Trust Pilot - do you use it?

We usually go by personal, local recommendations and I can’t remember ever being disappointed.

We have had a business for many years and long ago we were contacted by an organisation called The Guild of Master Craftsmen. What a con that was so we never subscribed. They were supposed to be the place that concerned customers could go to to be assured of good service, workmanship etc. we asked what evidence they needed and they didn’t! They literally took your word for it and gave you certificates and stickers and charged you loads!!

Checkatrade is very similar and we never went with them either but they did ask for customers references. Still dodgy and far better to go on personal recommendations.

I think you need to be very wary of any reviews, on any site to be honest.

I bought wome wireless ear buds off Amazon, and was genuinely impressed with them for the price, so left a good review.

The company who sold them then contacted me, offering FREE items, providing I left 5 star reviews......

We had an ongoing dispute with an energy provider for many months. They insisted we owed them a couple of £000 which we absolutely knew we didn’t as we always pay our bills immediately and we had bank statements showing all our payments.

We wrote letters, emails and made phonecalls to the company for months and they promised they would sort it and get senior staff to get back to us. They never did so I put a very bad review on TP one afternoon and by the next morning a very senior spokesperson for the energy company had replied on there and also contacted us and sorted it instantly. They, in fact, owed us money.

There are several firms currently advertising bras on Facebook. They are cheap rubbish, poorly made and take weeks to arrive and you can’t send them back as they enclose no paperwork. The sizes are laughably small. Made for Chinese women I suspect. They trade under one name, fleece thousands of people, change their name but adverts are the same and fleece thousands more. I am forever reporting them on TP along with hundreds of other women.

When you look at feedback/reviews on any site there are a few things to be aware of when determining if the postings are genuine.

If the reviews sound very similar and use generic phrases such as "a very pleasant experience" or "seamless international purchase" then this is something to be wary of. Similarly posters who report a bad issue but give no details "horrible experience" etc may well be competitors playing dity tricks.

Genuine reviews can vary from a sentence to several paragraphs and usually describe the issue.

Another thing to look out for is whether the seller had replied to the reviews. I reply to every single review in my shops, even if its only to thank the reviewer for taking the time and wishing them pleasure in wearing their purchase (I sell vintage accessories). A genuine company will always respond to a bad review. Ive had 2 for slow shipping and had to point out that the delay was with customs and not my dispatch times.

I admit I don't trust Checkatrade Meryl

I found Trust zPilot very helpful when my passport went missing after I’d applied for a new one.

Checkatrade work on the same system.
This is rich 😂 TrustPilot rating Checkatrade

uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.checkatrade.com

During lock down there was a widely advertised product that hugely increased its sales such was the demand. It seemed though that the composition of the product deteriorated (in some instances) and many users found it inferior, complained and were totally fobbed off, resorting to giving bad reviews. The company's Facebook group, run by it's advertising agency, blocked anyone giving a negative review. Their stockists were encouraged to counter and report any negative reviews elsewhere. They tried (sometimes successfully) to close down critical Facebook groups. Negative reviews on trust pilot were taken down by trust pilot (such was the advertising agency's influence. Their ad agency swamped Facebook to encourage positive reviews on trust pilot. I contacted trust pilot re a negative review l gave, they basically said suck it up.

I can’t count how many times I’ve put up a link to inform people not to trust trust pilot
But here it is again.

www.seotraininglondon.org/can-you-trust-trustpilot/

Interesting Sago!
I had this happen when I posted something on Instagram about a company.

I had a very bad experience with a company who sent me poorly packaged goods that arrived in an unusable state.
A nail varnish bottle had broken and leaked over the other goods
They wouldn’t accept photographic evidence, they wanted the goods returned, this was not feasible.
The company refused a refund until they received the damaged goods.
I reviewed the company on Trust Pilot and received an email immediately from the company offering a full refund and replacement of the goods foc!

I am wary of all review websites bur often you can gain some insight from them if you see who has commented on what - and then look at their reviews of several "things". If they give plus and minus points or mixed reviews I think they are worth reading.