On October 2, 2025, I submitted a review of a company’s apparently fabricated customer reviews on their website. I cautioned potential customers to consider this practice before purchasing their product.
I forwarded a copy of the review to the company. Their customer service representative quickly replied. She asked for examples of the fake reviews I had referred to.
I did a full statistical analysis of their 251 customer reviews. I concluded that 88 percent of them had been obviously fabricated. I analyzed the construction of these 221 reviews and determined that they were constructed from stock lists of prefixes, stems, and suffixes, used in different combinations. Many identical reviews were attributed to different customers, and none of these reviews contained any punctuation or capitalization.
I sent my findings to the company’s customer service representative, and I told her I would post my findings on Trustpilot. She thanked me and said she would forward my research to their marketing department. I told her I would retract my review after they removed the fake reviews from their website.
The company did not remove any of the fabricated reviews. Instead they filed a complaint with Trustpilot and had my review taken down on the grounds that I had no interaction with them.
Trustpilot contacted me and provided me with the opportunity to contest the removal of my review. They requested evidence that I had direct interactions with the company I reviewed. I sent Trustpilot my emailed correspondence with the company’s customer service representative. I had four email exchanges with Trustpilot, and I was assured that they would review the evidence I gave them and restore my review when they verified that it was legitimate.
My analytical review of the company was never restored. On my Trustpilot client page, that review is still tagged “Review removed.” My original review of the company has also been taken down by Trustpilot, although it is not tagged in my account with “Review removed.”
The company I reviewed continues to post fraudulent customer reviews on their website, and Trustpilot continues to provide them with a 4.5 Excellent rating. I am very disappointed that I cannot trust Trustpilot to support their readers.
I extend to Trustpilot the same offer I made to the company I reviewed--I will retract this review after my other reviews have been restored. However, I suspect that this review will also be removed.
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