$3,500 Fine for Writing a Negative Online Review

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What the hell!?! A $3,500 fine for a bad review? And, to make matters worse, Ripoffreport.com charges $2,000 to remove a review? :eek:

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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That's not even remotely enforceable. But, a lot of people will end up with hits on their credit scores despite that. Hopefully the owners of that company go out of business and end up eating out of dumpsters.
 
I remember this article.

What gets me is this: They consider the negative review "libelous".

Libel - A published false statement that damages a person's reputation; a written defamation.

If every company follows suit and considers every bad review posted on Amazon.com, Newegg.com, and other websites "libelous", us customers are going to have a really bad time trying to post our frustrations and complaints about bad products. Heck, if Ubisoft saw every bad comment and review about Assassin's Creed 4, and considered them libelous, they'd probably sue the shit out of every single reviewer and commenter.

The guy who gave a bad review on Youtube of that one game would be the first to go down, and will probably be followed by others.

It's as if these companies don't want us to give bad reviews and complaints about their products and services and just buy them as-is. That's absolutely not right.
 
If you read the article, it gets even weirder: the policy was not in place on the site when the bad review was written three years ago.
 
How did they know it was her? Couldn't you just use an anonymous name on RippOffReport or any other site you're posting the negative review on?

Either way, this is some bs.
 
It's not a 'fine'. The company is billing her for that amount.

With that said, I'm sure this wouldn't have any issue getting thrown out with a letter to the BBB and state attorney generals office (and likely the company paying the persons legal fee's etc if you brought them to court over the deal). It's a really stupid policy to have though. I hope this publicity really hurts em
 
This is nothing less than extortion,and the company should be charged and prosecuted. The fine itself is outrageous and illegal,but ruining a person's credit with no valid reason is criminal.
 
Possible lawsuit coming. Any company trying to block bad reviews should send a clear message to not buy from them.
 
Are we really surprised? Companies had nearly complete control of information published from their company and about their company for hundreds of years. This whole internet thing has made them start to act all funny now that information flows so easily around the world. A lot of these "review" sites engage in heavy self-censorship to stay in a company's good books. I'm betting we'll see some really crazy lawsuits in the next 20 years as it gets harder and harder to run a tight ship with regards to information, both for governments and corporations.
 
lol, there is so much wrong with that thinkgeek ripoff company.

The woman who wrote the review had tried to place an order, which the company never shipped and the transaction was cancelled. At the time (the order attempt took place years ago), the clause about a $3500 fine wasn't even in the agreement she apparently agreed to, but even if it were, there was no completion of an order to somehow make it valid.

It would be an expensive case to invalidate the clause, and hopefully EFF or some other place can work pro bono to defang those clowns.

If you look on Ripoff Report, the company has had tons of negative reviews since this story started gaining attention last week. It still has a B on BBB (as much of a joke as RR).
 
Ripoff report charges that much to remove the review in order to discourage users from removing the review in the face of bullying from companies on the receiving end of a negative review. I fully support Ripoff Report charging to remove the review.
 
From the bottom of their site

KlearGear.com - 2885 Sanford Ave SW Suite #19886 - Grandville, MI 49418 - Phone (866) 598-4296
 
counter-sue with proof of performance to back-up your review. A critical review is different from simple flaming. Besides, what about a reviewer who didn't actually buy it. Gifted, inherited, garage sale...
 
She can easily get the negative mark they left removed from her credit. It's pretty easy now days to remove bogus or incorrect items from all three agency's reports. I had to do this a few years back because one agency got me mixed up with two other people and nothing was correct ....
 
Yeah, they're about to feel the wrath of the internet if this hits reddit. The amount of bad reviews about to hit them will be hilarious.

K1tty said:
She can easily get the negative mark they left removed from her credit. It's pretty easy now days to remove bogus or incorrect items from all three agency's reports. I had to do this a few years back because one agency got me mixed up with two other people and nothing was correct ....
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My father has done that. He has a legal letter he sends off and they remove the item. There are law firms specializing in it for a fee.
 
It resolves to a crappy little office park at the end of a cul-de-sac.
The suite number is nonsensical as it's not a suite. The address is their resolver.

Hope someone squashes these pricks like a bug.
 
Streisand Effect! With this case going public, now more people will know kleargear.com and lead to even more negative press.
 
Unconscionability in contracts is not invoked often.
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we are just a bunch of free range sheep owned by the Corporations - try doing anything significant these days w/o having your hands previously tied by a binding arbitration clause, hell, even something as mundane as getting a job
 
Yea, there's no way this would stick to ANYONE who put up any kind of fight. And honestly it's their own fault. If they had left out the word 'libelous' they might be ok. Not really. But closer.
 
The sad thing is that KlearGear's website ranking has skyrocketed since the news broke. I guess there is no such thing as negative publicity...
 
I heard about this a few days back, I hope those bastards get ran out of the country. GO INTERNET!
 
Never heard of this company before. Now that I have, I'll make sure to never buy anything from them.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
That's not even remotely enforceable. But, a lot of people will end up with hits on their credit scores despite that. Hopefully the owners of that company go out of business and end up eating out of dumpsters.
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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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