A Bovis homebuyer contacted me today, quite concerned they were being "sort of threatened by Bovis" for social media posts, in particular those they had posted on the 'Bovis Victims' Facebook group. Apparently, Bovis' head office are now aware of their buyer's acerbic comments about their homes and the company on the "Closed"
'Bovis Victims' Facebook Group. and a Bovis MD
"now must conduct a full investigation."Just because you post in a supposedly "closed Facebook group", there is nothing to stop absolutely anyone joining and reading the potentially libellous posts buyers make.
Looking at the wording of their e mail, Bovis Homes are not apparently aware of what this buyer specifically said. They are fishing! Dressing it up as "tell me what your problems are and we will sort it out for you."
If only all housebuilders made as much effort to either build better quality new homes in the first place (or at least check them) or to fixing problems quickly and efficiently, none of this media 'fire-fighting' would be unnecessary.
As it stands, I would advise anyone receiving such an e mail from any housebuilder to completely ignore it. As far as I am aware, you are not required, legally or otherwise, to reply.
The moral of this is:
- Never write anything online (even in apparently 'closed' groups) that is not true and that you cannot prove to be true.
- Be sure to use "in my opinion" when making observations so they cannot be confused as a statement of fact.
- Never respond to fishing e mails like the Bovis one. Even if Bovis had seen the actual posts on social media, they cannot be 100% sure who made them!
