14/06/2012

Defamation on the Internet - Should I Respond To a Review On a Forum?

Negative review of business

Should I respond to a negative review on a forum?

Generally speaking, and contrary to advice which is commonly given by some customer services experts, you will need to consider the question whether to respond to a negative defamatory review very carefully.

First, your response, perhaps unintentionally, could further aggrieve the author of the review and unintentional usage of speech tone or unguarded language could easily prompt the author of the review to respond to your response. This could in turn attract internet search engine attention to the original bad review, making it visible to more people.

Second, it is best to deal with complaints privately even if it has already been posted on the internet.  Having customer service issues dealt with online, in front of the whole world could be entertaining to the readers but is not likely to improve your situation.

Sometimes, a response to a complaint on a review site could turn a short negative review turning into pages of unpleasant dialogue with you and strangers.

Read earlier post on Defamation on a complaints website

Author: Yair Cohen
Social media lawyer