A Warning to all!

[Buller_Scott]

man, its funny when people play the law card.

i've studied law. in japanese. when you step up, in my case with legal language thats used in japan and the states (which isnt used here so much because the legal system is diffo) they usually f&&k off.

[mikinoz]

I was recently contacted about a car we own because of an image on this forum, it is going to result in them taking action against me - so my warning is be more than careful.

[Arctra]

I was recently contacted about a car we own because of an image on this forum, it is going to result in them taking action against me - so my warning is be more than careful.

No way! Are you serious? Is that because of what you were doing in the photo, or because they recognised your car in the photo and the action they are taking is just related to your identified car?

What kind of action are we talking about?

It's not pleasant, but I suppose if I felt aggrieved, or was a dealer that felt aggrieved, I would probably act in the same manner. Hell, if it's publicly available info we can't stop anyone using it can we? Hence we have to protect ourselves.

[Psyk]

Generally what happens is that the dealerships ask the moderators to remove posts/photos etc. if it's deemed to be slanderous etc.

Its not uncommon that dealerships will also become moderators on some of these enthusiast forums.

As with all things on the net, once it's up it's up for good. There is no delete these days... Be prepared to post up here what you would say infront of a group of people.

[Rocket36]

Naming and shaming publicly isn't what I would think is the best option. What I have seen on other forums regarding poor dealer (or other business) experiences is people telling the whole story and if people what to know who, they PM.

That way it's a private conversation between two people. Defaming and Slander are two things that shouldn't be done and it can even put the Admins/Mods at risk.

But don't get me wrong, sharing experiences like this one are certainly a good thing.

[gareth_oau]

the problem with name and shame is it generally only shows one side of a story, withhe other party quite often not being there to defend themselves, or offer their perspective.

i can imagine that more than once the dealer doesnt deserve the bad publicity its receiving

[MattyT]

A lot of people still seem to have a hard time dealing with the fact that The Internet is a public space and anything that goes on in it can and probably will be viewed by all and sundry.

I work for a company that gets quite a bit of **** flung at it over the net and we take the feedback seriously and in a constructive manner, then we look to resolve the problems and learn from the experience. It's a good way to be. I have zero sympathy for individuals or business who get shirty about being derided on the 'net for their poor work. Of course, if they did the best job possible and the customer is just being a prick, well then fair enough.

Dealers, workshops, etc need to understand that if they do do a bad job, then yes the customer will bitch about it. To their friends, family, work colleagues and eventually on The Internet in one way or another. If a dealer / workshop has a problem with this then quite frankly they should be doing a better job or getting out of the industry. They do not sell/fix cars, they help people buy / fix their cars. There is a difference.

[gavs]

I also work for a company that seems to bear the brunt of people's crap on forums all over the world, most of it stemming for the good 'ol "Tall poppy syndrome".

If we were to take every negative remark made about our company on the internet and investigate it, threaten and take legal action, we would never be out of the courts! We find that the vast majority of these flogs have:

a) never owned our product,
b) "been told by a mate" which seems a common phrase on forums, roughly translating to "I think I know what i'm talking about...." 80% of the time
c) can't afford our product, so they think bad-mouthing makes them look like they know stuff and they be smart
d) have no idea what they're talking about and are 65% of the time, doing things wrong.

If the dealers were serious about backing up their name, they would take legal action but I personally believe that the majority of dealers and service department managers know that they perform to a sub-standard level of workmanship and service, possibly evidenced by the standard of mechanics they employ and the stupidly high prices they charge (possibly to cover the cost of all the f**k ups!).

Car dealerships are there to make money and have several ways of doing it (car sales, spare parts, servicing etc). A small business mechanic is also there to make money but doesn't have the same level of support behind him. This results in him needing to do a decent job and be a nice guy to get your repeat business and a bigger clientel from the people he looks after telling other people.