Negative online reviews can not only be detrimental to a company’s reputation, they can also lead to serious repercussions for the individuals who compose them.
A British Columbia man discovered just that when a $105,000 defamation lawsuit was filed against him by a Coquitlam custom stone fabrication company for posting an uncomplimentary Google review.
The man, Hyungdong Lee, was recently ordered to pay $4,000 in compensation to Pacific Granite Manufacturing Ltd. and its two proprietors for suggesting they “lied” about the incident after Lee’s car was allegedly damaged by a company employee.
After learning that the hit-and-run crash was likely caused by someone who worked at Pacific Granite Manufacturing Ltd., Lee went to the business to speak to the owners. While Lee alleges the man he spoke with denied everything, the owner, Nader Tabrizi, said he suggested Lee return at the end of the day to speak with the vehicle’s owner.
The incident escalated from there, resulting in Lee penning and posting a Google review in which he begged the public to “please never do business with this place” and ended it by saying “the boss and the staff here lied to the end.”
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mayer ruled that it was the last line of the review that was defamatory, and ordered Lee to compensate both the business and both its owners, although for $101,000 less than the amount sought.
Negative online reviews are increasingly a part of doing business in Canada, says CFIB Senior Manager of Business Resources Jocelyn Rhindress. She told The Epoch Times customers are more likely now than ever before to air their grievances with a business online.
Despite the ever-increasing number of reviews online, there hasn’t been an increase in the number of defamation lawsuits, says Ottawa lawyer Wendy Wagner, who specializes in defamation and media law.
Negative Review or Defamation?
Most negative reviews can be considered defamatory in the sense that they tend to lower the reputation of the business in the eyes of the public, Wagner said.“However, just because a statement is defamatory does not mean that it is actionable,” she said. “There are several defences to defamation that someone who is posting a negative review can rely on. These include truth … and also fair comment.”
A true statement is never actionable, Wagner said. She noted that fair comment also does not meet the criteria for a successful lawsuit when the statement of opinion is based on “true facts” and is made without malice or intent to injure.
“There is very broad leeway to make a statement of opinion versus a statement of fact, even if that statement is quite negative, as long as that statement is based on a set of true facts,” she said.
If, for instance, a couple went to a restaurant and ordered a $200 dinner and it failed to meet expectations, a negative review can be posted as long as it is factual, Wagner explained.
“You can state ‘in my opinion, the entrees we ordered were not unique nor of sufficient quality to justify a $200 expenditure,’” she said. “The statement is negative and reflects poorly on the restaurant and the quality of its offerings and may be considered defamatory, but the reviewer is permitted to give their opinion, as long as their opinion is based on a true fact.”
If a reviewer states something that can be disproven, such as calling someone a liar, then he or she may want to rethink what is being written. Calling someone a liar can be tough to prove, especially if it comes down to one person’s word against another’s, Wagner said.
How to Handle Negative Reviews
Online reviews, both good and bad, come with the territory of doing business today, Rhindress said. And that makes learning how to deal with negative reviews key for companies of all sizes, particularly for small business owners.“Negative reviews can actually really hurt a small business because they really rely on their reputation,” Rhindress said.
Regularly checking social media to know what is being posted is a must, she said. Whether a review is good or bad, “always respond and respond professionally.”
She suggests business owners thank the reviewer for the feedback, even with negative reviews. Then the owner must decide if an apology is necessary or if they should offer their side of the story. Whichever route they take, the wording must be professional, she stressed.
“It’s going to come down to how you respond to those reviews to mitigate your long-term damage,” she said. “The best way to combat bad reviews is to really encourage people to post good reviews, because it'll balance itself out in the long run.”
Receiving a few bad reviews isn’t the end of the world if a business already has a lot of positive ratings, Rhindress added.
“There’s actually been studies that show if you have a mix of reviews, that will create more trust,” Rhindress said. “If you only have perfect reviews, people tend to be a little suspicious of that. So if you are a business that has an occasional bad review or mid review, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
When a consumer is researching businesses online, it’s important to look at the overall review score rather than forming an opinion based on one or two negative reviews, she said.
It’s important to look for themes to see if one or two specific problems keep coming up. If that is the case, it’s something to take note of, she said. But if most of the feedback is positive, one or two negative reviews rarely tell the whole story.
“When I look at reviews, I don’t look at one individual review. I look at the sum total,” Rhindress said. “Generally, if a business has four and five star reviews and then there’s this one terrible review, you kind of have to wonder if there’s a little bit more to that story. As consumers, we have to be aware of that and take those reviews with a grain of salt.”
