And the warnings at the top of their Product Review page, which I have never seen before for any other business.
"We have detected a number of positive reviews for this listing which we suspect have been falsely generated and have the potential to mislead consumers.
ProductReview.com.au takes a zero tolerance approach to any fake reviews and have removed these reviews accordingly."
Of course even the āverified positive reviewsā may be part of the scam if relatives and friends are recruited to participate.
It makes Fastway Couriers look like a candidate for the most ethical business of the year.
I long ago decided that anything on the nine networkās show A Current Affair was utter rubbish. So this story is firmly in the alleged status, and quite probably a beat-up, IMHO.
Itās ratings seem to suggest A Current Affair has a steady regular following, ahead of most other evening programs, aside from the News on 7 or 9 and sometimes the ABC? Itās following is on par with other notables such as The Block and well ahead of the generic brands of sportIng programs based on pointy ended balls.
No reflection on the quality of the programming or followers intended.
If Nine and ACA are misrepresenting the facts the owner of the plumbing service has every opportunity to take them to court for a large sum in damages. That too will likely make the news, but not necessarily on Nine.
Some people think that stuffing a microphone in front of a person on camera and asking them āWhen did you stop beating your wife?ā is good journalism.
Apologies,
Iām open minded and generally avoid Nine and itās brethren hydra like serpents of the media. Exaggeration by the media in all forms is common. Being untruthful for the media though is high risk.
Reliability of the ACA reporting concerning Fastway Plumbing?
Iām waiting for the rebuttal or legal claim from Fastway Plumbing or itās apparent owner to prove otherwise.
Should we suggest that the average membership or following of Choice is or is not likely to follow Nine News or A Current Affair? A passing headline on a news feed re the $212,000 quote would pique the interest of many intent on improving consumer outcomes. For a variety of reasons. Inquiring minds?
Nine and ACA aside, 2.7stars on Product Review from several hundred reviews. This suggests where there is an odour there might be a plumber. There is a golden opportunity here for Fastway Plumbing to use the media to explain more fully and if appropriate apologise for the misunderstanding, error and potential harm.
The $212,000 quote with no evidence. It could be the $20K alluded to in the story already paid by the gentlemanā¦or could be the 10% deposit as alleged by the ACA. Without evidence it is speculative journalism. Who knows, but I am sure that the uncertainty will be used by the ACA to defend any claim, especially when the key witness may not be reliable if the reported condition of the gentleman is correct.
ACA possibly know that this is unlikely as the cost to pursue a claim through the courts is possibly more than any settlement of damages. One would only make such a claim as a matter of principle.
The only television show, free to air or pay, that can be believed is the one that appears when the power has been removed (and for the sake of the oldies, the phosphor has ceased glowing ā¦)
Thereās truth in your claim that the news media love to stretch the facts for the sake of a good story however, thereās a significant amount of truth in this instance. Even if you only believe 40% of the anecdotal evidence, thatās a lot of reason to not want jason aboukalam or one of his associated businesses to undertake works at your property. Would you? If youāre really interested in the veracity of the claims made against Jason, check out the amount of times customers have made complaints in Fair Trading or NCAT. Perhaps in your research you may discover that heās been charged under the home builders act and has had his licence suspended. Iām one of the many people that have been ripped off by Fastway and am happy to point out that where thereās smoke, thereās fire in this instance.
Welcome @adrian501rugby.
That tradesman may well be a shonky. To be avoided at all times.
However, my comments were directed to a particular TV show that I consider to so badly misrepresent stories, that anything reported should be taken with a large degree of skepticism.
