$3,500 Fine for Writing a Negative Online Review

Dr. Righteous said:
HA.
The only business owners that ever "go down" when their business are ones to fail to understand the volatility of business now a days.
The old "mom and pop" family business is a relic of the past. Once you invest your life and savings into is a fools errand for sure.
Usually the owners pay themselves a huge salary often way out of line with profits to insure they can escape scott-free when the business goes under. The employees are the ones who go hungry.
This type does their best to HIDE the fact they are losing money until there is nothing left.
You hear stories of employees going to work, like a normal day only to be shocked to find the company they worked for is closed and filed for bankruptcy.
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This isn't some sort of corporation. The company operates out of a residential home zoned as commercial.
 
Guess you can't edit.

Well in was going to add that I'm really enjoying the comedy the interwebz have given me this past month.

Although I'd like to see how this company reacts to any negative media articles, yeesh.
 
pxc said:
You have to buy Steve another iguana and Pentium 4 chip. It's in the FAQ.
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The [H]ard|Forum Rules:

(1) Absolutely NO FLAMING, NAME CALLING OR PERSONAL ATTACKS, NO TROLLING. Mutual respect and civilized conversation is the required norm.

(2) No OFF-TOPIC posting will be allowed with the exception of the SUBSCRIPTION FORUM area (General Mayhem). If general conversation is what you are looking for, you have found a new home http://www.hardforum.com/payments.php

(3) No THREAD HIJACKING. Start another thread if you have a different topic.

(4) Any negative posts on this forum towards KlearGear will result in an automatic one-time payment to Steve in the form of an Iguana and a Pentium 4 chip. Please note, the Iguana must be green.
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I knew I should have read the FAQ first. Where do I send the Iguana and P4?
 
AceGoober said:
Oh, crap....the internet has started the invasion:

http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.kleargear.com
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Oh snaps now they've done it:

Kurt a.
New Reviewer
11/18/13

Kleargear.com aka HavacoDirect, pays contractors to write fake reviews. Read their ad on Freelancer.com

http://www.freelancer.com/projects/SEO-SEM-Adwords/Write-Post-Reviews.html
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They hired someone to write 10 fake reviews on resellerratings. lulz

screencap for posterity: http://i.imgur.com/ODCUmw6.png
 
Only 45$ for 10 fake reviews with 10 different emails & IP adresses? Cheapskates!
 
Awesome thing about clauses you are forced to agree to when you use a product/buy a product/etc.... the US Constitution right to free speech trumps all those mother fuckers.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Awesome thing about clauses you are forced to agree to when you use a product/buy a product/etc.... the US Constitution right to free speech trumps all those mother fuckers.
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NO it doesn't.
The 1st Amendment applies only to governmental actors and then not absolutely. Thus why the government can order a company not to disclose when it asks for information (think Verizon, google etc re: NSA data requests).Or why employees are liable for keeping data secret.
When you deal with companies regarding technology you sign NDAs and are liable for breaching them, to the tune of the amount in the NDA.

So, no, the 1st amendment provides you with no protections here.
 
Pretty funny 'tude from a company that sells "Chill Pills" ...

Basically a joke shop with no sense humor?
 
Modred189 said:
NO it doesn't.
The 1st Amendment applies only to governmental actors and then not absolutely. Thus why the government can order a company not to disclose when it asks for information (think Verizon, google etc re: NSA data requests).Or why employees are liable for keeping data secret.
When you deal with companies regarding technology you sign NDAs and are liable for breaching them, to the tune of the amount in the NDA.

So, no, the 1st amendment provides you with no protections here.
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It's not an NDA, and it isn't legally enforceable by any means.
 
Reading comprehension fail and no edit fail.
it might not be an NDA, but it IS a contract.

But the point remains, your 1st amendment rights are irrelevant to a private contract.
 
Modred189 said:
Reading comprehension fail and no edit fail.
it might not be an NDA, but it IS a contract.

But the point remains, your 1st amendment rights are irrelevant to a private contract.
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You're still ignoring the fact that the contract isn't legally enforceable by any means of legal acrobatics at all, ever, the end, good night.
 
oh shit, you can do that????

then I'm sending bills to everyone I hate, then reporting them to credit bureaus and collections. fuckers.
 
Hey Anonymous, if you're looking for a new target, look no further. RIH, KG.
 
dr.kevin said:
oh shit, you can do that????

then I'm sending bills to everyone I hate, then reporting them to credit bureaus and collections. fuckers.
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You can't bills everyone you hate. You can only send bills to everyone who writes bad stuff about you. :p
 
JayteeBates said:
Not if he didn't buy anything.
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In theory this person didn't end up buying anything either. The order never processed and was cancelled. So calling that buying something from them is a tad thin. They attempted to buy something.
 
I hope this matter is resolved amicably. If no order was placed, processed or delivered, I would only assume the binding contract seems to be invalid. However who knows, depends on who each party has on retainer.
 
I hope the bastards get sued, bankrupted, then jailed for fraud.
 
The business is wrong on so many levels. The phrase:

In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.

Should you violate this clause, as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.
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A) It wasn't a condition when the customer made the purchase. You can't add a sales term years after the fact.
B) Barring the fact that it wasn't even a term at the time of sale, it's not libel if its true or an opinion. The review states actual facts of what happened. IE. If you really threw a firebomb at my house I could post about it online, scream it from the rooftop, and take out a building size advertisement saying that so-and-so threw a firebomb at my home... and there isn't a damn thing you could do about it. As soon as it crosses into falsehood/lies it becomes libel.
C) Those previous items are well and good, but still irrelevant. The company never delivered the products, thus executing the sales contract. Since the sales contract is null, then the terms of the sales contract are null.
D) A business doesn't have a right to fine anyone in a manner that holds them legally responsible for the debt. A business can fine you, but the responsibility & impact is solely between private parties. IE. The NFL can fine a player for an illegal hit. If the player doesn't pay the fine, the can ban them from their organization and playing in the league, but they can't send it to collections or to a credit reporting agency.
 
Can they even legally enforce this or even attempt to bill someone? Besides, how can someone's negative review provided that it is true, even be considered libel just because it is negative? These fuckers need to get their business in order so that people only leave positive feedback or simply moderate reviews. This is plain scam and extortion and I hope they get torn a new one for this.
 
Such a sales term should be illegal in the first place, even if she "agreed" to it (who reads the ten page disclaimers).

After all, if I put up free popular software, and made part of the fine print on page 7 that I get to take your house, should such legal trickery be permitted? Not in a just society, and if it does, the legal system is broken and the public needs to grab some molotov cocktails and rebuild on top of the ashes.
 
KG claims they're backed up due to sharp and unexpected increase in order volume:
notice-su.jpg


But I think it's b/c some hacktivist DOS'd them. :D
 
As others have mentioned KlearGear is just some little online shop that is probably run by 1 person. You know it is funny in my life I have never had a large company try or threaten to file a law suit against me, but multiple times I have experienced or witnessed this behavior out of these small operations where some clown who doesn't have a clue about law tries to pull this shit on people. And the worst part is they always try to do it when they are clearly in the wrong. What I have actually learned is that most of the time they are full of shit. If I was the lady I would take a credit card and pay the $3500 "fine" then turn right around and screw him over by doing a charge back and report him for fraud.
 
I hope they get every penny from KlearGear,and it sparks an investigation against such practices from other companies. And I think RipoffReports should take a hit on this,this is exactly the kind of behavior by companies they purport to be against and should have been first to offer aid to the family,instead they they did nothing.
 
The sad thing is that even if KG goes out of business, they'll reopen under a different name and website and most people won't even know it's the same shady company.
 
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