Negative review = $3500 fine

[mmotley]

Just read a short article about a couple who left a negative online review about a business. A few years later, they got a notice in the mail, stating they will be facing a $3500 fine if the review wasn't removed. They contacted the site where they posted the review and the REVIEW SITE said it would cost $2000 to remove the review!

 

The company had a small clause in the 'terms of sale' that 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.'

 

Just curious how others feel about this clause used by the company. I'm not defending one side or the other, I'll keep that to myself for now. Who here is going to copy and paste that onto their estimates or quotes tomorrow???? On one side, it might save you from a negative review that was out of your hands. The other, how shady are you going to look if someone catches that clause before signing? Or how about, how bad would you look if you had to enforce it, justified or not?

 

I've seen some pretty bad reviews left online, some even mentioning sexual harassment and theft of personal property. What if you were that company, and the review completely false? Being accused of sexual harassment, especially in a smaller town, could end your business... Maybe even make church extremely awkward next Sunday (or chamber of commerce meeting, w/e)

 

Curious to see what others think, here is a link to the full article I read:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/18/this-couple-found-out-the-hard-way-that-writing-a-negative-online-review-could-land-you-a-3k-fine-and-wrecked-credit-score/

 

 

[mspecperformance]

Whoa, sounds crazy. Would love to do this to some customers. People just don't care of give a crap about anyone else but themselves. Of course some negative reviews may be warranted however the ones that are falsely posted are really damaging.

[ATLAuto]

Wow. Just wow. Fairly certain everything about this is illegal, regardless of the contract. This will not save anyone from negative reviews in the least. Rather, it will absolutely massacre an online reputation. Just google "KlearGear reviews" and see (here's a link). Not a single positive review anywhere.

 

My recommendation is to just continue doing what you are doing. Offer excellent service. Go above and beyond for your customers. And at check-out, give every customer a card asking them to review your shop on Google+ and Yelp.

[mmotley]

Wow. Just wow. Fairly certain everything about this is illegal, regardless of the contract. This will not save anyone from negative reviews in the least. Rather, it will absolutely massacre an online reputation. Just google "KlearGear reviews" and see (here's a link). Not a single positive review anywhere.

 

Very true. I think in the article I had read, it said KlearGear had a "F" rating from the better business bureau at one point, but has since then brought it up at a 'B'.

 

 

My recommendation is to just continue doing what you are doing. Offer excellent service. Go above and beyond for your customers. And at check-out, give every customer a card asking them to review your shop on Google+ and Yelp.

 

I love the idea about asking for reviews on Google+ and Yelp. I have been a little unsure about doing this; afraid I will come off as desperate. However, being a small shop that just recently opened, I think folks would be more than happy to contribute to the growth of a business they are happy with.

[Joe Marconi]

It's well known that many of the review online are bogus. Many companies hire people to write reviews for them. I think in time, reviews will not have the impact they once had. I remember, years back if I did not get a perfect score, I could not sleep at night. Now, it does not bother me nearly as much. I read reviews of my favorite resturants and see reviews all over the map. Everyone will get a bad review from time to time. I don't like a site that cannot and will not insure the source is credible or not.

 

I do agree that we should all do the right thing, maintain quality, keep checking the reviews and contact our customers as a follow up. We need to do all we can to insure that our customers are experiencing the very best.

[ATLAuto]

Agreed, Joe. A franchise shop I worked at did $3M gross one year with a 4 out of 30 score on Google+. I didn't even know a score that low was possible. Sows customers trust the franchise name more than the review, unfortunately.

[ATLAuto]

I love the idea about asking for reviews on Google+ and Yelp. I have been a little unsure about doing this; afraid I will come off as desperate. However, being a small shop that just recently opened, I think folks would be more than happy to contribute to the growth of a business they are happy with.

You are approaching it the right way. People get a sense of pride in being able to recommend places they "discovered.". They love being able to say, "check out this shop I found that does great work at a reasonable price." It makes them look good in the process.

[ATLAuto]

Update to this story. Kleargear is getting slapped with a $75k lawsuit. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=21018224

[RayRippey]

If you get a negative review, do not ignore it. Sign in to the website where the review is, and respond to it. Give your side to the story... you can turn it around with the truth.

 

You can't please all the people all the time, although we all try. I've heard of companies hiring people to give them good reviews and fighting bad reviews, and it comes back around and bites them. :-0