About being asked to withdraw review Centre review

[Weathergames]

Kitchen salesmen came round spend three hours (!) in our house trying to push us into spending £10,000 on a kitchen despite us repeatedly saying we were not prepared to make a desicion today.

I posted a fair review of our experience on the review centre and yesterday received this email.

"Dear Weathergames,

Many thanks for your contribution to Review Centre.

As a consumer review website we encourage people to express their opinions (both positive and negative) of the experiences that they have had, but we must also take into consideration the concerns of businesses affected by these reviews.

I have received contact from a representative of regarding your review. I have included a copy of the review you have written for your reference - (included below).

They have expressed their concerns regarding the review content and so we have temporarily withdrawn your review from www.reviewcentre.com while we ask you to confirm your position on the matter.

Please let us know which one of the following options you would like to take as soon as possible.

1. You would like the review to stay on Review Centre in its original form.

1. You would like to write the review differently on reflection as some of the information is now not relevant.

1. You are happy for the review to be deleted as the matter has been resolved.

If you wish to stand by your original review (or an edited version) we ask that you provide the following information for our records.

• Contact details (full name, address and telephone number)
• Supporting evidence (such as emails, an invoice or receipt of purchase).

The edited post (if applicable) should be forwarded to us in your response to this email.

Information collected is to validate the authenticity of your review and will not be passed to anyone without your expressed permission.

Please be aware that representatives of may at some point in the future choose to take the matter further and, as the publishers of your review we require the information outlined above so we will be in a position to defend the post if necessary.

We look forward to hearing from you soon"

I feel like this is bullying?
AIBU?

Need to see your review I think.

Yanbu!

But what did you say?

OK, now we know not to believe a bally word we ever see written on Review Centre.

I'd be insisting that the review stay put and then advertising this experience far and wide. Actually I might edit the post to add that the company then contacted the website to try and get you bullied into removing it. Oh, and that in so doing they did sod all to try and address your concerns.

Arseholes. YANBU.

might be worth reposting this in legal. I think their concern is that what you say is untrue, which is fair enough. But without seeing your review its tough to say. They may also just be trying to bully you into silence.

Its a bit long winded!!

"This was the second quote we had arranged to have for our new kitchen (the first being with who were not at all pushy).

The guy from was punctual and pleasant and polite enough (he came to our home at 11am on a Saturday morning)and initially I thought it was going to be fine.

Early on in the conversation he asked if it was going to be possible to do business today which I was a bit taken aback with really as we had made it quite clear at the beginning of the meeting that we were looking to get several quotes and then make a desicion in our own time.

The meeting took over three hours (!) during which we picked out what we would like, he drew a plan, slated the competition (expected), showed us some product samples (which we did actaully like!) and then gave us a quote in excess of £12,000 - we had stated several times that we did not want to spend more than £10,000.

I thought this was really expensive considering its a small kitchen (I think 8/10 units and we had not gone for top of the range and the only appliances we were buying was a new range oven and hood!), we also made it clear that we were factoring in flooring and having the walls replastered after the tiles have been removed which they do not do so therefore is not factored into the quote.

When we made it quite clear we were not going to make a desision today (if we had the price would have been nearer £10,000 but that price is only valid for today apparently) the salesmen kept asking what would make us change our minds and how he could persuade us to choose them. We then stated several times very firmly that were were not prepared to be pressured into a desicion today and he kept on and on for a good hour to the point where both my partner and I felt highly uncomfortable and when he said he "didn't want to make us feel pressured" I was near to the point of telling he was doing exactly that and asking him to leave, I then felt that he was near to accusing us of wasting his time.

He insisted he is not on commision he is on a salary which I find difficult to believe and in the end I went into a different room and left him talking to my partner while he made a very slow and half arsed attempt to pack up his stuff, and left about 20 minutes after he said he was going to leave - on his way out of the door (literally) he offered to sell us the kitchen for £9,000 which we declined (he could have offered it for £5,000 and we would have refused as we just wanted him gone). This cut off another £1000 makes me wonder about the profit margins and quality of the product and the "no commission".

We were left feeling extremely annoyed that we had had to be so forceful and tell him very directly that "no we will not be persuaded into debt we do not want and cannot afford" and "no we will not be persuaded into making a rash decision about where to put £10,000 of our hard earned cash" - He even suggested we remortgage!

Its a shame as we did actually like the product but the sales technique has really put us off the company and also makes me concerned that more vunerable less direct (potential) customers may be "over powered" by this and end up signing up for something they cannot afford and do not want.

Review Centre have to respond to a complaint. If you provide them with details they can satisfy themselves that your review is not malicious and it will stand - they will tell the kitchen place they have looked into it and the review will stand as it is. They cannot give your details to the complainant without your express permission.

That is how all such sites have to work, even MN, there is a thread somewhere today about MN sending out an almost identical email regarding a complaint about a post. Review Centre are not bullying you, they even say they will be able (willing) to defend your post in future if they are satisfied you are not malicious.

The kitchen people ARE trying to bully you. You have choices, back down, withdraw the review, they will go away. Give Review Centre the details they need, let them deal with the kitchen people - but, as they say, be ready if the kitchen people want to take it further.

If your review was factual, reflected how the experience left you feeling and you said you were expressing your opinion, you are fine! You can be negative about a company... they have to lump it if you are being truthful.

And I too would probably have to blog about the whole experience, visit lots of other places and discuss my disgust at such tactics - truthfully, without any embellishment!

The company incidentally have the top percentage of good reviews on the Review Centre - wonder why

OP you need to be very careful, the kitchen company are basically accusing you of defamation. Under UK law the burden of proof that the allegations are true falls on the defendant (YOU).

The review centre is obliged to offer you the three options you list in your post.

Unless you can prove your review is correct and you can afford the legal costs withdrawing your review might be the easiest option. Of course we now all know Review Centre reviews may not be as transparent and factual as we'd hoped.

MNHQ are also obliged to follow these rules and they do.

I don't feel bullied by Review Centre I feel bullied by the kitchen people.

I'd condense it down a bit and keep it factual. You can't prove how you were made to feel

I can't prove any if it though can I?

This is my experience and how I felt were part of that.

The whole thing is our word against his.

What does concern me is why they don't seem concerned about this or want to take the feedback onboard they just want me to STFU.

is sorry not were!!

Its not that the Review Centre don't want to take your feedback on board it's the kitchen suppliers have made an allegation/complaint that your post is untrue and shows them in a bad light.

The RC have no option but to ask the questions. If you really think your review should stand then be prepared to prove your review.

I fully empathise with you but be careful.

God this is so annoying. We had a very similar experience with a kitchen company. I actually couldn't believe how pushy and annoying they were and would have loved to have read a review first so we could have avoided the whole torrid experience.

I am really shocked that you can't leave that review. I am no lawyer but doesn't it come under Honest Opinion?

That's what I thought but tbh I am thinking twice about providing my details :S

OP, just give them a slightly different address, and if you need to prove the quote then redact your information for DPA reasons.

On principle I think you should let the review stand, bit I'm sure it's scary for you and I'm not sure how I'd feel if it was me! But I'd want to leave it there.

I'd actually want to edit it to include that you'd been threatened with libel from them to silence you. Fucking bastards.

Do you have proof that they visited? An email or something? If you do, I'd just send that.

I'd also edit the review to mention that they contacted you after you placed it.

I will look for an email ...