Customer shaming or debt collecting? A Winnipeg flooring business posted a customer's name and the amount owing of an unpaid bill on a sign on St. Mary's Road.

"That's not the intention to publicly shame someone," said Curtis Rossow, vice president of River Park Flooring. "Certainly the intention is to collect money if we can."

The flooring store had the sign up for three days starting Monday.

"We went through a couple of different avenues and tried a couple of different processes and nothing has worked," said company president Gord Kostick.

Gord Kostick says he has not had contact with the customer in question since July 26. (CBC News) Kostick said his company installed linoleum tiles for the customer on June 17. He said the customer was not satisfied with the work. After going back and forth on repairs, 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 said he was not happy with the work and that's why he hadn't paid yet. He was surprised and upset to see his name on a sign and said it's been embarrassing for him and his family.

Rossow said they received a lot of calls from people concerned they were shaming the customer or violating his privacy rights. Rossow said they cleared it with their lawyer first: "he said as long as the statement is true there are no issues."

Customer shaming or debt collecting? A Winnipeg business aired out a customer's bill on St. Mary's Road. 1:06

The sign was taken down this morning. And Thursday afternoon, the customer went to pay the bill. He said he wanted to make it go away. He also said having so many people ask him about the sign might be a blessing in disguise since he got to tell his side of the story.

The company plans to donate the payment to charity.

