A Warning to all!

[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.