Online defamation or??

[LDN]

My wife runs an academy and has one student (from years upon years of trading) that has turned out to be a lunatic; she finished the course and was all smiles - only to (five months later) claim that she has not been able to trade and wants all her money back (3.5k) and an additional 1k for additional training that she just had. She has said that if we do not pay her she will go on every relevant forum and social media platform to bad mouth my wife's business.

Now, what is this called? Defamation? Blackmail? I'm not sure what the official term is here - but we cannot work out why she has sudden shown her face and in this fashion...

[jonamv8]

You'll need deep pockets to lawyer up when it comes to this type of thing

[johnfm]

If her claims are baseless a sternly drafted letter from a good litigator will probably sort it for less than £500.

If she is a determined, vexatious litigant it could get more involved.

A lot depends on the contractual relationship between your other half and the student.

[Simpo Two]

Or rather than let the claims go unchallenged, maybe debate online and make her look like an idiot? Loonies are easy to beat with logic and angry people can be led over cliffs.

[ReaderScars]

In preparation for a potential legal onslaught maybe you could look into some sort of legal insurance?

[HoHoHo]

Today's news, tomorrow's chip paper.

Ignore it, rise above it and move on because she'll get bored pretty quickly when no one else is really interested.

If however huge threads start with loads of others moaning you could use it to learn where you're going wrong and improve the business!

[Hoofy]

She runs a trading academy promising easy riches and is surprised when one person (of many) loses a bundle and wants their money back? (I say "of many" because I suspect the others realise they've just wasted a load of money on training and would rather keep quiet about it to save face.)

Oh, as to what it's called, doesn't that depend on what she says?
"I paid 3.5k and it didn't help me make money. What a waste of money." Sounds like negative feedback.

Edited by Hoofy on Tuesday 14th April 07:32

[KFC]

ReaderScars said:

In preparation for a potential legal onslaught maybe you could look into some sort of legal insurance?

Would legal insurance cover something that you are already aware of maybe turning into a serious issue?

You can't take out pet insurance while your dog has a limp, then expect it to cover the knee surgery when its diagnosed...