Competitor "attacking" my business

MassiveJim · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:33

I live in small town where bad news travels extremely fast.
There is a local chap who offers the same service as my business does, on the side.
He has in the past made defamatory comments about my business on facebook, I challenged him about it, he apologised and removed the comments.
Soon after that I received a bad review on google from someone I had never seen or heard of, whom I also contacted on facebook and she said she would get back to me with the details of the job we apparently did for her as it wasn't her that booked the work in with usm but she never got back to me and IO cannot have this review removed on google.
I later found out that this person was the guys ex girlfriend.

A few months later the guy above did it again publicly on a local "sell it swap it" type page that also allows businesses to advertise
Again I challenged him and now today (probably 2/3 weeks later) a brand new facebook account has been created and used to leave a bad review on my facebook page, again from someone I have never heard of, so I removed the comment, and he commented again, so This time I left the comment on the page and publicly challenged him about it. The writing style of this guy is funnily enough very similar to the guy above who seems hell bent on causing me problems. so I am pretty sure this facebook account was created by this "competitor".
This lad now also has a job working for a proper competitor of ours (brick and mortar shop)

I cannot prove the bad reviews came from him even though I am 99% certain it is him in both cases.

It is worth mentioning that although I have heard loads of horror stories about this guy and his extremely poor attitude with people he continues to get amazing reviews and recommendations on facebook, the reason being he is stupidly cheap and doing things which aren't legal (but again I can't prove this either)

I am a little bit lost as to what to do with this guy, as it seems messaging him to tell him to stop it only seems to work for a short period.

FloppyPoppy · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:36

I believe first reply has to has to contain:

Solution #1: Poo through his letter box.

Solved

MeatLoaf · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:36

If hes doing it on the side report him to social/tax office.

Cosimo · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:37

harry5522 said:
I believe first reply has to has to contain:

Solution #1: Poo through his letter box.

Solved

It has to come from many sources to be effective.

Xordium · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:40

You say he is doing things that aren't legal and yet can't prove that. You kind of need to explain this further because that is either a way to get what you want or to get sued for defamation.

Woden · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:44

Smash his pasty, then poop through it

koolpc · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:49

Facebook link? What exactly is the business you are in? Have you shown him the boxing stance?

MassiveJim · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:52

Xordium said:
You say he is doing things that aren't legal and yet can't prove that. You kind of need to explain this further because that is either a way to get what you want or to get sued for defamation.

This is the reason I have kept it vague, I'm not sure at this stage it is entirely relevant what my business does and I would like to keep this as factual as possible

He is offering a service for a price so low it cannot be legal. ie Goods supplied cannot even be bought for the price he is offering to supply and "install".

MassiveJim · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:53

koolpc said:
Facebook link? What exactly is the business you are in? Have you shown him the boxing stance?

So far I haven't done anything other than message him and tell him not to do it any more.

koolpc · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:55

Can you post some links for us to see what he says?

Vulcan · 25 Jul 2015 at 14:55

MeatLoaf said:
If hes doing it on the side report him to social/tax office.

For what exactly?

I had some guy on eBay do the same, claiming to report me to the authorities.

Being self-employed isn't illegal.

Edrof · 25 Jul 2015 at 15:10

I absolutely cannot stand people who do this. I've had at least one muppet do it to one or two of my books on Amazon. (He's an inexplicably popular author who writes terrible books.) Personally, I'd never dream of doing it to anyone else: if their product is better than mine then it's up to me to improve.

Keyboards'Fear · 25 Jul 2015 at 15:18

Track him down and throw a Hovis in his face

No1newts · 25 Jul 2015 at 15:27

Edrof said:
I absolutely cannot stand people who do this. I've had at least one muppet do it to one or two of my books on Amazon. (He's an inexplicably popular author who writes terrible books.) Personally, I'd never dream of doing it to anyone else: if their product is better than mine then it's up to me to improve.

Was this the guy who kept linking his non-related books to Harry Potter to attract readers?

It's abysmal people do this but if they are trying to make a living and make money, whilst decent wouldn't do it, you can understand why some are tempted.

jsmoke · 25 Jul 2015 at 15:42

Well after a quick google I came across, "Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations" which possibly can protect you. Nothing puts the fear into people than the law does so learn the law then politely leave a comment reminding this person about it.

hyperseven · 25 Jul 2015 at 16:01

sounds like suspected money launderer to me, fill in a SAR.

iffy comments on Facebook, he might be trying to radicalise people, MI5 could do with informing.

Rroff · 25 Jul 2015 at 16:04

Edrof said:
I absolutely cannot stand people who do this. I've had at least one muppet do it to one or two of my books on Amazon. (He's an inexplicably popular author who writes terrible books.) Personally, I'd never dream of doing it to anyone else: if their product is better than mine then it's up to me to improve.

A lot harder to defend a book - in the OPs case he can atleast reply with something along the lines of getting them to contact him to remedy any problems (which if they are fake they won't be able to do).

Twirlywoos · 25 Jul 2015 at 16:20

I'm glad my life doesn't revolve around Facecrap. You know that business was conducted way before that fitna come about, so why not let word of mouth let your business grow instead of petty online squabbles? Alternatives? well take him to court. Judge Rinder wants to see you(!)

Vulcan · 25 Jul 2015 at 16:39

Moses said:
No, but people who do sell stuff/provide services/etc on the side and evade tax. It's not an insignificant problem,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33662640

Some may do, in the same was that some employed people evade tax, some businesses evade tax etc.

It's quite a leap to suggest that he is evading tax just because he has a second job.

Yamahahahahaha · 25 Jul 2015 at 17:00

It depends what claims this accuser is making. Unsubstantiated defamation which could lead to financial loss, eg, direct loss of business, is a legal matter.

I'd sit back and let him make a noose for his own neck, collect the evidence then hand it over a solicitor to sort out. Right now you only have lots of suspicions, you'll need some concrete evidence before anything can happen. You've acted in good faith so far by asking him directly to take stuff down and he complied in the first instance. Keep acting in good faith regardless of how annoyed you get. The law changed last year so it's a lot cheaper and quicker to get these matters resolved. No doubt he'll back down as soon as the first letter arrives if he knows what's good for him.