Common Issues

Aggressive Customers

A common issue includes aggressive & unreasonable customers. Businesses often report that a customer has posted a review which is untruthful, misleading, unfair, or defamatory.

Competitors

A common issue includes competitor businesses posting fake negative reviews. For example, Samsung was fined $340,000 by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission for hiring workers to post negative fake reviews of HTC.

Blackmail

A common issue includes blackmail from customers threatening to leave a bad review to avoid paying fees. For example, a study found that 78% of plastic surgeons reported customers blackmailed them by leaving or threatening to leave a negative review for the purpose of avoiding to pay their fees.

How we remove reviews?

To remove a review, there are 6 possible paths to take:
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1. Letter of Demand – Our law firm contacts the reviewer directly with a formal legal letter detailing any breaches of Australian law (such as defamation, injurious falsehood, misleading & deceptive conduct, breach of privacy, and others) and demand that they remove the review;
2. Incentivisation – We contact the reviewer directly and negotiate with them to remove the review voluntarily. For example, by offering a settlement amount in the circumstance that the business made a mistake and wishes to make amends and repair the relationship. This process includes drafting and signing a Deed of Settlement & Release to prevent future negative reviews, maintain confidentiality, and to ensure compliance with the agreement;
3. Application to the Platform – We contact the platform, such as Google, and make a case to have the review removed detailing breaches of the platform’s policies or Australian law;
4. Provide Evidence to a Regulator – We collect and present evidence to an Australian authority or regulatory body which in turn may take legal action against the reviewer;
5. Uncover Anonymous Reviewers – In the circumstance that the reviewer is unknown, we make an application to the Court to reveal the reviewer’s identity; and
6. Court – As a last resort, we formally sue the reviewer in an Australian court (for example for defamation, injurious falsehood, misleading & deceptive conduct, breach of privacy, or other applicable areas of law) seeking compensation and Court orders that the review be removed.

The appropriate path will be dependent upon the specific circumstances of the review, and each review needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis.