The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolutio

You are correct! There are laws like the ACL, building laws and regulations etc but they are not effectively enforced by the state or federal governments. Average Home buyers don’t have $550 per hour to spend on lawyers, they cannot afford $5,000 expert reports or free rent to sustain any meaningful legal actions themselves. Once they sign the contract the building compamies like Metricon are free to do what the want with virtual impunity. Which they do! There is minimal consumer protection against their tactics.

The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolution of each of the other parties concerns

The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolution of each of the other parties concerns

Adherence to building to NCC requirements should be every State's industry regulator's responsibility to police and apply penalties when necessary but they fail miserably. This should be a key term of reference for a Royal Commission that should have happened years ago. Also throw building surveyors, self certification, insurance etc etc etc into the mix and it would be the most explosive Royal Commission ever.

May we know on what legal basis the builder pressured the forum and yourself to remove the posts? Why would money need to be spent on legal fees if your posts are just some facts and your opinions? I thought sharing these is the reason for the forum?

There are ways of getting change, much more need to book in a appointment with their local politicians, tell them your concerns both personally and anything else you know,this has worked for me in many areas of concern over the years,don't stop at one try,make it a yearly thing both state and federal,change happens more when a shark bites their own backsides,believe me it works especially in numbers and multiple reporting from everywhere,it's also what their for,start the ball rolling.

Also if everyone reports their experiences to the ACCC on their website the sheer number of reports will prompt their investigation, despite the political sensitivity of doing something to regulate the consumer building industry.

Read my earlier post's reference to Whirlpool Forums that covered this.

Of interest, Product Review does not take kindly to demands for review removal. The thread below shows this when Wisdom Homes left their 'wisdom' at the gate and successfully had reviews posted by Wisdom Homes customers deleted through the enforcement of what was later deemed by the ACCC to be an Unfair Contract Clause.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86252

To Wisdom Homes credit, their customer service has seen many positive comments on this forum since then.

In fact, I really doubt that there is any legal ground here.

He is was just threatened by lawyers from Wincrest and then his lawyer have calculated what it will take to get this full case to court in front of a jury.

With only exception, that this case can be taken on a pro bono basis or win cut basis by a seriously positioned law firm and they could easily sue Wincrest to death with all this evidence he has gathered.

Wincrest will be also spending 2-3 times more cash on defending themselves too.

You are so right. The GM of Wisdom ( wish I could mention his name but no names allowed) even reached out to me to arrange a coffee. He has really changed the way their business deals with customers and I genuinely believe its a model that should be copied by other smart builders who want to create a loyal list of customers

The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolution of each of the other parties concerns

Below are the terms of service for this website that were referenced:

5. PUBLISHING CONTENT
5.1 You are solely responsible for Your Content that You publish on this Site.
5.2 Your Content must strictly adhere to our publishing requirements.
5.3 Your Content must not directly or indirectly;
5.3.1 Bring or be likely to bring homeone® into disrepute, ridicule or contempt; or to
5.3.2 Cause homeone® or any other person to breach any laws, regulations, standards, and relevant industry codes; or
5.3.3 Injure or be likely to injure homeone® business or trade.
5.3.4 Injure or be likely to injure any other persons, business or trade.
5.4 You certify and warrant that Your Content You publish on this Site is true and accurate, and does not breach homeone® Website Terms of Use.
5.5 You certify and warrant that Your Content does not breach any ethical, professional, trade or industry restriction, condition or pre-requisite imposed by any law, regulation, or by-law.
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5.6 You certify and warrant that Your Content does not breach any law, regulation or by-law, and without limiting the generality of this sub-clause that Your Content is not misleading, or deceptive or misrepresentative or otherwise unfair or unconscionable.
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The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolution of each of the other parties concerns

Based on the defamation legal principle and Australian law, You or Homeone has not defamed anyone. There should be no concerns about the details you posted and they hosted from this perspective. Your builder would be much better off acting ethically to improve their own reputation rather than taking deceptive, unfounded and threatening actions against you and Homeone. They will do more damage to themselves with this behaviour. You should report them to the ACCC for this unconscionable behaviour towards customers and Homeone - a useful service that promotes the sharing of information to assist and empower both consumers and builders.

5.3.4 is written poorly. Should be extended to note in relation to false or misleading claims.

Absolutely nothing wrong with disseminating negative feedback if the statements are factual. ai

There's plenty of information on here, with not so positive comments, but when it's backed up with photographic evidence or reports it's hard to claim it's simple malicious

How can the builder use 5.3.4 as the basis of an action against the customer or website forum anyway? 5.3.4 is in the website’s T&C’s not the builders.

I think he meant the builders lawyers used that reference of the T&C's to get the specific posts taken down by the forum moderators

What the forum puts in their own T&C’s is completely up to them and to enforce or modify as they deem appropriate. It is not up to, or appropriate for the builders lawyers to enforce the website’s T&C’s. it is normal practice for lawyers to bluff however! Which in this case seems to have been effective.

The moderator risks the credibility and future value of the website if they filter out negative but substantiated information and comments based on threats and bluffs. Positive and negative information should be shared to help others, including the builders.

No arguments from me. Negative feedback where factual is 100% fine and should be encouraged.

I appreciate your concern and here's some comment and clarity from us.

Should any content be removed directly by us (homeone.com.au, or any voluntary moderators) as a result of any removal request, we prefer to make a statement.

That said, members are usually contacted directly by their respective company with some form of cease and desist and / or removal request, and in many cases unbeknownst to us.

In this instance, as SajaeD has pointed out, he has removed posts in accordance with a removal request by Wincrest Homes.

The perceived contravention of a particular homeone.com.au term was a broad term cited (as originally drafted by LAC Lawyers many years ago) and of course, without specifics and resultant claims pertaining to objectionable content nothing is generally acted upon.

Specific claims (whether adequate / agreeable) were provided in the removal request which I prefer not to go into out of respect for the member and builder as the presumption is that this is currently an ongoing dispute.

We can only hope for positive resolve between the two parties.

The parties have reached a mutual understanding in resolution of each of the other parties concerns