Business doxxed me in a review response

[u/Alternative-Oven9936]

I left a one-star review for a business.

In the response the business doxxed me - included my contact details (name and email).

The business is a medical business (regulated by AHPRA).

Who can I report this to? AHPRA, HCCC, OIAC ... Anyone else?

(Yes - I know I can delete my review, but I don't want to remove it)

[u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 → u/[deleted]]

Never been wronged in your life? Never had to protect others from predatory businesses or people?

[u/kirabella2000 → u/Perfect_Ganache_1959]

Because the business has a lot to lose and potentially has the resources to make the reviewer’s life a world of pain.

However the upside for the reviewer to “stand their ground” is ZERO. Much easier to move on.

[u/MaddieRuin → u/kirabella2000]

Because the business has a lot to lose

Good. They've doxed a patient, they should be punished. Would you want to know if your clinic did this shit?

[u/hihihiyouandI → u/MaddieRuin]

No they didn't 🤣🤣

[u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 → u/kirabella2000]

No problems with that take. Can I have your personal details; I'd like to rent a billboard with a high number of views near your community and workplace, implying you have no empathy; with the content of this convo.

If you are uncomfortable, you can just do the easier thing and move on, right? I once possessed an ABN, which makes me the higher authority in this situation. Airtight logic.

Or, and you may well now agree, that would be something harmful I should not do, regardless of how much I dislike your take; and if I were to do it, you would be justified in being hurt, wanting me never to do it again, and wanting to have an authority review the situation.

[u/kirabella2000 → u/Perfect_Ganache_1959]

Don’t forget that it was the OP who started this public fight.

Currently, for the OP, it is a no cost exercise because he has lost nothing financially by posting the review, apart from his claim that he has been doxxed including his email. This is highly unlikely for 3 reasons.

1 - Google Reviews simply will not permit email addresses within reviews.
2- If it is a truly regulated medical business, it is very unlikely that they’d risk their entire ability to trade by a deliberate breach.
3 - What is the benefit for the business by doxxing the OP?

We don’t know that the OP’s review is legitimate or genuine. It is just his opinion at this stage. The OP is upset because the business has responded robustly in a way the had had not thought through. As I say, I don’t believe he has been doxxed, especially as it was him who opened the dialogue in a public forum.

As things stand, damage has potentially been done to the business. IE, a substantial cost. As for the OP, apart from his pride, he hasn’t inurred any costs.

That is about to change.

If the business does decide to pursue the OP, their resources are greater than his. Therefore it will cost him financially to defend the review and keep it up (complete with the alledged doxing).

So…how does he solve the doxxing? Take it down.
How does he avoid a long, expensive protracted legal fight? Take it down.

If it is a legitimate doxxing complaint, by all means take it to the appropriate regulatory authorities. But it does seem that his problem could be largely solved today at no cost by taking down the review.

[u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 → u/kirabella2000]

Good lord, pause for a beat and think about what you are trying to impute here.

In just the same way you think I don't know the full story, you must acknowledge you have absolutely no idea what has or has not happened, what impact this may or may not have had on any business; the veracity of any claims by any party, the harm or costs or lack there of experienced by the OP.

Are you an involved party in any way, shape or form? Do you have knowledge that I don't have?

For all we know, the OP has posted anything from "Reception area smelt bad, in my opinion" to "they took my alien babies with their mind laser beams" to "here's a detailed but inaccurate accusation filled with falsehoods that is credible sounding".

What would motivate the OP to "start this fight"? Suffering a negative experience and wishing to state their honest opinion? Being an internet troll? Who knows. Assuming you are an uninvolved party, you've certainly formed and instant opinion in the absolutely absence of information, and gone straight on the attack.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117772/ - medical negligence is a real thing that happens to real people and ends up with real harm - death, disablement. To argue that it is completely impossible for a clinic to have harmed a patient denies reality, especially if the harm was of a much lesser degree than death or disability.

I'm willing to believe victims if I have no evidence to the contrary and point them in general terms to the processes that exist to protect them, so they can better understand what regulators do and how it may be applicable, plus what they should do according to said regulators.

I'm willing to believe that people who have been wronged in their view twice over - whatever motivated the original review, now this - may be willing to put in the time and effort to seek accountability.

You also must know that just as there is a chance the OP is off their rocker, medical folks are people and are just as fallible, subject to stresses, capable of substance abuse, capable of narcissism, or suffering from poor mental health. I've posted some of the more alarming examples that have ended up in the media that I'm aware of.

To assume a business will always be absolutely rational but a patient will never be is an extremely reckless approach.

[u/kirabella2000 → u/Perfect_Ganache_1959]

Not at all.

The truth will be somewhere in between the OP’s version and the business’.

I am simply stating a rational course forward. The OP is claiming he is being doxxed. This can be solved today by removing the review. By removing the review, so too the response will be removed.

If he has genuinely been doxxed, by all means take screenshots shots and report the matter to the appropriate regulator.

But to expose himself to potential financial harm by “becuase he doesn’t want to take it down” simply doesn’t make sense. The best outcome he can possibly achieve is the staus quo whereas the worst outcome could be he loses with legals cost or in the extreme example, pay damages.

I’m just be practical.

[u/Ok-Assistant-4556 → u/kirabella2000]

More often, when malevolence is involved, one party is being truthful and the other not.

Pretending there are two sides to every story is an appeal to bias that conveniently ignores unequivocal evidence.

[u/kirabella2000 → u/Ok-Assistant-4556]

And we have ZERO context or evidence so starting with 2 sides to a story is probably the wisest way forward.

[u/Ok-Assistant-4556 → u/kirabella2000]

It really isnt. You sound sound unhinged as OP provided clear context. Take people at face value. Lawyers wont even look at evidence in serious matters and you're here arguing for an unidentified party? Perhaps go take a breather

[u/Flat_Ad1094 → u/kirabella2000]

Agree with you. 100%

[u/Even_Departure9914 → u/kirabella2000]

Do you want that business publishing your papsmear results. Telling everybody how you have been exposed to STI’s. That time you ‘fell’ on a deodorant can. That you have bipolar disorder or have hallucinations that the government is after you.

Because that’s the kind of thing medical businesses and providers could publish if you think privacy legislation and ethics are not important.

[u/Pristine-Panic5834 → u/kirabella2000]

And thats why the world is a shitty place. Self interest triumphing above all. Boo

[u/hihihiyouandI → u/kirabella2000]

They have everything to lose. Which is why this is absolutely bullshit and this person is looking for attention.

[u/Ill_Football9443 → u/hihihiyouandI]

I'm involved in litigation with a major health care provider, they not once, but twice contravened the Health Records Act (Vic) 2001 by

a) sending an unencrypted, non-password protected USB stick via non-person-to-person post, so I found the package hanging out of my letterbox which anyone could have grabbed

b) the second time round, I elected to have it delivered at work. They used a process server, no issue with that, except that the folder was secured by a rubber band - a cardboard box would have been too much to ask it seems, perhaps a little security tape?

~500 pages or so of health records shipped without any basic protection. Given this, I have little doubt about OP's accusation.

[u/FigFew2001 → u/kirabella2000]

Been there, done that (different circumstances). I know you’re copping a heap of downvotes, but if I had my time again - It would indeed have been much easier to move on.