Apparently, leaving a 1-star review can now merit legal action and removal of review

Singapore – In this day and age, the reputation of an establishment, especially those that are service-oriented, are highly reliant on reviews and recommendations. The classic marketing strategy of “word-of-mouth” has been enhanced to cover a wider reach of consumers at shorter amounts of time. All business owners know the effect a negative or poor review does for the company. While others do not think it to be ethical to complain about a client’s review and rating, one company is proving this wrong.

The following scenario shows what happened to a client of Dore Aesthetics, a skincare clinic located at SBF Center, Robinson Road. It all started with a “free trial”. The clinic was offering some of its services for free, such as laser hair removal and a pore minimising treatment, as a marketing campaign. The client who wishes to remain anonymous, being interested in the trial, signed up to avail. After a few days she received a call from the clinic and she was urged to pay them a visit for more details. Being reassured that this is not a scheme to get her to the clinic only to be pestered by the selling of products and services, she agreed to go.

The experience proved to be horrific. It turns out that she had to buy a package first, which other clients have shared to be quoted at $4,800 to $7,800, before a free trial could be availed. Shocked at the steep prices, she asked for a discount and was given a $1,000 deduction by the manager. The total was still too high and was not at all in the same level compared to other clinics. It is important to note that there is no disclaimer or any information stated in the advertisement regarding the terms and conditions of the promo.

The woman then left the establishment without purchasing anything and quickly wrote about her experience and gave the clinic a 1-star review in Yelp.

After a while, she was surprised to receive an email from the clinic demanding her to take down her review as well as a letter from the “legal department” of the company. The letter claims that she has posted a defamatory statement which is causing “losses and irreparable damages” to the company.

Worried that the situation might get out of hand, the woman immediately took down her review.

It turns out that the woman was not the first to experience this situation with Dore Aesthetics. There have been many angry and disappointed reviews that magically disappeared after receiving the same “legal letter”. To further prove the sketchy operations happening at Dore Aesthetics, the page under this name at Yelp has recently been taken down and was replaced with Door Medical. Currently, there are two reviews which can be seen below:

Netizens in Facebook are also suggesting that a police report should be made to avoid future victims of the scam.