Association Website Endorsements
Question: Our community association has created a Web site about which the board is very excited. We want to make the site both informative and useful to community residents. Some board members have suggested that we post the names of vendors – plumbers, electricians, painters, house cleaners, etc., making it easy for owners to find services they need. In addition, what about allowing owners to write “reviews” of vendors they’ve used? Are these good ideas? Are there any issues we should consider?
Answer: These are not good ideas, according to Ellen Shapiro, a partner in the Massachusetts law firm Goodman, Shapiro & Lombardi, LLC who says there are many issues you should consider, beginning with the likelihood that owners will view the listing of vendors on the association’s Web site as an implied endorsement of their services. If the painter that Mrs. Jones finds on this list makes a mess of her walls, guess who she’s going to blame—the painter responsible for the mess, but also the association that “recommended” him.
Posting owners’ evaluations of vendors creates other potential problems and liability concerns Shapiro says. If a vendor thinks the “critique” an owner writes, questioning the vendor’s skills, parentage and intelligence is libelous, the vendor may sue the association that posts the diatribe as well as the customer who writes it.
There are other ways to provide useful vendor information to owners without incurring these litigation and liability risks, Shapiro suggests. One possibility: Let owners rate vendors they’ve used on a sliding scale on such objective qualities as promptness, neatness, reliability, and quality of the work. Let them respond yes or no to “Would you use this vendor again?” But don’t let them explain why. Reviewers willing to provide more detail can post their e-mail address or phone number, encourage anyone interested to call or write them, and then rant at will, but not on the association’s Web site.
What about selling ads on the site, which some boards have found to be an effective means not only of providing information to owners, but also of generating revenue for the association? This raises a different set of questions, Shapiro says. “Is the volunteer board that sells ads going to be perceived to be in the business of providing a marketing venue? “ And if so, she asks, “does this threaten the association’s non-profit status? I’m not suggesting that would necessarily be the result,” Shapiro says. “But it is as step — perhaps a baby step, but a step nonetheless —down a slippery slope that could begin to chip away at the association’s position.”
Shapiro wouldn’t advise boards flatly not to accept advertising for an association Web site, but she would encourage them to discuss the potential dangers involved and to establish standards for the ads they will accept: Ads for lingerie and beer ok? What about condoms? She would also advise boards to post a disclaimer identifying the ads displayed on the Web site as what they are —paid ads — and stating clearly that the association is not endorsing any of the products or services described.
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