Pestering large corporations on social media

[Bolebroke]

I am currently struggling with a large car manufacturer who mis-sold an electric vehicle. They blame the dealer, who blames the vehicle. Neither side is budging. How far can I go on social meeedja complaining about the product and the producer ? Do libel laws apply to FB ? I forget...

[Davel]

Might be easier to get a solicitor involved and avoid any possible issues later.

That's what we've done.

[PurpleTurtle]

A tricky one. I work in IT for a manufacturer (nothing to do with social media though) and I notice that on the company Facebook page anything they post, say, a new model launch, is soon hit by loads of people commenting "Pity mine is still laid up at Dealer XXXX with YYYY problem and you're not doing anything about it"

Shortly afterwards somebody chimes in with "Well I've had one for 4 years and it's brilliant", then loads of other people chip in with loads of +ve's and -ve's until someone says "U OK hun" followed by "I'll PM you", which as we know is the law of ending all threads. Then the manufacturer's intern has to cull the post, so it is no more and is as if it never happened. Long term win for you personally? Nothing. Yes, you may have got satisfaction from slating them, but let's face it they are Global Megacorp Inc, you are Average Joe who just wants his money back.

Joking apart, I would exhaust every other option open to you until you go publicly shaming them, even if taking care not to libel them, because once you do that you're burning your bridges.

As the poster above says, I would sonsult a decent lawyer specialising in consumer dispute resolution. This on the assumption that you will be able to recover fees. I note the website of a well known national firm says "under £10k claim, forget about getting costs" .. not sure how that plays out for what I assume is a larger claim.

[Bolebroke]

Thanks...I get the horrible feeling that Mr Corporation just allows a certain number of posts to appear then hides them from general public's view..so I think they are up there..but only visible to me..all I do is make sure I post a response to any new post from them. All hinges on their brochure assuring me that the vehicle can do 106 miles on a charge...it doesn't in my hilly part of the world..rendering it useless as a company vehicle

[BristolMS]

Bolebroke said:

Thanks...I get the horrible feeling that Mr Corporation just allows a certain number of posts to appear then hides them from general public's view..so I think they are up there..but only visible to me..all I do is make sure I post a response to any new post from them. All hinges on their brochure assuring me that the vehicle can do 106 miles on a charge...it doesn't in my hilly part of the world..rendering it useless as a company vehicle

Is the brochure not also full of disclaimers, or sentences about the range only applying in certain conditions?

[Simpo Two]

I don't think any car ever has actually achieved the stated mpg figures in reality.

No doubt the 106 miles was achieved in perfect conditions, and yours aren't...

[anonymous-user]

This sounds like the definition of a hiding to nothing.

[Bolebroke]

Yep...quite rightly nobody cares. Just trying to get them to admit their advertising is mis-leading ..which by definition they can't admit to. All I want is to switch to a normal one of their vans....I suppose they know that secondhand EVs are very unattractive sat on their dealers' books..

[Bikerjon]

Does the social meejia angle still work for complaints like it used to? I'm not sure it does. I don't use FB/Twitter much, but It seems every organisation that might attract a whiff of a complaint responds with a scripted "please contact our customer support team who will be only too happy to assist" and that's the end of the discussion!