Posted on 05/06/2014 11:38:22 PM PDT by Dallas59
This isn't me...some guy bought a router that was crap on Amazon and posted a negative review on Amazon about the router. A few days later he receives a letter from a company representing the manufacturer threatening to sue him and others for damages related to any negative reviews.
Photos of the threatening letter
Apparently he bought it a few months back and posted the review afterwards and is now just getting the letter.
Now that he got the letter, the company MIGHT work with him once he takes down the letter. A win-win for all.
I don’t know what was actually said in the review, but I can’t see how the company could prevail in a lawsuit over a bad review of a product. Did he really say anything that libeled or slandered the seller?
Oh what fun. Of course I gave him a “helpful” vote.
I’ve been reviewing at Amazon since 1999. But of course I do not use my real name. Only at FR does anyone know I’m really Veto!
Did they have a paralegal or some guy fresh from a law school over a bowling alley write that? How melodramatic.
Scroll down to the reviews.
It sounds scumbaggish, but it should serve as a lesson: Be careful what you post on the internet.
Happened to me once, I (politely) told them to put a sock in it. That was the end of that. It’s an empty threat.
I recently bought a new router on Amazon. There were so many negative reviews on each product it felt like a pick-your-poison sort of purchase.
Fortunately, the one I got is working fine.
That's not a win for the consumers that get a crap router because they did not have the benefit of the review.
If the guy was up to it he could have some fun driving up the company's legal costs.
I read the letter from the attorney to him, and the review was quoted. It looks like he made expressed some ideas as statements of fact, rather than opinions. For example, he said the router was the exact same one as another router, just relabeled. Unless he can prove that, it could be a problem for him.
You can say anything you want in a review as long as you present it as your opinion and not as a statement of fact. He could have said that it appeared to HIM that the router was the same as the other one, for example. By saying it that way, he is expressing his opinion, but not saying it is a factual certainty.
Legal parsing.
Along about twelve years ago....an Air Force unit in Germany needed a new Cisco router. After a brief review....over the internet (instead of the traditional sales quote game that almost everyone did), they found this small company-minority owned-women owned company selling their dream router for a price that was around twenty-percent under the normal pricing. So they bought it.
It arrives...six months later....issues. They call up Cisco, give them the serial, and there’s a pause. This serial equals a router sold to someone in the states and is currently operational. A long discussion goes underway, and finally....they agree to have a Cisco rep in Germany look at it. The guy identifies around five major issues with pieces and parts, and that the serial is bogus. It’s a remanufactured Cisco router, fixed, remarketed, and resold by a garage business. Almost every part in the remake was from China...so it was believed to be some group or gang episode.
After this episode....everyone got focused on ‘must-buy-via-Cisco-vendor-only’, which really drove pricing beyond the norm. Cisco also got real aggressive about going after bad-mouthing problems because of this fake marketing gimmick.
Legal parsing.
That’s all our legal system is anymore.
Thanks guys. Serves me right for not reading it all. I agree with CA Conservative. You do have to be careful what you say in a review is your opinion, not fact. You also can’t bad mouth a company or individual. Even implying the seller is a lying cheating scumbag can get you in trouble.
I’ve purchased a few items from Amazon and so far have had good experiences. However, buying from Amazon is always a risk. I try to go with sellers who have received good marks from other customers. I also don’t buy anything marked as “used.” I did have to return a phone charger recently, but the seller and Amazon were very good about issuing a credit in a timely manner. It always helps to deal with others in a courteous and cooperative manner. Bad mouthing gets you nowhere and just invites trouble.
By suing a customer over a bad review, this company has only solidified a bad reputation for its products and it’s customer service. Apparently, the company has the time and money to threaten consumers, but none to
offer a refund. This sort of story will only dig a deeper trench for the company when it is amped up on the internets.
If you actually bother to read the letter, you will see that the review is a textbook definition of libel—assuming the lawyer isn’t lying (which is never something to overlook when dealing with lawyers).
The reviewer made multiple statements of fact that are most likely false. He posted them online where the entire online world could see them. It is also likely that he did this with the intention of harming the company that produced the router.
If I were the reviewer, I would be seeking legal counsel immediately, and taking the review down. This letter is most likely just a bit of saber rattling, because suing people that likely can’t afford the court fees, much less actual damages, isn’t a financially sound nor business savvy decision. But you never know.
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