Non-disparagement Clause in Contract

No one we hired had a clause like that in their contract, and I never would have hired them if they did. That’s a huge red flag IMO.

That sounds very flaky and won't hold up in a court of law even if on a contract if you have proof of the reason for the bad reviews. I would not hire that doc but if you already did then I would (in writing) document "everything" good and bad and if something bad happens that can get photos proof do so. This record along with any witness (your other half counts as he or she was wasn't the one to write the review) can outweigh any claim of defemation or slander (get the two backwards, whichever is written)

Oh. That seems fishy. So her reviews mean absolutely nothing.

I would look elsewhere. You want good reviews from me you better provide good service. If I get bad service I will leave a bad review. Vendors who have a Claus in their contract that you can't say anything bad about them are trying to hide something.

Eh - all of these wedding sites filter bad reviews if a vendor so much as complains. My friend ran into this when she absolutely hated her photographer. She wrote him a bad review and WW took it down when he complained. They were going to make her jump through hoops by sending the contract and going through it all. She decided not to go through with it, but now I take only 5 star reviews with a grain of salt. I trust reviews more of the women in my Facebook resale group. They really tell you which vendors are amazing and helped them have a great day! I got my photo booth off of there and most likely my DOC now through recommendations.

View Quoted Comment All you have to do for WW is prove you had a contract with the vendor and they put the bad review back up. I’d hardly call that jumping through hoops. It’s to prevent people who didn’t actually receive service from a vendor from writing a bad review.

The only time I've signed a contract like that I was getting a full refund and then some with my DOC. I was literally told I wasn't allowed to name them. I don't recommend signing with someone who fixed their reviews like this

Sami, I have been in the wedding planning business for 30 years now and have never seen this before. Of course it's easy to understand why the vendor would want a clause like this but it's entirely a one sided agreement. Maybe ask the vendor to include a provision saying you can get a full refund of any deposits paid up to 10 days prior to the wedding if you are not satisfied for any reason with them. In exchange you will agree to the clause. Also include language that if they do not honor the requested refund then the non-disparagement clause is null and void. Good Luck

That would make me nervous. I would have to wonder how many honest reviews aren't out their because you can't say anything negative about them. I don't think I would hire anyone who had this in their contract.

Quite a few, if not all, of my vendors have this clause (I'm based in MA), but we chose to move forward with them based on reviews/referrals from multiple people we know personally who have used their services, so we weren't TOO concerned about it.

I think you can still give a straight forward review without being confrontational or passive aggressive about it. For instance, we love our venue and the staff has been great, but we have noticed that every time we come in for a meeting, something else is costing us more money that wasn't originally quoted in the packet. A specific example is that when we toured the venue, we were told by the owner that "most brides and grooms take pictures at a barn that is next door to them and it makes for wonderful photos." They basically insinuated that this property was theirs and were using it as a selling point for us to use their venue, however, it's not their property and we have to pay more money if we want to even use their landscape in our photos - so this was an expense we weren't expecting and were just told about.

So I plan to write in my review how great the staff has been, but then will note "you may want to put aside money for extra expenses that are not noted in their informational packet, such as using the barn across the street for photos." It implies that we ran into this issue, but we're just being informative to other prospective brides and grooms. It's not necessarily negative IMO anyway.

President Obama signed HB 5111 making non-disparagement clauses in consumer contracts illegal. Here's a link to an article:

http://privacyandiplawblog.com/2017/04/new-law-prohibits-non-disparagement-provisions-in-form-consumer-contracts/

View Quoted Comment I have only seen 1 vendor in my area on WW with less than 4 stars, it just seems fishy to me

I have to agree. It made me wonder how vendors are really being handled on WW. Do vendors pay to appear, how are reviews truly handled, does WW easily remove negative reviews if a vendor complains, etc.

View Quoted Comment It wasn’t just to post a bad review, it was a dispute that he opened up against her review. It would’ve involved going through the contract to point out services not rendered, etc.

View Quoted Comment This I great information! Thank you so much for sharing this. FH feels we should proceed with her if she's willing to remove the clause or revise it. I'm still nervous about it as I don't know how to feel about her few but perfect reviews. Also, we found a Knot article that states that some vendors do this and have taken clients to court over a 4/5 star rating vs 5/5!

View Quoted Comment This should be back because sometimes a vendor treats you so badly you don't sign with them. You still should be allowed to write a review warning others. Sounds like we in reviews favors their vendors vs their users which shouldn't be the case. Reviews should not be allowed to be disputed.

View Quoted Comment Vendors 100% pay to be advertised and the featured ones up top pay even more. This is all about clicks and ads, people want to seek themselves. It’s just business!

RUN FOR THE HILLS!

Seriously. When you are *considering* booking a vendor, I would also ask to see their Termination or Cancellation and Postponement Contracts as well.

I have been MAJORLY BURNED by TWO 5-star wedding planners/day-of-coordinators who 1)failed to keep any of their promises (even things as simple as emailing planning documents), 2)shamed me for a $32,000 budget, 3)shamed me for not going with Ivory/Blush/Champagne/Greenery/Donut Walls/Photo Booths/Etc, and...4)They BOTH had "nonnegative review" or "non-disparity" clauses. The first had it hidden in her cancellation agreement, but never mentioned it in the initial contract. The second had it written in so vaguely that my uncle, who is a judge, *almost* didn't even see it. I've lost nearly $2,000 in money paid to these planners/coordinators who don't return phone calls (and I wasn't calling them all the time or outside of business hours) or do anything they said they would do (timeline planning, contract negotiation, vendor selection assistance, provide the darn documents for client planning purposes that they say they will!). They basically take the money and do nothing.

I think people will, for the most part, be overly generous in their reviews - even if the vendor was horrible, like these two were. But, to make matters worse, leaving a 4.8 star review will still get some of them to reach out to you and demand to know HOW ON EARTH THEY "ONLY GOT 4.8 STARS". I did find out that apparently The Knot "heavily frowns upon" the no-negative-review clause, but the thing is, these vendors can dispute a negative review here and on The Knot, and both sites will take them down when they do. That happened to me with Flaky Best of The Knot 2017 Florist, I Don't Stand By My Preferred Vendor List But Feel Sorry for Me Because I'm a Small Business Owner, Read The Itty Bitty Fine Print of My Cancellation Contract When You HIRE Me, and the I Don't Care If Your Father Is Terminally Ill and Your Son Got Kidnapped I'm Going To Take Your Money AND Add a $200 Surcharge for You Postponing And Once You're Paid In Full I Will Tell You I'm No Longer Available On Your New Date So I'm Cancelling Your Contract and NEVER Sending Three Documents AND I'm Keeping Your Money Coordinator.

100% True Story. Total $ lost was over $5K between all the above. It's just not worth the risk. If they have no fear of an HONEST negative review because they prevent you from leaving one in the first place, they have no incentive to do the job you're paying them for. Keep looking and I wish I had someone to reccomend.

View Quoted Comment My response is below, but I am curious - did the vendor remove the clause?

View Quoted Comment Hi Kristen! Thanks for sharing your experience. The vendor was willing to revise but not remove the clause. I still feel uncomfortable so we're putting her on pause and exploring other options.