Online Business Has Been Attacked Issue

[zeruel]

Hello everyone,

I am running an Online Merchant Website that sells different stuffs from small and large appliances up to sports and outdoor stuffs.

So me and my client encountered a problem and has been attacked a few days ago from a crazy customer. He was a customer and he was making some very unreasonable demands. And when he didn't get those unreasonable demands, He started posting different lies about the company from some online merchant review websites and created some spam accounts on Twitter to post negative tweets about the company. We already informed Twitter about this issue as well as reported those accounts that we have found and suspected as spammers.

What do you think can we do to combat this problem that we are encountering now? We believe that those posts are written by a single person. BTW, some of his negative posts are already indexed by Google. ):

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys!

[funguru]

This would always happen when your business is growing, i would suggest you concentrate on your making your business better and try and get more positive reviews from customers than concentrate on a spammer and put your effort in that. If you have 100 positive reviews and 1 negative then this would not matter much.

[zeruel]

So if you are in this situation and you see bunch of Twitter accounts used to post negative feedbacks on the site.. What would you do then? How will you stop or combat the guy aside from making your website better?

I mean, is there any immediate actions to consider?

[Natural Elements]

Originally Posted by zeruel

So if you are in this situation and you see bunch of Twitter accounts used to post negative feedbacks on the site.. What would you do then? How will you stop or combat the guy aside from making your website better?

I mean, is there any immediate actions to consider?

Consult an attorney specialized on internet, here is mine:
Walton Internet Law http://www.waltonweblaw.com/

He is very good too

[zeruel]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

Consult an attorney specialized on internet, here is mine:
Walton Internet Law http://www.waltonweblaw.com/

He is very good too

Thanks Natural Elements! I'll try to settle this asap..

[regmac]

As for me, I would try to get a good review for my site from reputable sites -- I mean sites that are trusted by huge audience (ex. online shoppers) that does review products and services offered by certain sites.

[mr.joebert]

What you're describing is illegal in the USA.

If they're a previous customer, that means you should have their personal details.
If you have their personal details that means you can speak with a lawyer about filing a lawsuit.

[vectro]

I would actually re-tweet his tweets, reply to threads where he posted and post comments in his blog entries. Don't do it in a way that is inflammatory and don't seem aggravated. Just reply in the most professional way you can with a direct response. Focus on dispelling his myths in a way that shows you are a professional and this person is merely trying to slander your company. Don't directly accuse him of that - you wouldn't want to give people the impression that you allowed him to drag you into the mud - just state facts.

I have been through this before.

[maxine25]

You can file him a libel suit on court if there is an existing law on your country that will settle this matter. Facebook and Twitter are 2 of the most influential websites that can create you or destroy you. There are already many issues of destroying company's name using this 2 powerful social media sites.

[vectro]

I think it's important to respond directly in a professional manner to mitigate the damage and restore your reputation.