Is leaving reviews on Trustpilot…

viv_andersons_nana said:
… a sign of middle age? I’ve left two reviews on there in the past couple of weeks, one good and one bad. I’ve just had a realisation that there was a time when I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing this sort of thing. And is it even worth taking the time to leave a review anyway. Surely it’s either 5 stars or 1. Who’s giving a postal company a 3? How are you marking that.

I had an email saying my reviews are proving popular. I checked and saw 18 people have read them. Not exactly a stampede. What’s happening? Is it just middle age? Does anyone else leave reviews or does everyone have lives to live?
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Funnily enough I've went on and used Trustpilot this week before purchasing something and said the same thing to my wife "...am I getting old, I would never have been paranoid about a website when I was 20!" haha

However, as a now user of Trustpilot - your input is much appreciated and valued! @viv_andersons_nana 😂
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
I turned 40 this year. I’ve finally got around to building a vinyl collection, attend more non-league games than professional ones and have begun the transition from nondescript Eurofizz lager to IPA and more specialised beers. It does ‘feel’ middle-aged but I could be a 40 year-old man, as I am, or a 27 year-old hipster I suppose, based on that description.

The first Trustpilot review I left was about Southeastern trains. It is a terrible, terrible service and EVERY time I’ve used them in the past 6 or so weeks the train has been late, severely late or cancelled completely. This is every time. I couldn’t take it any longer and left a one star review. Their reviews on Trustpilot are appalling and the service continues to get worse, so why do we bother I suppose.
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www.thetimes.co.uk

I’m a ‘6 Music Dad’ and proud — don’t laugh at me

Phil Hilton on a newly identified tribe (and hashtag) of middle-aged British men
www.thetimes.co.uk www.thetimes.co.uk
 
Boro in Devon said:
The company I ran had a Checkatrade account. I was amazed to discover that it is a complete con.
In a previous life I was involved with customer satisfaction surveys and we went to enormous lengths to keep them independant and unbiased.
These new companies Checkatrade, trust pilot et al are paid for by the companies being surveyed and so the results are manipulated so that they can be used as a marketing tool. If there was negative comments that parent company would get involved and try to sort it out. These trust scores are so biased they should not be trusted.
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I don’t think it is a secret that companies use it to their advantage in marketing and why shouldn’t they to be fair. If they get good reviews then flaunt it I say.

“business customers can send out a larger number of review invitations per month and have access to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated analytics that the company says can provide deeper insights into the customer experience. They also receive marketing tools that help them tout their reviews, including widgets that showcase their TrustScore and an image generator tool for social media profiles.”


Trustpilot is a Danish company based in Copenhagen.
 
I think reviews are important, but also where they're at.

I don't use sites like checkatrade or trustatrader because they're largely useless sites but any trade I use with a FB account I'll leave honest and detailed review with photos.

I'll leave trustpilot ones, left a great deal. People say it can't be relied on but none of my negative reviews have ever been removed - sometimes they ask to co firm details to verify you're actually a customer which is fair enough. If not they can challenge it which is probably what happens in those cases. I've often had companies reach out to resolve issues after trustpilot, so I use it along side twitter if something isn't right and update review accordingly.

Often series Tripadvisor reviews because, as much as peope slate it, never had a bad meal using it and whenever we go anywhere we usually sort by the top 10 in that area and visit a few after reading a sample of reviews and photos to make sure it's kosher (never had a problem but worth checking) and had some outstanding finds.

I leave Amazon reviews again with photos just because sometimes stuff is given away free for a review which tends to skew scores etc, likewise I check for reviews with pictures, videos etc and ignore the obvious shill ones / vine reviews

I'm also conscious when checking reviews to look at context. Someone might right a glowing meal for an Italian restaurant. Ht you're less likely to get a glowing review about a bank or insurance firm.
 
Like a lot of things Trustpilot, and other review services like TripAdvisor, started off useful when a small number of reliable people would leave good reviews. Once they got big/mainstream the people that were being reviewed got involved and they started gaming the system so were less useful.

Then the system realises the best way to monetise is to allow paid for reviews so really they are now just an advertising service by the business that pay them instead of what they were supposed to be.

If you want genuine reviews I find you have to ask real people. I'll check on places like here, Reddit, HotUKDeals, Facebook, avforums or any other specialist forum. You still have to navigate through done of the paid shills and bots sometimes but they are better than the review sites.
 
I got asked yesterday to leave a Trustpilot review for an online watch retailer. It’s well known so I didn’t bother.
I do however leave Tripadvisor reviews for every holiday or hotel stay I have .
I find them very helpful.
 
I am flying with Tui in a couple of weeks and the Trip Advisor reviews have been useful. I notice a lot of poor reviews seem to relate to stuff the airline can't do anything about like weather delays, turbulence or stuff they can like the food. Surely all airline food is rubbish, unless you're in business. I think some people just like a whinge.
 
A mate of mine (well a drinking acquaintance) is a ‘man with a van’ who shall we say has lived on the more shadowy side of life (twice charged with attempted murder, verified by me on CCC records) I mentioned to him I had looked on check a trader for a plumber or something. He said “don’t use that it’s a snide, even I’m on it” 😂

Edit- might have been trust a trader, which would have been even funnier
 
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Nano said:
Like a lot of things Trustpilot, and other review services like TripAdvisor, started off useful when a small number of reliable people would leave good reviews. Once they got big/mainstream the people that were being reviewed got involved and they started gaming the system so were less useful.

Then the system realises the best way to monetise is to allow paid for reviews so really they are now just an advertising service by the business that pay them instead of what they were supposed to be.

If you want genuine reviews I find you have to ask real people. I'll check on places like here, Reddit, HotUKDeals, Facebook, avforums or any other specialist forum. You still have to navigate through done of the paid shills and bots sometimes but they are better than the review sites.
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I don't think trustpilot, Tripadvisor or any mainstream uk based site allows paid for reviews - it's actually illegal - astroturfing, writing reviews about your own business or writing reviews about a business you have not used etc.

What trustpilot does is allow them access to a suite to manage their reviews , challenge submitters to verify them, respond to them etc. I don't believe you can delete a trustpilot review if it's been verified as a genuine user.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
I turned 40 this year. I’ve finally got around to building a vinyl collection, attend more non-league games than professional ones and have begun the transition from nondescript Eurofizz lager to IPA and more specialised beers. It does ‘feel’ middle-aged but I could be a 40 year-old man, as I am, or a 27 year-old hipster I suppose, based on that description.

The first Trustpilot review I left was about Southeastern trains. It is a terrible, terrible service and EVERY time I’ve used them in the past 6 or so weeks the train has been late, severely late or cancelled completely. This is every time. I couldn’t take it any longer and left a one star review. Their reviews on Trustpilot are appalling and the service continues to get worse, so why do we bother I suppose.
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I tried IPA when I was middle aged, it should have been flushed out of the Kennet by now. Back on the Euro fizz and loving it, with occasional stout or brown ale sessions.
 
I regularly review stuff on Google. Mainly if I've enjoyed something or had good service. A bit like the YouGov survey thing if you build up enough points they send you some offers on their online shop.
Was gobsmacked last year when I got a notification that one of my photos had been viewed 200000 times.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
I tried IPA when I was middle aged, it should have been flushed out of the Kennet by now. Back on the Euro fizz and loving it, with occasional stout or brown ale sessions.
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I'm similar. I like hoppy lagers like Camden Hells but the hoppy beers really aren't my thing. To me they taste like someone's dunked a bunch of flowers in your beer.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
And how do you leave a negative review on something that's free?
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Hardly anything in life is free. There's a great saying that if something is free, you are usually the product, e.g Tesco clubcard.

That's certainly the case here - you post here "for free" but provide a wealth of data about interests, product suitability and are served adverts unless blocked but even without that you still provide information.
 
I left my first ever review of anything the other day. I'd just finished a packet of Waitrose's basmati rice when I received an email from Waitrose's asking me to post a review of their basmati rice that I'd purchased recently. Given that I'd found myself frustrated that the packaging could not be recycled, I left a review to that effect. Like @viv_andersons_nana I think I may be entering middle age.
 
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