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Ha! Amazon closes account of company that threatened to sue reviewer.

by Joe Mobley
18 replies
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  • Florida man purchases router from company, New Jersey-based Mediabridge via Amazon.
  • Unhappy purchaser leaves negative review on Amazon and Reddit.
  • Company, New Jersey-based Mediabridge, contacts law firm and threatened to sue the purchaser over the review.
  • Amazon revokes company's seller account, the only site through which it currently sells its products.... HA!

The consequences of one negative Amazon review might have just cost a company its business.
In the days after the law firm made its threat, the man who wrote the Amazon review has taken down his original review and his post on Reddit. But that's not the end of this for the company.
Original article,

This Guy May Get Sued Over an Amazon Review - NationalJournal.com

Folowup,

Company That Threatened to Sue Negative Reviewer Just Lost Its Amazon Account - NationalJournal.com

A couple of questions come to mind:

Hey, Mediabridge! What's the name of that dumb a$$, I mean wonderful law firm that gave you this great advice? You know, in case some other company wants to use (or avoid) their services.

Hey, Mediabridge! Are the execs who followed this advice being retrained in the fast-food industry? "Do you want fries with that?"

I'm thinking that the sales estimates for Mediabridge may need to be revised downward for the near future.

Company (New Jersey-based Mediabridge) gets a spanking. Law firm gets a spanking. I'm loving this on so many levels. :rolleyes:


Joe Mobley
  • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
    Yay! This one's for the little guy! Great job Amazon.

    What a stupid company. They only sell cables in India, but I will make sure that if they do sell routers and stuff in the future, I will actively discourage people from buying from them.

    Sumit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
    Originally Posted by Joe Mobley View Post

    Hey, Mediabridge! What's the name of that dumb a$$, I mean wonderful law firm that gave you this great advice? You know, in case some other company wants to use (or avoid) their services.
    Can you sue a law firm for bad legal advice?
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Sumit Menon View Post

      Can you sue a law firm for bad legal advice?
      If you have evidence of it, and it is certainly bad advice, you CAN! It is called malpractice. Of course, the entire legal firm or even "industry" may come to his defense.

      It happens, but I bet it doesn't happen often.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    lol. Incredible. They could have made it all better by making that customer happy instead of threatening him with a lawsuit.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    That article is wrong! If amazon says you can't ask a reviewer to change a bad review, you CAN'T sue him! SUING is, in a real sense, a punishment, extortion, and DEMANDING that the reviewer change a review! As such, they should have EXPECTED the one best move that amazon could take to extricate themselves. CLOSE THE ACCOUNT! And NOW, for the lawsuit to go on, they will likely have to SUBPOENA records from amazon!

    Nearly ALL vendors get bad reviews! SOME aren't even for the right product or vendor! But if you dare to extort people to remove the BAD, you might as well get rid of the GOOD also. And this is one of the top 2 smartest things amazon EVER did! I bet they saw a huge sales spike. I know I buy more because of it. I weigh the bad against the good.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Daones
    They handled that all wrong, I agree they should of dealt with the reviewer on an individual basis, give them something free or at least talk/email them... It would of saved them money and now would of saved them a lot of money.
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    • Profile picture of the author errfkbpwiugw
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    While it was probably a stupid decision to sue the person who left the 'review', the guy did make several demonstrably false statements and accusations that probably were technically libel.

    What it boils down to, it seems, is that customers - or even disgruntled non-customers - can make false statements about a company or its products pretty much with impunity.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Seems to me if you are going to be tough with those who criticize your products rightly or wrongly - you better be selling from your own platform online.

      I think online reviews offer angry customers a chance to "get back at" and often common sense goes out the window.

      When a company reacts in the same vein with legal threats, no one wins.

      I don't blame Amazon for shutting down the account - they don't want that kind of negative finger pointing publicity and don't have to tolerate it.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by SteveJohnson View Post

      While it was probably a stupid decision to sue the person who left the 'review', the guy did make several demonstrably false statements and accusations that probably were technically libel.

      What it boils down to, it seems, is that customers - or even disgruntled non-customers - can make false statements about a company or its products pretty much with impunity.
      As I implied above, I HAVE caught some reviewers that have reviewed the wrong product, or company. Amazon FINALLY caught on to SOME of this, and has an identifier to say that they at least know the person COULD likely make such a review.(They at least bought that instance of that product through amazon.)

      But that could be a mistake, misunderstanding, or a simple URL error.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    Was the bad review demonstrably false, negatively misrepresenting the product, and without merit? I personally am disturbed by this story. Amazon's reaction seems harsh. Why would it take such a drastic measure? The company's well-being was so tied in to Amazon distribution that it might go out of business by being by being cut-off like that and that means people will lose their jobs.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

      Was the bad review demonstrably false, negatively misrepresenting the product, and without merit? I personally am disturbed by this story. Amazon's reaction seems harsh. Why would it take such a drastic measure? The company's well-being was so tied in to Amazon distribution that it might go out of business by being by being cut-off like that and that means people with lose their jobs.
      Well, Amazon said they are not to ask people to remove negative reviews. And there is no obviously honest way for a third party to correct such a problem fairly. Amazon followed their policies.

      The company probably WILL see a big drop in sales. In some cases, that could be a 100% drop. But just suing like this could do that.

      The company would have been better off responding to the review, or talking to the reviewer or amazon about it.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        You can dispute a review, if it gives false information, or is from a competitor.

        I've never disputed a review, but I've read this in a course on reputation management.
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        • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
          [QUOTE=Claude Whitacre;9183977]You can dispute a review, if it gives false information, or is from a competitor.

          I've never disputed a review, but I've read this in a course on reputation management.[/QUO


          You never got bad reviews for your Kindle books. I'm pretty impressed at how you did all those different writing styles when you wrote them!
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            [quote=lanfear63;9184426]
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            You can dispute a review, if it gives false information, or is from a competitor.

            I've never disputed a review, but I've read this in a course on reputation management.[/QUO


            You never got bad reviews for your Kindle books. I'm pretty impressed at how you did all those different writing styles when you wrote them!
            Ha! One thing I do, and teach, is write reviews of products you sell. I review pretty much everything I sell in my store, and online. The reviews go onto my blogs and Youtube videos. There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you are giving real information. After all, who knows more about what you sell, than you?

            But I've never reviewed a book I've written, or an information package I've created. That would be silly.

            I've had a few bad reviews on Kindle books. But I've never disputed them. I've only had a couple really bad reviews, and I understood the reasons. To dispute a review, it would have to be written with malice or obviously be from a competitor. This happens more in Google local reviews, than Kindle reviews.

            The first few reviews are always from friends, or other authors. Everyone does that. But after 5 or 10? They're all real. I don't even know the people.
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            • Profile picture of the author errfkbpwiugw
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            • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
              [quote=Claude Whitacre;9184596]
              Originally Posted by lanfear63 View Post


              Ha! One thing I do, and teach, is write reviews of products you sell. I review pretty much everything I sell in my store, and online. The reviews go onto my blogs and Youtube videos. There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you are giving real information. After all, who knows more about what you sell, than you?

              But I've never reviewed a book I've written, or an information package I've created. That would be silly.

              I've had a few bad reviews on Kindle books. But I've never disputed them. I've only had a couple really bad reviews, and I understood the reasons. To dispute a review, it would have to be written with malice or obviously be from a competitor. This happens more in Google local reviews, than Kindle reviews.

              The first few reviews are always from friends, or other authors. Everyone does that. But after 5 or 10? They're all real. I don't even know the people.
              Ha, I know full well that all your reviews are outsourced to a highly trained crack team of Emperor Penguins.

              Its true what you say about not knowing any of them though! Penguins are notoriously difficult to get to know. You could be telling them one thing or e-mailing them and all they are thinking about is whens the next fish going to go go down my gullet or shall I go and have a swim in the sea! Attention deficit on steroids, penguins.

              Don't underestimate their intelligence though, and I'm sure you don't looking at the excellent reviews. They are one of the few species on the planet that walks upright too. Not like a Meerkat that just stands up when the dinner gong goes off.

              Bet your wondering how I found out, Was reading a review and right at the end it said: You sit on the eggs Mabel while I go for some fish. See, attention deficit, recognised it straight away. Not chickens I thought. Mabel's not a popular name for chickens!

              What a stupid response to a perfectly decent post! I'm totally ashamed! :-(
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    • Profile picture of the author dsimms
      Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

      Was the bad review demonstrably false, negatively misrepresenting the product, and without merit? I personally am disturbed by this story. Amazon's reaction seems harsh. Why would it take such a drastic measure? The company's well-being was so tied in to Amazon distribution that it might go out of business by being by being cut-off like that and that means people will lose their jobs.
      Was it hash for the NBA to ban stearling for life because of his
      racist comments made to his GF in private? After all they
      were made in private, and nothing to do with the league....
      now they do not want any family member owning the team....

      Little harsh dont you think...

      and to be honest, the company had no right to sue the buyer
      on products they do not even own, they are just an affiliate...
      so they were pretty much threatening to sue an amazon buyer, not
      their own buyer from their own store, right?

      I wonder if that was in amazons TOS at the time...
      Affiliates can not sue amazon buyers, or they
      will lose their account status with amazon....

      maybe I am missing something; The site says they have employees,
      why would you have employees for a store where you do not
      even process your own products,sales, etc...
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      • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
        Originally Posted by dsimms View Post

        Was it hash for the NBA to ban stearling for life because...<snip>
        That was a weird non sequitur juxtaposition. It sidetracked me from seeing whatever your point was.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by dsimms View Post

        and to be honest, the company had no right to sue the buyer
        on products they do not even own, they are just an affiliate...
        so they were pretty much threatening to sue an amazon buyer, not
        their own buyer from their own store, right?
        Wrong. The amazon customer was referring to products from the company. Who they bought them from doesn't mean much, as the complaints were against the products.

        I wonder if that was in amazons TOS at the time...
        Affiliates can not sue amazon buyers, or they
        will lose their account status with amazon....
        They said you could not force a customer to remove their review, and had a TOS mentioning their right to cancel. Connect the dots.

        maybe I am missing something; The site says they have employees,
        why would you have employees for a store where you do not
        even process your own products,sales, etc...
        MOST companies have employees, and don't sell to the public, etc... Does NEC? Toshiba? Sony? Dodge? Black and Decker? Skill? Stihl? You would be SHOCKED at the employees NON fulfillment departments have for their website that don't even touch the website! I have been at TWO such places. One had NO products of their own, and I don't believe the other did either.

        HECK, I worked at one company that in a way started out with NO customers! NO products! But they had a LOT of employees. TODAY, at least, they deal with customers and sell phones used with their service.

        Steve
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