Hotel issued 6 page threatening letter following poor review

[Itsalongwayto]

following on from this post www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4018141-Hotel-threatening-to-sue-us-for-bad-review

The owner has now got his solicitor to issue a six page threatening letter. I don't think I have said or done anything wrong except write a review that he doesn't like and publicise the dangers of his hotel. His initial letter was blackmailing me NOT to write a negative review, threatening 'further action' including contacting my place of work and professional body. I have evidence of all the negative comments i made, except the smell. Advice please.

Have you checked the name of the firm with the law society? Googled the firm? I cannot believe a solicitors practice would A: send a letter consisting of 6 pages, what on earth does it say on those 6 pages? B: He has a leg to stand on.

However, you do need to ensure your complaint was reasonable and I would say from your other thread that some of your comments about the complaint do not seem fair (regards the decor and water feature) and I think you need to have addressed your complaint at the time and at least allowed them to rectify it.

He probably has a friend or relative sending out this letter for free. I got my (now husband) to do this when an insurance company kept sending me threatening letters after a car accident (they should have kept all communications through the insurance companies) and they stopped. Do you have anyone who could maybe do this for you?

If you're really worried about this, go to citizens advice. He is blackmailing you. The internet is there for everyone to write a review on anything. Its called freedom of speech. As long as it isn't hurting anyone then he can shut the hell up. He cannot substantiate the fact your review will impact his earnings. Its a review on a review site. If he doesn't want customers to review his hotel, he should ask Google to take it offline!!!!! See how his business copes then!

I get all of that but you can end up spending thousands of pounds on this type of crap. It’s not worth it.

I don't think they have a leg to stand on and if this lawyer is genuine (rather than a mate who has been happy to let them use their headed paper), it would cost them far too much to pursue a claim against you that doesn't have any merit. Just ignore them and if they contact you again, put another review up saying that you've been threatened with court action for leaving a bad review.

Someone tried this with me a while ago when I was taking them to the small claims court to get back money they'd stolen from me. They tried to say that my criticism of them was defamation and they were going to sue me. Needless to say, they didn't.

Stand your ground, they're just posturing to try and intimidate you in the hope that it will do the trick

to sue me for lost income from the 209 people who have marked my review as helpful (ie won’t visit)

But surely he'd have to prove that those 209 people were definitely going to visit and decided not as a direct response to your review?

If it was as simple as just suing and being awarded compensation due alleged loss of trade following a bad review, all businesses would do it ~ it's money for nothing!

I get all of that but you can end up spending thousands of pounds on this type of crap.

Only if she instructs a solicitor too. If she ignores the letter and leaves the review up, she will spend nothing.

There are enough corroborating reviews that you should have no fear. There is one saying a room a room wasn't clean 😱 in thease days of covid thsts frankly beyond unacceptable!

Write a review of the solicitor's firm.

Just ignore it. A solicitor will happily take his money to write a letter even if they think he is bonkers.

Have you contacted Trip Advisor? Might be worth sending all his threats etc onto them, to make them aware

@WildAboutMyPlanet yes. They have it all

A quick google search showed that this isn’t that uncommon....as long as you have proof for everything you said then you will be fine

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/you-can-sued-over-bad-11794747.amp

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/TripAdvisor-can-users-be-sued-for-bad-reviews/amp/

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/ever-written-bad-review-online-13435486.amp

Just ignore - highly unlikely they will take it further! Just block his email and make it impossible for him to contact you again - how does this person even have your work place details etc?

I say you name and shame them here. They can do jack shit unless you’re making false accusations.

OP, I'm a solicitor. I read your original thread and have seen the TA review.

The owner of this place is seriously deluded. Tbh I thought even on their own website it looks like it's seen better days and I wouldn't have wanted to stay there, but clearly some people do as he's managed to garner some recent positive reviews (assuming they are genuine).

He always berates anyone who leaves a poor review, blaming them for not addressing issues during their stay or (one of the latest ones) accusing them of leaving without paying. I think you actually have him on the ropes here, hence why instead of calling you a liar in his TA response he's got some legal nitwit to write a letter for him.

I would advise you to check out the law firm/ solicitor online, either the company website or if they don't have one, on the law society page.

I would ignore it. If it goes to court you can represent yourself, but there's no chance it'll go that far. He is as full of hot air as an overly inflated balloon.

I’m a journalist. We get people threatening to sue us all the time for stories that are based solely in fact. Not only have I never been successfully sued In 20 years in the job, but not a single one of them have ever got as far as court.

If you can prove what you said (and don’t worry about not being able to prove the smell, it’s irrelevant) then he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

I would just ignore. I agree with the poster above who says solicitors will write a letter about anything if paid enough. It's a threatening letter trying to force you to do what they want - it is unlikely that anything will come of it (I.e. that they will actually make any sort of claim against you).

Does the letter attempt claim damages?

OP please do as suggested by @grenlei and search the solicitor who signed the letter, as well as the firm on the letterhead. I can't imagine any real lawyer writing a 6 page letter for this one!

@2018SoFarSoGreat apparently they are real.

I'm a journalist with substantial legal knowledge and have had plenty of solicitor's letters over the years. Having followed the thread, I can assure you it would not go as far as court. Ring the company and ask if the named person is there. If it's a fake letter, then it's impersonation.

well I'm going to guess friend or family. Ignore it.

@Itsalongwayto any chance of showong us few pages? 6 pages is not typical of an initial letter from a solicitor, the language would be interesting 🤔

@BigBadVoodooHat

to sue me for lost income from the 209 people who have marked my review as helpful (ie won’t visit)

But surely he'd have to prove that those 209 people were definitely going to visit and decided not as a direct response to your review?

If it was as simple as just suing and being awarded compensation due alleged loss of trade following a bad review, all businesses would do it ~ it's money for nothing!

I’m one of them and I was never going regardless. Devon is too far!

@Sportysporty I’ll wait til I’ve heard back from MNHQ re the thread. Don’t want to get MN in trouble. Tbh, I think he has written it, as it’s very like he long rambling TA responses. Wish I’d read it over a glass of wine or 2 though.

🤣 Understandable