Competitor "attacking" my business

I was contacted by a woman a few years ago who asked me to assist her and the police in tracking down someone who was leaving negative reviews for her restaurant. The same person had also signed this woman up to a load of newsletters using insulting names, one of which happened to be a newsletter for one of our pubs.

I contacted our marketing agency and was able to obtain the date and time of when she was signed up to the newsletter along with the IP address of the person who had completed the form. This information was used by the police, along with information obtained from other parties, to track down the person in question and issue her with a caution for harassment.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...keting-manager-apologises-for-scathing-682169

You obviously need to do some homework yourself to help the police and it may depend what the reviews contain but they won't take it lightly if you give them what they need.
 
No1newts said:
Was this the guy who kept linking his non-related books to Harry Potter to attract readers? :D

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.
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Yep! Very well remembered. He was hilariously obvious and awful in some of his 'reviews', but it's likely to have negatively affected my sales nevertheless. :(
 
If I was called Jim and was massive, I expect that a knowing wink in the direction of this libellous competitor would make him aware of the trouble he was risking.

Unless he was called AbsolutelymassiveFred or something.
 
I had similar, wrote an app, better than an Indian chaps program, he battered my app with bad reviews and malware claims to try to protect his income.
 
Locate the thread on here by Mattdom about his Stolen bike, then tell Mattdom it was this chap who stole his bike - sit back and relax :D
 
Massive Jim as your attorney I recommend:
1. asking your local solicitor to write to him explaining that if he persists they have been instructed to investigate on your behalf and seek damages for the damage to your reputation and loss of business
2. If you use lots of tinternet things, facebook, google, your own site ask folk to post positive reviews when they they are pleased with your work, and they can also mark as negative the bad reviews. My understanding is that if a dodgy review gets enough negatives google remove it. They can be good reviews for past and present work you have done.
3. Ignore it, the best revenge is to live well.
 
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
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As far as I'm aware it is not quite as simple as that. You can sell stuff on the side so long as it is not 'trading'. In addition I do not think there is a clear definition for trading in the courts, but normally judged on 'badges of trade' to indicate whether it is trading or not.

Certainly in a relatively clear cut case selling second hand belongings of your own is not likely to be deemed trading even if you had a lot of transactions. However if you purchased items for selling on even if it was only a few that could be held be trading (but still might not due to infrequency of the act).

I guess my point here is that it is somewhat open to interpretation whether something is trading which basically then gets income assessed as self-employment income. But you can probably do a few odd jobs for friends / neighbours etc such as cutting the grass and not have to declare it as income if they pay you money as thanks.
 
withhold your number. call him up. book him for a big job at the edge of where he covers. send him to a business/house number that doesn't exist on a real road. waste his time. rinse and repeat.
 
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