Striking Back Against Misleading Practices: A Small Business Perspective on TrustPilot’s Actions
As the founder and CEO of a trusted small business SaaS, I have always placed a high value on ethical operations and authenticity in customer interactions. Recently, however, I encountered a troubling situation involving TrustPilot, a platform I have respected and utilized to showcase our commitment to transparency.
A few weeks ago, I received a cease and desist letter from TrustPilot regarding an image we created featuring their logo, which directed users to our TrustPilot page and accurately depicted our rating. TrustPilot claimed that this representation was “misleading,” despite the fact that it simply displayed our genuine rating. As a result of their actions, a disclaimer was hastily added at the top of our profile, warning potential viewers that our display practices could lead to confusion. TrustPilot has indicated that further actions may follow if the image is not removed.
What makes this situation even more perplexing is that our primary competitor—much larger in scale—has been openly advertising a false rating of 4.8 on their own site, when their actual rating stands at 4.2. A customer of ours reported this discrepancy to TrustPilot’s Content Integrity Team over a year ago, yet they have not faced any repercussions or received similar disclaimers.
Further examination reveals a couple of notable differences: First, the competitor’s rating does not link directly to their TrustPilot profile, which arguably creates a more misleading scenario since customers cannot easily verify the authenticity of their claimed rating. Second, our company utilizes another reviews platform, Reviews.io, making us less reliant on TrustPilot’s ecosystem. This may have contributed to the discrepancies in how we are treated compared to other businesses.
The purpose of this post is to reach out to fellow entrepreneurs and business owners—have you experienced similar warnings or cease and desist letters from TrustPilot? I’m eager to learn if this is a common practice or an isolated incident, particularly given that it appears to be part of a broader issue where small businesses are caught in the crossfire due to practices that may seem inconsistent or even biased.
In an environment where ethical representation and transparency are paramount, it seems crucial to shed light on these discrepancies and advocate for fair treatment for all businesses, regardless of size or platform dependencies. Your insights and experiences would be invaluable as we navigate these challenges together.
