My cousin hired a company called Toscano Floor Designs in New York and the agreement states: Purchaser agrees not to attack/criticize or write negative reviews online about the seller. This should have been a red flag for what was about to come.
Yeah… that’s a huge nope. I’d have walked the moment I saw that even if it’s not enforceable, since they’re not confident enough to stand by their own quality.
It’s weird how terms/conditions in some places can be clearly illegal but still count.
bad reviews are how i evaluate the quality of stuff. Positive reviews cant be trusted most of the time but bad reviews might be more trustworthy. Any company that does this gives clear message that whatever they are selling is scam level quality.
Yep. I always immediately jump to the 1-stars/negative reviews to read the complaints. If they are serious and repeat them you know it’s probably shit. If there’s a huge spike from 2-4 to 1 star, then you can assume an associated high 5-star is artificially inflated pretty safely.
I always go after the 2 star. People give 1-star for the stupidest things. 2 star, people give more details.
Well I mean that’s why you read it, but you’re not wrong.
In Japan, a person can get sued for leaving an honest, negative review. One has to be careful with wording to avoid that completely (i.e. making sure that it’s clearly stated that the content is a personal opinion (as opposed to an accusation, I guess?)). Some people still do write them and some get scary take-down notices (which may or may not be real or enforceable). As far as I know, someone could leave a low rating on like a star-based system or whatever and be fine, but I am not a lawyer.
That’s awful for so many reasons. How are business/products expected to be held accountable? Obviously when you let free reign of negative reviews, you’re going to get some nonsensical ones or absurd ones, but people filter those out most of the time anyway. If you prevent (or there’s even a threat) for negative reviews, you’re just letting shitty companies and products get away with being shitty. It’s a loss for both consumers and the country wanting to have good businesses, though a win for shitty companies.
Yup! It’s dumb. Bonus one: one could get sued by posting on social media a pic/vid that shows someone cheating and they get caught. It’s profoundly stupid
you want to know some history, companies went after glassdoor and some users for factual critical reviews, hence thats why they are doing this, trying to do a NDA on people. they are well aware of these review sites could hurt thier chances of potentially exploiting employees.
its also why indeed forums shutdown, where you can get some information based on your indsutry, or some career discussion. most of them were about thier unethical hiring practicies; includes salary baiting, or pretending to hiring when they arnt,etc. some niche grad program/school can be found.(probably the only place that discussing the CLS program, for example).
now glassdoor allows astroturfing with fake positive reviews, and requires datamining your account to(you can bypass this with using a fake email/temp email to look at reviews)
CLS
Canadian Light Source??
clinical lab scientist.
Depends. For a $20 gift card? No.
Buy me a fully paid off house with homeowner insurance for the rest of my life? Maybe.
A billion dollars, tax-free? Hmmm yea I’d be very tempted, very likely to take the deal. I mean my voice wasn’t that loud anyways, I mean like… my one 1-star review weren’t ever gonna hurt them, might as well take the deal, I’d make sure to read through all the fine prints in the agreement.
I wouldn’t do business with them further. Even if they edited it out of the contract, shows how you cannot trust the existing reviews
It would take very little incentive to make me agree not to publicly criticize some small business. But it would take more than that.
Agreements like that are not enforceable, and yeh they’re a red flag for sure.
A key to free speech is the freedom to make comment, outside of libel / hate speech etc., and the right to be called out for any comments made. I treat all feedback like I would making clinical records. I must be able to defend and explain what is recorded.
That keeps me from doing business with someone, for sure.
In my book no review is as bad as a bad review, in the company had no reviews as they would all be bad I would look else where
The Consumer Review Fairness Act makes it illegal for companies to include standardized provisions that threaten or penalize people for posting honest reviews. For example, in an online transaction, it would be illegal for a company to include a provision in its terms and conditions that prohibits or punishes negative reviews by customers.
They should make a law that is upheld about things like this.
Visits White House
“Felt creepy, too much gold. Zero stars.”
FBI: hi there…
Leave a bad review for them breaking the law. Each time they threaten you, append it to your review.
Sadly, this act only covers “form contracts” for the sale of services or products, and doesn’t look like it would extend to contracts of employment. That is, a consumer cannot be bound by a clause that prohibits writing reviews. And if a consumer of the company’s products is also an employee, then this act doesn’t prohibit a “no reviews” clause in the employment contract.EDIT: I goofed at reading comprehension of OP’s post. What I wrote is a correct but irrelevant analysis. This act appears to void the clause of the contract.
But that’s not the situation in this scenario. OP’s brother hired this firm to perform a service, and thus this law should apply
Whoops, you’re right. I misread the first sentence as though OP’s brother was hired by the company. In OP’s brother’s case, yes, this act would appear to void any clause that would restrict writing a review, whether good or bad.
lmao
I would be giving them a negative review just for having that bullshit in their contract.
"One star
Literally made me sign a contract saying I would’t leave a negative review. Speaks for itself. "
It should be an illegal clause
Is it though?
It’s not enforceable. Contract law understands that sometimes contracts are garbage.
But it voids that clause in the contract. So they can leave as many reviews as they like and the company can do jack shit to impose sanctions for doing so.
In some places, yes, probably. It would most likely fall under anti-SLAPP protections.
IANAL though, so it could be more complicated.
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