Consumer Complaint Website Shut Down By Company They Targeted

from the take-that dept

There’s a furniture store in Florida named Kane’s Furniture that has been having some problems lately. Apparently, an upset customer registered the domain Kanes-furniture.com and used it to post consumer complaints about the retailer (and to point people to the Florida attorney general and the Better Business Bureau). The state of Florida credits the site with giving them enough ammunition to file a lawsuit against Kane’s for “false advertising, delivery of broken and defective furniture, failure to respond to complaints, sale of worthless warranties, refusal to refund deposits and false charges to credit accounts.” That’s quite a list. Kane’s is not too pleased with the consumer complaints website, and instead of doing something smart like improving their business practices, they instead did the lawyerly move of
suing the consumer complaints site for trademark infringement. A judge then ruled that the site needed to be shut down, which has upset officials in the Florida attorney general’s office, who say that this is clearly a retailiation move. They’re going to file a “friend of the court” brief, saying that the move is a violation of free speech. There have been other cases like this in the past, and it seems like another misguided attempt by lawyers to solve business problems. People have complaints about your business? Instead of listening to those complaints and improving the business, why not silence the critics?


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Consumer Complaint Website Shut Down By Company They Targeted”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
2 Comments
thecaptain says:

this is a no-brainer

“People have complaints about your business? Instead of listening to those complaints and improving the business, why not silence the critics? “
Well duh, that’s because current corporate-greed-shortterm-thinking philosophy clearly shows that its cheaper to sue and silence critics than actually PROVIDING what those pesky consumers want! And the bigger the business, the more this applies since its unlikely any boycott will be substantial enough to put them out of business in short order.

monst50 says:

f@5&by Kanes

I too. have consumer complaints about KANES. Since about 2004. no help .the salrsman dosent work there etc… ..ETC…. For the first time in my life I bought new. my mistske because I went to KANES. I tell all my friends. I tell all my reletivies. I tell anyone and everyone Kanes SUCKS AND LIES AND STEALS. I Spent over 3000.00 plus QUOTE (LIFETIME CLEANING add/qr REPLACEMENT ).UNQUOTE Not one of Either. LIARS CHEATS RIP-OFFS thats KANES. PS THANX 4 NOTHING BBB

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...