Not Worth The Purchase - Tier 5 user
I recently purchased your platform via AppSumo with high hopes, as I genuinely needed a solution like this and wanted to integrate it into my hiring workflow. Unfortunately, my experience has been deeply disappointing, to the point that I now regret the purchase. Here are the critical issues I encountered:
1.Broken Video Interview Links in Common Email Providers
When candidates receive video interview invites, the URL links are non-functional in Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. They only work through Outlook. This entirely defeats the purpose of having a modern, accessible hiring system.
2.Mobile & Desktop Incompatibility
Clicking the video interview link on mobile devices (even via Outlook) or desktop browsers results in inconsistent behaviour or complete failure.
3.Browser Blocking Camera/Mic Access
Attempting a video interview on a computer via Firefox, Edge, or Chrome results in an error preventing microphone and camera access. These are the most commonly used browsers—this kind of issue should have never made it to production.
4.User Interface Confusion in Main Portal
After a candidate submits their resume, clicking their name (or the adjacent icon) opens a side menu—however, it also triggers an automatic resume download. This is not only unintuitive, but highly frustrating. Accessing AI-generated insights should be seamless, not hidden behind awkward UX.
5.Inconsistent AI Resume Matching
I uploaded the same ChatGPT-generated resume under two different test users. One was rated poorly, while the second received a 95% "Excellent Match." This inconsistency undermines any trust in the AI's evaluation logic.
6.Risk to Company Reputation and Hiring Efficiency
My biggest concern is not just the broken functionality, but the false sense of security this platform creates. I could have easily believed everything was running smoothly while candidates were blocked by technical issues, creating a digital brick wall without any alert or indication.
I haven't even tested the AI agents yet. At this point, it’s evident that the system struggles with its most basic intended functions.
Petrova AI is being marketed as a vital part of a company’s hiring infrastructure—but it currently feels more like a cash grab, especially through AppSumo. It’s discouraging to invest in a tool that promises innovation but delivers broken core features. I made a foolish decision choosing Petrova AI over Hirevire, which has now been removed from AppSumo, and I ended up paying double for a less functional platform.
The 5-taco reviews on AppSumo appear premature—many users may not have realized that on the candidate side, the system is failing silently, blocking applications and interviews while employers are left unaware.
Given these critical flaws, refund.
Arjun_PetrovaAI
Edited Jun 20, 2025Hey .. thanks for taking the time to write the review .. I just checked and couldn’t find any support messages or bug reports from your side before the refund. If you had reached out, we would’ve looked into these issues immediately — we typically fix most bugs within 24–48 hours, and several updates have already gone live based on direct user feedback.
Every good product has bugs... even Apple’s iOS ships with issues on launch day. What matters is how quickly they’re addressed — and we take that seriously.
For example, when multiple T5 users reported they were unable to add Guest Collaborators with different email domains, we shipped a fix in under 48 hours.
🔗 https://petrova.canny.io/feature-requests/p/tier-5-unable-to-add-guest-collaborators-with-different-email-domains
Feedback like that helps us improve fast — but only when it reaches us.
Let me walk through your feedback points one by one...
🔸 1. Video Interview Links
We’ve tested links across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Hotmail — and they currently function as expected. That said, we’re re-verifying edge cases like older email clients, aggressive link wrapping, and mobile webviews to be extra sure.
🔸 2. Mobile & Desktop Incompatibility
You mentioned inconsistent behavior — if you can share a screen recording or specific devices/browsers, we’ll use it to replicate and patch the issue quickly.
🔸 3. Camera/Mic Blocked
We support Chrome, Edge, and other major browsers. Most camera/mic access issues occur when permissions aren’t granted by the candidate. No reproducible bug has been found on our side so far, but we’re continuing to test for edge cases.
We're tracking all three of the above here:
📌🔗 https://petrova.canny.io/feature-requests/p/candidate-side-interview-access-issues-email-browser-and-device-compatibility
🔸 4. Resume Click Triggering Download
The download icon is intentionally designed to download the resume. That said, the resume is also fully viewable in the UI just below the button — so there’s no need to download it just to view.
🔸 5. Inconsistent Resume Matching
1–2% variation in AI resume scores is expected — even between resumes that appear nearly identical. This happens due to small differences in phrasing, formatting, or structure that influence how the system interprets the resume
🔸 6. Risk to Reputation / Silent Failures
We’ve processed thousands of interviews and currently support hundreds of companies. If silent failures were blocking candidate access at scale, they would’ve been reported and resolved long ago.
To avoid any “invisible failures” on the candidate side, we’ve set up a live status page that tracks uptime and key system components: 🔗 https://petrova.ai/status
We’ll be adding more critical alerts here soon to catch and surface edge cases even faster.
Appreciate the detailed feedback. While we wish we had a chance to work with you before the refund, we've logged everything and are taking it seriously.
— Arjun
Founder @ Petrova
🚨 Update: We’ve rolled out a preventive fix for browser compatibility issues! Check the changelog: https://petrova.canny.io/changelog/version-222-june-19-2025