This review score of 4.8 is fake and manufactured.



Just check it out.



Prior to 14 May hotukdeals received predominantly 1* reviews (those reviewers largely citing dishonest mods as the reason. You know the saying 'no smoke without fire'?)



After 24 May, again mostly 1* reviews.



Between 14 and 24 May there are literally hundreds of 5* reviews, over 70 pages worth, actually.



Now, what happened? Did hotukdeals go through a particularly good run on customer relations? Or perhaps there's another reason for the glut of positive reviews?



No, here's the real reason why hotukdeals sit here on a 4.8 Trustpilot rating:



On 14 May (when the run of positive reviews began) a competition started on hotukdeals with prizes of an iPhone and a couple of gift vouchers. The competition ran until 24 May (coincidentally, the same time as the run of 5* reviews dried up).



Here's the proof (bearing in mind it could quickly be removed upon reading this review):



(I did provide a link here to the competition on hotukdeals but it seems links aren't allowed - take my word for it. The competition ran from 14-24 may and can easily be found by searching on Google).



Members could 'earn' extra entries by performing certain tasks, such as 'liking' Facebook posts, retweeting stuff on twitter etc... oh, and one of the tasks just happened to be 'leaving a review on Trustpilot').



See the spike in positive reviews in May by checking 'see a detailed overview' on the right hand side of this page.



I was always under the impression that Trustpilot didn't allow incentivised reviews and I complained to them about hotukdeals doing exactly that, but to no avail. Clearly, incentivised reviews ARE allowed.



Moral of the story - don't trust this review score and don't trust the mods (I won't name names as it could possibly stop this review being published, but especially a senior mod whos name rhymes with 'mason' - 'Mr Nice Guy').



I'd be keen to hear hotukdeals try to explain how their positive review score can be accounted for in any way other than it being incentivised.



Edit: I've just noticed a reply from hotukdeals further down this page that says 'Our members trust us'.



Really? The majority of the genuine reviews here suggest otherwise.



Edit: 'self-promotion also distorts the organic and neutral nature of our platform'.



It doesn't matter that your Trustpilot rating is neither organic or neutral though?