Forum Moderators: phranque
1. You as a client received bad service
I've seen a few cases where fellow webmasters received a bad service on tickets to widget land or even with widget accesories. Some had a site not related to widgets and some did. The funny thing is they published the complain on their site as a personal matter, a direct personal complain. Then the traffic served as a useful tool to spread the bad publicity and they received both an apology and a "gift", then the note was updated with good comments and sometimes deleted.
2. Copyright problems
The other problem I saw this 2009 was a widget photographer who posted on his website how a company used one of his pictures on a cover of a widget book without his permission or credits. This guy complained respectully (very well written) about this fact and in about two weeks the note was deleted as the company made a deal with this guy.
Recently I bought a ticket to widgetland and things went bad. Can't go into details, I'm sometimes confused by the TOS =) The thing is we all as a group received very bad attention and what we paid (what was on the pictures) is not what we received. Of course we complained but we got nowhere. I have a website related to that niche with very good traffic.
I found out other people also complaining about this, I took pictures of the whole problem.
Honestly I thought about posting my experience on my site (with the pics as documentation) as a complain and warning to other future users to avoid them from falling into the trap. There are forums where people complain about this too, but very weak results. Again, I just wanted to share my sad experience with no bad fellings, mostly because my site is like a widget review and reference source and this example is what my readers would like to know before they get on the boat.
Then I came with legal doubts, implications and risks about this. Anyway I've seen people who got free gifts as an apology after a similar case.
PD. I'm not after any free gifts, but using my website to improve customer service and attention while I also help others to avoid falling into the trap.
Sorry for the long post. Any comments?
If your site is a personal site then it will fit in well. On the other hand, if its your business, it may well make you look unprofessional.
Regarding the legal side, its a grey area. We can't really offer legal advice, but so long as you only present facts, and can prove this you should be safe.
This won't stop the company involved trying to twist your arm. I have had 2 companies send me cease and desist notices in the past couple of years. In both cases I was presenting facts, with evidence. Both fell in the bin!
The main point is will it acheive anything more than a well written letter addressed to someone high up in the companies food chain. Don't mix business with personal issues. It can hurt your wallet.
Mack.
Hey, it worked for [one] guy!
[edited by: phranque at 1:59 am (utc) on Dec. 30, 2009]
[edit reason] No urls, please. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
