“Seriously, don't waste your time. Take the free critique and make the changes yourself. From my experience this is a total con. MS Word has some templates, and Google can provide you with a list of action verbs. These guys won't add much more but will take a good chunk of your cash.
Having read the mixed reviews I was skeptical, but thought it was worth it even if they only helped me address a couple of the sensible recommendations raised in the free critique. Despite, I was genuinely amazed at how terrible this was. In short, I spent a month engaging with two writers to generate something that still didn't address the recommendations from the free critique, and I certainly wouldn't consider submitting with a job application. For the record, my own CV has a 100% success rate on getting an interview, I just knew it could be better, and the critique hit some points I wanted to address. I was suckered in!
My first writer spent the best part of a week literally deleting all of my 16 years management experience, saying that as I was transitioning from the military it was no longer relevant. In two weeks we didn't make much progress at all, the product was significantly worse than the one I initially provided and didn't align to the target jobs. I put the new CV, which contained literally no experience at all - just a list of qualifications and a fictional summary, back through the TopCV critique tool and got an automated response saying it was in the top 4% of CVs - what a joke!
The complaints team was apologetic, and the second writer certainly had a better go at it, but still lacked either the will or ability to address the recommendations in the free critique. Having spent hours responding to drafts over a month I had to draw a line under it and move on.
Key issues from my perspective:
- Lack of interaction & exchange - this didn't provide the collaborative CV development I had hoped. The writers did nothing more than put the information I provided into one of their templates, with the addition of some action verbs. I made sure to respond to each draft with comprehensive comments within a few hours of receipt, but those comments fell on deaf ears.
- Poorly trained & experienced staff - If these guys were professional CV writers then I should be punting for a job as their CEO. I would be amazed if either of my writers had any real experience of recruitment.
- Lack of internal assurance - it was very clear that there was no process of checking the writers work before it was sent back to me. The first writers drafts were riddled with inaccuracies, spelling, and grammar mistakes. His response when I asked him to re-check his work was to ask if I could highlight the errors. Well, if i'm doing that then I have no need for your services as it's quicker to correct them myself as I go.
A long review, but I wanted to offer something I would have appreciated before I wasted my cash and several hours of my life.”
“I purchased their Executive Priority CV Writing Package and, if I could give negative stars for their output, I would.
My job hunt went from daily phone calls from agencies to zero phone calls from anyone after I uploaded my CV updated by TopCV.
I have since gone back to distributing my old CV and the phone has gone crazy.
They obviously do not understand how agencies search for candidates using an Applicant Tracking System.
AVOID and save and spend your money elsewhere.”
“TopCV is a scam - don't fall for the positive, robotic and scripted reviews on the major sites.
Basically they reformat whatever you give them to what an Instagram influencer would produce. They do not have expert writers in your space. They don't know what is required. When you call them out, they give highly scripted and robotic answers and will completely ignore you. You can not trust what they produce - even worse, you might not spot what rules they violate if you are not experienced. Get a professional CV writer in your space. Do not go use this website.”
“Title: Unfulfilled Expectations and Unprofessional Experience
Review: I regret to report that my experience with TopCV was less than satisfactory. Despite paying £175 for a comprehensive service that promised a CV, LinkedIn profile, and cover letter overhaul, the service I received fell short of expectations.
The process was marred by delayed responses and a lack of professionalism from the CV writers. The first writer merely copy-pasted my suggestions without showing any understanding of my profile or English proficiency. The second writer disappeared for a week without notice, and the third only lightly formatted what had already been done.
To add to my disappointment, despite paying for a LinkedIn service, my profile was ignored. Moreover, I encountered an administrative issue where I had to prove I had paid for a senior CV writer service, indicating a lack of proper record-keeping.
Although I ended up with a satisfactory cover letter, the overall experience was frustrating and time-consuming, having taken over a month and numerous emails. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend TopCV based on this experience, and I won't be utilizing their services again. I award them 2/5 stars as I did receive some product for my payment, but the poor service and lack of professionalism were disheartening.”
“Disatisfied with my results! I tracked the CV prepared by them in ATS tracker and reched 37 out of 100 which the CV prepared by me reached 33!
These people are not skilled professionals able to provide you the best results.”
“This company does not even deserve 1 star. I wish I had seen all the reviews below before I had wasted £219 of my own hard earned money. There is nothing else I can add to what has already been said other than: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SIGN UP TO THIS SERVICE. Every other review matches my experience, and it's really clear that this service is not by English speaking people or CV experts, let alone this with any discernible credentials - there are significant spelling errors, verb tense errors and completely ludicrous, indeed, I would go as far as imbecilic, inept application of the information given. The only emotion apart from crying about money NOT WELL SPENT, is laughter at the sheer immorality, avarice and all out gall of this company to exploit people. I feel robbed and ashamed that I put my trust into both Reed.co.uk who suggested this and TopCV itself. I am truly disgusted by this parasitic, predatory company. There is a special place in hell for these people.”
“This is a complete scam - they have significant legal text essentially saying they're service terms and promise's are a lie- they bait you with a fake CV review and then they'll take 7 weeks to produce work that is incoherent empty nonsense and then refuse to give you a refund and try and pass you writer to writer and 4 days to respond to each email
This is a complete scam and joke of a company don't do it”
“Cut and Paste Job.
Total disappointment. Very clearly a ‘cut & paste’ job as somebody else’s job title and place of work appeared in my CV.
Totally uninspiring and cluttered document. Apparently it is optimised for recruiting software yet since it went up I have not had one call. My ‘old fashioned’ CV used to attract regular calls.
The writer agreed a refund then twist and turns from customer support and I’m apparently not entitled all of a sudden. Apparently I didn’t request edits but I told the writer as soon as I saw the document it was poor.
Total waste of money, I wish I had read the reviews beore signing up.
Email replies are from templates.
You could do this yourself with a bit of reading around the subject
I changed by CV back this morning and I had 4 calls within the hour.
They are now refusing to answer emails.
Totally unprofessional.”
“Don’t trust these people and their shameful CV review service that is actually a template that is the same review for everyone. I’m offering a personalised CV review service that is anything but is just a scumbag move. It’s completely misleading and immoral and I would recommend to stay away from this company.”
“Slow, incoherent, mistake-ridden
Slow - 'respond within 24 hours' means in a week, IF you email AND call customer 'support'. Otherwise expect no response whatsoever.
Incoherent - if you want the copy to bamboozle every person who will ever read your CV, welcome - you've come to the right place! Convoluted, overly complex and nonsensical. My CV was incomprehensible when I received it back; like the writer had used a thesaurus on EVERY word.
Mistake-ridden - my writer was clearly not a native English speaker, which meant I had to correct most of the document myself. And I highly doubt if she was knowledgeable about my industry. As above, most of what she re-wrote made little to no sense.
I don't know what TopCV's competition is like, but they can't be worse. Use someone else and save yourself money and several weeks of banging your head against the wall”
“TopCV and TopResume appear to be a sophisticated scam. After repeated requests to rewrite what was originally provided, with terrible formatting and entirely incorrect wording, I kept getting the same rubbish back from TopCV.
I’ve asked for a full refund, and they are refusing - apparently on basis that they don’t give refunds even if job is terrible, and it’s after the ‘final draft’ was delivered some time ago - despite me repeatedly seeking at least a minimal improvement.”
“The worst! I have noylt had any interview in 3 months I used CV from them!!! After re-do CV I had 2 interviews in a week! Terrible. When I asked for a refund, they ignored me!”
“They took £50 from my account a month after they completed my CV and cover letter. I initially paid over £200 for their service and there was no mention of a monthly subscription or further costs. Complete scam and they will not respond to my messages to get my money back. Do not trust them, they will steal your money once they have your bank account details. I am now having to wait for my bank to investigate in order to get my money back.”
“I'm not happy with my results.
I don't feel that any incredible changes were made to my CV, only the structure was changed and a few things were reworded by replacing them with synonyms of what I had already written.
I don't feel any more confident about my CV than when I submitted it. Which is saddening, and it's been very time-consuming (and not exactly cheap for me as a South African).
DON'T DO IT!”
“This company is scam, the ceo avoids any emails.
The most disappointing service that scams people looking for work.
Notify your bank if they refuse to refund you. BANKS SHOULD BLOCK THIS COMPANY.
Ceo of this company is Hieu Tran he heads up the scam.”
“Very obviously not experts, looks like some sort of very basic A.I.
Used bogus stats
Feedback was incorrect
The person who allegedly did the feedback was not on LinkedIn
All the people on LinkedIn were based in Vietnam etc (meant to be a Uk company)
It’s a shame that people will use them to do their cv.
Preying on people who may be desperate to find a job. Quite synical. This actually affects people’s lives.
Should be ashamed of themselves”
