Complaint Website Question

[mdgqnj]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

I have been a customer support "war" with a sneaker company. They refused to make good on a return of a pair of shoes and have ignored 5 years of repeated e-mails about the issue. A rational person would call it quits and let it go. I'm not feeling very rational and had an idea that I thought would be entertaining.

If I set up a website called "www."sneakercompanyname"SUCKS.com" and I tell my story, keeping everything as my own opinion of their product;

Is this against the law?

I understand I might get some nasty letters from their legal counsel, I also understand that they could cause me a lot of grief by suing me anyway, but any feedback on this type of approach? My end goal/objective is to have their customer support team take me seriously as a consumer.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zigner]

Your time would be better used if you were to urinate into a headwind.

 

[mdgqnj]

While creative, could you expound upon your reasoning there?

I would hope that resolving a customer matter with something as simple as replacing one pair of shoes would be attractive as a solution to a PIA IT guy with some spare time on his hands that may get some traction with their brand name.

 

[Just Blue]

how much did you pay for these sneakers?

 

[mdgqnj]

This exercise makes no financial sense. (i.e. $50 for the kicks)

It just pisses me off that customers can be completely ignored because sales are good.

 

[bcr229]

It's a far better use of your time and resources to leave reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, RipOffReport, etc. Otherwise you're just letting this company live rent-free in your head, which hurts you more than them.

 

[quincy]

This exercise makes no financial sense. (i.e. $50 for the kicks)

It just pisses me off that customers can be completely ignored because sales are good.

Why did you want to return the shoes?

There is nothing inherently illegal about setting up a “Xcompanysucks” website. It will be what you post on the site that could get you sued. Stick to provable facts and pure opinion (statements that do not state or imply false facts) and you are more likely to avoid losing a defamation or trademark infringement/dilution lawsuit filed against you.

Even following those basic rules, you can still get sued and you could spend an awful lot of money defending against the suit.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

Why did you want to return the shoes?

There is nothing inherently illegal about setting up a “Xcompanysucks” website. It will be what you post on the site that could get you sued. Stick to provable facts and pure opinion (statements that do not state or imply false facts) and you are more likely to avoid losing a defamation or trademark infringement/dilution lawsuit filed against you.

Even following those basic rules, you can still get sued and you could spend an awful lot of money defending against the suit.

And that would not be “entertaining“ at all, at least for me!

 

[quincy]

And that would not be “entertaining“ at all, at least for me!

A “companysucks” website is apt to get lost among all of the others like it. Very few people have an interest in reading the rants of some random angry person. And, for individuals who do like that sort of thing, there are plenty of well-recognized sites that they can visit to occupy their free time.

 

[zddoodah]

If I set up a website called "www."sneakercompanyname"SUCKS.com" and I tell my story, keeping everything as my own opinion of their product;

Is this against the law?

No.

I also understand that they could cause me a lot of grief by suing me anyway, but any feedback on this type of approach?

Aside from causing you grief, if you get sued, you'll get to make a decision between (1) taking down the site, (2) paying a bunch of money to defend yourself, and (3) letting a default judgment be entered against you. Keep in mind that you'll already have wasted money on the domain name registration (and note that ___sucks.com domain names tend to be fairly expensive).

My end goal/objective is to have their customer support team take me seriously as a consumer.

And you think making a ___sucks.com website is the way to do that? Obviously, we don't know (because you didn't tell us) anything about the dispute (other than that it's five years old). Obviously, the company decided that whatever you were complaining about wasn't worth anyone's time. If you want to tilt at windmills, that's your prerogative. However, doing so will not make the company "take [you] seriously." Nor will anyone who might stumble on your website take you seriously.

 

[cbg]

Personally, I think that such websites say a lot more (and negatively) about the website creator than they do the subject of the website.

 

[adjusterjack]

If I set up a website called "www."sneakercompanyname"SUCKS.com" and I tell my story, keeping everything as my own opinion of their product;

Your effort would be as futile as peeing in the ocean to make the tide come in.

As futile as a one legged man trying kick down a door.

As futile as re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

[Zigner]

My end goal/objective is to have their customer support team take me seriously as a consumer.

It won't. Move on with your life.

 

[quincy]

On the off chance that mdgqnj decides to go ahead with his idea to start a “sneakerssucks” website to address a 5-year-old dispute with a shoe company, despite the apparent consensus here that such a venture is a bit pointless, here is a link to “Top 10 Rules for Limiting Legal Risks,” published by the Knight Community News Network’s JLab. The list was created by media law attorneys and journalists for online writers to help them avoid the areas most likely to cause them legal grief.

http://kcnn.org/learning-modules/top-10-rules-for-limiting-legal-risk/

The type of website mdgqnj is contemplating, if not carefully written, could lead to claims by the shoe company of defamation, trade libel (dilution, tarnishment), product disparagement. Or it could do nothing at all, including resolving his complaint.

I personally think that donating the old shoes to a homeless shelter would be a better choice.

 

[stealth2]

Get over it.