David and Georgina are at odds with their removalists. Four years later, they took Google to court

In the months that followed, Eden and Oxley went to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Court to try to get their money back.

Georgina Oxley and David Eden.Credit:Joe Armao

They succeeded, winning an order in their favor of $3327.50. The money was finally paid a year after the order was made.

Eden and Oxley believe that was the spark for an online campaign against them.

According to court documents, the first false reviews posted by removal company owners or people associated with them appeared on Designer Plants’ business page in May 2019.

“Very poor quality product. Please save your money at another store,” the review said.

The reviewer’s name was the same as the staff member at Melbourne Movers, according to Eden and Oxley’s claims statement, and had posted the five-star review on his employer’s Google business page that same day.

In the years since, Eden and Oxley say their pages have been flooded with bad reviews accusing them of scamming people, not offering refunds, selling inferior products and having abusive staff.

Sometimes the same typos are repeated, such as ‘dogie’ or ‘doggy’ instead of clever.

“When comments are made like that, you don’t think it will turn into a year-long ordeal,” Eden said.

“And you certainly don’t think you have to spend the amount of money we spent trying to get it done.”

According to court documents, Eden and Oxley requested that Google remove the reviews, but the tech company only removed some of them.

In July 2020, Eden and Oxley began proceedings in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court seeking intervention orders against removalists to stop them from posting more reviews.

They were given a provisional injunction, according to civil court documents, that required removers not to “publish on the internet… any material about [Oxley and/or Eden]❤

Instead of quitting, Eden and Oxley claim that the removalists posted another 32 negative reviews the day after the order was served.

Google is facing a lawsuit over negative reviews.Credit:Bloomberg

The reviews are posted under the good names of the removalists themselves, claim Eden and Oxley, or those associated with them. All reviews have a writing style similar to previous negative posts, Eden and Oxley said.

In subsequent court hearings, subpoenas were given to Google to try and establish the identities of the people who published the reviews. Victoria Police also asked Google for information to unmask the anonymous poster.

But Google has refused to comply, Eden and Oxley said, and generally made it difficult to terminate reviews through its complaints process.

The couple is now taking a defamation action in the Victorian District Court.

Establishing the true identity of the reviewer will be key in this case.

They sued the owners of the removalist company, Udari Koushalya, Bangamu Achichi and Rangika Abeyweera, for libel and harmful lies for posting an allegedly fake review.

Google is being sued for defamation for publishing five reviews, with legal documents being presented at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

The case was set for a judge-only trial in January.Credit:Wayne Taylor

Google declined to comment when contacted by Sunday Time.

In a defense document, the company denied that the reviews were defamatory and said they were unable to respond to Victoria Police requests because they did not have sufficient information to locate the linked account.

The search giant also said it had not responded to the subpoena because it was “not under any legal compulsion to produce such a document.”

The Deletion did not respond to a request for comment when contacted through their attorney. In their defense documents, Achichi and Abeyweera deny telling Eden and Oxley that they will “regret going through it”.

The deletion also denied that the first reviews posted in March 2019 were from anyone associated with them or that they posted reviews after an intervention order was given.

“They did not ask anyone to post a negative review to the plaintiff’s business profile on their behalf,” the defense documents said.

The case will be heard by a judge in January next year.

John Price, the attorney representing Eden and Oxley, said it was the “worst online harassment case he has ever seen” and that current laws make it very difficult for people to pursue their rights.

Eden and Oxley estimate the financial costs of trying to stop the review at more than $100,000 so far and the business damage costs, including lost sales, at more than $1 million.

“In the end, no one wants to go through the litigation, it’s expensive and time-consuming, it’s a last resort,” he said.

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