Approved quote for $140, agent paid invoice for $471

Let's cut the BS, you have only received a couple of warnings over defamatory remarks you've made - let's not blow this out of proportion. Your "truth" is actually just your heated opinion getting a good workout. I'm also not sure why you felt it necessary to respond to a 3 month old thread?

Of course you should always do your due diligence - but also remember that your mileage may vary - one person may have had an excellent experience while another is less than happy. Not everyone is perfect and circumstances change - successful service providers become busy and service levels start to drop. It's an unfortunate fact of life.

 

Possibly because he has received similar PMs (a long time in the past!). Those warning PMs are based on a template and so contain similar text which is simply customised to the circumstances.

If it can easily be inferred who is being discussed, then it can still be defamatory.

Is it true though, or is it merely hearsay? If you have personal experience to share, you are welcome to share it (provided you do so in a reasonable manner without overly emotive language) - and I will give the subject a full right of reply or the ability to challenge what you write.

On the other hand if it's just "someone you know" then your "truth" is questionable and I have no ability to validate the veracity of your story and am not interested in defending myself over allowing the publication of stories which may or may not be true because a friend of a friend told me so.

You are also allowed to express your opinion on something - but asserting illegal activity "in your opinion" is never acceptable.

The two times I pulled you up and sent you warnings where firstly because you had made assertions that ALL property managers in Queensland are dodgy, the second was where you alleged that a specific property manager was involved in something illegal ("bait and switch" was the term you used) when there was no evidence of such.

My problem isn't that there may have been some questionable practices from some businesses (who are no longer active on here), and I'm under no illusions that all businesses are perfect. My problem is that you seem to be tarring all businesses with the same brush and assuming they are all dodgy and cannot be trusted.

At no point have I "threatened" you with banning, I simply pointed out that if you don't follow the rules, there is a natural consequence to your actions. Everyone is subject to those same rules - it's not aimed at you specifically.

Nobody is protected - but if someone has made a commitment to supporting the operation of this site (which I note that you currently don't contribute to!), then it's in everyone's best interest for any disputes to be settled amicably where possible. As I said, I'm more than happy for people to share their stories - indeed I encourage it. But I have to draw the line somewhere and hearsay, speculation, emotive language and simply assuming that everyone is doing the wrong thing - is not something which adds value.

I only remove content which contains negative discussions about a business, if it is either: clearly defamatory; or if I have no confidence in the veracity of the post (eg first time poster slamming someone); or if the original poster requests that I remove it.

Being a business member does not provide "protection" - all posts are treated the same way. Naturally, I will go to a lot more trouble to help resolve issues where possible for those business who do support the site - I want them to succeed so that they can keep paying for their membership - and they won't succeed without happy clients. A business with unhappy clients will eventually have no clients, so anything I can do to help facilitate those happy clients is a win for everyone.

I also encourage people to share their experiences when things go badly - for the purposes of education. If there's things they should have been aware of, or something they didn't do, or some due diligence which may have prevented their issues - then it is of great benefit to our community if that is shared. That's less about the service provider though, and more about the process.

So all the threads we have on here about how to find good property managers, and how to manage issues with our property managers - and also what patterns of behaviour to look out for which may indicate more serious issues - are critically important for others to learn from.

 

That's not what I said. Of course every "contribution" from members from a content point of view is valuable - otherwise what would the point of the site be? But your posts don't help pay the substantial hosting bills, nor do they put food on the table for my kids. This is my full time job - I have no other sources of income - this isn't a hobby I do in my spare time. So of course I was specifically referring to financial contribution rather than anything else.

To be clear - you do not have to pay to be a member of the site, that's not my point. My point was merely to explain why I go to more effort to pay attention to what people are writing about my business members - because they have made a direct financial commitment to the site, which does help pay the bills.

The rules still apply though and business members are not "protected" - I frequently remove comments about other people and businesses who are not members because those comments cross the line as to what is acceptable. Unfortunately you never have visibility of the work that goes on behind the scenes since deleted/edited posts are not visible to members, which may lead you to believe it only happens for certain members.

I'm not trying to split hairs - I just need to make sure that people do not misunderstand how things work as a result of your comments.

Giving vague feedback to business members isn't terribly helpful. It's also not the "truth" as you call it.

The only reason I bothered to respond to your recent posts in this thread is because you weren't giving feedback - you were accusing me of "threatening" you and asserting that the rules don't apply to some members because they are "protected" - which is simply not true. Your choice of words has implications - which is also why the posts you received "warnings" for were removed, so please be mindful of how you say things.

I doubt your experiences will be of direct value to me personally (only because I'm pretty sure we don't have investments in the same areas and so don't use the same service providers). Other people may find more value in your experience though - which is why I encourage people to share their story on the forums to help other people learn. Why don't you post about your experiences in detail for the benefit of everyone here?