When I first read the headline ‘New Legislation Would Make Banning Negative Yelp Reviews Illegal’, my initial thought was, “Really? The government doesn't have better things to do with its time?” But I was wrong. This is a law that some of us may not like, but it provides enormous protections for those of us who are committed to providing our customers with the best product or service possible.
The issue, in a nutshell, is about how some businesses want to take away their customers' ability to provide negative reviews to the public about their company’s product or service. According to Adi Robertson, they are doing this by including a "non-disparagement" clause in contracts that consumers have to sign before they do business with the company. If a consumer who has signed one of these contracts then leave a negative review on Yelp or some other online review site, the business will then have the right to sue the consumer for breach of contract.
Now using this non-disparaging clause a business that provides sub-par service might actually be able to compete on equal footing with those who are doing everything they can to meet the needs of their customers. Is that fair? Not only that, this is a disservice to us as consumers. I don’t know about you, but how often does anyone take the time to read the fine print in those things we are asked to sign when we deal with other businesses? And, do you really think they will draw our attention to the fact that they are asking us to sign away or first amendment rights beforehand?
As Kate Taylor notes, California has chosen to deal with this problem by enacting the so-called Yelp bill. Any business within the state that violates this law could face up to $10,000 in fines. Per Robertson, “Reps. Eric Swalwell and Brad Sherman (both D-CA) want to take this California Bill nationwide. He recently introduced the Consumer Review Freedom Act, which would give the Federal Trade Commission the right to penalize businesses around the country that try to stifle customers that give negative reviews.
Now, I know some of you are thinking that, as a business owner, you should not have to deal with unfair negative reviews. That is quite true. Nothing is worse than providing the best service possible but having a customer leave a negative review nonetheless for some ridiculous reason. I have seen this happen first hand with a facialist friend of mine. She is truly amazing at what she does but every now and then a customer will leave the worst Yelp review possible. This is someone who is passionate about what she does, so she is usually heartbroken by this. However, she deals with this by responding to each and every negative review with her version of the events. And you know what? Her business is booming! Overall, she has a really good Yelp rating!
Also, no need to worry that this law would give you no legal recourse to protect the reputation of your business against patently false reviews because you would still have the right to sue for defamation, libel, or slander. In addition, this law would not affect business to business relationships; only those between yourself and your customers.
Look, as I said in the opening, I am not a fan of superfluous laws and regulations. But to keep all businesses on an equal footing, I think this is one we definitely need.
