Delete negative online reviews in Germany
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✔ All-around support – at a fixed price
✔ More than 20,000 checked up cases in corporate law
Delete negative online reviews in Germany
Many (supposed) customers, patients or clients write reviews on portals like Google, Jameda, Yelp, DocInsider and Facebook. These often do not correspond to the truth, or exceed the limits of a permissible expression of opinion. We will protect you against these cases of unjustified reviews. Have your claim for deletion and removal enforced by a law firm after a free assessment and for a fixed fee.
Online reviews have replaced personal recommendations
Personal recommendations or test reports in the print media used to play an important role in decision-making. Today,
- 77% of all consumers use online reviews as a guide when they make a major purchase or use an important service (Customer Study 2014 – HTW Berlin).
- the first search is carried out via search engines or review portals: 90.8% of all search queries are made via Google search (12 months from March 2016 – StarCounter, Web-Stats).
A good online reputation cultivated by good reviews is essential
Online reviews have a considerable influence on profit and customer, patient or client retention. They therefore have a direct impact on the financial success of a company, self-employed person or freelancer. A good online reputation is therefore essential. Protection through structured reputation management and a consistent approach to negative reviews is becoming increasingly important.
We delete your online review. You focus on business.
![1](https://anwalt-kg.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-1-300x200.jpg)
Remove key points rating:
Andre Kraus, lawyer and founder of the KRAUS GHENDLER RUVINSKIJ law firm, is your contact in matters of company formation, trade mark law, reputation protection and corporate law.
![online-anfrage-gruenden](https://anwalt-kg.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/online-anfrage-gruenden-180x180.png)
Submit online-review or send a message
You can submit your negative online review here or send us a message.
![pruefung-bewertung](https://anwalt-kg.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pruefung-bewertung-180x180.png)
Free check
We check free of charge whether the online-review violates the portal’s guidelines or your general right of personality. We will contact you with our result.
![vertrag-gruendung](https://anwalt-kg.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/vertrag-gruendung-180x180.png)
Removal of negative online review
If the prospects for removal and deletion are promising we take action against the portal on request, at a fixed price. The means available to us against negative reviews are a notice-and-take-down letter to the portal, a warning and – if the review is not deleted even after the warning- legal action on request.
Objectives of deleting a negative online review in Germany
Objective 1
Restore reputation
Deleting your negative review will restore your online reputation.
Objective 2
Free assessment
We assess the likelihood of success of the procedure to have your negative review removed free of charge. Only after a successful assessment do you instruct us to delete the review. If there is no chance of success, you will not incur any costs.
Objective 2
Objective 3:
Good prospects of success
Most reviews are removed after the first legal letter.
Objective 4:
Quick and easy
We take care of having your review deleted. You are free to focus on your business.
Objective 4:
remove negative reviews by a lawyer
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Over
checked cases
Open questions? – Just call us:
(Mo. – So. from 9am to 22pm / NATIONWIDE – German landline)
Removing a negative review step by step
This is how we proceed for you
SEND THE NEGATIVE REVIEW
Send us your negative review via our online form. The commission is without cost risk for you: if the review is not deleted, you will not incur any costs.
Alternatively, you can also download the review documents and send them to us completed, by- ➤ email (unternehmer@anwalt-kg.de),
- ➤ fax (+49 221 6777 005 9), or
- ➤ post (KRAUS Anwaltskanzlei, Aachener Strasse 1, 50674 Cologne).
FREE ASSESSMENT
We check free of charge whether the negative review can be deleted. If there is a chance of success, we can take action against the portal on request. If there is no prospect of success, our work remains free of charge for you.
WRITING TO THE PORTAL
We will contact the portal’s legal department as soon as possible with a legal notice-and-take-down letter. With reference to your facts and legal assessment (dual strategy), the portal’s obligation to check your review is thus legally enforced towards you as the reviewee. Our letter is in line with the “Blogspot” criteria of the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH).
REMOVAL AND OTHER CLAIMS
Very often, the very first letter from a lawyer to the portal causes the company to delete and remove the review. At your request, we will jointly discuss the possibilities of further claims such as compensation for damages, the issuance of a cease-and-desist declaration and legal enforcement.
Guidelines of portals and search engines for deleting and removing reviews
Online reviews are becoming more and more important for decision-making by customers, patients, guests or buyers. They ask themselves questions like:
- Is the food at the restaurant good?
- Is the doctor thorough?
- What is customers’ experience with this tradesman?
- Is the hotel clean?
- Is the product or service suitable for my requirements?
Review portals in all sectors
Different review portals are used in different industries:
- Google, Facebook, Yelp – general – all sectors
- Amazon, eBay – mainly trade with goods
- Jameda, DocInsider, Sanego – doctor reviews
- Tripadvisor, Holidaycheck – hotel reviews
- Kununu – employer reviews
Findability of reviews
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. are often used first to search for a product or service. The search results deliver providers or links to review portals. Review portals give the user various rating options. These are not unproblematic. Negative reviews for products or services can be damaging to business and deter customers from buying or using a service.
Basic permissibility of reviews on Internet portals
Many clients first want to know whether they have to allow themselves to be reviewed online at all. In many cases you will find an entry for your company in a portal, although you have not registered it. In 2009 and 2014, the BGH decided that doctors, companies or self-employed persons must allow themselves to be reviewed on public review portals (“Spickmich” ruling VI ZR 196/08 and VI ZR 358/13). Reviews are protected by freedom of expression according to Article 5 of the German constitution (GG). However, reviews must be removed if they infringe the guidelines of the portal or your right of personality (Article 2(1) GG in conjunction with Article 1(1) GG).
Deletion and removal procedures and policies
In order to exclude untrue or insulting and thus bad reviews, and to guarantee a high standard for their users, Internet portals have developed procedures and set up corresponding guidelines. There are commonalities between the individual portals.
As a law firm we support our clients in removing these reviews.
Submitting negative reviews on Internet portals
In order to give a bad review, portals often require users to create an account, which is usually free of charge. Ratings often consist of stars (1 star = worst, maximum number of stars = best) and the option to write and leave a review about the experience.
Internal removal and deletion guidelines of review portals
The internal guidelines of the portals usually prohibit:
- Illegal content: All portals prohibit illegal reviews. This is the most common reason for the deletion of negative online reviews. They are untrue or insulting (“abusive criticism”) and violate the general right of personality applicable in Germany (Article 2(1) GG in conjunction with Article 1(1) GG).
- Advertising: Bad reviews made solely for advertising purposes are not allowed by most portals.
- Netiquette: Review portals usually do not allow offensive or hurtful wording, or personal attacks on other people.
- Conflicts of interest: Reviews of one’s own company are also generally not permitted. Paid (positive or negative) reviews are usually not tolerated by portals (“fake news”).
- Identity theft: Internet portals mostly do not allow reviews in the name of other people or under a false name.
When removing and deleting a review, we proceed according to a dual strategy: We justify removal by citing
- violation of the portal’s guidelines and additionally
- infringement of the general right of personality.
This puts portals under more pressure.
Contact with a portal operator
In most cases, it is difficult to establish contact with an Internet portal yourself. Even finding the responsible contact person is not straightforward. In the case of Google, for example, Google Germany GmbH based in Hamburg is not the correct point of contact. Although the company represents Google in Germany, it is not the operator of the Google My Business service. Therefore, we directly contact the operator’s body responsible for legal issues – in the case of Google, Google Inc., which is based in the United States – with a legal request (“notice-and-take-down letter”).
remove negative reviews by a lawyer
✔ CHEAP✔ FAST✔ LEGALLY SECURE
Over
checked cases
Open questions? – Just call us:
(Mo. – So. from 9am to 22pm / NATIONWIDE – German landline)
Legal protection against unjustified reviews in Germany
A negative online review can affect anyone:
- entrepreneurs such as e-commerce operators, restaurants, hotels, caterers and tradesmen,
- freelancers such as doctors, architects and tax consultants, or
- private individuals such as teachers and professors.
BGH: Reviews on review portals are generally permitted
Clients often ask whether they have to tolerate reviews at all. The BGH generally permits reviews (BGH “Spickmich” ruling of 23/06/2009 – VI ZR 196/18 and ruling of 23/09/2014 – VI ZR 358/13). It decided that doctors, companies and self-employed people must in principle allow themselves to be evaluated on public review portals because they generally also offer their services to the public. However, this ruling does not mean that all reviews have to be tolerated. Those concerned still have the option of taking action against illegal online reviews.
Prohibited and negative reviews that are to be removed
Bad online reviews are prohibited and can be removed if they
- violate the general right of personality of the reviewee (Article 2(1) GG in conjunction with Article 1(1) GG) and
- are not protected by the freedom of expression (Article 5 GG).
This will protect both
- private persons, entrepreneurs or freelancers themselves (natural persons) and
- companies and firms including GmbHs, UGs and GmbH & Co. KGs (legal persons) according to the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG).
Precedence of the entrepreneur’s interest
A negative review must be removed if your interest in an intact personality outweighs the author’s interest in freedom of expression. The following criteria are weighed against each other:
- wording of the bad review (how harsh is the review?),
- context in which the review was made (is the author concerned with the portrayal of their experience or with denigration and abuse?),
- how an objective third party would understand the portrayal,
- which so-called protected sphere was invaded – a distinction must be made as to whether the statement refers to intimate (intimate sphere – always forbidden), private (private sphere – often forbidden) or public (social sphere – mostly permitted) conditions, facts or circumstances, and
- particularly important, the distinction between expression of opinion and factual claims – opinions are more eligible for protection.
Costs deletion negative rating
remove negative reviews by a lawyer
✔ CHEAP✔ FAST✔ LEGALLY SECURE
Over
checked cases
Open questions? – Just call us:
(Mo. – So. from 9am to 22pm / NATIONWIDE – German landline)
Principles
Free check
We check your review free of charge.
Quick and easy
We take care of your case – You concentrate solely on your business. There is no waiting period or long processing time.
Legal security
We fulfill the reservation of legal advice by a lawyer (§ 2 II RDG) and assume the full legal guarantee.
Price transparency
We accompany you at a fixed price – without complex fees or indirectly allocated costs from intermediary portals.
Specialization
Due to our concentration on certain core areas we offer you a particularly high level of expertise at a a relatively low fixed price.
Long-term perspective
The consultation on your negative review is our investment in a long-term cooperation in the fields of corporate and consumer law.
Jetzt Ihre negative Bewertung löschen lassen!
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KRAUS GHENDLER RUVINSKIJ ist eine Kooperation der folgenden unabhängigen und rechtlich selbständigen Rechtsanwaltskanzleien: KRAUS GHENDLER Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB, GHENDLER RUVINSKIJ Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH und KRAUS Anwaltskanzlei (Rechtsanwalt Andre Kraus).