I want to write a negative blog about a company - could it be legally problematic?

gabrielf

I have had a terrible experience buying theatre tickets online from a small retailer.

If I write about the experience in this forum and in my personal blog and I mention the company by name, could it be legally problematic in any way?

Whatever the case, I intend to write about the expeirence - the question is whether to mention the company's name?

Can anyone advise?

Thanks in advance

Gabriel

4743hudsonj

gabrielf wrote: »

I have had a terrible experience buying theatre tickets online from a small retailer.

If I write about the experience in this forum and in my personal blog and I mention the company by name, could it be legally problematic in any way?

Whatever the case, I intend to write about the expeirence - the question is whether to mention the company's name?

Can anyone advise?

Thanks in advance

Gabriel

It depends. If you make incorrect accusations that are detrimental to their reputation then it may be classed as libel wich is a form of tort and they could pursue damages. If however your statements are correct then they cant do a thing so if you do plan to then stick to the facts.

An example would be calling a company scammers just because of a bad experience even though they had not scammed you.

dmg24

As long as what you write is factually accurate, there should not be a problem.

McKneff

Personally I wouldnt, you would be leaving yourself wide open to be sued.

If you need to vent your anger just write a stiff letter to the head honcho.
No i wouldnt mention a company name anyway, they could easily be told about it and then it really will hit the fan.

And anyway, we really have better things to do than listen to you moaning on about a bad experience online experience. You sound very bitter, !!!!!! lifes too short.
You need to write the letter and move on.

pendulum

I would mention the company name, but I'd make sure anything I said I could demonstrate as true. What's the chances of a small retailer taking you to court for writing something that you can prove is true on your blog? Very tiny. I'd be more worried about the business owner paying some blokes to duff me up over it rather than them starting legal action. The latter is far more likely!

Having said that, maybe I wouldn't mention the company name after all...

barvid

dmg24 wrote: »

As long as what you write is factually accurate, there should not be a problem.

...and as long as you can prove that it's accurate.

McKneff

barvid wrote: »

...and as long as you can prove that it's accurate.

and you can get to the court on crutches:rotfl::rotfl:

SailorSam

If you've had problems with them, maybe others have as well, google the name and see if some sort of review page already exists,you can add your two penneth worth.

gabrielf

Thanks for the comments people. It appears that as long as I stick to facts and do not coin inaccurate phrases then it should be fine.

Of course I am writing to the retailer first of all and have already reported him to Trading Standards.

McKneff

You havent actually told us what the bad experience was...............

Equaliser123

Thing I would consider is a) does it actually help you? and b)if you did get sued - can you afford to defend it.

If the retailer decided to throw some money at taking action against you, you could find yourself in a lot of difficulty very quickly - even if you are correct.