Woman gets fined for posting bad review.

[Titi]

Paypal had refunded their money for the merchandise not arriving in a timely matter and then she posted the review on Ripoff Report. Now many years later the review was brought up and the company told them too remove the review or get fined as per the terms and agreements that they had agreed to. But due to Ripoff Report (aka we rip off everyone (owners of companies have to pay to even respond to posts, even more to remove them even if they have proof and posters have to pay to remove posts as well), ROR asked them for $2000. The post was not removed, so they got fined.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-gets--3-...233833012.html

What are your thoughts on this?

I'm blaming ROR because this is not the first time I have seen this happen. A guy posted a couple of reviews on ROR stating that he and his wife were blacklisted from hotels due to her being disabled and he was suing. After he lost he was told he had to remove the reviews or he would be fined ($20,000) and have to pay the hotel's attourneys. He asked, ROR refused. He then went on each post updating the situation, even posted another one. I still don't know the outcome though.

[Gravekeeper]

Pretty ingenious scam ROR has if thats the case.

[Andara Bledin]

Simple (relatively) solution: Get a court order.

[Panacea]

It would cost her more to sue than to pay the "fine."

However, I would refuse to pay the fine as well, and put a notice on each credit bureau's website explaining the ding.

I would also call Kleargear and threaten to file a complaint with the state attorney general's office and with the Federal Trade Commission under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The federal fines can be pretty hefty as well; it works fairly well on BS claims.

The woman is right. It is blackmail, and the clause is not supportable in court. A judge would throw it out. It isn't libel if it is true, and people can't sign away their first amendment rights.

That being said, I'm not sure I would have bothered with a negative review once Paypal refunded me. Then again, the article doesn't say what she actually wrote.

[Rapscallion]

Pretty ingenious scam ROR has if thats the case.

Try the ethical business over here. There are companies over here who review 'ethical' products. If the companies providing the products don't fill in the questionnaire sent, they get downgraded, so smaller ethical companies with low resources don't have as much chance as large businesses who aren't ethical (who have departments dedicated to dealing with this stuff).

By the way, the questionnaire's free. Having it reviewed by the company in question costs. You also have no say in the results of their findings.

Rapscallion

[Aethian]

I don't think the RoR should come down. During the time when the report was posted the company was found to not be sending out a lot of orders. I'm guessing they got new ownership and are now trying to improve their image.

[HYHYBT]

If the report was false, the person who made it is to blame.

Even if it's true, once anything's on the internet it's pretty well up to the site whether it gets removed or not.

[Rageaholic]

I didn't know you could get in trouble for posting bad reviews.

The article mentions that clause didn't go into effect until well after they posted the review. INAL, but if that's true, I'm pretty sure the company doesn't have a leg to stand on.

EDIT: A commentor pointed out that it was the husband who had dealings with the company, not the wife who wrote the review. I wonder how that could come into play.

[Andara Bledin]

Even if it's true, once anything's on the internet it's pretty well up to the site whether it gets removed or not.

Depending on the situation, that could leave them open to losing their Safe Harbor status and becoming liable for all postings made on the site.

I wonder if reaching out to someone like, say, the EFF would be of help.

[Greenday]

The whole credit system is a fraud anyway. It's just a way to help credit card companies and banks who loan money to force us to go into debt so we can later go into bigger debt when we really need something.

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, the credit system is a very useful part of a functioning economy.

Unfortunately, it's being abused, along with the general ignorance of the populace, to do precisely the opposite of what it should.