unethical business experience *LONG READ*

[Flames_Gimp]

I was in a dispute last summer because I made a purchase and the company broke the fair trading act, I talked to someone at alberta consumer protection and was made aware they definitely broke the law.
It was a hot tub company, I don't want to mention the name here, pm if you're interested.

I'm contemplating lodging a complaint, maybe some input would help me decide. In the end they replaced the parts and "fixed" the mistake, but i'm not sure how I feel about not warning people and it happens again.

I bought a refurbished hot tub, they said they will have it leak tested and cleaned, they promised it would arrive clean.

Fast forward 3 weeks and we received it, all the parts, cushions, and surface of the tub had a yellow biofilm layer, human oils and skin basically ...disgusting! E asked for them to clean it and they wanted to bill us for cleaning, they were rude but begrudgingly cleaned it.

Then i realize they told us the wrong amperage after I paid an electrician, again they fixed it. They fixed that, cleaned and filled tub and left. I check on it an hour later low and behold it leaks...they came out and fixed it.

They fixed their mistakes but I wasn't too impressed so I left a review, i was polite and honest and listed the good and the bad, and at the end I said that they made mistakes and they fixed them, if I had to do it again i'd probably go somewhere else and I gave them a 3 out of 5 rating.

Next morning we get a call, it's the owner my caregiver answered and he's yelling and swearing, he then says "If You don't take the review down today I will make you look like an ass" I said i don't have to take it down.

An hour later i get an email from the secretary "see attached warranty contract that you signed" I read the attachment and it looks different, there's a paragraph that doesn't look familiar, i located my original signed paper contract and sure enough that paragraph wasn't there, they're trying to pull something.

The new paragraph says abusive behavior, including leaving a negative review will result in immediate cancellation of your warranty. They're trying to blackmail me, how can they force people to keep quiet.

I get another email and explained that the owner raised his voice, used profanity and threatened to make me look bad, of course she said "he would never do that , you guys are lying " (I wish i recorded the call) She also said that my review is slander and you have 24 hours to take it down or your warranty is gone.

I haven't received the included cover yet so i took the review down in fear of not only losing my warranty but never getting the cover.

I still have the review if anyone wants to read it, it sounds odd that they would be so angry about a review that wasn't even rude and listed the good parts too, but it happened.

Should I forget about it and move on or lodge a complaint like the BBB and consumer protection act recommended?

[ResAlien]

There’s no universe where leaving a bad review loses you your warranty. File whatever action you planned on because even if you have a “warranty” it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be honoured at all.

If you’re still in the return period you should definitely do that. Sounds like a lemon of a purchase from the get go.

[Strange Brew]

Get your cover first. Then put up your review and lodge whatever complaint you feel like. Because you never want to deal with them again.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

There’s no universe where leaving a bad review loses you your warranty. File whatever action you planned on because even if you have a “warranty” it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be honoured at all.

If you’re still in the return period you should definitely do that. Sounds like a lemon of a purchase from the get go.

Thanks . I have never been talked to or treated this way after a purchase in my life.

it is past the exchange window i'm sure, The tub is not bad now as we cleaned it really good ourselves, But it was definitely not a stress-free purchase lol

[afc wimbledon]

An unethical hot tub company, I can hardly believe that, why normally they are up there with RV and timeshare sales as bastions of morality.

joking aside my sympathies

[monkeyman]

I really don't understand companies like this. Do they really think this kind of #### doesn't come back to hurt them in the end?
I won't be buying a hot tub anytime soon, but could you please send me the name of the company? If I ever talk to anyone who is looking to buy one, I'll relay your experience.
Good luck FG, you deserve better.

[btimbit]

Absolutely put that review back up. #### them

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Absolutely put that review back up. #### them

Yes and this time include the rest of the ####ty stuff they did afterwards.

[Rutuu]

Sorry to hear about your experience FG.

The threats on bad Google reviews are more common than you think, and always ironic. A friend left a bad review for a law firm that he got to do some notary work. A few weeks later he gets a threatening letter from them. He's got lawyer friends too. They sent a letter back to the firm and never heard from them again.

I say let the truth be heard FG.

[Sliver]

Holy crap, guys. Keep in mind there are two sides to every story and we are hearing one side. Small business owners view bad reviews as aggressive attacks on what usually amounts to their biggest personal investment, their livelihood and often their life's work to which they're virtually defenseless.

They'll also have their own side of this story - one that includes addressing every issue OP had. I mean, dude was buying a used hot tub...what was the price? Were his expectations out of whack with the reality of buying an old tub? Did he opt for their $1k special, yet wanted $2k of work put into it to make it like new? I'd be curious to hear from the seller. Some red flags are going up here. Maybe they did some work on the tub to keep him happy even though it was costing them money, then he leaves a #### review, anyway (anything under a five star is ####, just so you know).

But yeah, after a #### review I don't blame the guy for cutting you off. I would reach out if I were the owner to find out what I could do to get that review gone, too. He'd be crazy not to. Here he may have spent decades building his business and op can launch a torpedo at it while taking a dump between chucking Animal Crackers and usb cables in his amazon basket.

Fata bad reviews. If you weren't totally happy, just fataing move on. No need to saddle a fellow Calgarian with that albatross for the rest of time. Accept you bought a used hot tub for cheap and that at least the guy supported it and addressed your concerns. Ffs

[PsYcNeT]

Holy ####, you bought a hot tub from Sliver

[savemedrzaius]

Don't leave truthful comments if they are negative because the small businessman will be hurt. What?

[dobbles]

Name and shame. That is the only way this stuff ever changes.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Don't leave truthful comments if they are negative because the small businessman will be hurt. What?

Despite having an obvious bias, Sliver is right. Positive reviews are a lot more rare than negative ones in almost every situation, so online you usually end up with the perception that a business you’ll have a totally fine experience with 99/100 times is actually more like 50/50 because of review skewing.

And Sliver is also right that there is certainly an entirely different side to this story that paints a completely different picture, and the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Don't leave truthful comments if they are negative because the small businessman will be hurt. What?

Yep, you got it, Einstein.

[Shazam]

Chargeback? Did you just give them straight cash?

[nfotiu]

I work with a guy whose wife is a vet, and together they own and run an animal hospital.

We had a meeting where he was talking about reviews. I think their hospital had like 4.5 stars, so lots of good ones, but some bad. He said they look at every bad one and they group them either as valid complaints, or invalid complaints from people who probably complain about everything. He's said there is really nothing they can do about the latter, and just accept those as the price of doing business. The valid complaints, they put a plan together to address. That seemed like a healthy approach to me.

Every business that has some volume of customers is eventually going to get some bad reviews. I'm not going to avoid going to a place that has a couple bad reviews, especially if the complaints don't seem reasonable. I will and do avoid businesses if it comes out that they attack their customers for writing bad reviews. Also most of these sites have a mechanism for the owner to respond publicly, so it doesn't seem like they are completely defenseless. A well written, constructive response can usually undo any damage.

[ResAlien]

^agreed and a petulant owner lashing out in a reply is a good reason to not frequent a business.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

An hour later i get an email from the secretary "see attached warranty contract that you signed" I read the attachment and it looks different, there's a paragraph that doesn't look familiar, i located my original signed paper contract and sure enough that paragraph wasn't there, they're trying to pull something.

The new paragraph says abusive behavior, including leaving a negative review will result in immediate cancellation of your warranty. They're trying to blackmail me, how can they force people to keep quiet.

This is fraudulent behaviour. You should alert everyone possible, post not only your review but their reaction to it, as well as both the original warranty paper and the doctored version they signed.

As for your warranty, do you a) actually expect them to honour it if they've behaved like this or b) want them anywhere near you or your property even if they were prepared to?

Originally Posted by Sliver

They'll also have their own side of this story - one that includes addressing every issue OP had. I mean, dude was buying a used hot tub...what was the price? Were his expectations out of whack with the reality of buying an old tub? Did he opt for their $1k special, yet wanted $2k of work put into it to make it like new? I'd be curious to hear from the seller. Some red flags are going up here. Maybe they did some work on the tub to keep him happy even though it was costing them money, then he leaves a #### review, anyway (anything under a five star is ####, just so you know).

Bad reviews often do have two sides to a story, but if what the original post says is true about doctoring a signed agreement after the fact, this business should not be allowed to do business. Ever.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

This is fraudulent behaviour. You should alert everyone possible, post not only your review but their reaction to it, as well as both the original warranty paper and the doctored version they signed.

As for your warranty, do you a) actually expect them to honour it if they've behaved like this or b) want them anywhere near you or your property even if they were prepared to?
Bad reviews often do have two sides to a story, but if what the original post says is true about doctoring a signed agreement after the fact, this business should not be allowed to do business. Ever.

I'm skeptical of the story. I have yet to receive a bad review that is truthful with literally one exception.

Changing the agreement after the fact? Skeptical of that, too. If true, yes, that's a problem. Do I think a used hot tub dealer is genius level businessman with knowledge of the law? No. I can see him saying, let's change our terms and conditions so this doesn't happen again. Was it a signed contract, though? Maybe and if it was he obviously can't do that, but sounds like OP has the proof to invalidate that if his story is 100% accurate. If so, let's see it. I don't have a problem with being wrong on that point.

I'd like to hear the other side before I tell this guy to scream it from the rooftops.