Trustpilot’s Review System: A Rigged Game? Our Experience at CleanWhale.pl

In the digital age, online reviews hold immense power. A single bad rating can deter potential customers, while a strong review profile builds trust and credibility. Businesses strive to provide excellent service, encourage satisfied clients to leave positive feedback, and, in return, hope for a fair reputation.

But what if the system that determines your reputation isn’t fair at all?

This is our experience with Trustpilot, a platform that claims to offer transparent and unbiased customer reviews but instead seems to operate on a model designed to manipulate businesses into dependency.

Step 1: The 3.5-Star Trap

Every company on Trustpilot starts with a default TrustScore of 3.5, regardless of how good or bad their actual service is. This is due to their Bayesian average system, which includes seven artificial reviews with an average rating of 3.5.

The effect? Businesses immediately start with a below-average score. The only way to fix it is to actively drive customers to Trustpilot—a tactic that conveniently boosts their traffic, engagement, and revenue.

For a company that prides itself on fairness, this system creates an artificial disadvantage from day one.

Step 2: Positive Reviews Vanish, Bad Ones Stay

At CleanWhale.pl, we manually verified all our reviews and recalculated our rating. The actual average score should have been 4.25, yet Trustpilot displayed 4.2.

Digging deeper, we discovered that 10 positive reviews had been removed—but curiously, negative reviews remained untouched.

When we asked Trustpilot why, they vaguely responded that their algorithm flags reviews it suspects to be inauthentic. But here’s the problem:

• There’s no transparency in how these reviews are flagged.
• Positive reviews require proof of authenticity, but negative ones don’t.
• Businesses receive no notification when reviews disappear.

If Trustpilot’s review system were truly neutral, wouldn’t all flagged reviews—positive and negative—be treated equally? Instead, businesses wake up one day to find their ratings mysteriously dropping.

Step 3: The Fake Warning Label

One day, we noticed a warning label on our profile, stating that our company had been "manipulating reviews."

This was shocking—especially since we hadn’t done anything different from other businesses. So we demanded an explanation.

Instead of giving a clear answer, Trustpilot quietly removed the label after our request.

This raises serious questions:

• Who decided to place this warning?
• What criteria were used?
• Why was it removed only after we confronted them?

This pattern suggests that Trustpilot can arbitrarily damage a company’s reputation without warning and then erase the evidence when challenged.

Step 4: You Can’t Leave

After witnessing these manipulative tactics, we decided we no longer wanted to be part of Trustpilot’s system. So we asked to delete our profile.

Trustpilot’s response? It’s not possible.

According to them, company pages are "automatically generated" when someone searches for a brand on their platform.

But we tested this ourselves—and it’s not true. Some companies never get a profile, while others are stuck with one indefinitely.

This means that businesses cannot control their presence on Trustpilot. Even if you don’t want to be listed, Trustpilot uses your brand for their commercial gain.

The Bigger Picture: A System of Dependence

When you put all these pieces together, a clear pattern emerges:

1. Trustpilot forces businesses to start with a low rating (3.5 stars).
2. They delete positive reviews while keeping negative ones, lowering your score.
3. They place misleading warning labels to damage your reputation—then remove them when confronted.
4. They refuse to let businesses leave their platform.

The result? Businesses are forced to continuously manage their Trustpilot rating, drive traffic to their site, and, ultimately, pay for premium services.

For a company that claims to support transparency, Trustpilot’s business model relies on manipulation, control, and monetizing fear.

Final Thoughts: What Can Businesses Do?

1. Be vocal about your experience – Businesses should share their experiences with Trustpilot’s practices so more companies are aware of these tactics.
2. Encourage customers to leave reviews elsewhere – Don’t depend on a single platform that can manipulate your rating.
3. Push for legal clarity – If enough businesses challenge Trustpilot’s policies, it could force them to be more transparent.

At CleanWhale.pl, we believe businesses deserve a fair and honest review system. Trustpilot claims to offer one, but our experience tells a very different story.

What do you think? Have you had similar experiences with Trustpilot? Let’s start a conversation.