Mark Pestronk
Q: What can we do about negative online reviews that are hurting our business? A former client has posted a really terrible review of our agency on Yelp. Not only does it blame us for what went wrong at the resort on her honeymoon, but she also falsely accuses us of lying and cheating. Another client posted an untrue and equally defamatory review on TripAdvisor about a tour that we run every year. Yet another posted a highly critical comment on her own Facebook page, complaining that we failed to refund her money for a nonrefundable ticket. Since she has over 1,000 Facebook friends, the comment is really damaging. Should we have a lawyer threaten to sue? Should we actually file suit? What if we don't even know the identity of a negative poster?
A: Threatening a lawsuit is often counterproductive, even when you have excellent legal grounds. Complainers have copied the lawyer's letter into a follow-up posting, making the business look like a bully.
Suits often backfire because the negative reviewer then brags about the suit to his social media contacts, and news of the suit could spread through the Internet. If a reporter then writes an article in the general media about the controversy, the odds are good that the complainer will come out looking as good or better than you do.
Nevertheless, lawsuits sometimes work because judges have the power to order a website to take down a false or defamatory review. If you are unsure of the poster's identity, subpoenaing the website owner can help reveal the poster's identity or sometimes his or her IP address, from which you can get a street address and eventually find the identity of the poster.
However, as you know, lawsuits are expensive, and even if you prevail, you may not get enough money to pay your expensive attorneys fees, and it will cost you lots more to publicize your victory.
There are four methods for combating negative reviews that usually work better than a lawsuit. You should consider pursuing all of them.
First, for review sites, take advantage of you right to ask the site to take down the review, as set forth in the website's terms and conditions. For example, Yelp will remove a review if you can prove that it is defamatory (i.e., factually false and harmful to your business).
Second, Yelp and TripAdvisor allow the merchant to post replies to every complaint or compliment. Make sure your reply is courteous and does not make the complainer seem like a person who intends to harm your business, even if you are convinced that he does.
Third, try to contact the complainer privately and see what you can do to settle the matter. Even if your agency is not at fault, a goodwill gesture such as a partial refund may be your best bet, especially if you want the complainer to change or withdraw the review.
Finally, if you have the money, retain a reputation-management firm that uses various techniques to lower the complainer's search engine results and raise positive mentions of your company when anyone Googles your business.
If your agency is the victim of multiple online complaints, you should consider employing all four of these methods at once, beginning immediately.
Mark Pestronk is a Washington-based lawyer specializing in travel law. To submit a question for Legal Briefs, email him at [email protected].