Don’t Let Defamation Stop You

 This post was originally published on August 9, 2022 and has been edited on August 11,2022

Don’t get discouraged if you start a new company and someone already in that industry is spreading lies and defamatory information about you and your company. It’s better to have someone say negative information about you and your company than nothing at all. Negative information creates interest and curiosity and ultimately drives traffic to your social media accounts and website so they can learn more about you. So instead of getting discouraged, get excited!  If someone is defaming you in an attempt to discredit your business that means your business is heading in the right direction and your business model is working. Keep going!

Scene from The Social Network

As many of you are aware, Jack Luber, the National Home Watch Association founder, posted defamatory remarks on his “members only” social media platform about a website and called that website a scam. While he doesn’t specifically mention the name of the website, there is only one website he could be referring to, which is besthomewatchcompanies.com. Jack probably thought he was being clever by not mentioning the name of any specific website. If you followed the Johnny Depp defamation trial, you know that Johnny Depp won against Amber Heard, and she never mentioned his name in her defamatory article. You still can be sued for libel even if you aren’t mentioning the company or person you are defaming.  

Background

So, let’s go back to the beginning. When Jack Luber first found out about the website he called me. Here is the actual voicemail Jack luber left for my office on July 18th @ 2:31PM.

As you can hear in the voicemail, he demanded a callback, or I would be hearing from an attorney. I returned his call within 5 minutes and left a message.  Jack returned my call about 30 minutes later.  He said that I had unauthorized use of the logo.  At this time, I had a section on the website that mentioned ALL home watch associations and education utilizing each logo. I wasn’t promoting or endorsing any particular association or claiming to be endorsed by any association. So that afternoon, without hesitation, I removed all of the logos.

During the phone conversation, he asked questions about the website, and I told him I was going to call him at some point to discuss the website to see if there was possibly a way we can work together, as I can help him grow his memberships. It could have been a “win-win” for everyone. He was furious that I never called him first before launching the website. He replied, “I suppose it’s better to ask for forgiveness.” I didn’t know that I needed his permission to create a website that caters to the home watch industry.  Holy ego!

The social media post on NHWA Connect/Tradewing. Posted on August 8th @ 2:46PM

Social Media Post

You can see how defamatory his remarks are if you read the post. Besthomewatchcompanies.com doesn’t do anything that search engines like Google aren’t already doing. Google offers paid and organic placements and besthomewatchcompanies.com isn’t doing anything different. 

Threats: This is entirely false. I never threatened anyone at the NHWA, and I would like Jack to provide more concrete evidence of this.  

Attorneys are involved: Why would there be attorneys involved? Before Jack’s social media post, there would be no reason to have attorneys involved. If attorneys were involved, Jack would not have left defamatory remarks on social media that could come back to haunt him. I am confident in saying that his attorneys would strongly advise against his actions.

#1 is my own home watch company: I do not own a home watch company. In the state of Florida, you can visit Sunbiz and search by company name, last name, etc. and see for yourself that I do not own a home watch company.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

I have nothing bad to say about Jack Luber as I honestly don’t even know him. He seems to have had great success with the NHWA, and I respect him for that. So why is he trying to bully a new company that wants to market and service the home watch industry? 

Yes, I said bully, so let me provide clarity. The day after I had that phone call with Jack Luber, a home watch company (NHWA member) was sitting at the bottom of my driveway. When I approached my home on my street, that vehicle saw me and drove away, and I took notice of the magnet sign on the side of the car. I will not mention the home watch company in this post (it could have been 100% coincidence. I will let you decide), but if you are curious about who it was, call me, and I will tell you.

About a week later, I found out that Carl Lorenzini (NHWA board member and President of Homewatch Services Etc.) is calling NHWA members on the phone and saying defamatory remarks about my company and specificlly myself. I can’t share more about this as attorneys have advised me not to. Several NHWA members have reported back to me with this information.

My Opinion

I have spoken to several people inside the NHWA, and in my opinion, it seems that membership is down. The NHWA doesn’t have an issue with getting new members, but it seems to have a problem with retention. Hence the reason why there are now multiple home watch associations, such as the International Home Watch Alliance, which, unlike the NHWA, is a nonprofit, so you should go check out their site. The NHWA is hosting a national conference this October, and it looks like registration is below expectations. The NHWA has extended its early bird rates to attract more people.  

Closing

The industry is growing, and there will be an increase in companies that want to service the home watch industry. So I can only assume (in my opinion) that Jack Luber, Founder of the National Home Watch Association, feels like his revenue could be threatened by besthomewatchcompanies.com. Otherwise, why else would he even care? Obviously, like in this case, egos will be bruised, but that comes with the territory. So, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, don’t get discouraged if someone says defamatory things about you and your company. Bad press is better than no press.

Have you had a bad experience with the National Home Watch Association?  If so, we would love to hear about it!  Please  send us an email at [email protected] and we will be in touch.

Updated: August 11,2022

We already know that Jack Luber of the National Home Watch Association calls Besthomewatchcompanies.com a scam. At the same time, he registers the domain besthomewatchcompany.com which gets redirected to the National Home Watch Association. Is Jack trying to copy what Besthomewatchcompanies.com does? Or is he hoping to try and steal some of the traffic? The truth always comes out. So let’s wait and see what Jack tries to do.