Can Someone Post a Bad Review if They Have Never Been Here
When you're building a business, you want to do everything you can to provide stellar products and/or services to your customers. When you operate at a loftier standard, you'll gain a reputation as a concern that people can trust and rely on—and that reputation will continually bulldoze new customers your fashion.
Online reviews play a huge office in building that reputation. When potential customers enquiry your business and read glowing, five-star reviews, they're going to desire to attain out and do business with yous. But if they read a bad review (fifty-fifty if it's biased, unfair or completely untrue), information technology'south going to exercise the reverse—and send those customers straight to your competitors.
As a business possessor, you want to practice everything you can to effectively deal with negative reviews and then they don't ruin your business' reputation and go on customers from working with you.
But what practice yous do when you get an unfair or untrue comment? How exercise you lot handle the situation? And can yous (or should you) take it as far equally suing for defamation?
Contents
- Who Tin You Sue Over a Bad Review?
- Can You lot Sue Review Sites Directly?
- What Can You Do?
- What Not to Do
- Deal With Bad Reviews Effectively
Who Can You Sue Over a Bad Review?
To be honest, the answer is: Information technology depends.
For the most part, reviews are covered under the First Amendment, which protects complimentary speech. Additionally, 34 U.S. states take passed Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits confronting public participation) laws. Anti-SLAPP is intended to prevent people or businesses from silencing or censoring their critics past intimidating them with the threat of a lawsuit.
Thanks to these protections, if a customer is unhappy with your products or services, or the experiences they've had with your business, they have the correct to say so—whether that be in person, over the phone, or online.
There are, all the same, exceptions. If a client posts a review that is factually inaccurate or contains accusations about your business that are untrue, you may accept grounds to sue the online reviewer for defamation.
The all-time way to distinguish between the 2? Whatever review that contains a customer's opinions or factual information about your business would be covered under gratis speech. Some examples of content that would be covered nether the First 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 manus, any review that contains breathy factual inaccuracies that impairment your business concern could exist grounds for a defamation lawsuit. Some examples of content that might permit you to sue (assuming the content is untrue) include:
- "This company does not have a license to provide their services."
- "1 of the workers stole an expensive watch while painting my habitation."
- "This company charged me for services that they never delivered—and have refused to return my money."
Before you even consider suing, brand sure y'all distinguish whether the comment would fifty-fifty qualify as defamation—or if it would be protected under the Get-go Amendment.
Tin can You Sue Review Sites Direct?
At that place are sure scenarios where you lot would be able to sue a reviewer over a bad review (namely if information technology contained factual inaccuracies that harmed your business).
But what virtually the site where the review is hosted? Tin you get above the customer and sue the review site direct?
As it turns out, yous tin can't.
Nether the U.S. Communications Decency Act, websites cannot exist held liable for publishing whatsoever content written by a tertiary party—and that includes review sites similar Yelp, Google Reviews, Healthgrades, and Angie's List.
So if the review site doesn't change or change the content or meaning of the original comment? They're protected from any potential libel or defamation suits, which ways you lot can't sue them.
What Tin can You lot Do?
If you happen to come across a negative comment about your business, what should you lot exercise? Is filing a defamation lawsuit a viable option?
The truth is, it takes a significant amount of fourth dimension, money and energy to rent a lawyer and bring a suit to courtroom in gild to get a bad review removed from a review site. But, if the comment is extremely harmful to your business (and you lot can evidence it to be false), it may exist worth that time, money and energy. If non, at that place are other, more practical ways to deal with a bad review.
Some strategies yous can use to finer deal 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, yous can asking that the website remove it past making your case that the data in the review is simulated. But keep in mind that they're under no obligation to remove the review.
- Post a thoughtful, gracious response. Arguably the best style to bargain with a negative review? Posting a thoughtful, gracious response. Address any issues brought upwards in the review, share how your visitor is working to ensure it doesn't happen again and offering a solution to the customer. For case, if they had a negative customer service, you might apologize and offer them a discount lawmaking for a future purchase.
- Generate more positive online reviews. 1 of the best ways to combat negative reviews? With enough of good reviews. Strive to offer the best products and/or services to your customers, make sure they're satisfied then enquire them to post a review.
If you ultimately make up one's mind to move forwards with a lawsuit, information technology'due south of import to consult a lawyer immediately. And particularly earlier you invest also much time, money or energy into the procedure. They can give you lot deeper insights on your legal options, the viability of your instance and whether yous might be able to successfully sue for damages.
What Non to Do
At that place are also a few things you lot definitely DON'T want to practise when yous find a negative review for your business, including:
- React immediately: Reading negative comments sting. And so when you read 1, your knee-jerk reaction may be to respond in the moment (due east.thousand., by posting a comment defending yourself). Simply if you answer immediately, you may react poorly (e.g., lashing out because yous feel angry or insulted). Instead, give yourself time to cool off earlier you write a measured response.
- Ignore the content: While it can exist hard to read negative or critical things about yourself or your concern, if in that location's truth to the negative review, it tin be a growth opportunity. Don't immediately ignore the content of a review simply because it's negative. Instead, sit down with it. See if there'southward whatsoever truth to what the review says and develop a plan to address the issue moving forward.
- Retaliate: If a comment is either insulting or spreading lies nigh your business, yous may want to retaliate against the reviewer. But information technology'southward incredibly important not to retaliate online because that retaliation tin can come up back to haunt you—especially if you plan to file a defamation adjust.
Here's a existent-life example:
A contractor filed a $700,000 lawsuit against a homeowner who claimed on Yelp and Angie's List 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 take down the annotate almost theft.
But before going to trial, the contractor posted his ain negative comments in response, claiming that since the homeowner never paid, she actually stole from him.
Ultimately, the jury adamant that while the homeowner defamed the contractor, the contractor's later negative remarks also defamed her—and so no damages were awarded. Substantially, the contractor'south 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 organisation—especially if they're malicious, harmful or untrue. But now that you know the most effective ways to bargain with them, y'all'll know how to navigate the situation next fourth dimension you come beyond a negative comment—whether that's past managing information technology on your own or consulting a lawyer to movement forward with a defamation adjust.
This post was updated in August, 2020.
Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/can-you-sue-over-a-bad-review
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