Hi all, I'm running a retail site with thousands of happy customers. One of them however, is a complete moron. She placed an order and was unhappy that we hadn't shipped it out within 2 days. After a few phone calls - one where she cursed out my customer service rep - we informed her that we would not be fulfilling her order and that we were promptly refunding her. We did that immediately. That was three months ago. Since then she has been calling to verbally harass us and has emailed us from several different made up email accounts. Worse, she has been attempting to ruin our reputation by leaving multiple MULTIPLE bad reviews on several different websites, including one from those blackmailing jackyls at Ripoff Report. Annoyingly enough, that one ranks on page 2 of google for my domain name. I've contacted many of these 'review' sites and some of them have been very understanding by removing the bad comments. One even recognized that the comments were all coming from the same IP address and in a very short span over a few days. Yet even after these reviews are removed, more spring up each day. I know where this person lives, I know their phone number, and I know their full name. What recourse do I have to prevent her from harassing us both verbally and defaming our company in the future? There must be some legal grounds to stop this, even if I do realize it would be difficult to prove. I'm also open to any other 'ideas' you guys might have that would, er, encourage her to leave me the &!%# alone. Thanks in advance!
The best advice would probably be to just ignore her unless she is making threats to harm someone - then you should contact you local police. Legally she is free to leave reviews about your site, what she isn't supposed to do is post false information. You could sue her if she is making up stories and posting them as facts - but this is going to be a costly process that involves filing a lawsuit and getting a court order to forcing the sites she is posting on to release IP information, and also to her ISP to release her identity. While you may already know who she is, you have to present a factual trail that proves it to the court. The other problem can be proving it was her who made the comments, and not someone else who had access to her computer - legal technicality. This is going to cost thousands of dollars in legal fees - fees you don't probably won't be awarded even if you win. You are going to need to show proof of damages (although depending on the facts, it may be libel per se) that her comments caused you monetary damages - and this can be difficult. Even if you win an award, you will still need to collect - and this can be next to impossible. Only a small percentage of people would even bother to check your company name before ordering something - and a single comment isn't likely going to scare most away in the event you have thousands of other customers who are happy. Only a very small percentage of people even go past the first page of search results (10%) so the reality is, it is annoying, but not likely to impact you financially. These types of nutcases will eventually go away. If you really want to stop her and are prepared to spend thousands to sue her knowing it is going to be a financial loss, then consult an attorney.
Unfortunately there is not much you can do legally, since the internet is international and laws are so different around the world, especially regarding the internet. There are online crime agencies, but that is more for serious crimes, where lives are in danger, not your everyday e-stalker types. Your best bet is to simple ignore the person.
Just u threaten again ur customer saying taht the funds received from her was fraudlent and u are gonna compalint it to the autorities, and send some spoofed mails pertaining it to be from credit agencies or fbi's. lol. sounds funny isnt it?
Why not ask your thousands of happy customers to counteract her claims? Get them to give you some feedback for your sevices, and show her up. Rather than focus on making her look bad, why not make yourself look good?
I have no time for people like that. Phone, email or face to face I'll just tell them to f%$king do one.
There's not a whole lot more to say on top of this. You've basically been given the best advice possible here, and if you're smart you will just ignore it and watch it go away. She's got to eventually stop.
You have many more options than those presented here. A simple 'complaint' letter on letterhead drafted and sent to her will probably stop her. Of course, if that doesn't work you would need to be prepared to take legal action. However the cost for the complaint letter is probably well worth the time and expense of a few hundred dollars. If you need the recommendation of a good lawyer let me know. I have a great one-of course I am not an attorney.
Thanks all who responded. I'm going to take the higher road and keep on ignoring her. Eventually, hopefully, she'll find something a little more constructive to do with her time. And if not, well... we'll see.
If what you are saying is true then she is either crazy or theres something personal between you two.. coz i dont know and i have never heard that someone would actually spend time on forums leaving bad comments about ur site, if the transactions have been made correctly. May be you did advertise fast shipping and you were not professional. in this case she is right. a little exagerated but she is right. In case she is crazy then i will tell u what a friend of mine did. Send her a letter from your lawyer saying that you will take action in case she continues making false statements online. The letter has to be in a legal language. It will scare the shit out of her She will stop believe me .
Its better to consult your lawyer. He/she will be a right person to advise you on your legal rights. just my 2 cents.
This advice is gonna suck but I hope you listen to it. Call her and say something like this: "Hello ma'am, We have been aware that you have been posting many negative comments about our company on various places on the internet. We realize your are an unhappy customer and we ourselves are unhappy about this. We feel your recent activity is slanderous and libel and our legal department is reviewing all this. However this isn't for me a solution. I would rather make you a satisfied customer and come to an agreement. What can my company do for you to change your attitude about our company. Within reason we want to accomodate you. What would you suggest?" Lose your pride and gain back your reputation.
The solution seems simple to me, IP ban her from the server and have your telco forward her calls to a non existant number
I believe now the local police of every country is working on cyber crimes. You can report your case their. Because it is really difficult to deal with this sort of person without any police help.
At a certain point you have to lawyer up and be willing to take the abuse forever.. I know of at least 2 former customers at the last place I worked that have been spreading false rumors about them for more than 10 years.. Online and off.. These people have been taken to court and they lost.. And they still go on and on about their imagined insult.. Some people are simply crazy..
Sounds stupid to be honest..... Threaten a customer???? That is NOT the way to handle the matter. Impersonating the FBI or anyone for that matter is illegal here in the US and I would think in India as well..... Go to school and learn what you are writing about before giving out advice that lacks legal or common sense. Posting a bad review is not a cyber crime.....please dont post misinformation.....
call her local police dept and explain your situation with them, and have them pay her a visit.. if she knows this is getting serious when the police show up to say hi, why are you harassing... then she will most likely stop, remember the police work for taxpayers...