NER: Vendor contract prohibits negative online reviews?

Sars06 · January 2014

We contacted a DJ company based in part on their many positive reviews on WeddingWire. In the packet of information they sent us, I noticed this clause in their contract:

"Web 2.0: The client agrees to address any problems, either before or after the event, directly with the company through [state] Small Claims Court, rather than by posting negative comments (blog posts, reviews, etc.) online. Any client who does, under their own name, a pseudonym, anonymously or by any other means, post negative comments about the company online, will be held financially responsible for any damages done to the company's reputation. Because such damages can be difficult to quantify, the client agrees that damages will be set at a minimum of $5,000 (five thousand dollars) per negative online posting. 99% of clients are reasonable people who address problems with civility, person to person. Those are the clients with whom we wish to do business. Thank you!"

Is this as shady as I think it is? We are planning our wedding from out of state, so we have been relying on online reviews to find some of our vendors. This contract makes me think that the company can't stand by their work if they have to threaten potential clients not to post negative reviews online. Defamation is already against the law - do they really need to protect themselves from clients making negative statements that are TRUE?

And what is a "reasonable" client supposed to if the company doesn't address the problem satisfactorily?

I'm sure that this company's many positive reviews online are valid, but this contract just puts a bad taste in my mouth. How many negative reviews have they had removed? Is this sort of contract common?

tabathafaye · January 2014

I would not book them.

Sars06 · January 2014

scribe95 said:

I have not seen that before and I would not sign any contract that limits my free speech.

I doubt it would hold up in court, but yeah. That's sort of how I'm feeling.

climbingsingle · January 2014

That seems shady to me. I wouldn't book them.

Sars06 · January 2014

@tabathafaye

@scribe95

@ClimbingBrideNY

Ok, thanks for confirming that I'm not the crazy one here. I think we will stay away from this company.

tabathafaye · January 2014

scribe95 said:

I have not seen that before and I would not sign any contract that limits my free speech.

It's not violating freedom of speech which protects you from being arrested for speaking out against the government.

However, it has to make you wonder why they would add this clause to their contract? How many bad reviews do they have?

Jen4948 · January 2014

I wouldn't sign any contract with such a provision.

SlothGoals · January 2014

Run far, far, away from this company!

emmyg65 · January 2014

There are already libel laws that protect against defamation and most online review sites have ways that vendors can address unfair reviews. I would not sign that contract, and I would let them know exactly why.

mbross3 · January 2014

It probably won't hold up in court - as PP have said. I just read an article on this and will link it if I can find it again! Basically a retail company based online sued a couple for posting a review stating that they had never received the item they purchased and the company had refused to reimburse them and had bad customer service, etc. It turned out everything was true (so no defamation) and a court (federal) ruled that the "contract" could not be upheld. Turns out the company was mostly just a front that made money by suing people for "defamation" and breach of contract!

I would not sign a contract with that specifically stated, since if anything it will be more trouble than it's worth.

Good luck!

photokitty · January 2014

I definitely would not book them - makes me wonder what their reviews would be if they allowed people to write whatever they want.

If they are a Knot or Wedding Wire preferred vendor, I would submit this info to the sites. This inflates positive reviews and makes it look like they are good, when others might say otherwise if not for threat of a $5K fine.

lyndausvi · January 2014

I would not book with them. I would say that I wanted to book with you because of all the positive reviews, but it looks like that was inflated due to your clause.

sarahufl · January 2014

super shady. Wouldn't do it. What I may do is go back to them and say that you were interested in their services but you wanted to amend the contract by taking out that provision.

See if they are amenable to it and go from there. But honestly, I would not hire them.

aleighc3 · January 2014

Freedom of speech really only applies to being able to speak freely (without prosecution) towards the government, it does not mean anyone can say whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever you want...js

JCbride2015 · January 2014

This is really shady and would definitely make me think they have gotten a lot of negative reviews before. Run the other direction.

ei34 · January 2014

That sounds super shady. I wouldn't book them.

Sars06 · January 2014

photokitty said:

I definitely would not book them - makes me wonder what their reviews would be if they allowed people to write whatever they want.

If they are a Knot or Wedding Wire preferred vendor, I would submit this info to the sites. This inflates positive reviews and makes it look like they are good, when others might say otherwise if not for threat of a $5K fine.

Good idea - I will do that.

Sars06 · January 2014

aleighc3 said:

Freedom of speech really only applies to being able to speak freely (without prosecution) towards the government, it does not mean anyone can say whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever you want...js

This is true, but I actually do agree with the PP that this is a freedom of speech issue. If they sued me for $5k+ for posting a (true) negative review and a judge ruled in their favor, that absolutely constitutes the government restricting my free speech. Of course, as I said earlier, I doubt this would hold up in court.

At any rate, I am glad to hear that everyone agrees with my initial assessment that this company is shady. It's too bad, because they were our last hope for a decent DJ!

Teddy917 · January 2014

Since you're not signing that contract, there is nothing stopping you from posting reviews about that clause. That's what I would do.

Sars06 · January 2014

Teddy917 said:

Since you're not signing that contract, there is nothing stopping you from posting reviews about that clause. That's what I would do.

Damn right!

Amyzen83 · January 2014

Eeeek! I wouldn't sign for that reason! If they sucked, I'd want people to know so they can save their money

Ven&Radio · January 2014

First of all, good for you for reading the contract before signing it! So many people don't do this. I wonder about the legality of this clause because it does seem to infringe on freedom of speach (assuming you are in the US). However, I wouldn't book them. If they're this concerned about negative comments, it probably means they've had problems in the past and are trying to cover it up. You can find someone who is legitimately good at their job. I might even be inclined to tell the company you're declining to book because you're uncomfortable with their contract wording.

princessleia22 · January 2014

I've heard of that before but never come across it personally. First, like Ven&Radio said, it's awesome that you actually read the contract. It actually annoys me when I see people sign things they don't read, but it happens all the time.

But, if they need to take an offensive action to avoid negative comments, that seems very fishy. Yes, there are a lot of positive reviews, but you don't know how many negative reviews were removed or never posted, due to that clause. With a clause like that, they obviously have had experience with negative reviews, so I wouldn't trust them. I could see maybe if they had a clause laying out dispute procedures, such as requiring that you contact them first to attempt to resolve issues and do mediation or whatever before posting negatively about them, but to straight up say you can NEVER post anything negative and it will cost you $5000 per post, is just ridiculous. What if you go through the "reasonable" and "civil" methods and no agreement or resolution can be made? What if after that, they are still total a#$holes? What if they completely ruin weddings on a regular basis? Yes, they may be able to "resolve" it financially afterward, but it still doesn't change the fact that they ruined the wedding. You should be able to accurately relate your experiences with the company, good or bad. If you take away any bad reviews, the good ones are completely worthless. So, um, yeah... run away and find a new DJ.

HaileyDancingbear · January 2014

tabathafaye said:

scribe95 said:

I have not seen that before and I would not sign any contract that limits my free speech.

It's not violating freedom of speech which protects you from being arrested for speaking out against the government.

However, it has to make you wonder why they would add this clause to their contract? How many bad reviews do they have?

Yeah I'd be really suspicious about this. If nobody is allowed to say anything bad about them, how can you even trust the reviews online? What if for each good review, there are like 5 other people who didn't post a review because the vendor sucked and they're not allowed to say that?

RebeccaB88 · January 2014

Aw, hell to the no. Uh uh. That clause tells me they don't want to provide work they can stand behind and that their reputation can't speak positively for itself. What would push them towards giving good service then, if they know no one will find out about it? Seems like it's an excuse to just phone it in.

lc07 · January 2014

Teddy917 said:

Since you're not signing that contract, there is nothing stopping you from posting reviews about that clause. That's what I would do.

I love this. But I have heard that many sites, yelp included, will allow the business owner to have a review removed if the person who wrote it was not actually a client of the company.

NER: Vendor contract prohibits negative online reviews?

Re: NER: Vendor contract prohibits negative online reviews?

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