Title: Beware,
Negative reviews can Haunt You, Read the fine print!
Can defending
against a negative review Backfire?
How are you
handling your Reputation?
A negative
review turns bad for the customer. Hopefully your business has a safer
way for reputation protection that does not force you into hiding. Or beat up your customers.
Company
fines couple $3.5k for posting negative review
By
Jasmine Bailey
A
bizarre story out of Texas, where a couple was charged $3,500 and had their
credit scores ruined by an online retail company, all because of a bad review.
"Way
back in 2008, Jen Palmer's husband ordered her a number of trinkets from the
website KlearGear.com. … For 30 days KlearGear.com never sent the products, so
the transaction was automatically cancelled by PayPal." (Via KUTV)
She
tried calling the company but never got through, so she took to the website Ripoff Report to
vent her frustrations, saying the company had "incompetent customer
service" and "there is absolutely no way to get in touch
with a physical human being."
Three
years later, her husband received an email from KlearGear claiming he owed
the company thousands of dollars as a result of the complaint on Ripoff Report.
Apparently KlearGear's terms of service contained a clause
restricting customers' ability to post negative reviews.
It's
now been taken down, but it read, "In an effort to ensure fair and
honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in
any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any
action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products,
services, management or employees." The company then threatened the couple with the $3,500 fee
if they didn't retract their review.
So the
Palmers contacted Ripoff Report to have the complaint removed but were told
the site wouldn't take it down unless, get this, the couple paid a
separate $2,000 fine. (Via Business Insider)
The
Palmers passed on that. And now, thanks to the outstanding debt to KlearGear,
the couple says their credit scores are so bad they can't get a loan
for a new car or to fix their home's furnace. Oh, and they can't afford an
attorney to clean up the mess. (Via Daily Mail)
At the
time of the incident back in 2010, KlearGear had an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau. Although it now has a “B,” Ripoff Report still has KlearGear complaints
posted. No word on if there are any cases similar to the one involving
the Palmers.
The
couple is now working with a separate credit company to try to have the
fine expunged.
Source: AJC.com
Original Source: KUTV
Nicci Stevens sends in this report from Salt Lake City's
KUTV, which details the actions taken
by one company against a dissatisfied purchaser who left a negative review at
Ripoff Report.
Additional Source: TechDirt
Online
Retailer Says If You Give It A Negative Review It Can Fine You $3,500
from
the yeah,-that-sort-of-thing-would-NEVER-backfire dept
Lots of
quasi-legal action has been taken over negative reviews left by customers at
sites like Ripoff Report and Yelp. Usually, it takes the form of post-review
threats about defamation and libel. Every so often, though, a company will make
proactive moves (usually bad ones) to head off negative reviews.
Kleargear's,
"Terms of Sale and Use".
Non-Disparagement Clause
In an effort to ensure fair and
honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in
any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any
action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products,
services, management or employees.
Should you violate this clause,
as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a
seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the
content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00
USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in
litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the
billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party
collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies
until paid.
Gone into Social Hiding!
KlearGear has protected its
Tweets and canceled its Facebook page.
In addition,
even though KlearGear has a "TRUSTe Certified Privacy" emblem on its
home page, TRUSTe tweeted this morning that "@KlearGear is NOT @TRUSTe certified."
Social Hiding
Source: boing
boing
Real Traffic
Productions recommends proper SEO
to help bury negative reviews on third party reviews sites or reverse Automotive
SEO. Then listen to your customers
with our Reputation
Management Services. offering alerts
for review, social mentions, image mentions and more with executive reporting.
