Using social media to get a company to do the right thing.

[So]

We've a problem with a resin bonded drive - basically it's shot after only 2 years; it started failing after only 6 months. The contractor, who was recommended by the product manufacturer, has procrastinated endlessly regarding fixing it.

We may have to resort to legal action, but the manufacturer has a Facebook and Twitter presence, as does the contractor in fact.

I use neither Twitter nor FB, though I have accounts on both. Before we go down the legal route is it worth making public our grievance? If yes, can someone enlighten me how to do it effectively please?

[Robbo 27]

If the amount involved is less than £5000 go through the small claims court. It is easy and painless although you may need a letter from another contractor saying why and how it has failed and the cost of fixing the problem. And is it a manufacturing or a workmanship issue

Before you start any action just check that the original contractor is not a here today and gone tomorrow. No point winning a legal action to join a list of creditors.

[Algarve]

Robbo 27 said:

If the amount involved is less than £5000 go through the small claims court. It is easy and painless

Its often easier & cheaper to use social media to get a company to do what you want - whether you're actually in the right or not.

I'm not saying the latter applies in this case but often companies will just give moaners what they want to make them go away. Its harder to ignore Facebook posts than angry emails.

[twing]

Have you searched Twitter for similar complaints about the same companies? If so you could retweet with comments re your own experience.
Bear in mind that a lot of companies will reply very sympathically, very quickly to maintain the caring reputation but then do fk all to
actually help. I had some luck with Vodafone awhile back as I jumped on a certain hashtag that got retweeted endlessly but a couple of
utility suppliers just replied "please call our customer services team on xxxxxxxxxx and they will be able to help, which I'd already done many times
so no help at all.

ETA - re Facebook they could very easily just stop people posting on their page until you've gone away.

[TooMany2cvs]

The contractor may have been recommended by the manufacturer, but you don't have a contractual relationship with the manufacturer - just with the contractor. They're the ones you want to be going after, either through social media or through the court.

[Greendubber]

We did this with a big kitchen supplier after them damaging our house and fitting a terrible kitchen.


It achieved more with a big visitor post with photographs of their installation than 7 months of angry letters did, it was shared more than 400 times and had hundreds of comments on it. Had a phone call from a director within 24 hours and he agreed to ripping it all out and having it replaced with a top of the range kitchen fitted by a proper fitter.
Well worth it in my experience, just stay civil

[So]

Robbo 27 said:

If the amount involved is less than £5000 go through the small claims court. It is easy and painless although you may need a letter from another contractor saying why and how it has failed and the cost of fixing the problem. And is it a manufacturing or a workmanship issue

Before you start any action just check that the original contractor is not a here today and gone tomorrow. No point winning a legal action to join a list of creditors.

It's up to £10k now isn't it?

[So]

TooMany2cvs said:

The contractor may have been recommended by the manufacturer, but you don't have a contractual relationship with the manufacturer - just with the contractor. They're the ones you want to be going after, either through social media or through the court.

Quite. But the manufacturer recommended them and they have reputational skin in the game, They might lean on the contractor to sort it, or indeed offer him free materials.

[14-7]

I have used normal complaint routes a few times and not got a quick response or even a polite one.

Amazingly as soon as I have received said poor response I've gone straight to the companies facebook or twitter to raise the issue and it's been sorted within a day or two.

The last thing they like is bad publicity available for all to see (one of them even deleted my post of their response to an email because it was very poor customer relations to the point of if you don't like it tough).

[m3jappa]

Out of interest whats gone wrong with it? Im a paving company and a lot of others are jumping on the bandwagon for resin, the stuff is actually imo a total nightmare for various reasons (it does look great though). its also very hard to repair (and make look right) hence they know its aggro.

regarding Facebook why not call them up and say something along the lines of 'i don't want to have to make this public'

I've recently had a whole patios pointing fail, it culminated in me having to cut it all out and replace at my own cost. i didn't think i should have to because it was a product i bought, followed the instructions for and then it failed. however my reputation is worth more than a few hundred quid and i didn't want them speaking badly of me to anyone in person or on Facebook where we have a local page with over 20k members. sometimes things go wrong and you have to swallow it unfortunately.

[Pica-Pica]

How do these driveways cope with respect to drainage? I thought that was a requirement of driveways.

[m3jappa]

Pica-Pica said:

How do these driveways cope with respect to drainage? I thought that was a requirement of driveways.

The only requirement is that your surface water must be retained by yourself. so either it drains into a bed or lawn, or into a drain which goes to a soak away or the whole surface is permeable. Or people just ignore it

Resin is permeable, however a lot of people lay it over concrete which unless its a certain type isn't permeable.

[xjay1337]

Greendubber said:

We did this with a big kitchen supplier after them damaging our house and fitting a terrible kitchen.


It achieved more with a big visitor post with photographs of their installation than 7 months of angry letters did, it was shared more than 400 times and had hundreds of comments on it. Had a phone call from a director within 24 hours and he agreed to ripping it all out and having it replaced with a top of the range kitchen fitted by a proper fitter.
Well worth it in my experience, just stay civil

Very hard to stay civil on FB especially when the bandwagon is well underway... one thing I'm not overly keen on tbh.

[Defconluke]

How about trying to contact someone higher up within the product's company offering them the chance to send someone to inspect why it has failed.

They may appreciate the chance to see not only see how the product has deteriorated in such a short space of time (and thus r&d methods to prevent similar failures in the future) but also see the standard of work a contractor they have recommended has done.

If they are of the opinion the contractor has done a poor job then ask them for it in writing as it could help you in a later claim if the contractor is less then cooperative.

Not only that but the contractor could also lose a potential line of work becuase of their own incompetence in following the guidelines set out by the manufacturer.

[So]

m3jappa said:

Out of interest whats gone wrong with it? Im a paving company and a lot of others are jumping on the bandwagon for resin, the stuff is actually imo a total nightmare for various reasons (it does look great though). its also very hard to repair (and make look right) hence they know its aggro.

regarding Facebook why not call them up and say something along the lines of 'i don't want to have to make this public'

I've recently had a whole patios pointing fail, it culminated in me having to cut it all out and replace at my own cost. i didn't think i should have to because it was a product i bought, followed the instructions for and then it failed. however my reputation is worth more than a few hundred quid and i didn't want them speaking badly of me to anyone in person or on Facebook where we have a local page with over 20k members. sometimes things go wrong and you have to swallow it unfortunately.

It has begun lifting in a number of places. The resin has pulled up a layer of bitmac from underneath. I think gasses are trying to escape, getting trapped under the gas impermeable resin and it's pulling up the surface of the bitmac, which is the weakest link.

The contractor was trying to argue that the bitmac was faulty, but it was laid in accordance with his specification.

If I am going to need to sue the contractor I will need an expert witness, but currently I have no idea where to find one. Do you have any ideas?

In the meantime, here are some snaps of how he has left our drive.

[So]

[bearman68]

I can't comment on your drive, but I can on using social media.
Last Christmas we fitted new lower arms to a BMW F10. The customer drove it to N England, and pulled over after hearing a knocking noise as he's changing car speed.
On investigation,it turned out one of the nuts holding the arm on had split, and was now only holding on by the nylon locking ring.

We called the manufacturer, only to be told we had no contract with them. We stressed the safety aspect, and there may be other car running about with this problem, but to no avail. Our local motorfactor was sympathetic, but not much help. This went on for a week or so,with us getting increasing frustrated that our safety concern was not being treated correctly.

So we posted photo's on their facebook account,with our thoughts on their view on safety. Within an hour, someone senior in the company had called, and our concern was suddenly very important.
Social media was the media that allowed us to pressure the company into acknowledging our concern.

[Greendubber]

xjay1337 said:

Greendubber said:

We did this with a big kitchen supplier after them damaging our house and fitting a terrible kitchen.


It achieved more with a big visitor post with photographs of their installation than 7 months of angry letters did, it was shared more than 400 times and had hundreds of comments on it. Had a phone call from a director within 24 hours and he agreed to ripping it all out and having it replaced with a top of the range kitchen fitted by a proper fitter.
Well worth it in my experience, just stay civil

Very hard to stay civil on FB especially when the bandwagon is well underway... one thing I'm not overly keen on tbh.

Can't say I found it difficult to be honest and even within the hundreds of comments from total strangers it all remained polite and was purely people showing support for us and saying how dissapointing it all was from such a large company.

[Derek Smith]

I had problems with delay in repairing my house after a minorish, or so everyone told me, water leak in the loft. The insurance company passed the matter onto a contractor and then, whenever I complained, told me to contact them. They were less than helpful. I had no lighting in the bathroom, toilet and kitchen. There were no ceilings and wires were hanging down.

I took a short video of the state my house was left in and posted it on YouTube without naming the insurance company. I then phoned the contractor and the company and asked them to look at my problem. There was no overt threat, not even hinted at, that I'd post it on FB but it was implicit.

It still took three days to get the contractors to return but they were a lot more industrious and responsive.

[TooMany2cvs]

We bought a new tent a couple of years ago. After being used 3 or 4 times, the poles started to split badly.

The manufacturer simply pointed to their warranty - poles are "wear and tear", and excluded. No movement at all.
I complained on their FB page - and it just got ignored, several times. Not even a basic acknowledgement or a "talk to customer services". A new pole set is half the price of the tent...