‘I was shell-shocked’: Consumer threatened with legal action after posting negative online review

ST. CLOUD, Fla. — An Osceola County man received a threatening legal notice from a local pest control company after he posted an online review about the company.

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It seems everyone uses online reviews to make decisions these days. There are plenty of reviews out there on everything restaurants to pest control services.

“So, we were just having a bug issue in our house. It started off small and it was just continuously getting worse and worse as time went by,” said Jonathan Quinones.

Quinones told Action 9 that he and his grandfather relied on positive reviews to select Swan’s Pest Control for their Saint Cloud home around two years ago.

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Quinones said, “It was nothing but five stars. So, I was like, ‘Hey, this would be a great idea to get a five-star local company to come out and take care of the bug issue that we’re having.’”

According to Quinones, the technician informed them they would see improvement over time. But after two years, he claims they still had the same bug problem and decided it was time for a change.

He then left Google review of his own:

I’ve been using Swan’s Pest Control in St. Cloud, Florida, for over two years, hoping for a resolution to my pesty issues, but unfortunately, I haven’t seen any significant improvement. Despite regular treatments, I continue to experience problems with roaches in my home.

Andre, who has been handing the pest control treatments and is part owner, mentioned that he needed to contact the chemical company to understand why their products weren’t working as expected. I found this concerning, especially given his experience in the field.

I’ve tried to be patient and give them time to resolve the issue, but unfortunately, there hasn’t been any effective solution or significant progress. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Swan’s Pest Control, as I have not seen the results I hoped for.

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Jonathan Quinones told Action 9, “Nothing derogatory, just simple and short.”

But about a week after posting the review, he received a cease-and-desist letter from Swan’s Pest Control’s legal team. It threatened legal action if he didn’t remove the review within 48 hours.

Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal asked, “What did you think when you saw this letter?”

Quinones responded, “It was just… I was shell shocked.”

Action 9 spoke with Erin Witte, the Director of Consumer Protection with the Consumer Federation of America, about the issue.

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Witte said, “Consumers deserve a fair shake. They should know what other people are experiencing.”

Witte believes consumers have the right to share honest opinions about a business’ products and services. The Consumer Review Fairness Act even prevents companies from using language in their contracts that prohibits honest reviews or threatens legal action because of them.

“As long as it’s honest, it’s not defamatory or something that is clearly false, you should be able to do that in a way that’s honest and share that experience with other people,” she said.

And just last week, The Federal Trade Commission adopted a new rule that’s designed to fight against fake and misleading reviews. Part of that new rule prohibits businesses from using unfounded or groundless legal threats to prevent or remove negative consumer reviews.

Action 9 reached owner of Swan’s Pest Control, Andre Davis, by phone. He believes some of Jonathan Quinones’ friends also jumped online and posted bogus 1-star reviews and that’s why his team sent out the letter. Davis didn’t say if he would actually file a lawsuit but said he doesn’t think his company treated the home for more than two years which is what he argued is false.

But Jonathan Quinones, maintains the review is accurate and said the threatening letter almost made him remove his review. He now wonders if others received similar letters and if that could be why he saw almost entirely 5-star reviews for Swan’s Pest Control.

“It was very intimidating because we’re not in the best financial situation, and for something as simple as an honest Google review to threaten legal action, it’s scary,” Quinones said.

The new Federal Trade Commission rule designed to fight against fake and misleading reviews that hurt consumer’s abilities to make informed decisions is expected to go into effect in mid-October.

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