Customer reviews - thy name is honesty. Or libelous, depending on who you ask.
Customer reviews have long been a way for everyday consumers to read what similar folks think about a particular product, and this Web 2.0 phenomenon is only growing. iJunkies can peruse them prior to buying a new app, and it's not uncommon for Amazon buyers to base their spending habits on how well (or poorly) that hot new item was actually received by the discerning public. Disgruntled buyers may also use customer reviews to vent their frustrations and offer a word of warning to all others who hazard a 'click to add to shopping cart': beware.
It's plain to see why businesses might be uneasy about customer reviews, and some are answering the revered slogan 'the customer is always right' with one of their own: say a mean word, and we'll sue.
One business - Full House Appliances - exemplified how serious they take negative customer reviews by sending an email promising legal action against an unsatisfied customer who made his voice heard.
Said the email: "Libel is a prosecutable felony in the state of Washington. This notice is NOT to ask you to remove the review. Rather, it is to tell you that we intend to pursue legal action against you, due to your violation of our agreement, unless we reach a mutually agreeable settlement..."
Kind of reminds us of what ACS: Law and MediaCAT are in trouble over: making demands over false or improvable claims and essentially making up the rules as they went.
Libel isn't even a felony in Washington, points out the article.
Companies should face public scrutiny if their products (or service) are demonstrably awful, but without fear of false or overblown claims harming their business. On the internet, people can essentially write whatever they want anonymously. So what's stopping someone from writing a scathing product review for something they may not have even bought? Or from exaggerating their dissatisfaction with how they were treated by customer service? And who's to say what's even fair criticism? Well, besides a company's own admittedly biased Terms of Service.
"The customer is always right" should be amended with the suffix, "unless they're obviously a troll."
