It worked. But was it right? A Winnipeg flooring supplier alerted the public about a customer's balance on an unpaid bill. Some believe the pubic announcment on a St. Mary's Road sign was a shaming tactic. However, according to Curtis Rossow, vice president of River Park Flooring, "that's not the intention to publicly shame someone." who added that "certainly the intention is to collect money if we can." The public announcement proved to be a clever collection strategy. The sign was posted for three days, after the company reported exhausting traditional debt collection efforts, to no avail.
Company President Gord Kostick said his company installed linoleum tiles for the customer on or around June 17, 2016; who reported that the customer was not satisfied with the work. After going back and forth on repairs, Mr. Kostick offered the customer a discount or a refund if he returned the tiles. He said the last time he spoke with the customer was July 26.
The customer expressed a dissatisfaction with the quality of the work and that is the main reaon the bill remained unpaid. When the customer learned the matter was posted on a sign, it was embarassing to him and his family.
Rossow indicated a few responses were out of concern they were shaming the customer or violating his privacy rights. According to Rossow, the above idea for the public announcement was cleared with the company's lawyer beforehand who said: "as long as the statement is true there are no issues." The sign was removed Thursday, September 15, 2016 after the bill was paid.
Ironically, the numerous inquiries made about the sign actually worked to everyone's advantage. It provided a forum for sharing both sides fo the story.
The bottom line:
The billing matter is resolved.
According to River Park Flooring, the payment will be donated to charity.
Floor Covering Media, a business network serving the floor covering industry, provides readers timely, objective news and information about flooring topics.
Readers may conveneintly retrieve this timely, objective news and information at Floor Search.info, which is Floor Covering Media's public search engine.
