Can you trust trustpilot?

[Adsibob]

I'm looking for a company to come and fit some external shading to some of my rooflights. Most of these are velux, so should be standard/mass-market enough for there to be some price competition. Yet I'm finding the prices are a bit high. I have been quoted a price to supply an external velux heat shutter £522 plus VAT and installation of £600 plus VAT. Seems a lot for what cannot be more than a day's work. It can be installed from the inside of the room, so no scaffolding needed and isn't really "dangerous" work. I can get the blind for £450 inc VAT if I purchase it on amazon, but then I don't get the benefit of having the same company supply and install (which I value, as it minimises the risk of different companies blaming each other).

The one thing going for this company though, it seems, is that they do have very good trust pilot reviews. Of the 60 or so reviews, there are only two bad ones, with all others being 5 stars. One of the bad ones was about a complaint that arose 5 years after installation, which the company wanted to charge for because it fell outside the 3 year warranty period. So that seemed like an unreasonable complaint to me.

 

I'm due to get another quote but so far this is the second cheapest, the cheapest not having the benefit of many online reviews. So the question is, are trustpilot reviews trustworthy?

[SteamyTea]

When I am bored I make up bad reviews about people I have never used.

I also call the numbers on vans and lorries to complain about the poor driving.

I assume people write their own reviews most of the time.

[Kelvin]

I’d ignore any online reviews. Ask them for references better if you can go and have a look. 

[markc]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

When I am bored I make up bad reviews about people I have never used.

I also call the numbers on vans and lorries to complain about the poor driving.

Ahhhh, it was you then 😱

[SteamyTea]

56 minutes ago, markc said:

Ahhhh, it was you then

Yes.

Serves you right for having 999 on the side of your vehicle.

[Thorfun]

I thought Velux blinds were supremely DIY-able?

[Adsibob]

2 hours ago, Thorfun said:

I thought Velux blinds were supremely DIY-able?

The internal ones definitely are. The external ones are in theory, but in practice it is quite involved and I’m worried about bodging it. I’m also not very agile and I would probably struggle on the ladder: one of the Veluxes in question is above a stairwell, so very tricky to access, whereas the other is above a flat floor, but still quite high up, the bottom of the Velux being about 2.8m from the floor.

[Thorfun]

Fair enough but also sounds like a not so easy job up a ladder or platform. Not saying £600 is the right price but probably in the ballpark for a ball-ache!