I’m surprised they went with a gavel rather than a picture of Barbara Streisand, but it will do.
There’s a federal bill in the works that is supposed to stop this from happening: the Consumer Review Freedom Act.
It’s passed the Senate (ETA: unanimously), but the House doesn’t seem to be in an hurry to look at it.
Duchouquette Don’tcha just love that name?
Next, I’d like to see a law that would make all of the take-it-or-leave-it EULAs that are comprehensible only to someone with 5 or more years of contract law experience, to be void ab initio until they are read into the Congressional Record, in full, in real time, by the CEO of the corporation.
Color me surprised! /s
Can I tack on shrinkwrap EULAs too?
Yes, please!
Here in Europe, we have this jack-booted horrible affront to human liberty in the form of an EU directive that prohibits any such clauses in contracts with ordinary consumers under penalty of nullity. How lucky you are, sweet Americans, to enjoy the full fruits of boundless contractual freedom!
I misread that as “penalty of nudity”. Almost as appropriate!
Someone didn’t pay their Yelp protection money…
Are there people who still care what Yelp says? Hasn’t its utility been completely wrecked between the shill reviewers and bitter screeds somehow written by people with, shall we say, a questionable grasp on the functions of modern society?
The trend in the House, has been to support bills that make it harder for customers to sue companies, not the other way around.
I really can’t support anyone here. 1 star? Really? 1 Star is for someone who doesn’t do what they are supposed to do. Cloudy fish water (0_o) and a $5 extra fee is like a 3 star rating.
Having that clause in your service contract is bullshit. Suing is a dick move.
Most people can see a petty bad review for what it is.
Rule #1 of running a business:
Avoid suing your customers.
For the same reason you don’t spit directly into the face of an unhappy customer.
I don’t like customers. My ambition in life at this point is to work in a field or position where I have zero interaction with anyone that can considered a “customer” or client. But even I know how you’re not supposed to treat them.
And now Prestigious Pets is going to get a lot of negative reviews on Yelp from non-customers. Good luck suing them.
They may not have deserved a 1 star rating for cloudy water and a $5 overcharge, but they sure do now that they’re suing the customer.
Can’t support anyone? I’d say a lawsuit for 1 million is several orders of magnitudes worse than a 1 star yelp review.
I’m kind of surprised to find myself saying something nice about Yelp: good on them for putting a warning up.
I went to a fancy-pants law school and used to work at some big, big law firms where mostly read and wrote that sort of stuff for a living, and it takes me hours to unpack and fully digest an EULA. And I know what the hell I’m doing. I have no idea how a non-lawyer, or someone who isn’t really, really patient, can possible make sense of those things.
Giving a one star review shouldn’t even be an option, if it just results in a lawsuit.
