Sooner or later every store gets one: a review that is not criticism but fiction. A one-star from someone who never ordered, a competitor having fun, a case of mistaken identity, or plain extortion. Trustpilot has a formal process for this, it works better than most founders expect, and it fails in predictable ways when used wrong. Here is how to use it properly.
First: is it actually removable?
Trustpilot removes reviews that break its guidelines, not reviews you dislike. Before reporting, be honest about which pile yours is in.
Removable, typically:
- No genuine experience: the reviewer never bought from you or interacted with your business, and you cannot match them to any order or conversation.
- Wrong company: the review describes another brand, a marketplace seller, or a different business with a similar name.
- Harmful or unlawful content: threats, hate speech, personal data (names of your staff with insults, addresses), spam or advertising.
- Extortion: "pay me or the review stays" turns a review into leverage, and platforms treat it seriously. Keep the evidence.
- Fake positive attacks: yes, this happens: a wave of fake 5-stars planted to make your profile look manipulated. Report those too, they are a time bomb.
Not removable: a real customer being harsh, unfair, emotional or wrong about whose fault the courier delay was. That is a reply situation, not a removal situation, and we wrote the templates for it.
The process that works
Step 1: reply publicly first, calmly
Whatever happens next takes days. In the meantime the review is being read. Post a short, factual reply: you cannot find any record of this customer, you take the claims seriously, and you invite them to contact you with their order number. This reply does two jobs: it neutralises the review for readers, and it documents your good faith.
Step 2: flag it from your business account
Use the flag on the specific review and pick the accurate reason. "I do not like it" categories do not exist; "not based on a genuine experience" does. One flag per review, chosen correctly, beats creative interpretations of the rules.
Step 3: the reviewer gets asked for proof
For genuine-experience challenges, Trustpilot typically asks the reviewer to document the experience (an order reference, correspondence). This is where fake reviews die: fabricators do not respond to documentation requests. Reviews without substantiation get taken down or flagged. Real customers, on the other hand, produce an order number in thirty seconds, which is why flagging real customers backfires.
Step 4: keep your own evidence ready
Search your orders, your support inbox, your Klaviyo profiles for anything matching the reviewer's name or story. "No matching order, no matching email, no matching conversation" is your case. Screenshot extortion attempts immediately.
What kills your credibility with the platform
- Flagging everything negative. Platforms track reporting behaviour. A business that flags every unhappy customer trains the system to ignore its flags, including the legitimate ones.
- Disputing obvious customers. If the review contains your order number, do not claim no experience exists.
- Fighting in the reply thread. Argue with the process, never with the reviewer in public.
While you wait: dilution is the real defence
Here is the uncomfortable truth about fake reviews: removal is slow and occasionally fails, and the best protection was built before the attack. One fabricated one-star sitting among 300 fresh authentic reviews is statistical noise that readers scroll past. The same review on a profile with 15 reviews, or a frozen profile where it is the newest thing visible, becomes the headline. A running collection system is not just growth, it is armour.
If your profile is thin enough that one fake review can hurt it, that is the actual vulnerability to fix. Our free audit tells you how exposed you are and what the recovery path looks like.
FAQ
How long does Trustpilot take to remove a fake review?
The reviewer is usually given a window to substantiate, so expect days to a couple of weeks rather than hours. Your public reply covers the gap.
What if the removal request is rejected?
If new evidence exists you can escalate, but repeated flags on the same review without new facts hurt your standing. At that point the reply is your tool, and dilution is your strategy.
Can I take legal action over a fake review?
For serious defamation or organised attacks, yes, that route exists and starts with preserving evidence. For a single fake review it is almost never worth it compared to the platform process plus dilution.
Someone is threatening bad reviews unless I refund them. What now?
That is blackmail, not feedback. Do not pay, keep every message, report the review and the conduct to the platform. Extortion evidence is among the strongest removal cases there is.