Legal advise needed
Discussion
I used to work with an associate who sent work my way, in return for me sending other work his way. This ended up being rather one way and it was clear he was doing the all the work himself and expecting me to still send him leads from my side.
In the name of friendly competition, I started doing his area of work myself and it took off very nicely, with a steady stream of clients that all have come from word of mouth so far.
The problem started when one of his clients approached me for a quote, and I undercut him without knowing, and they moved over telling him why and where (in a nutshell, they told him that his customer service stinks and that they wanted a refund). This obviously rubbed him up the wrong way, so he took it upon himself to send out email to 200,000 people from a mailing list he bought, saying that I had stolen this list from him and that he was taking me to court for fraud.
Clearly this is untrue, and the 20 or so people who mailed me asking for an explanation all accepted my side of the story, and many wondered how on earth he got their address in the first place.
I *think* I have a case for libel against him, but I know that he has no money or assets worth sueing for, and I suspect it would cost a lot to even get this to court.
Luckily, I don't think there is that much damage done - a lot of people who have called or mailed me say that it looks like a cheap marketing stunt on their behalf, but I guess if you throw enough sh*t, some will stick.
I can't help but feel that I am going to have to just take this on the chin and get my revenge by making a success of my new venture, but some opinions would be appreciated.
In the name of friendly competition, I started doing his area of work myself and it took off very nicely, with a steady stream of clients that all have come from word of mouth so far.
The problem started when one of his clients approached me for a quote, and I undercut him without knowing, and they moved over telling him why and where (in a nutshell, they told him that his customer service stinks and that they wanted a refund). This obviously rubbed him up the wrong way, so he took it upon himself to send out email to 200,000 people from a mailing list he bought, saying that I had stolen this list from him and that he was taking me to court for fraud.
Clearly this is untrue, and the 20 or so people who mailed me asking for an explanation all accepted my side of the story, and many wondered how on earth he got their address in the first place.
I *think* I have a case for libel against him, but I know that he has no money or assets worth sueing for, and I suspect it would cost a lot to even get this to court.
Luckily, I don't think there is that much damage done - a lot of people who have called or mailed me say that it looks like a cheap marketing stunt on their behalf, but I guess if you throw enough sh*t, some will stick.
I can't help but feel that I am going to have to just take this on the chin and get my revenge by making a success of my new venture, but some opinions would be appreciated.
Revenge is a dish best served cold 
Probably the best way to stick it to him is to be as successful as you can be and rub it in at ever opportunity.
His attitude and behaviour is pretty childish and personally I wouldn't bother lowering yourself to his level. It sounds like your reputation is pretty much un-hurt by his stunt, so I don't know if taking him to court is really worth the hassle.
Probably the best way to stick it to him is to be as successful as you can be and rub it in at ever opportunity.
His attitude and behaviour is pretty childish and personally I wouldn't bother lowering yourself to his level. It sounds like your reputation is pretty much un-hurt by his stunt, so I don't know if taking him to court is really worth the hassle.
JonRB said:
And maybe an email to his ISP identifying him as a spammer.
Most people are going to ask themsleves, "why is this bloke so afraid of losing business to Mr Jayteens? Perhaps I should investigate?"
And some are going to say, "never heard of this Jayteens bloke, perhaps I should investigate?"
Very few are going to say, "HughJayteens is clearly a w*nker, I'm going to steer clear" based on one unfounded email from a source which has in all probability (if what you say is correct) pi$$ed off a number of his clients anyway by being cr@p - or is, in fact, completely unknown to them if it is a 3rd party mailing list he's bought.
Free publicity for you, looking like a tw@t for him.
Overall, you're the winner
>> Edited by JohnL on Thursday 8th May 14:09
Cheers all - I think you generally confirmed what I suspected anyway.
It gets better anyway - Just had the post arrive and in there is an invoice from him for £3k for the 200,000 email addresses he alleges I stole!
Might be time to remind him that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, as another company of his sells Viagra off the net!
It gets better anyway - Just had the post arrive and in there is an invoice from him for £3k for the 200,000 email addresses he alleges I stole!
Might be time to remind him that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, as another company of his sells Viagra off the net!
hughjayteens said:
It gets better anyway - Just had the post arrive and in there is an invoice from him for £3k for the 200,000 email addresses he alleges I stole!
Does he actually believe that you pinched the list?
Mmm, what if he's really getting underhand ... if you ignore the invoice, can he then get some kind of court action against you for non-payment of the invoice? Or he could go to debt recovery agents and say that you haven't paid ... etc etc.
Maybe you need a chat with a solicitor to forestall that? A pain but less than having to deal with it if it actually happens I should think.
Obviously litigation should be avoided if possible. However, if you think your reputation has been damaged it may well be worth pursuing.
Even if it is not worth pursuing for damages, you could force him to send out a retraction to those 200k people.
If it is a clear cut case, his solicitor will advise him to settle before this goes to court. The alternative for him would be to face substantial legal and court costs and he'd have to send out the retraction in any case.
p.s. He can't invoice you for something he thinks you stole. Well he can, but you can happily ignore it. Similarly he can't go to a debt recovery agency. They'd be fools to try to chase you for a "debt" that isn't based on any demonstrable breach of contract.
>> Edited by ATG on Thursday 8th May 14:38
Even if it is not worth pursuing for damages, you could force him to send out a retraction to those 200k people.
If it is a clear cut case, his solicitor will advise him to settle before this goes to court. The alternative for him would be to face substantial legal and court costs and he'd have to send out the retraction in any case.
p.s. He can't invoice you for something he thinks you stole. Well he can, but you can happily ignore it. Similarly he can't go to a debt recovery agency. They'd be fools to try to chase you for a "debt" that isn't based on any demonstrable breach of contract.
>> Edited by ATG on Thursday 8th May 14:38
I really don't know how he thinks I can have stole this list - I trade about 230 miles away from him and have never set foot in his new offices.
Similarly, I have no access to his sites or systems so am clueless as to where he has got this notion from.
If this list is like the ones I have seen in the past then the vendors of these use harvesting software to grab email addresses off the net, so they are all in the public domain anyway.
I think I will get a letter written by a solicitor and send it back with the invoice.
Cheers again.
Similarly, I have no access to his sites or systems so am clueless as to where he has got this notion from.
If this list is like the ones I have seen in the past then the vendors of these use harvesting software to grab email addresses off the net, so they are all in the public domain anyway.
I think I will get a letter written by a solicitor and send it back with the invoice.
Cheers again.
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