Talk about a company sticking it to a consumer for writing a bad review.
The story goes back to December 2008 when KlearGear.com didn't deliver
Jen Palmer's online Christmas order of a desk ornament and keychain that
cost less than $20. Jen Palmer, now 40, wrote a negative review on
private business review site RipoffReport.com, saying KlearGear.com had
"horrible customer service practices."
Last summer, her husband, a senior network engineer, received an email
from KlearGear.com demanding $3,500 pursuant to a non-disparagement
clause that it claimed was in its "Terms of Use" on its website.
The Palmers say they asked RipOffReport to take down the negative
review, but the site has an arbitration process that requires the
involvement of the business. The couple say they shared this information
with KlearGear.com, but the company didn't respond.
The Palmers refused to pay the fine, prompting KlearGear.com to report
their "debt" to one or more credit reporting agencies, the suit claims.
When the Palmers disputed the debt with several credit reporting
agencies, KlearGear.com continued to maintain that the debt be paid and
then demanded a $50 "dispute fee" because they attempted to dispute the
debt, the couple claims.
KlearGear.com did not respond to a request for comment.
I'm still marveling that a company had a non-disparagement clause in their "Terms of Use." It takes all sorts of gall to actually send a letter asking for $3,500 to a customer for writing a bad review. Then they go the extra mile and reported it to their credit company as a debt that the customer didn't pay. I wonder if they actually expect someone to buy their products after this story became public? They should have just read the review and endeavored to do better. Now you have to worry about a company dinging your credit because you wrote a bad review on a $20 purchase.
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