Negative dealership review and legal action | GTAMotorcycle.com

Negative dealership review and legal action

slowbird

slowbird

Well-known member
I posted a negative review on dealerrater about a dealership I bought a car at a year and half ago and they recently replied telling me to drop the review because the claims I made are false and if I don't they remove the review.

"If you do not remove the words immediately we will refer this matter to our legal counsel and instruct him to institute an action for slander and injurious falsehood and claim damages against you."

I'm pretty sure they are just intimidating me and they can't prove that anything I said is false but it's still worrying.

Anyone have any experience with this?
 
slowbird said:
I posted a negative review on dealerrater about a dealership I bought a car at a year and half ago and they recently replied telling me to drop the review because the claims I made are false and if I don't they remove the review.

"If you do not remove the words immediately we will refer this matter to our legal counsel and instruct him to institute an action for slander and injurious falsehood and claim damages against you."

I'm pretty sure they are just intimidating me and they can't prove that anything I said is false but it's still worrying.

Anyone have any experience with this?
Click to expand...

Pull it down and replace it with another review that says "I recently posted a negative review on this dealership, but pulled it down because the dealership threatened me with legal action for slander. While I stand behind what I had originally posted in that review and will never again do business with that dealer, I have since pulled the review down because of the threat of legal action by the dealer. There is no way of knowing how many other negative reviews have also been pulled down as a result of such threats by that dealer. That is my poor experience with this dealership."
 
griff2 said:
Pull it down and replace it with another review that says "I recently posted a negative review on this dealership, but pulled it down because the dealership threatened me with legal action for slander. While I stand behind what I had originally posted in that review and will never again do business with that dealer, I have since pulled the review down because of the threat of legal action by the dealer. There is no way of knowing how many other negative reviews have also been pulled down as a result of such threats by that dealer. That is my poor experience with this dealership."
Click to expand...

That's perfect! Thanks brother.
 
Do you have a link to the original review? inquiring minds need to know.
 
You can freely write facts, not assumptions or opinions. If you stand by what you wrote repost it here, with a copy of their letter.

Dealers operate with written contracts. It should be clear if they have beached the agreement in which case court is your forum, not dealerrater.
 
slowbird said:
I posted a negative review on dealerrater about a dealership I bought a car at a year and half ago and they recently replied telling me to drop the review because the claims I made are false and if I don't they remove the review.

"If you do not remove the words immediately we will refer this matter to our legal counsel and instruct him to institute an action for slander and injurious falsehood and claim damages against you."

I'm pretty sure they are just intimidating me and they can't prove that anything I said is false but it's still worrying.

Anyone have any experience with this?
Click to expand...

Let them pursue a case of slander. Slander is spoken - libel is written.
 
slowbird said:
I posted a negative review on dealerrater about a dealership I bought a car at a year and half ago and they recently replied telling me to drop the review because the claims I made are false and if I don't they remove the review.

"If you do not remove the words immediately we will refer this matter to our legal counsel and instruct him to institute an action for slander and injurious falsehood and claim damages against you."

I'm pretty sure they are just intimidating me and they can't prove that anything I said is false but it's still worrying.

Anyone have any experience with this?
Click to expand...

fbea074c7ab022f49c8d517e2552b1eb.jpg





"If i was educated, I'd be a damn fool"
 
slowbird said:
"If you do not remove the words immediately we will refer this matter to our legal counsel and instruct him to institute an action for slander and injurious falsehood and claim damages against you."
Click to expand...

"Him" = one male, a small legal firm or a gender faux pas on the part of a sexist writer.

Slander / Libel as mentioned

How do they establish the amount of damages in cases like these? Do they have a list of customers that stopped shopping there because Slowbird wrote a nasty? Wouldn't they have to produce their sales / profit figures to substantiate a claim?

Can one legally express an opinion? While it is wrong to write "John Doe is a crook" is it OK to write "It is my opinion that John Doe is a crook."

IMO Unless slowbird really reamed the dealer they are bluffing. However a few years ago a homeowner, unhappy with the condition of her new abode, offended the builder on a blog or forum. The builder sued and I think her legal costs to fight it cost her the house.

When asked to comment on construction deficiencies I tend to show the owner the specifications and then make it plain what they have. It's up to them to see the difference and assign blame. "The spec says 16" on centre and here is a picture of a tape measure showing 24" on centre."
 
griff2 said:
Pull it down and replace it with another review that says "I recently posted a negative review on this dealership, but pulled it down because the dealership threatened me with legal action for slander. While I stand behind what I had originally posted in that review and will never again do business with that dealer, I have since pulled the review down because of the threat of legal action by the dealer. There is no way of knowing how many other negative reviews have also been pulled down as a result of such threats by that dealer. That is my poor experience with this dealership."
Click to expand...

Pretty much this - but keep the original review up. Pulling it down could imply an admission of guilt, or at the very least hurt your credibility. You believe what you wrote was honest and truthful, keep your original words to back that up.

They don't have a leg to stand on, this is a textbook scare tactic employed by a company which would prefer to clean up its mess rather than clean up its act. Proving what you originally wrote is libellous would likely be exhaustive for them, but a copy of their threatening email and this type of response would bury them in bad press. Regardless of truth or lies, that would cost them more than they bargained for and teach them a lesson in customer service. Instead of throwing their weight at you, they could have approached you in good faith.

Barbera Streisand.


PS - All of that said, it would be great to read your review. If only to gain a little more insight into the matter.
 
Bermuda said:
Pretty much this - but keep the original review up. Pulling it down could imply an admission of guilt, or at the very least hurt your credibility. You believe what you wrote was honest and truthful, keep your original words to back that up.

They don't have a leg to stand on, this is a textbook scare tactic employed by a company which would prefer to clean up its mess rather than clean up its act. Proving what you originally wrote is libellous would likely be exhaustive for them, but a copy of their threatening email and this type of response would bury them in bad press. Regardless of truth or lies, that would cost them more than they bargained for and teach them a lesson in customer service. Instead of throwing their weight at you, they could have approached you in good faith.

Barbera Streisand.


PS - All of that said, it would be great to read your review. If only to gain a little more insight into the matter.
Click to expand...

I'd like to think that the truth will set (and keep) you free too, but there is always a "but".

The problem is that if there is anything in the original dealership review that could be challenged, and if the dealership were to do so in a legal forum, the dealership likely has far deeper pockets and greater incentive than the OP to dip into those pockets to fund a legal action. It doesn't take much to launch a lawsuit, and there is little filtering at the front end to stop even the most frivolous lawsuits from being started. Once one is started against you, you have no choice but to defend yourself against it and for most people that entails hiring a lawyer.

How many here would be able to spend the time and funds to defend a libel suit launched against them by an organization with deep pockets and a strong business incentive to protect their reputation? Even if you were to successfully defend that suit, what ultimate benefit would you gain except to have your opinion continue to be visible on an internet page?
 
Had a car stealership try to strong arm me for their mistake. Threats of legal action etc. I didn't budge. Haven't heard anything yet...7 months later. I won't be dealing with Richmond Hill Toyota again....just took the new car to another dealership for it's first service.
 
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It's cheap for the dealership to send a threatening letter. It costs real money for them to follow through with it.

If you are going to complain online about something then make certain that anything you state is factual. No exaggerations, no unreasonable expectations. No "I thought ...". Nothing you can't back up with facts. If that's the situation ... don't back down.
 
Thanks for all the responses people. :) Great advice too.
I did a quick google search when I got the e-mail from the dealer and there was a couple canadian news articles on people getting sued for negative reviews (like what noobie48 mentioned) so I pretty much did what griff2 suggested as it seemed the less troublesome. I think it's almost more hurtful to the dealers reputation than my original review.

I don't have the review any longer (cause I edited it)....the basics of it were this: (in not so many words)

-All the cars they listed online weren't there. As soon as I showed the list to the Salesman he said "Those have been sold for a long time now." and I referred to it in the review as the "ol'bait-n-switch" (I know it's common but the ads were fairly recent. I haven't experienced this while I've been car shopping this week)

-The salesman and I made a deal on a car the following day. When I went to the next guy (who tries to sell you warranties and undercoating) he showed me the bill of sale and my term length was longer then we agreed on. 84mths not 72mnths. When I said that wasn't what we agreed on he paged the salesman but he never showed up. (I eventually resolved it without the original salesmans help but when I went to leave he was at his desk eating chicken wings and was unapologetic about it.)

-Car was bought in the dead of winter...was difficult to inspect visually with salt, snow. Even when washed the water froze quickly to the body. Salesman assured me it was flawless. First nice day when I got it I noticed all the dings and scrapes.

-Tires were worn. (1 definitely lower than what would pass safety) Had a coolant leak. Still passed safety and sold to me. I pointed this out after the sale...they didn't care

-Negotiated winter tires and rims to be bought and installed on car at time of purchase. (Was in December. I live in Shelburne. Dealership is on Lakeshore.) Was assured it was ready to pickup. When I went to go pick it up they said the wheels/tires were on backorder.

I also mentioned in the review that I'd go on about how bad their service department was but it wasn't worth it and that the dealership was overall "lousy".

...and this is at Peel Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat on Lakeshore.

The only reason why I posted the review on dealerrater was because I am shopping for a car and was looking at dealerrater and other sites to check dealerships. I posted a great review about the Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat dealership in Georgetown that I take my car to for service and thought "My original dealer was awful. Might as well give them a negative review."
 
Brian P said:
If you are going to complain online about something then make certain that anything you state is factual. No exaggerations, no unreasonable expectations. No "I thought ...". Nothing you can't back up with facts.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this and how does one "back up" stuff like this? It's all "he said-he said." If I said "We agreed on this long a lease." they can just say "No we didn't"

I know this makes it also difficult to prove me wrong but I can't backup anything really, can I?

I used to work for the Police and Civil law and disputes can be real tricky.
 
reminds me , I never put up my thoughts of GeorgeTown KIA, Avoid them unless you like theatrics and dealing with dooshbags.
 
kiwi said:
reminds me , I never put up my thoughts of GeorgeTown KIA, Avoid them unless you like theatrics and dealing with dooshbags.
Click to expand...

I went to them to look at an Optima. They won't stop calling me to come back.
 
slowbird said:
Thanks for all the responses people. :) Great advice too.
I did a quick google search when I got the e-mail from the dealer and there was a couple canadian news articles on people getting sued for negative reviews (like what noobie48 mentioned) so I pretty much did what griff2 suggested as it seemed the less troublesome. I think it's almost more hurtful to the dealers reputation than my original review.

I don't have the review any longer (cause I edited it)....the basics of it were this: (in not so many words)

-All the cars they listed online weren't there. As soon as I showed the list to the Salesman he said "Those have been sold for a long time now." and I referred to it in the review as the "ol'bait-n-switch" (I know it's common but the ads were fairly recent. I haven't experienced this while I've been car shopping this week)

-The salesman and I made a deal on a car the following day. When I went to the next guy (who tries to sell you warranties and undercoating) he showed me the bill of sale and my term length was longer then we agreed on. 84mths not 72mnths. When I said that wasn't what we agreed on he paged the salesman but he never showed up. (I eventually resolved it without the original salesmans help but when I went to leave he was at his desk eating chicken wings and was unapologetic about it.)

-Car was bought in the dead of winter...was difficult to inspect visually with salt, snow. Even when washed the water froze quickly to the body. Salesman assured me it was flawless. First nice day when I got it I noticed all the dings and scrapes.

-Tires were worn. (1 definitely lower than what would pass safety) Had a coolant leak. Still passed safety and sold to me. I pointed this out after the sale...they didn't care

-Negotiated winter tires and rims to be bought and installed on car at time of purchase. (Was in December. I live in Shelburne. Dealership is on Lakeshore.) Was assured it was ready to pickup. When I went to go pick it up they said the wheels/tires were on backorder.

I also mentioned in the review that I'd go on about how bad their service department was but it wasn't worth it and that the dealership was overall "lousy".

...and this is at Peel Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat on Lakeshore.

The only reason why I posted the review on dealerrater was because I am shopping for a car and was looking at dealerrater and other sites to check dealerships. I posted a great review about the Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat dealership in Georgetown that I take my car to for service and thought "My original dealer was awful. Might as well give them a negative review."
Click to expand...

Wow! I had that feeling u will come up with that name.
They do it to everyone. The salesmanager is the person there with these words.
stefano I believe he's name was.
He even said : I don't know how much money u have but the owner has a lot of it so better not to get to this.
And of course the truck I wanted to buy from an active add was sold.
But they had another one. Not the same colour etc but it's a same truck with different package and price.
 
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