With any start-ups or indeed ongoing business one of they key focus is making sure your customers are happy. The world of reviews has exploded over the years and overall it’s good indicator of a business’s health and customer happiness
Small businesses fight tooth and nail to earn excellent reviews – and it’s an important factor for SEO and algorithms to rank, deciding on the importance of a product and service.
Whether it’s Google Reviews, Trustpilot, or Yelp, small business owners understand that reputation is everything. A single one-star review can feel catastrophic, and many spend hours responding personally to feedback, offering refunds, and making amends to protect their hard-earned reputation. I’ve spent many stressful times trying reason with customers to update 1 star reviews on my own start-up over the years or trying to encourage happy customers to leave reviews. For many, glowing reviews are their most powerful form of marketing.
But when we look at some of the biggest players in the market – PayPal, Deliveroo, Amazon, or even major banks – a curious pattern emerges: consistently poor reviews. Trustpilot ratings for PayPal, for example, hover at around 1.3 stars, with thousands of complaints about frozen funds, unresponsive customer service, and accounts being limited without warning. Deliveroo and other gig-economy giants face similar criticism for late deliveries, poor compensation for riders, and a lack of accountability. And yet, these companies continue to grow and dominate their sectors.
The Small Business Dilemma: Every Review Counts
For a small business, reputation management is a daily task. A local restaurant or ecommerce shop will often:
- Send follow-up emails encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews.
- Respond to every negative comment within 24 hours.
- Offer compensation or discounts to make things right.
- Do their personal best to appease customer and make things right.
This effort isn’t just about customer service – it’s survival. 93% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, and for a small business with fewer than 100 reviews, a few negative ones can significantly affect conversion rates.
Big Players: Too Big to Fail?
Contrast that with big players who, despite thousands of negative reviews, continue to dominate. PayPal still processes billions in transactions each year. Deliveroo and Uber Eats are still one of the most used food delivery platforms in Europe. Amazon has entire forums of customer complaints – yet remains the default choice for online shopping. Have they become so big, that the barriers to competition is too high and we, the customers are left with a poor service?
This raises a difficult question: are some companies now effectively “too big to care” about customer feedback?
Case Study 1: PayPal’s Trustpilot Woes
A quick glance at PayPal’s Trustpilot page reveals over 30,000 one-star reviews. Many complain of frozen funds, lack of support, and frustrating dispute processes. For a small business, such public backlash would be devastating. But PayPal’s market dominance, integration with ecommerce platforms, and brand recognition keep it indispensable for many merchants and buyers.
Case Study 2: Deliveroo’s & Uber Eats Customer Frustrations
Deliveroo and Uber Eats reviews often cite cold food, late arrivals, or missing items. Yet it continues to partner with major restaurants and sees strong market penetration. Its network effects- being the platform that restaurants have to be on – give it leverage. Customers may complain, but they still come back because the alternatives aren’t always better.
Market Domination Over Customer Satisfaction
What these examples suggest is that major players can weather bad reviews because they have built ecosystems that are hard to avoid. Their investment power allows them to:
- Spend more on marketing than small businesses could ever dream of.
- Acquire competitors or undercut them on price.
- Integrate so deeply into our daily lives that switching becomes inconvenient.
In other words, while small businesses must be excellent to survive, some big players simply need to be good enough to keep us locked in.
Poor Consumers
The danger is that when enough big players dominate, service quality across entire industries can stagnate. With fewer competitors offering genuine alternatives, consumers may be forced to accept subpar service simply because there is no better option.
I sit there writing an article, following a personal experience with Deliveroo. Where over half of my order was missing, the customer service experience was terrible and I was charged for service fee, delivery fee and a bad fee all for the privilege of getting a terrible service. I vowed to never use Deliveroo again – but my next choice Uber Eats will not doubt let me down very soon.
Key Statistics & Case Studies
Guilty Parties with Bad Reviews:
| Company | TrustScore / Approx Rating | Number of Reviews | Common Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky | ~ 1.3 / 5 | ~16,800+ reviews | Poor customer service, long waits, problems with cancelling or downgrading packages, misleading subscription terms. |
| BT | ~ 1.3 / 5 Trustpilot+1 | ~19,500 reviews | Broadband reliability, dropped connections, poor communication, difficulty dealing with complaints. |
| Uber | ~ 1.7 / 5 | ~31,000+ reviews | Drivers cancelling, unpredictability, app issues, customer service hard to reach or not helpful. |
| Uber Eats | ~ 2.7 / 5 | ~108,106+ reviews | Missing / incorrect orders, delays, cold or low quality food, refund difficulties. |
| Amazon.co.uk | ~ 1.4 / 5 | ~30,600 reviews | Late delivery, parcels misplaced, customer service unresponsive or difficult, issues with returns/refunds. |
Market / Financial Context
- Deliveroo’s First Profit: After years of loss, Deliveroo reported its first annual profit in 2024. The figure was small (≈ £3 million) compared to previous losses.
- Even with this, the number of orders, revenue and growth pressures remain large and can exacerbate customer service issues.
What the Data Suggests
- Scale vs Responsiveness: These large companies have huge volumes of transactions / orders. That makes managing customer service, refunds, quality control much harder than for a small business with fewer customers. But the public expects the same basic standards of fairness / reliability, regardless of size.
- Low Reliance on Reviews for Trust: Despite terrible ratings, people keep using these services. Why? Because alternative costs are high or don’t exist- switching is inconvenient or there simply aren’t good substitutes. For many, convenience, ubiquity, integrations (with payments, apps, services), network effects count heavily.
- Profitability Pressure & Margins Trade-offs: To scale and satisfy investors, big players often squeeze margins (on delivery, rider compensation, customer service resources, etc.). This can degrade service quality. Deliveroo only just turned a profit; it has to cut costs somewhere.
- Small Business Disadvantage: For a small business, a few 1-star reviews, poor service episodes, or unresolved complaints can kill reputations. There is much less margin for error. Small businesses are forced to over-invest in customer service, review monitoring, etc.
Example / Case Study Comparison
- Deliveroo: Millions of orders, operations across many cities. Achieves profit only recently. But thousands of customers complaining about refunds, late orders, etc. The large scale means even a small percentage of bad service equals lots of bad reviews.
- Local Takeaway / Small Food Business: If a small restaurant delivers late once, or has a bad check or missing item, that might produce a handful of reviews. But that can represent a large proportion of their reputation. They often respond personally, offer compensations etc.
Discussion: Are Big Investments Creating “Too Big to Fail” Businesses?
From what the data suggests:
- Yes, to some extent. Big investment enables infrastructure, brand recognition, economies of scale, and sometimes regulatory or logistical advantages that smaller players don’t have. It allows absorbing negative feedback more easily.
- Also, market dominance helps: when a service is deeply embedded (e.g. many merchants rely on PayPal for payments; many restaurants see Deliveroo as a major channel), users have less real choice. This can reduce competitive pressure to maintain high service levels.
- However, “too big to fail” doesn’t mean “free from consequences” — reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, loss of trust, user churn are real risks. Sometimes bad reviews lead to media stories, regulatory action, or competitors offering alternatives (though this often takes time).
Reviews are a vital signal for quality, but the playing field isn’t level. Small businesses must treat every piece of feedback as a make-or-break moment, while some of the biggest names in tech and commerce seem to survive – even thrive – despite an avalanche of bad reviews.
This trend raises uncomfortable questions about whether massive investment and market control are creating a “too big to fail” model that incentivises growth over quality. For consumers, it’s a reminder that our spending choices are votes – and if we want better service, we may need to actively seek out and support the smaller businesses that still care about every single review.
Media M 
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