Housebuilders delete scores of negative online reviews
Barratt, Bellway and Taylor Wimpey have removed hundreds of critical online reviews after unhappy customers and cladding victims flooded ratings websites with complaints.
Homeowners have used Trustpilot and other websites to air their grievances, but many of their negative reviews have been deleted.
On its Trustpilot profile Barratt has 1,534 “excellent” reviews compared with 390 negative ratings. But transparency data supplied by Trustpilot showed the firm had had 127 bad reviews removed. It has a rating of 4.1 out of 5. Bellway has a rating of 4.2 after 247 bad reviews were
deleted and Taylor Wimpey, rated 4, had 47 reviews taken down.
Trustpilot said customers who broke site rules could have their reviews deleted. This includes feedback that is fake or biased. “Whether businesses choose to engage with those individuals and encourage more feedback is absolutely their choice, and something that can be done for free,” it said.
Trustpilot said companies and reviewers could flag suspicious feedback and both could be punished for misusing the system. Asked whether this put an unfair burden of work on companies, Trustpilot insisted it helped create an “even playing field” and that companies benefited from the feedback.
Bovis, Berkeley and Persimmon do not challenge bad online reviews and their scores appear to suffer as a result. Berkeley recorded a Trustpilot score of 2.7. It declined to comment. Persimmon scored 3.0 and Bovis 1.6. Both said they responded to customers’ feedback in other ways.
Bellway and Barratt told Telegraph Money that only reviews that broke the rules were removed and Taylor Wimpey said it followed Trustpilot’s rules.