Extortion fom Trustpilot manager and threats by debt collectors after 6 years of cooperation\
We cooperated with Trustpilot since 2019.
In 2023, Trustpilot inspected our website and offered us Plus plan subscription -we agreed and paid it on regular base. We didn't change anything and used Trustpilot logos with links to their website with reviews about Ponoma goods and services.
May 2 2025 Content Integrity team of Trustpilot emailed us that our company violate agreement:
"Hi Ponoma,
We love to see you’re using Trustpilot’s brand to build trust for your business on ponomasteel.com. However, it looks like your use of our brand doesn’t align with our guidelines.
What does it mean?
Incorrect use of our brand means that our name, logo, TrustScore, Star Rating, TrustBox widgets, or other brand assets are used in a misleading or incorrect way. This includes displaying outdated Star Ratings on your website, using a TrustBox widget that is not included in your Trustpilot plan, or an unofficial third-party application used to display Trustpilot content.
What do I need to do?
Log in to your Trustpilot Business account to acknowledge the notification we sent.
Please only use widgets available under the "Showcase" section in your Trustpilot Business account, and make the necessary changes within 7 days.
Please note that if we detect more use of Trustpilot’s brand that doesn’t align with our guidelines, we may send you a warning and add a consumer alert on your business profile.
Why this matters
Correcting these issues and using Trustpilot’s brand correctly strengthens your brand’s credibility and helps build trust with your customers.
If you have any questions or need help, just reply to this email—we’re happy to assist.
Kind regards,
Content Integrity Team"
and later:
"Hi Uri,
As previously mentioned, your Trustpilot subscription term runs through 12/4/2025. You will be invoiced for your quarterly payment of $819 on both 6/4 and 9/4. Failure to make payment on these two remaining quarterly invoices of your annual subscription plan will result in engagement from both my Finance team and eventually, a third-party collections agency. You can review the terms and conditions that govern your active subscription again here.
George and my extended team are here to help you see value in your paid plan, which would include leveraging the out of the box widgets available in the Plus plan. We would also be happy to explore free trial functionality for a period of time for the Premium plan which would give you access to the advanced widgets that actually showcase your Trustpilot reviews dynamically onsite.
Happy to hop on a call to discuss further. Here is a support article on how to implement the Plus widgets included in your current plan onsite.
Thanks,
Victoria
Victoria Blalock | She/Her/Hers
Senior Manager, Customer Success"
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We are not interested in cooperation when a partner inspects our site and, after several years, accuses us of violating and unauthorized use of its logo.
Due to your CI team's violation of the agreement under which we have been working since 2023
and the requirement to replace logos with scripts,
I have notified your team of the immediate termination of the Plus paid subscription and do not intend to renew it -please see below.
We have also spent quite a lot of time removing Trustpilot logos and almost all scripts from our website.
We do not intend to publish anything else and this requirement served as a good lesson for us.
We'll continue with Free plan, but if your CI continue press us -we'll delete all Trustpilot scripts from our website.
I do not want to work with your team more: yesterday was Charlie, who didn't find any violances on ponomasteel.com in 2023 and offered us to sign agreement
-we confirmed and published logo of Trustpilot on our website,
In May 2025 George with CI team does not comply with the agreements and create new demands for us,
calling them old demands and trying to mislead us, wasting our time and resources...
Now, you are trying to convince me that it is my company that has been violating the agreement all these years and extorting further payments.
No, it is better to study your subordinates to conduct transparent business and respect the interests of clients, and not extortion.
Still May 6, 2025 Ponoma LLC immediately terminated the contract with Trustpilot accordingly p.36 of the online agreement and notified Trustpilot,
that's all: You will not receive a single penny from us more,
no matter who you involve in, you can involve collectors
- I will give them the contact of our lawyer.
Date of experience: May 02, 2025
p.s.: I've left review on their website, but they removed it...