When Someone Writes a False Review on Amaazon
When you're building a concern, you desire to do everything y'all can to provide stellar products and/or services to your customers. When you operate at a loftier standard, you'll gain a reputation equally a concern that people can trust and rely on—and that reputation will continually drive new customers your way.
Online reviews play a huge role in building that reputation. When potential customers research your business organization and read glowing, five-star reviews, they're going to desire to achieve out and do business with you lot. But if they read a bad review (fifty-fifty if it'due south biased, unfair or completely untrue), information technology'south going to practice the opposite—and send those customers direct to your competitors.
Equally a business concern possessor, you want to do everything you lot can to effectively bargain with negative reviews so they don't ruin your business' reputation and go on customers from working with yous.
But what do you do when you become an unfair or untrue comment? How exercise you handle the situation? And can y'all (or should you lot) take information technology every bit far as suing for defamation?
Contents
- Who Can You Sue Over a Bad Review?
- Tin You Sue Review Sites Directly?
- What Can Y'all Practice?
- What Not to Practice
- Bargain With Bad Reviews Effectively
Who Can You Sue Over a Bad Review?
To be honest, the reply is: It depends.
For the almost function, reviews are covered under the Outset Amendment, which protects free speech. Additionally, 34 U.S. states have passed Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws. Anti-SLAPP is intended to foreclose people or businesses from silencing or censoring their critics by intimidating them with the threat of a lawsuit.
Thanks to these protections, if a client is unhappy with your products or services, or the experiences they've had with your concern, they have the correct to say so—whether that be in person, over the phone, or online.
At that place are, all the same, exceptions. If a customer posts a review that is factually inaccurate or contains accusations almost your concern that are untrue, you may have grounds to sue the online reviewer for defamation.
The best style to distinguish between the ii? Whatever review that contains a customer'south opinions or factual information most your business organization would be covered nether free spoken communication. Some examples of content that would be covered under the Kickoff Amendment include:
- "That business charges an arm and a leg!"
- "I wasn't happy with the level of service I received."
- "The customer service representative was rude."
On the other mitt, any review that contains blatant factual inaccuracies that harm your business organisation could be grounds for a defamation lawsuit. Some examples of content that might let you to sue (assuming the content is untrue) include:
- "This company does non have a license to provide their services."
- "One of the workers stole an expensive scout while painting my home."
- "This company charged me for services that they never delivered—and have refused to return my money."
Before you even consider suing, make certain you distinguish whether the comment would even qualify as defamation—or if it would be protected under the Commencement Subpoena.
Can You lot Sue Review Sites Directly?
At that place are certain scenarios where you would exist able to sue a reviewer over a bad review (namely if information technology independent factual inaccuracies that harmed your business).
But what about the site where the review is hosted? Tin can you lot become above the customer and sue the review site direct?
As information technology turns out, you can't.
Under the U.S. Communications Decency Act, websites cannot be held liable for publishing any content written by a third party—and that includes review sites like Yelp, Google Reviews, Healthgrades, and Angie'southward List.
And so if the review site doesn't change or alter the content or significant of the original annotate? They're protected from any potential libel or defamation suits, which means yous can't sue them.
What Can Y'all Do?
If you happen to come across a negative comment about your concern, what should you do? Is filing a defamation lawsuit a viable option?
The truth is, it takes a pregnant amount of time, coin and free energy to rent a lawyer and bring a adjust to court in social club to get a bad review removed from a review site. Simply, if the comment is extremely harmful to your business organisation (and you can prove it to be false), it may be worth that fourth dimension, money and free energy. If not, in that location are other, more than practical ways to bargain with a bad review.
Some strategies you can use to effectively bargain with a negative review online include:
- Request the website to remove the online review. If someone has posted a comment that's both negative and factually inaccurate, you can request that the website remove it by making your example that the data in the review is false. Just keep in mind that they're under no obligation to remove the review.
- Post a thoughtful, gracious response. Arguably the best fashion to deal with a negative review? Posting a thoughtful, gracious response. Accost any issues brought upwardly in the review, share how your company is working to ensure information technology doesn't happen once more and offer a solution to the customer. For case, if they had a negative customer service, y'all might apologize and offer them a discount lawmaking for a future purchase.
- Generate more than positive online reviews. One of the all-time means to gainsay negative reviews? With plenty of proficient reviews. Strive to offering the best products and/or services to your customers, brand sure they're satisfied and then ask them to mail a review.
If you ultimately decide to move forward with a lawsuit, information technology's of import to consult a lawyer immediately. And especially earlier you lot invest also much fourth dimension, money or free energy into the procedure. They tin give y'all deeper insights on your legal options, the viability of your case and whether you might be able to successfully sue for amercement.
What Not to Do
There are also a few things y'all definitely DON'T want to practise when y'all find a negative review for your business, including:
- React immediately: Reading negative comments sting. So when y'all read ane, your knee joint-jerk reaction may be to respond in the moment (east.g., past posting a comment defending yourself). But if yous respond immediately, you may react poorly (e.g., lashing out because yous feel angry or insulted). Instead, give yourself fourth dimension to absurd off before yous write a measured response.
- Ignore the content: While it tin exist difficult to read negative or critical things about yourself or your business, if in that location'south truth to the negative review, information technology tin be a growth opportunity. Don't immediately ignore the content of a review merely considering it's negative. Instead, sit with it. See if there's whatever truth to what the review says and develop a program to address the issue moving frontward.
- Retaliate: If a annotate is either insulting or spreading lies about your business, you may desire to retaliate confronting the reviewer. Simply information technology's incredibly of import not to retaliate online considering that retaliation can come dorsum to haunt you—especially if y'all plan to file a defamation conform.
Here's a real-life example:
A contractor filed a $700,000 lawsuit against a homeowner who claimed on Yelp and Angie's Listing that he damaged her townhouse, billed her for work he never completed and stole her jewelry. Originally, the court awarded the contractor a victory and ordered the homeowner to have down the annotate about theft.
But before going to trial, the contractor posted his own negative comments in response, claiming that since the homeowner never paid, she actually stole from him.
Ultimately, the jury determined that while the homeowner defamed the contractor, the contractor'due south later negative remarks too defamed her—so no damages were awarded. Essentially, the contractor's online retaliation may have cost him a $700,000 settlement.
Bargain With Bad Reviews Effectively
No one likes to run into bad reviews for their business—especially if they're malicious, harmful or untrue. But now that you lot know the most constructive ways to deal with them, y'all'll know how to navigate the state of affairs next time you come across a negative comment—whether that'southward past managing it on your own or consulting a lawyer to move forward with a defamation suit.
This post was updated in August, 2020.
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Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/can-you-sue-over-a-bad-review
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