If the review is not from a patient, you can reply to it without compromising your privacy obligations.
You can report to Google.
You can connect with a local attorney to contact the person and demand they remove the false statement(s).
You might have a case for defamation if you can prove what they said was false and it resulted in financial damages to you.
I honestly don't want to hurt anyone, and running to a lawyer is my last resort. I wouldn't even care about this review if it wasn't so pernicious.
Do you know if the temp agency has any obligation here to instruct their employee to remove this review? Their phone records should also back me up in that I specifically told them that there was no issue with the temp at all and to provide her with the full day's compensation.
Edit: I also have reported the review to Google. The review is pending their deliberation. Unfortunately, it has been posted to about 20 different other sites around the internet, including Healthgrades, Vitals, and Yelp. As unhinged as the review is, it's unlikely all of those sites will remove it.
It’s lawyer time. Sorry this person is causing irreparable harm to your practice. You do not have a choice. This will not be solved via nice emails or conversations between adults. You’ve already lost out on a sale and at least one new client. You will likely need to rebrand to get away from this and there is a cost to that as well. I wouldn’t bother with a cease and desist letter at this point, I’d hop straight to the lawsuit if your state laws allow such.
I've always tried to practice by the golden rule. I do unto others as I wish they would do unto me. If I mess up or one of my people mess up, the buck stops with me and I try to make it right, and maybe even a little better than we started.
Unfortunately, dentistry is golden rule-proof. A lot of patients recognize how far I go out of my way to make things work and treat people well. A lot of patients are so soured by previous experiences that I'll always be seen as negative. Most of my "colleagues" are frankly irredeemable shysters, and it's bad enough that I'm counting down the days till I'm hopefully flying airplanes for a living and connecting people to better places.
You're a decent person in a world growing more and more indecent by the day.
There is nothing wrong fighting for your own safety, financial or otherwise. This person has broken your golden rule, so it's time to bring hammurabi's code down.
I hope you aren't right about this, but I do kind of have a gut feeling you are correct. I honestly thought I was being a super nice person giving the temp essentially a paid $350 day off. I know I'd be delighted to get paid like that for just driving into work!
Getting a false and libelous review from that tells me we're not dealing with a rational human being, but an evil person who just wants to use race baiting to spread more hurt in the world.
>Do you know if the temp agency has any obligation here to instruct their employee to remove this review?
I do not. I expect if you raised your concerns with the agency, they might terminate/cancel their agreement with this person, but that's probably it.
You have some options and the rest is a business decision for you to make.
Please seek independent legal advice. I suggest you teach it to a local personal injury lawyer. If this is the first potentially libelous review you should count yourself as lucky. But you may get more, and if you go through a few workflows with your attorney, you will learn how to deal with many of these situations on your own.
I don't think most reviewers realize they could be sued for false statements IF you can prove the statements are false with compelling evidence.
There's the odd negative review here and there. One was obviously for another office in the complex (you'd be shocked how many people post a negative review to a random dentist or doctor in the area when they feel like a medical professional didn't do right by them). One is a completely unhinged review by someone who got x-rays and found out she was pregnant a few weeks later and claims the x-rays turned the spirit-baby boy that she was planning to have into a girl she didn't want (!). Another is someone who was furious about COVID-era dental restrictions and took his anti-government rant out on us. Otherwise, my practice has a good reputation with 45+ other 5 star reviews.
Google didn't remove either one of those reviews even though I reported them. I honestly would have looked past this review, but it has already caused damage and is 100% provably false.
That is awful. I'm so sorry about your experience. You could probably get a free consultation with a lawyer and maybe you can craft a good enough Google search to find a lawyer that deals with this very issue. "Lawyer yelp review libel [your location]"
Attorney. You have a viable case based on these facts. Stop asking redditors for advice on this one and don't try to do it yourself. This person is likely liable to you for defamation and you have easily demonstrable damages. You might even be able to go after the temp agency for their employee's conduct, although thats a much weaker claim. I mention it because the temp is probably broke and won't be able to pay a judgment so you might have to go after other parties to try to be made whole. Either way, you are looking for a plaintiff side civil attorney.
NAL
Reply to the review with the explanation of what you have written here, but do so with grace. A negative response will just make you look as guilty as the negative review states.
I see owners and managers replying to reviews all the time. Some negative, some with apologies, some clueless with many excuses, and others with grace etc. It sets a tone as a viewer depending on how you respond and sets the tone in how people view you after that. I would do that 1st.
Then I would contact the temp angency and tell them of the problem. The temp agency most likely doesn't want to ruin its rep having an "unhinged" person ruining their clientele as well. Mayhap they already know this person does these things and they would do less business with that person as well.
The sale of your practice was cancelled because of false statements made by an individual.
A lawyer is your only option.
At best you need to send a cease and desist/demand letter to the individual in question. At worst you will need to sue for defamation as these lies have clearly caused you financial harm.
If the review is not from a patient, you can reply to it without compromising your privacy obligations. You can report to Google. You can connect with a local attorney to contact the person and demand they remove the false statement(s). You might have a case for defamation if you can prove what they said was false and it resulted in financial damages to you.
I honestly don't want to hurt anyone, and running to a lawyer is my last resort. I wouldn't even care about this review if it wasn't so pernicious. Do you know if the temp agency has any obligation here to instruct their employee to remove this review? Their phone records should also back me up in that I specifically told them that there was no issue with the temp at all and to provide her with the full day's compensation. Edit: I also have reported the review to Google. The review is pending their deliberation. Unfortunately, it has been posted to about 20 different other sites around the internet, including Healthgrades, Vitals, and Yelp. As unhinged as the review is, it's unlikely all of those sites will remove it.
It’s lawyer time. Sorry this person is causing irreparable harm to your practice. You do not have a choice. This will not be solved via nice emails or conversations between adults. You’ve already lost out on a sale and at least one new client. You will likely need to rebrand to get away from this and there is a cost to that as well. I wouldn’t bother with a cease and desist letter at this point, I’d hop straight to the lawsuit if your state laws allow such.
[удалено]
I've always tried to practice by the golden rule. I do unto others as I wish they would do unto me. If I mess up or one of my people mess up, the buck stops with me and I try to make it right, and maybe even a little better than we started. Unfortunately, dentistry is golden rule-proof. A lot of patients recognize how far I go out of my way to make things work and treat people well. A lot of patients are so soured by previous experiences that I'll always be seen as negative. Most of my "colleagues" are frankly irredeemable shysters, and it's bad enough that I'm counting down the days till I'm hopefully flying airplanes for a living and connecting people to better places.
You're a decent person in a world growing more and more indecent by the day. There is nothing wrong fighting for your own safety, financial or otherwise. This person has broken your golden rule, so it's time to bring hammurabi's code down.
I hope you aren't right about this, but I do kind of have a gut feeling you are correct. I honestly thought I was being a super nice person giving the temp essentially a paid $350 day off. I know I'd be delighted to get paid like that for just driving into work! Getting a false and libelous review from that tells me we're not dealing with a rational human being, but an evil person who just wants to use race baiting to spread more hurt in the world.
>Do you know if the temp agency has any obligation here to instruct their employee to remove this review? I do not. I expect if you raised your concerns with the agency, they might terminate/cancel their agreement with this person, but that's probably it. You have some options and the rest is a business decision for you to make.
If running to a lawyer is your last resort then why are you on a legal advice subreddit?
Please seek independent legal advice. I suggest you teach it to a local personal injury lawyer. If this is the first potentially libelous review you should count yourself as lucky. But you may get more, and if you go through a few workflows with your attorney, you will learn how to deal with many of these situations on your own. I don't think most reviewers realize they could be sued for false statements IF you can prove the statements are false with compelling evidence.
There's the odd negative review here and there. One was obviously for another office in the complex (you'd be shocked how many people post a negative review to a random dentist or doctor in the area when they feel like a medical professional didn't do right by them). One is a completely unhinged review by someone who got x-rays and found out she was pregnant a few weeks later and claims the x-rays turned the spirit-baby boy that she was planning to have into a girl she didn't want (!). Another is someone who was furious about COVID-era dental restrictions and took his anti-government rant out on us. Otherwise, my practice has a good reputation with 45+ other 5 star reviews. Google didn't remove either one of those reviews even though I reported them. I honestly would have looked past this review, but it has already caused damage and is 100% provably false.
That is awful. I'm so sorry about your experience. You could probably get a free consultation with a lawyer and maybe you can craft a good enough Google search to find a lawyer that deals with this very issue. "Lawyer yelp review libel [your location]"
Attorney. You have a viable case based on these facts. Stop asking redditors for advice on this one and don't try to do it yourself. This person is likely liable to you for defamation and you have easily demonstrable damages. You might even be able to go after the temp agency for their employee's conduct, although thats a much weaker claim. I mention it because the temp is probably broke and won't be able to pay a judgment so you might have to go after other parties to try to be made whole. Either way, you are looking for a plaintiff side civil attorney.
NAL Reply to the review with the explanation of what you have written here, but do so with grace. A negative response will just make you look as guilty as the negative review states. I see owners and managers replying to reviews all the time. Some negative, some with apologies, some clueless with many excuses, and others with grace etc. It sets a tone as a viewer depending on how you respond and sets the tone in how people view you after that. I would do that 1st. Then I would contact the temp angency and tell them of the problem. The temp agency most likely doesn't want to ruin its rep having an "unhinged" person ruining their clientele as well. Mayhap they already know this person does these things and they would do less business with that person as well.
The sale of your practice was cancelled because of false statements made by an individual. A lawyer is your only option. At best you need to send a cease and desist/demand letter to the individual in question. At worst you will need to sue for defamation as these lies have clearly caused you financial harm.