Would you ever give up your right to leave a bad review about a company?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Mickey@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

My cousin hired a company called Toscano Floor Designs in New York and the agreement states: Purchaser agrees not to attack/criticize or write negative reviews online about the seller. This should have been a red flag for what was about to come.

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CaptainBlinky@lemmy.myserv.one ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Yeah… that’s a huge nope. I’d have walked the moment I saw that even if it’s not enforceable, since they’re not confident enough to stand by their own quality.

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radix@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
ftc.gov/…/consumer-review-fairness-act-what-busin…

The Consumer Review Fairness Act makes it illegal for companies to include standardized provisions that threaten or penalize people for posting honest reviews. For example, in an online transaction, it would be illegal for a company to include a provision in its terms and conditions that prohibits or punishes negative reviews by customers.

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- SendMePhotos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  They should make a law that is upheld about things like this.
  
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  - bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Visits White House
    “Felt creepy, too much gold. Zero stars.”
    FBI: hi there…
    
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- misteloct@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Leave a bad review for them breaking the law. Each time they threaten you, continue to append their email to your review.
  
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- litchralee@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Sadly, this act only covers “form contracts” for the sale of services or products, and doesn’t look like it would extend to contracts of employment. That is, a consumer cannot be bound by a clause that prohibits writing reviews. And if a consumer of the company’s products is also an employee, then this act doesn’t prohibit a “no reviews” clause in the employment contract.
  
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  - Beacon@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    But that's not the situation in this scenario. OP's brother hired this firm to perform a service, and thus this law should apply
    
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Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
lmao

I would bw giving them a negative review just for having that bullshit in their contract.

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- foggy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  "One star
  
  Literally made me sign a contract saying I would t leave a negative review. Speaks for itself. "
  
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DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Depends. For a $20 gift card? No.

Buy me a fully paid off house with homeowner insurance for the rest of my life? Maybe.

A billion dollars, tax-free? Hmmm yea I’d be very tempted. I mean my voice wasn’t that loud anyways, I mean like… my one 1-star review weren’t ever gonna hurt them, might as well take the deal, I’d make sure to read through all the fine prints in the agreement.

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MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It’s weird how terms/conditions can be clearly illegal but still count in some places.

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reksas@sopuli.xyz ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
bad reviews are how i evaluate the quality of stuff. Positive reviews cant be trusted most of the time but bad reviews might be more trustworthy. Any company that does this gives clear message that whatever they are selling is scam level quality.

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- Etterra@discuss.online ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Yep. I always immediately jump to the 1-stars/negative reviews to read the complaints. If they are serious and repeat them you know it’s probably shit. If there’s a huge spike from 2-4 to 1 star, then you can assume an associated high 5-star is artificially inflated pretty safely.
  
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TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
It should be an illegal clause

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- pelespirit@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Is it though?
  
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  - Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    It’s not enforceable. Contract law understands that sometimes contracts are garbage.
    
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  - Nollij@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    In some places, yes, probably. It would most likely fall under anti-SLAPP protections.
    
    IANAL though, so it could be more complicated.
    
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  - tyler@programming.dev ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    See the top comment
    
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tiredofsametab@fedia.io ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
In Japan, a person can get sued for leaving an honest, negative review. One has to be careful with wording to avoid that completely (i.e. making sure that it's clearly stated that the content is a personal opinion (as opposed to an accusation, I guess?)). Some people still do write them and some get scary take-down notices (which may or may not be real or enforceable). As far as I know, someone could leave a low rating on like a star-based system or whatever and be fine, but I am not a lawyer.

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- Bazoogle@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That’s awful for so many reasons. How are business/products expected to be held accountable? Obviously when you let free reign of negative reviews, you’re going to get some nonsensical ones or absurd ones, but people filter those out most of the time anyway. If you prevent (or there’s even a threat) for negative reviews, you’re just letting shitty companies and products get away with being shitty. It’s a loss for both consumers and the country wanting to have good businesses, though a win for shitty companies.
  
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jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It would take very little incentive to make me agree not to publicly criticize some small business. But it would take more than that.

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Perspectivist@feddit.uk ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I prevent my customers from leaving a ban review by trying to do a good job. I’d never sign a form like that, it’s a huge red flag and I doubt it’s even enforceable.

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- Bazoogle@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
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- lightnsfw@reddthat.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Yeah, if you stand behind your work and make it right in the event that something does go wrong you have no reason to fear bad reviews. Only thing we can assume from this contract is that they don’t do those things.
  
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  - QuarterSwede@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Most people will convert them to a 5 star in that event too as most companies won’t put forth the effort to listen to why you posted a 1 star in the first place. Those are my favorite anyway because 1) I don’t expect companies to be perfect (lord knows mine isn’t and I’m not) and 2) it shows you that they value their customers and want to make things right. Hard to find those these days.
    
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AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Sketch AF, so, no.

I got something like a 70% discount on new triple paned windows for my whole house simply to be a neighborhood “demo” house. They still told me straight up if I didn’t like the work, to leave an honest review to that effect.

I had 2 sliders, 11 windows, 7 skylights replaced for under $10k and it made a night and day difference in heating, cooling, and noise. And because of my HOA at the time, I couldn’t abide by the “lawn signs” agreement so they waived it. And then COVID hit so I was excused from ever having to talk to anyone about the service.

I lucked out, yes, but all that to say they still said I should be honest in all interactions. If a company is enforcing not being honest, that seems suspect.

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PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I would never hire a company that had a clause like this. Just find someone else. There's a reason they felt it necessary to include that.

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- CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I worked with an accountant for years and he got his ass bit by some asshole who left him a negative, and false, review.
  
  He added a clause on renewal contracts with new language saying you won’t leave a negative review and to arbitration.
  
  I told him I’m not signing this. I never leave reviews and I understand he’s trying to mitigate his losses and force arbitration but I told him that it wasn’t going to work.
  
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maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
That’s just the company expecting to deliver you bad services/products before they even know who you are. Absolute clown behavior.

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cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
You ever see a dump truck that says “not responsible for broken windshields”? Guess what. EVERY truck — this is US law anyway — is responsible for securing its load. So why do they have the sticker? So you don’t bug them about it. Or at least so most people don’t bug them about it. They also say stay back 200 feet. That’s not a law. It’s just a bumper sticker and is equally as enforceable. If they crack your windshield because they didn’t secure your load, you (or rather your insurance company) can go after them. But the truth is, most insurance companies just write off so many broken windshields per however long anyway, they won’t go after the company even if you have proof. But they could — and so could you.

Post the review anyway. Or at the very least post a review that says “the terms say I can’t post a negative review so believe me when I say the service was acceptable.” It’s not a negative review. It’s not a positive review either. It’s a neutral review and it calls out the clause. It is heavily implied to be opposite of what you said. You said the work was acceptable, implying it’s unacceptable. If you used the same tactic and said the work was great, the opposite would appear true, that it was not great. But acceptable is not great. So say it was acceptable and imply you were forced to say that. Thusly, an intelligent person will see your message for what it is.

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- AmidFuror@fedia.io ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  The sign could be about missiles - rocks on the road kicked up by the trucks tires - rather than the truck spilling its load.
  
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  - CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    That’s why trucks are required to have mud flaps.
    
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MrSulu@lemmy.ml ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
A key to free speech is the freedom to make comment, outside of libel / hate speech etc., and the right to be called out for any comments made. I treat all feedback like I would making clinical records. I must be able to defend and explain what is recorded.

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Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I wouldn’t do business with them further

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Mereo@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
As the other commenters said, it is illegal. The most important thing is to be informed about your rights so that people and companies do not take advantage of you.

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FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Agreements like that are not enforceable, and yeh they’re a red flag for sure.

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Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Have a friend write “I had a friend who had an awful experience …”

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artiman@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
No, there should be a law to stop stupid things in agreements like forced arbitration, no bad reviews etc

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Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
reddit.com/…/warning_about_toscano_floor_designs_…

This is getting good

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swelter_spark@reddthat.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
That keeps me from doing business with someone, for sure.

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andrewta@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
They can stick that contract where the sun doesn’t shine. There is zero chance I’d sign it. They can remove that clause or they can remove themselves… their choice.

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zxqwas@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Not sure I can give up that right where I live.

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flandish@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
1 star is not negative; it’s probably positive. So yeah. Unless it defines what negative means, the ambiguity favors me. ;)

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FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
People are mad. There are mad people on both sides.

Consumers can feel very empowered by a few hundred followers and one bad experience. And that translates more into a diss track, embelished and dramatized, than an honest review. Entrepreneurs justifiably fear this because this can hurt their businesses significantly. So they fight back with this legal retcon attempt. It’s most likely not enforceable - and they probably know that too. If they wouldn’t mind you speaking positively about you online, they cannot keep the negative stuff out either (as long as it is based in fact, libel is a different story). This little boiler plate serves only to give pause to the consumer. It plants a seed of restraint in their minds (if they actually read it).

Humans are a complicated species.

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