this to our directors 
(Removed by Forum Team)

Silentmemory

I had an issue with a milk delivery and tried to leave a neg review. TP asked me to verify that I'd been a genuine customer - lots of hoops to jump through. I emailed back asking what they planned to do with the data I was sending. They didn't reply so I never sent anything. that makes a lot of sense now I've found out that some companies pay them!!! I get why but I won't trust them again.

Niallworldwide

Silentmemory said:

I had an issue with a milk delivery and tried to leave a neg review. TP asked me to verify that I'd been a genuine customer - lots of hoops to jump through. I emailed back asking what they planned to do with the data I was sending. They didn't reply so I never sent anything. that makes a lot of sense now I've found out that some companies pay them!!! I get why but I won't trust them again.

they have not contacted any of our past clients to provide any proof they used the company we have called at least 20 people who recently reviewed us and not one has had a contact from them 

Jenni_D

Does your company have a paid-for account with TP?