"Dear Mr (Name of CEO), following our exchanges, I have finished my investigation and would like your written confirmation that companies / lawyers / doctors cannot pay your company to delete negative comments. I would also be interested in having more precise information on your business model, as your last email was not specific about how you generate revenue." My latest email to Avvo and Trustpilot was blunt, and this time, got no answer in a week. I had informed both review sites that I was writing an article for the Huffington Post, which will be published, well, sometime soon I guess. Plus it still has to be Americanized a bit as my English is not quite sharp enough for publication yet . I first got quick responses from their PR, who suspiciously transferred me right away to their "General Counsels". I'd say they still have to improve their "journalist inquiry" management process - but it's understandable, as except for a rather watered-down article from the Guardian, no one in the media seems to care that Avvo or Trustpilot trick thousands of good people a month and trample with no dignity all moral principles - and their core mission and own legal terms none the least. How I established both let you alter at wish your "online reputation" was super duper easy as you can imagine. But I want you to read the article so let this be a quick teeeeaser. I felt compelled to offer the story because I was somewhat angered to have lost quite a sum after hiring a remarkably incompetent corporate lawyer with raving reviews on Avvo, and buying from an e-commerce site with thousands of positive reviews on Trustpilot. Strangely my real negative and very specific reviews always had some "issue" and were removed about a week after being approved - at some point Trustpilot, who seemed to be lacking further bogus reasons, demanded that I proved "not just with emails" that I had been a customer. However, my very fake-looking good reviews were never questioned. How bizarre! In the end, it costs from $19 to $49 to remove a bad review, and I'll spare you for now the details of their "reputation management packages" - which can be very pricey. Sadly I don't have the time or patience to sue these websites, but I do encourage someone (maybe a lawyer listed on Avvo, but a good one) to engage in a class action. I'm sure quite a few people would join as simple Google searches on Trustpilot and Avvo reveal scores of people who were not too happy either that their legitimate negative reviews were taken down, after being ripped off because of these websites. Who, like me, got ripped off not just by the company or individual listed, but with the abetting of Trustpilot and Avvo. What's really unsettling is these websites look very serious. And most people have had great experiences thanks to Tripadvisor, who, on top of continuous efforts to improve their ranking system, lets you have a decent idea of what to expect - bearing your being patient enough to read a lot of reviews to weed out the overly enthusiastic or abhorrent clients.