Fake Reviews

 Facebook and Google try to cloak themselves by claiming that they are platforms and not publishers.  For now, this gives them the protections they say they need to keep them from being sued by people that have had damages from every nutjob, loser, and whacko that takes it upon themselves to try and defame a business when they think that they have been wronged.  

For example, I don't allow people to park in my parking lot without permission.  I have seen things that I am pretty sure looked like drug deals and have been informed that I must chase all people out in order not to discriminate.  I have signs with small words telling people not to park here unless they are doing business here. 

Doesn't matter.  You would think that if they need to use their cell phones, they would simply park on the street and use them. Nope.  They pull into my lot, block the flow of traffic and then sit there. Not today. I had a group of so called volunteers that decided to keep their vehicles safe from the traffic on the road by simply parking all over in my lot without even asking. Nope.

If you want to park here, ask me.  There is every chance in the world that I will say yes. But just walk away from your vehicle? Good luck finding which place towed it away.

All of that leads me back to the fake reviews. This seems to be the catalyst for  a person, let's call her Cornfed Beef.  She is too obese to walk 40 feet down an alley to pick up her equally obese child from the school bus drop off.  Instead, she parked her largeness in my alley and blocked the flow of traffic in 3 separate directions.

I politely asked her to move and before I know it, my online reviews are listing me around 2. I had fake review after fake review all originating from CFB.  I contacted Google and their advice was to get other people to give me positive reviews.

Really? That's the best that they have.  So now, I begin to get angry.  I'm not a stranger to the small claims system so I filed a claim because my contention is that people might actually listen to this woman that is too heavy to use a horizontal bed and too large to use a standup bed without getting grill marks on herself from the protective metal shield.

I posted her picture with my rebuttal showing that she is two degrees whiter than a glass of milk.  What happened next you ask? I got a visit from the police department asking me if I was online harassing her. Yes, I was swatted for telling this woman she wrote a fake review. The officer looked at the exchange, shook his head and apologized for bothering me. Then CFB got a ticket for making a false police report.

So long story short, we are going to have to find some accountability in these reviews.  Fake ones can drive a small business out if wielded.  There has to be a better solution than asking  customers to leave  reviews to counter the lying ones. 

Think about it, you'll thank me later.

Is This Legal?

 I recently went through mediation with an attorney, Don Stuckey,  and his client,  a CPA Tom Lavin, from Lavin and Associates.  Earlier in the year, Tom's wife Linda, acting on his behalf, turned off the utilities to the business that I run and was in the process of buying from my late husband, Richard Jacobs.

Yes, turning off utilities is illegal in February and yes, I had significant damage from frozen toilets to water leaks.  I was locked out of my business in May, after having fixed the problem with the utilities and making it so that Lavin could not turn them off again. Yes, I was evicted from a business that I own 91% of when I should have been foreclosed if it was going to be anything to remove me.

When I was finally able to gain access to my business and building, all of the petty cash from two businesses had been taken ($300),  an antique 12 pin lock was gone ($480+), along with a case of tanning bulbs ($3100) another case, ($2700), a case of tanning lotion ($136), another case of high-end lotion ($261), cleaning supplies ($350) a bed was broken ($13,000) spray lotion supplies were gone ($480), a wall was kicked in ($1000), a screen door was broken($120), two neon signs were broken ($900), cases of toilet paper were stolen ($75), cases of Mountain Dew and other soft drinks were stolen ($50), a spray bed had been tampered with ($6500) to fix, a toilet had been broken ($340) an uninstalled toilet had been taken ($340), and more from another business that equaled about 30k that was purposely destroyed or stolen.       In order to regain access to my business, I had to sign an agreement that I would not sue or otherwise create more litigation against any party that was involved in this. 

So now, when this should be finished, instead, Stuckey and Lavin took it upon themselves to contact the realtor selling a house I plan to buy (I have signed the purchase agreement and paid earnest money) and told him that the funds from the estate had been dispersed. 

In fact, only a partial payment had been made to the attorneys and more importantly, the mediator had put in the clause that we would not say anything to anyone about the terms of the settlement. 

Now, the selling agent has demanded payment in full because technically funds were dispensed, albeit only attorney fees. So I've lost my earnest money and the house I had a contract to purchase has been sold to someone else. 

How is it legal for Don Stuckey, Tom Lavin, and the realtor from Wible Realty to discuss a private settlement, much less release private details of the sale?  There's a reason that Richard would never do business with Wible, now I know why.

Ask yourself if this is legal, you'll thank me later,.