the threat to "sue"

[thehippie777]

Just a little background infomation: I was off of work for the last couple days. I don't know why, but it seems I can not train a person since last year when a girl who worked with me moved to Austalia. Anyway, new guy has been working for a month & calls me all hours of the night usually asking questions that are simple , "hmm, perhaps I should think about it & make my own call"...but, no he calls me. This is about one of the only times he has called me & actually should have.

More background: At our hotel, we have to rent from a company in order to have our guests be able to rent movies in their rooms. I think most places are like that. Anyway, they are pay-per-view items & in no way cheap. If a guest claims they didn't watch a movie but the system shows they did, we have to take it off their bill & eat the charges.

New development from the customer world, however. New Guy (NG) calls me at 5am. A guest says they paused their movie, fell asleep, and wanted to watch the rest of it but the system wouldn't let them. Okay. Our movies play ONCE. (I don't see how someone falling asleep during a movie is our problem.) I told him that. Hang up phone. NG calls again. Guest claims that the system told him that he could rewatch an already paid for movie at any time. Guest says that what our tv said is "false advertising" & he was going to sue because it said he could pause it & play it again later & now he is getting a different story from the desk. I told NG not to argue with the guest, tell them we would force the movie to play again at no extra charge to them. Nice & good, BUT we have to eat that charge. The hotel does not get refunded by this company. Do these people care? doubtful... Why are hotels getting so expensive? Many reasons, most of them being guests who want want want and all for free.

Folks, I have stayed in our hotel. I have stayed in our sister hotels. Everyone who has our system (even though it's the glitchiest-filled system that causes a lot of headaches) has the same set up, and the system says that a movie can only be watched one time. The system also tells people that you can indeed pause a movie, but it will only pause for a total of 10 minutes. I have done it, I have seen the counter myself that counts down the time! And this guest threatened to sue...sue who? It couldn't be us cuz we rent the system! And sue them for what? $9.99...the price of the movie? I love how people throw "sue" out even when they have no idea what they are talking about! "false advertising"? I have friends who are studying to be lawyers who would laugh at this guy. How much "mental anguish" can a person claim with a $9.99 movie?

[edible_hat]

I've had lawsuit threats for:

-selling ice cream
-locking the door to the public toilet
-refusing to give someone money out of the till while he gave me nothing in exchange
-refusing to honour an expired credit card
-selling condoms
-having an automatic door that opens very slowly
-making customers pre-pay for fuel
-reading a training manual
-not knowing where the nearest brothel is

[Gravekeeper]

I love the sue threat.

I had a guy threaten to sue because we were recording the call even though the recording at the first obviously says this call may be recorded for QA purposes. ;p

No I have no idea what he thought he could sue for. He was just pissed because I wouldn't do what he what he wanted so he played the sue card.

[Peppergirl]

But see, it won't ever stop because spineless managers give in to the SC's and the cost of these people getting free stuff is that the rest of us pay via higher hotel rates, like you said.

Makes me sick.

I hate it when SC's get their way.

[Slytovhand]

Yeps... I've had the sue line a couple of times. Better yet is the "I'll take it to court"... that'd be fun )

But I did get the 'False Advertising' sue line when I couldn't adjust the price on the price board - and it was at about 30 cents/litre.... when I was out of fuel... "Yeah - sure - you can have it for 30c/L - if you can get some!" I actually rang the night manager to tell them of the situation, and he said that people wouldn't really believe it was that cheap.... hahaha

[freeatlast]

The mail order club I worked for was "negative option" which means that you receive a dated mailing every few weeks that requires that you reply if you DO NOT want to receive the featured selection. Had many SCs that threatened to sue because of this. I always told them that they were free to waste their time and money on a lawyer who would explain to them that there was nothing illegal about the way the club worked. I even had people call and claim to be lawyers. I would always point out that if they had bothered to read the membership guide they received upon joining that it was all explained in black and white. They were usually very quick to end the call.

[powerboy]

I had people threaten to sue me because

• Not knowing if Best Buy had a Anime Series
• For not having a certain item
• For not giving in, when they wanted a soda for free.
• For not answering the phone. I was out showing a unit to a customer.
• For the prices going up on each of the units.
• For making them pay their rent.
• for them forgetting to pay their rent. We give you the option of receiving an Invoice in the mail. Not our fault for you not paying. We also call people to remind them.

[allniter]

I had a guy who said he was going to sue us and was recording the call. I told him I didn't agree to the call being recorded and he said it didn't matter, he was going to record it anyways. Except he was calling from California, a state that requires both parties to agree to a call being recorded. The call was recorded on my end, which the fellow was warned about when he called by our system, and by staying on the call, he automatically gives his consent to it being recorded. When he went on about suing, I told him again that I didn't agree to his recording the call on his end, and I was contacting my lawyer to get the call traced (I had his number on call display) and I would be suing him for invasion of privacy.

Honestly, I dunno how much of that was bullshit, but when I read him back his phone number and said that I was SUEING him, he hung up and never called back.

If they can sue, so can we. Use the broken system to your advantage.

[MadMike]

This isn't really a customer situation, but some drunk asshole threatened to sue my friends for kicking them out of their halloween party. He got all drunk, started making threats to random people at the party, and then started stumbling around and knocking stuff over.

The last straw was when he knocked the computer over. They told him to leave, and he refused, so they called the cops and had them remove him. As they dragged him away, the last thing I heard him shout was, "I'm gonna sue you assholes!"

[smileyeagle1021]

My favorite is the people who threaten to sue because we refuse to cancel an advance purchase... because they were never informed that it couldn't be cancelled... really now, it shows that you booked it on our website... it tells you in at least 3 different places on the website what the rate rules are... and then your confirmation email told you the rate rules again... so yes you were told, and no sueing us isn't going to get anything changed because you'd get laughed out of the courtroom.

[crashhelmet]

Every time I get someone that threatens to sue, my response is something along the lines of:

"I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately that means that I am no longer allowed to speak with you. I'll be notating your account to reflect your decision so that our other employees know as well. Please feel free to contact our legal department to follow up with the matter. Thank you for calling"

At this point, I'm allowed to hang up on them without taking a hit on my reviews. It usually gets them more pissed off than they already were, but we don't have to deal with them. If they apologize and state that they're not going to sue, then we can talk with them again.

CH

[blas]

Very few customers said that to me.

The ones who did, I replied "Ok, have fun with that."

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Every time I get someone that threatens to sue, my response is something along the lines of:

"I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately that means that I am no longer allowed to speak with you. I'll be notating your account to reflect your decision so that our other employees know as well. Please feel free to contact our legal department to follow up with the matter. Thank you for calling"

At this point, I'm allowed to hang up on them without taking a hit on my reviews. It usually gets them more pissed off than they already were, but we don't have to deal with them. If they apologize and state that they're not going to sue, then we can talk with them again.

CH

We have this same policy where I work. 'Tis a grand thing.

[mattm04]

We had one guy threaten to sue us because we didn't get our load in. He called the day before and was told that it should be on the load, but because of an impending snow storm the DC has advised all stores that if conditions are too bad they will stop sending trucks out. Well, it got bad fast, and our truck ended up in the woods along the highway before they stopped sending trucks out. Some routes that normally take two hours were taking 8 hours plus.

He came in expecting to pick up his canned soup that was on the tuck (now in the woods along the highway) and the following ensued

SC: I was told that you would have this soup in today
M: Normally we would beut because of the storm the DC has stopped sending trucks because it is not safe.
SC: But you are here.
M: Yes, most stres are open but it is too dangerous to drive semi-trucks, and the state of <Insert State> has closed roads to truck traffic.
SC: So get me my soup.
M: I can call when we get it in, but it may not be for another day or two.
SC: Fine, I will sue you for pain and suffering, and harrassemtn if you cal me.
M: I'm sorry to hear that now I will ask you to leave the store.
SC: Why?
M: Company policy is.... the Sc wandered off and then left. Never hear back from him. All that over a can of soup.

[Soetkin]

My SC was "going to drag you personally before the European Court of Human Rights" because my company refused her credit card request.
me: ...pardon?
SC: And I recorded this call! You'll be hearing from MY LAWYERS!!
me:...alrighty then.
SC: *CLICK*

People are weird.