aju
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Post by aju on Nov 1, 2019 11:43:55 GMT
I'm not sure if this is all since the new products but it seems to me that the Trustpilot rating that RS displays at the bottom of all their pages is not quite the same as that currently displayed on the Trustpilot site as of today. On RS there are 5 stars but on TP there are 4.5 stars so excellent is still correct but stars are not. The 3/2/1 reviews seem to be from lenders mostly although there are some interesting borrowers reviews as well. RS seems to be engaging with people but I have to say it's all quite worrying that RS is displaying wrong results on their sites. I'll report this to them and see what they say but I'm guessing their response might not be what I'd expect. Whilst i'd understand if they suggested it's just a small blimp due to recent changes but I wonder if the regulator might have a different view perhaps. Some of the +ve TP reviews do look a little bit iffy but I wonder how much of that is because RS is requesting reviews and most people me included just want to get past the screen despite being offered targeted options I seem to remember. There are a number of people in the negative reviews that are adding comments that suggest they would give zero as well rather than the offered start point of 1. Most of the recent negative reviews seem to centre around the recent changes to lending options etc.
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lara
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Post by lara on Nov 1, 2019 12:57:01 GMT
I'm not sure if this is all since the new products but it seems to me that the Trustpilot rating that RS displays at the bottom of all their pages is not quite the same as that currently displayed on the Trustpilot site as of today. On RS there are 5 stars but on TP there are 4.5 stars so excellent is still correct but stars are not. The 3/2/1 reviews seem to be from lenders mostly although there are some interesting borrowers reviews as well. RS seems to be engaging with people but I have to say it's all quite worrying that RS is displaying wrong results on their sites. I'll report this to them and see what they say but I'm guessing their response might not be what I'd expect. Whilst i'd understand if they suggested it's just a small blimp due to recent changes but I wonder if the regulator might have a different view perhaps. Some of the +ve TP reviews do look a little bit iffy but I wonder how much of that is because RS is requesting reviews and most people me included just want to get past the screen despite being offered targeted options I seem to remember. There are a number of people in the negative reviews that are adding comments that suggest they would give zero as well rather than the offered start point of 1. Most of the recent negative reviews seem to centre around the recent changes to lending options etc. They have been exaggerating their trust pilot score ever since I first stated researching them a couple of years or more ago. IIRC, they used to actually advertise a percentage at the bottom of their page like 97% (I should have kept a screenshot) but the actual score on TP was lower than that every single time I looked. That always annoyed me. They probably think they can get away with it now because they've taken the numerical value out and the picture of the stars is more vague.
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jlend
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Post by jlend on Nov 1, 2019 13:10:48 GMT
When I look at the RS home page under the Trust Pilot stars it says
=============
Rated "Excellent"
9.3 out of 10
Based on 5,854 reviews
============
OK, the star image needs updating, but the figures look OK at the moment. Is there another place they are not refreshed?
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aju
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Post by aju on Nov 1, 2019 15:13:38 GMT
When I look at the RS home page under the Trust Pilot stars it says ============= Rated "Excellent" 9.3 out of 10 Based on 5,854 reviews ============ OK, the star image needs updating, but the figures look OK at the moment. Is there another place they are not refreshed? The trust pilot front entry for RS saysAll of the logged in pages I can see have the same details I showed above - they are at the bottom of each page but if I log out and go to ratesetter.com
I get what you stated about halfway down but at the bottom of even that page i get this for information on the main TP site for ratesetter uk in the right hand panel TP also states Whilst I accept if I was looking at the front page I would expect to read the whole page, however for me it is unacceptable to expect me as a lender or a borrower for that matter to go looking all over the place to find accurate information. When I log in I expect accurate information not misinformation. Since the "Trustscore" on Trustpilot site and RS's interpretation of the Trust Score are different I'd be inclined to accept the TP site. Perhaps TP changed the way they present this info and now use a different approach and RS has not as yet caught up. I have now sent an email to RS asking if they might have any comments to make regarding these anomalies - I have an idea what they will say but it will be interesting none the less as for me this is misguiding at the very least.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Nov 1, 2019 16:30:05 GMT
To be honest, it's hard to find unbiased reviews online especially a good brand. I suppose majority of unhappy customers just post below average reviews for those brands.
Well known brands An uncliamed Amazon.co.uk has 2.1 rating An unclaimed HSBC.co.uk has 1.5 rating A claimed Barclays.co.uk has 1.5 rating
Startups / Fintechs An asking-for-reviews AtomBank has 4.7 rating A claimed RS has 4.7 rating An asking-for-reviews AC has 4.6 rating An unclaimed Unbolted has 3.7 rating A claimed Revolut has 4.7 rating
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aju
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Post by aju on Nov 1, 2019 17:18:52 GMT
To be honest, it's hard to find unbiased reviews online especially a good brand. I suppose majority of unhappy customers just post below average reviews for those brands. Well known brands An uncliamed Amazon.co.uk has 2.1 rating An unclaimed HSBC.co.uk has 1.5 rating A claimed Barclays.co.uk has 1.5 rating Startups / Fintechs An asking-for-reviews AtomBank has 4.7 rating A claimed RS has 4.7 rating An asking-for-reviews AC has 4.6 rating An unclaimed Unbolted has 3.7 rating A claimed Revolut has 4.7 rating Yeah I'd go along with some of that and perhaps new Sophisticated or High Networth people will see through the haze of this stuff. It's not the 4.7 it's more the reduction to 4.7 (where did the 9.7 come from) and worse RS hasn't noticed the change or perhaps they have but the current systems being somewhat sluggish some days now they haven't even thought the changes might hit their ratings. I haven't had even an acknowledgment of my email from their systems yet - perhaps they are all running a bit slow perhaps its a POETS day at RS towers who knows but I'm sure I will get one after 3-5days!. To be fair the last time I looked at Zopa and RS a while back now it definitely looked more like the reviewers on TP were primarily borrowers rather than lenders and it must have taken something for the bad reviews recently to bring it down even to the 4.7% level. I started in p2p with Zopa back in the days when they were tempted with early adopter bribes (fees reductions at the time) and in those days it was so new most people didn't understand the term Zopa or P2P let alone invest in it as well. I opened an account in 2005 just for curiosity and spent ages on the old Zopa forums trying to get my head around what it really was and more importantly how it worked. I then pumped £100 in one day in late 2006, after a few months of reading, when Mrs Aju said are you sure we should be lending even £10 to people we don't know - what if they don't pay us back?. She still questions me as we are quite considerably more invested into both Zopa and more recently RS since those early days. I'm not sure people like me are likely to look at reviews like this and react to it from a perspective of this is trustworthy pr not and if I'm honest I think RS is not trying to hide anything it's more an oversight and as an ex developer I can relate to an all hands situation. That said someone should have this kind of slip up on their remit and be spotting this stuff especially as the oversight initially is not in their best interests or worse ours. I did wonder if I should just gently bring it to their notice rather than discuss it here but I emailed almost as soon as started this thread an wondered what the communities take might be.
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aju
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Post by aju on Nov 3, 2019 10:30:34 GMT
<...Snipped...> I have now sent an email to RS asking if they might have any comments to make regarding these anomalies - I have an idea what they will say but it will be interesting none the less as for me this is misguiding at the very least. doh!, I sent the initial email to contactus@ratesetter-info.com. that's teach me not so assume I can just reply to the latest email I receive. To be fair I was rushing things when I should have been paying closer attention.
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sd2
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Post by sd2 on Nov 3, 2019 20:46:45 GMT
Checking the 1 stars some were (20%ish) borrowers but most were moaning about the new products it appears some people were very unhappy with them and were threatening to leave. They appear to not know that rates change throughout the year and the majority of lenders just want the goings rate......so stop whingeing and go somewhere else. They appear to believe they have some right to the higher rates of the past. No doubt they wouldn't write a bad review if they're bank reduced interest rates. From minimal to minuscule!
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Post by bernythedolt on Nov 5, 2019 0:12:07 GMT
Checking the 1 stars some were (20%ish) borrowers but most were moaning about the new products it appears some people were very unhappy with them and were threatening to leave. They appear to not know that rates change throughout the year and the majority of lenders just want the goings rate......so stop whingeing and go somewhere else. They appear to believe they have some right to the higher rates of the past. No doubt they wouldn't write a bad review if they're bank reduced interest rates. From minimal to minuscule! A harsh assessment which I'm afraid I don't accept. Just because "the majority just want the going rate" as you say, that's not sufficient reason to remove flexibility from those of us who don't act like sheep and follow the herd. The same majority were equally able to sign up to the going rate ("market rate") in the previous model, so they've neither lost nor gained. However, more active and watchful investors have lost a lot of the flexibility (and transparency) they used to enjoy. They'll be the ones expressing discontent in those reviews (although I didn't!). One area you've overlooked is not everyone wants to commit to a 5 year loan and some are more comfortable with a 1 or 2 year commitment. New lenders now have no choice - they can be 'randomly' matched to anything up to 5 years, and usually have to pay a redemption penalty if they want their investment back earlier (unless they choose the low interest Access market). This loss of flexibility will deter some, and the flatter, less volatile interest rates now achievable will deter others. You sound like someone content to settle for the preset going rate, and fair enough, but others were more drawn to the flexibility that was on offer, plus a fairer rate that was derived directly from supply and demand rather than hard-coded. Personally, for 75% of my investment I've followed your exhortation to "stop whingeing and go elsewhere", so thank you for that. Whether the new model translates into more business for Ratesetter, or less, we'll have to see, but you must expect punters to make their views known on Trustpilot and the rest, as is entirely valid. If they didn't, RS mightn't know what they're getting right...or wrong.
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sd2
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Post by sd2 on Nov 5, 2019 7:50:03 GMT
Checking the 1 stars some were (20%ish) borrowers but most were moaning about the new products it appears some people were very unhappy with them and were threatening to leave. They appear to not know that rates change throughout the year and the majority of lenders just want the goings rate......so stop whingeing and go somewhere else. They appear to believe they have some right to the higher rates of the past. No doubt they wouldn't write a bad review if they're bank reduced interest rates. From minimal to minuscule! A harsh assessment which I'm afraid I don't accept. Just because "the majority just want the going rate" as you say, that's not sufficient reason to remove flexibility from those of us who don't act like sheep and follow the herd. The same majority were equally able to sign up to the going rate ("market rate") in the previous model, so they've neither lost nor gained. However, more active and watchful investors have lost a lot of the flexibility (and transparency) they used to enjoy. They'll be the ones expressing discontent in those reviews (although I didn't!). One area you've overlooked is not everyone wants to commit to a 5 year loan and some are more comfortable with a 1 or 2 year commitment. New lenders now have no choice - they can be 'randomly' matched to anything up to 5 years, and usually have to pay a redemption penalty if they want their investment back earlier (unless they choose the low interest Access market). This loss of flexibility will deter some, and the flatter, less volatile interest rates now achievable will deter others. You sound like someone content to settle for the preset going rate, and fair enough, but others were more drawn to the flexibility that was on offer, plus a fairer rate that was derived directly from supply and demand rather than hard-coded. Personally, for 75% of my investment I've followed your exhortation to "stop whingeing and go elsewhere", so thank you for that. Whether the new model translates into more business for Ratesetter, or less, we'll have to see, but you must expect punters to make their views known on Trustpilot and the rest, as is entirely valid. If they didn't, RS mightn't know what they're getting right...or wrong. I don't use the going rate ever. I am saying that rates change annually and over time. Are you saying you can't set your own rate? Sheep travel in flocks not herd's!!
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Post by bernythedolt on Nov 5, 2019 13:11:15 GMT
I herd you, but you can't pull the wool over my eyes. A herd instinct is baa-ad, but a 'flock' instinct? I'll ruminate on that a while...
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slippery
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Post by slippery on Nov 5, 2019 21:04:08 GMT
I did a negative review when the website changes were driving me crazy, and was really just hoping it would prompt a response. I felt that the reams of positive borrower reviews weren't reflecting lenders' poor experiences of the admin changes. Obviously, Aju's posts usually had the answer to any issue but I only found this forum when AC were at the start of their long tango with the laird. I assume many lenders who hadn't seen the forum must have been struggling with just the bland and unhelpful RS customer service responses.
Many thanks for your posts Aju, I'm sure I was not the only RS lender on this forum who was comforted that it wasn't just me being confused by the changes taking place without any notification.
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