Customer feedback

[nevg]

Can anyone tell me the legalities behind publishing customer feedback on a website?

We get lots of positive feedback via email, and I'd like to be able to publish this on the website, but am not sure what is required.

Would i need to email everyone back, asking for permission to publish their comments, or an extract of them?

Would just disguising their name be sufficient i.e. "by John T".?

Any ideas graciously received.

[peterjhale]

Just ask your customers to get their permission.

[DoItNow]

Even if a customer is happy with a product or service, I don't think they would necessarily want their identity revealed and published on your website. And asking permission each time is not only tedious but could make the customers nervous that you are using them in some way.

I see nothing legally wrong with disguising the customers and just publishing their comments. There is the possibility that a copyright issue could arise, but very unlikely in the circumstances I would think. I published lots of comments on a website using disguised names, and I never encountered any complaints. The important thing is that you are not misrepresenting the comments, and that the originals are available as evidence of the received correspondence in the case of any dispute.