Threatened with legal action re: online review

Grandad_81

Hello, I hope someone can offer some advice. About 2 months ago I arranged via a trader review website to have someone come and quote for a job. They failed to turn up giving a pretty poor excuse when I contacted the to find out whether they were still coming. I posted a review online on the trader website stating what had happened.

The website makes you review quality and other categories that were not relevant so I just picked 3/5 for those and wrote in my review I'd had to guess those as the trader hadn't shown up. 2 months later, I've now had an email from the trader asking me to clarify the review or he will take legal action.

Does anyone have any advice? I've replied to his email saying that it was an accurate review on the basis of what he told me at the time. He has replied saying he is 'taking further action, please be advised'.

hollydays

I don't see if it's conforming to the sites terms to give a review based on someone who hasn't done the job.

Go into the site again and check the terms and conditions you signed up to when you left your review.

Davesnave

I don't believe you have anything to fear from a legal standpoint, though personally I wouldn't have reviewed someone who'd not attended. Missed appointments with no explanation are annoying and often a sign of bad organisation or weak service, but sometimes life happens.

You may never know the real reason the appointment was missed, and you certainly don't have any basis on which to judge the person's workmanship.

Taking legal action is very expensive and simply not worth doing in most cases, so this guy is probably bluffing. However, he knows where you live, so it might be politic to amend your review. Giving him 3/5 for services not rendered doesn't seem useful or entirely fair to me.

marliepanda

The fact none of the 'star' options were relevant should have given you a bit of a clue that your review was not appropriate.

A lot of people will simply scroll through the star numbers, or it may pull down his star average. He could be absolutely great at those things, but was disorganised at the time you contacted him.

I doubt he'll sue you, but if you are able to I would take it down as your review seems pretty irrelevant and pointless.

hollydays

Not only all that's been said above, but, you didn't actually even waste a day in because he told you he wasnt going to attend.

Isnt it unusual for consumers to ring up and check the trades person is coming?

Do you think it's a possibility the problem could be with you?

Grandad_81

Fair enough, seems the consensus is to remove the review. I must admit I looked into that initially but the website would only let me amend and it seemed ridiculous to change it to 5 stars. I will contact the site and ask them to remove the review, however I still feel it is honest and there doesn't seem to be anything in the T&Cs about what should go in a review. I only left it after getting reminders from the website to do so. However for the same of an easy life perhaps it is better to just get rid of it.

Grandad_81

hollydays wrote: »

Not only all that's been said above, but, you didn't actually even waste a day in because he told you he wasnt going to attend.

Isnt it unusual for consumers to ring up and check the trades person is coming?

Do you think it's a possibility the problem could be with you?

Nice of you to decide for me my day wasn't wasted. I had taken a day off work to get the quote so it was wasted actually and cost me a days leave. And I rang to check what was happening after he had failed to show up, he didn't let me know in advance. His excuse was he was moving house that day. The appointment had only been made 3 days previously, seemed a strange thing to me that you'd make an appointment and forget you were moving house!

So I'm not sure it is a problem with me that this occurred. Thanks for the suggestion though, very constructive.

daytona0

Grandad_81 wrote: »

Fair enough, seems the consensus is to remove the review. I must admit I looked into that initially but the website would only let me amend and it seemed ridiculous to change it to 5 stars. I will contact the site and ask them to remove the review, however I still feel it is honest and there doesn't seem to be anything in the T&Cs about what should go in a review. I only left it after getting reminders from the website to do so. However for the same of an easy life perhaps it is better to just get rid of it.

Well he hasn't undertaken any services or contract with you so you're not really in a position to rate most of the things.

He could, at a push, probably take you to court but he'd probably need to;

1. Demonstrate that you were being unfair (ie by not removing or amending it)

2. Show that your review wasn't appropriate in this circumstance

3. Show that it has directly impacted on future work for him (ie did your "false" review mean that he missed out on work?)


It is a hassle and probably somewhat weak but he could at a push take you to court I'd say. It won't really happen though and he's probably just bluffing

Davesnave

People rarely take others to court. It's typically a very expensive process and frequently more time consuming than it's worth.

It would be madness to sue for defamation in this case, as so many sites exist, full of bad reviews. It's 'normal.'

The cheapest way to pursue someone through the legal process is via the small claims court. To do this, the complainant must quantify their loss. How would the tradesman do this?

Laz123

Grandad_81 wrote: »

Nice of you to decide for me my day wasn't wasted. I had taken a day off work to get the quote so it was wasted actually and cost me a days leave. And I rang to check what was happening after he had failed to show up, he didn't let me know in advance. His excuse was he was moving house that day. The appointment had only been made 3 days previously, seemed a strange thing to me that you'd make an appointment and forget you were moving house!

So I'm not sure it is a problem with me that this occurred. Thanks for the suggestion though, very constructive.

Do what I did and put hollydays on your ignore list.

Money-Saving-King

Laz123 wrote: »

Do what I did and put hollydays on your ignore list.

I know Hollydays & I often disagree but Hollydays isn't on my ignore list. Laz123 putting someone on ignore or advising that doesn't mean they are wrong.

This is a forum, it's just natural people will not agree on things.