“I had an especially bad experience with Service Box (appliance servicing company) and decided to publish a 1* review on various customer review sites.
I had no problem posting on TrustPilot and Google but I couldn't post on feefo because there was no post a review option! I contacted feefo and asked why I couldn't post a review and they said I had to be invited by Service Box. However, they asked for my contract number to check.
When they got back to me I was told I couldn't post because my contract was taken out too long back in October 2017. I explained the contract was a 3 year one and still running and, as such, I should be able to post.
As requested, I then provided proof of my contract and the fact Service Box had replaced an appliance and was told Service Box would be contacted to invite me to post a review. Needless to say Service Box didn't contact me and, after further dialogue, feefo sent me a link to allow me to posted my review.
What I found revealing was my review was the only 1* Service Box on the feefo site while all the rest were 3* and above. On the Service Box website they boast of a 98% customer satisfaction rating and 4.75/5.00 feefo elsewhere while on TrustPilot and Google review websites 73% and 39% respectively of the reviews are 1* and damning. The only reason I can think of for this is Service Box only invite customers they know have been happy with their service to post on feefo!
This wouldn't surprise me in the least based on my dealings with Service Box. When I first posted on TrustPilot the only complimentary review was a 5* one from Colin Hill (coincidentally the same name as the Service Box Resolutions Manager I dealt with) which has since been removed!!!!
I've documented the above and passed it onto feefo and received the following response:
"Thank you for your email. Feefo takes its reputation as a Trusted Reviews Provider extremely seriously and investigates all instances where it appears that a customer may be manipulating their reviews. We will pass the information you have provided to our Compliance Team to investigate further. Whilst we may not be able to share the outcome of the investigation, please be assured that if it is found that there is a compliance issue with Service Box, Feefo will take appropriate action".
Based on my dealings with feefo I believe they are a genuine company but their procedures and processes allow unscrupulous companies like Service Box to manipulate feedback.
I can't say I was too impressed by their "Whilst we may not be able to share the outcome of the investigation" comment but will monitor the feefo Service Box feedback closely to see if there is any noticable change.
If feefo retain their "customers can only post reviews by invite" policy I cannot see any change happening, in which case I'd recomment people use TrustPilot and Google to get a more balanced review of a company.”
“I had an especially bad experience with Service Box (appliance servicing company) and decided to publish a 1* review on various customer review sites.
I had no problem posting on TrustPilot and Google but I couldn't post on feefo because there was no post a review option! I contacted feefo and asked why I couldn't post a review and they said I had to be invited by Service Box. However, they asked for my contract number to check.
When they got back to me I was told I couldn't post because my contract was taken out too long back in October 2017. I explained the contract was a 3 year one and still running and, as such, I should be able to post.
As requested, I then provided proof of my contract and the fact Service Box had replaced an appliance and was told Service Box would be contacted to invite me to post a review. Needless to say Service Box didn't contact me and, after further dialogue, feefo sent me a link to allow me to posted my review.
What I found revealing was my review was the only 1* Service Box on the feefo site while all the rest were 3* and above. On the Service Box website they boast of a 98% customer satisfaction rating and 4.75/5.00 feefo elsewhere while on TrustPilot and Google review websites 73% and 39% respectively of the reviews are 1* and damning. The only reason I can think of for this is Service Box only invite customers they know have been happy with their service to post on feefo!
This wouldn't surprise me in the least based on my dealings with Service Box. When I first posted on TrustPilot the only complimentary review was a 5* one from Colin Hill (coincidentally the same name as the Service Box Resolutions Manager I dealt with) which has since been removed!!!!
I've documented the above and passed it onto feefo and received the following response:
"Thank you for your email. Feefo takes its reputation as a Trusted Reviews Provider extremely seriously and investigates all instances where it appears that a customer may be manipulating their reviews. We will pass the information you have provided to our Compliance Team to investigate further. Whilst we may not be able to share the outcome of the investigation, please be assured that if it is found that there is a compliance issue with Service Box, Feefo will take appropriate action".
Based on my dealings with feefo I believe they are a genuine company but their procedures and processes allow unscrupulous companies like Service Box to manipulate feedback.
I can't say I was too impressed by their "Whilst we may not be able to share the outcome of the investigation" comment but will monitor the feefo Service Box feedback closely to see if there is any noticable change.
If feefo retain their "customers can only post reviews by invite" policy I cannot see any change happening, in which case I'd recomment people use TrustPilot and Google to get a more balanced review of a company.”
