Wedding Caterer withholding refund unless we sign agreement stating we won't leave a negative review

catlady1006

Hi all, 

Looking for some advice. Long story short, we had our wedding this year and found our caterers really disappointing. The service wasn't as described and we felt really let down. 

We've been in email discussions with the company and have settled on a 10% refund. I'm keeping to resolve this as soon as possible as it's already gone on for nearly 3 months. 

Today they sent us a settlement document which they have said will allow them to release our refund. There is a clause in there which states:

3. Non-Disparagement

3.1 The Customer agrees not to publish or cause to be published any negative, critical,

defamatory or disparaging remarks, reviews, or comments about the Business in any public forum (including online reviews, social media, blogs, or press).

3.2 The Customer further agrees to remove or request removal of any existing public reviews or

comments concerning the transaction within 3 days of receiving the refund.

3.3 This clause does not prevent the Customer from making lawful statements required by

government agencies, regulators, or courts.

I wasn't planning on writing an awful review, but a balanced and honest account of what was good and what wasn't up to the standard we had paid for. 

Can they withhold our refund until we sign this document? I'd like the ability to leave an honest review given the catering was quite expensive and honestly was a real disappointment. 

Are they allowed to prevent us from leaving an honest review, and use this as a tool to hold back our refund? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've spoken to citizens advice who weren't particularly helpful in advising me on our rights. 

Undervalued

catlady1006 said:

Hi all, 

Looking for some advice. Long story short, we had our wedding this year and found our caterers really disappointing. The service wasn't as described and we felt really let down. 

We've been in email discussions with the company and have settled on a 10% refund. I'm keeping to resolve this as soon as possible as it's already gone on for nearly 3 months. 

Today they sent us a settlement document which they have said will allow them to release our refund. There is a clause in there which states:

3. Non-Disparagement

3.1 The Customer agrees not to publish or cause to be published any negative, critical,

defamatory or disparaging remarks, reviews, or comments about the Business in any public forum (including online reviews, social media, blogs, or press).

3.2 The Customer further agrees to remove or request removal of any existing public reviews or

comments concerning the transaction within 3 days of receiving the refund.

3.3 This clause does not prevent the Customer from making lawful statements required by

government agencies, regulators, or courts.

I wasn't planning on writing an awful review, but a balanced and honest account of what was good and what wasn't up to the standard we had paid for. 

Can they withhold our refund until we sign this document? I'd like the ability to leave an honest review given the catering was quite expensive and honestly was a real disappointment. 

Are they allowed to prevent us from leaving an honest review, and use this as a tool to hold back our refund? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've spoken to citizens advice who weren't particularly helpful in advising me on our rights. 

Basically yes, it is part of many / most negotiated settlements. What you negotiate depends on the strength or weakness of your respective positions.

Your alternative is not to settle and take them to court. If you win you can tell the whole world that a court has found in your favour and leave any truthful review you like!

MyRealNameToo

catlady1006 said:

Looking for some advice. Long story short, we had our wedding this year and found our caterers really disappointing. The service wasn't as described and we felt really let down. 

We've been in email discussions with the company and have settled on a 10% refund. I'm keeping to resolve this as soon as possible as it's already gone on for nearly 3 months. 

Today they sent us a settlement document which they have said will allow them to release our refund. There is a clause in there which states:

3. Non-Disparagement

3.1 The Customer agrees not to publish or cause to be published any negative, critical,

defamatory or disparaging remarks, reviews, or comments about the Business in any public forum (including online reviews, social media, blogs, or press).

3.2 The Customer further agrees to remove or request removal of any existing public reviews or

comments concerning the transaction within 3 days of receiving the refund.

3.3 This clause does not prevent the Customer from making lawful statements required by

government agencies, regulators, or courts.

I wasn't planning on writing an awful review, but a balanced and honest account of what was good and what wasn't up to the standard we had paid for. 

Can they withhold our refund until we sign this document? I'd like the ability to leave an honest review given the catering was quite expensive and honestly was a real disappointment. 

Are they allowed to prevent us from leaving an honest review, and use this as a tool to hold back our refund? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've spoken to citizens advice who weren't particularly helpful in advising me on our rights. 

They can but you can also not agree to it 

If it were actually a breach of contract then you can pursue them in the courts where they won't be able to make it subject to a non-disclosure agreement but that depends if it is actually a breach or not. If the food just wasnt as tasty as you'd hoped, for example, you're unlikely to be able to claim a breach and so would end up losing the court fees on top of the poor meal. 

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, yes they can attach that as a reasonable condition for what is effectively a goodwill discount.  If you want to exercise your consumer rights to obtain a discount - perhaps more or less than what's been offered - then you could simply decline their offer and threaten court action.  It might generate a higher offer, which would almost certainly come with the same condition, or simply a "see you in court, then" where anything you might win wouldn't come with conditions.

born_again

3.1 The Customer agrees not to publish or cause to be published any negative, critical,

defamatory or disparaging remarks, reviews, or comments about the Business in any public forum (including online reviews, social media, blogs, or press).

Review.
4 star
Disappointed with service, but after discussion with company, part refund processed.

Factual & positive outcome 😜

TELLIT01

In what way did you feel let down and service not up to standard?  These things can be subjective.  A carefully worded review can get a message across with out actually saying anything negative.

For example saying that the food and service was OK isn't negative, but does leave readers to draw their own conclusions at to why the statement isn't more positive.

A_Geordie

born_again said:

Review.
4 star
Disappointed with service, but after discussion with company, part refund processed.

Factual & positive outcome 😜

Not allowed because the non-disparagement clause includes "reviews". Each of those words separated by a comma are an exhaustive list and apply independently as much as they do combined.

Personally, anyone offering a settlement that includes a confidentiality obligation, non-disparagement or similar restriction will always attract a premium in the settlement. 

Go back to them and explain you are not happy with the non-disparagement clause and that if they want to include that, then they should up the settlement offer to 20% or whatever you want. Remind them that you are at a stage where you are considering legal proceedings which will allow you to write an honest review, talk about the dispute publicly and likely increase their costs such as legal fees in addition to any compensation awarded by the court. So if they want to make this go away quietly, that's your price. 

They'll either call your bluff, accept your counter-offer or come back with a counter-offer of their own. Ball is then back in your court. 

pinkshoes

They are essentially buying your silence, not offering a refund under consumer rights.

If you can quantitatively prove that you received a substandard service and not what you paid for, then calculate this cost and claim it under your consumer nights. 

That way you are then still free to leave a factual review.

Or if youre happy to have your silence bought then insist they increase the amount of the offer up to say 15%.

How much will a poor review hurt their business? How much is your silence worth?

Sadly lots of businesses work this way. It is likely they've sent this exact email before hence there were no bad reviews online.