Horizon Realty Group recently learned that when someone says something negative about you, your first instinct may not be the best choice.
Before we get into exactly what caused their colossal misstep or how their response has been perceived throughout the Internet, let’s all take a second to realize that we’re all human, and humans naturally have a tendency to react first and think later. If you’re going to be successful in business, you’re going to need to be able to think first, then take calm and rational action. Horizon Realty Group clearly wasn’t able to do that.
So what’s all the drama about? The short story is that Horizon Realty Group, a property management company,has filed a $50,000 libel lawsuit against a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, over one of her alleged Twitter posts. The lawsuit claims that Bonnen libeled the company via Twitter on May 12th, stating “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it’s okay.”
Now, I’m no lawyer, but I don’t think that this is going to gain any traction. It has, however, created a tremendous amount of bad PR for Horizon Realty Group. Ironically, at the time of the tweet, Amanda Bonnen had a staggering 24 followers, so whether the statement was true or not, virtually no one would have even seen it. Instead of choosing their battles wisely, they chose to come after someone who would have had no impact on their company, and now everyone on Twitter is talking about it. They have created their own problem which is growing by the day.
This is a great lesson for everyone in business. When someone says something nasty, or even false, take some time to cool down before you fire off a response. And sometimes, it’s best just to avoid the battle in the first place, especially if you have nothing to gain by fighting it.
An ex-girlfriend of mine lived in an apartment in Edgewater. Horizon filed a lawsuit against her for breaking her contract. They are suing her for the months rent left on her contract (even though she no longer lives there). What’s a punch to the gut about this lawsuit is that she moved out because one of Horizon’s employees unlocked her door and walked into her apartment at one o’clock in the morning. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had two male guests sleeping in the living room that frightened the lobby attendant away, would be horrifying to think what would have happened if she was living there alone as she normally does.
Horizon can not escape from their negligence. Thanks for posting this!
Horizon seem to think that given a little time that this will all be forgotten.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
Their name will forever be linked to this affair, as one blogger put it “Google doesn’t forget”
It’s not the tweet, the lawsuit nor the current international coverage that will drive customers away in the future.
It’s being forever known on Google as a “sue first organization”.
I for one would never do business with this type of company, especially a landlord.
All pertinent facts were presented. The fact that she had sued them is irrelevant, as is the fact that Horizon Realty Group claims that there was no mold. Besides, this post isn’t about legal matters, it’s about how a company has destroyed their own reputation.
Their actions were nothing more than an intimidation/retaliatory tactic. Jeffrey Michael, who runs Horizon said “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.” If their actions and statements aren’t an example of someone who is clueless about social media, I don’t know what is.
For the record, can you explain to me how a single tweet from a person with 24 followers could possibly result in $50,000 in damages?
Based on the few facts you’ve given and what few facts have been covered by most of the media, one would think that Horizon Realty Group is lead by someone clueless about social media. However, if you do your homework and dig a little deeper, you’ll find out that this was more or less the straw that broke the camels back (so to speak). If you read the WSJ posting, it seems as though the woman sued Horizon Realty first and then moved out and no mold was found in her apartment. Seems as though the woman is the one who is playing the Twitter world. As it turns out, while trying to take advantage of the realty company and she in turn has taken advantage of Twitterville without even trying to.