Should you post negative contractor reviews after having a bad experience? Say you hire a plumber to tear out a kitchen sink and replace it with a new one, but he doesn’t do a good job. Then he disputes the need to fix his work. Can you post a negative review without fear of getting sued?
The truth and nothing but the truth in negative contractor reviews
As with most oral and written communication, your greatest protection is the truth. Suppose you have a negative experience with a contractor, a retail store, or a restaurant. In that case, any post you make online must be factual and not make or insinuate defamatory claims that cannot be substantiated. Keep in mind that you must:
- Be factually accurate, to the best of your knowledge.
- State your opinion based on those facts.
What you cannot do is:
- Willfully misstate or omit essential facts
- Imply or directly accuse someone of fraud, willful misconduct, or maliciousness
- Give out personal information about the business owner, employees, or associates that could put them in jeopardy
- Be obscene
You must be conscientious to give a fair description of the work you paid for, what you were told and expected, a factual description of what went wrong, and attempts to resolve it. Avoid name-calling, personally attacking the business owner or personnel, and accusing anyone of bad character. Stick to the facts; be crisp, businesslike, and brief. The more detail you add, the more likely you are to embellish and stray into liability with your words.
Your legal protections
Free speech laws provide much cover, as long as your communication is responsible.
- The First Amendment grants you the freedom to publicly state your opinion within the responsibilities of libel and slander laws.
- Anti-SLAPP laws protect consumers from frivolous lawsuits conducted by companies against customers who post negative reviews.
- Section 230 law protects review-posting websites from lawsuits when a consumer posts a negative review.
The Consumer Review Fairness Act guards against companies burying small-print clauses in contracts that prohibit customers from posting negative reviews. If they do, the customer is liable for breach of contract.
Related – Can You Trust Contractor Review Sites?
