No matter how clearly I explained that if he couldn`t prove that it was intentionally on a large scale and affecting many customers, there was no basis for his faith and that he was engaging in blackmail – “pay me what I want or otherwise.” He didn`t care about the possibility that someone in the kitchen had just made a mistake. First, determine the type of legal threat you received. Most legal threats come in the form of a letter or email. Typically, the letter or email will ask you to stop any activity you complain about and refrain from this behavior in the future. If you receive such a letter or email, you should carefully consider whether the correspondence contains an attachment that bears the name of a court or that resembles a complaint or legal filing. Use the following examples to determine the type of threat you received: There are many variations on this theme. For example, customers of franchises or chains often threaten owners or managers to report them to head office. I dealt with a man who immediately demanded a cash refund and refused to leave the lobby, an adult man who threw a tantrum at a young CSR woman and stormed out, saying, “It`s NOT over,” and a CSR who had a stalker. While overreactions should be avoided, physical threats should not be taken lightly. This article does not constitute legal advice. You should seek your own legal advice to ensure you are following the right process. You know, sir, if I felt like you, I would also take my business on the street, but here I am, I`m going to do everything I can to make sure that you don`t stay with us, but that when you come out today, you can`t wait to come back to us.
Well, let me ask you a question. Typically, the conversation ends as soon as a legal threat is made. Sometimes the person would just get hot and talk in the moment. If they come back from the threat and you want to give them another chance, that`s a verdict you have to give in real time. Most legal threats are not carried out, but from time to time, the threat of litigation is real – which is why you need to take each one seriously. If a customer threatens to take legal action, take the time to thoroughly review them and their claims before taking action. If it`s legitimate, follow the tips on this list to make sure you continue to deliver the best customer experience that delights customers. When working with a frustrated customer, it`s important to position yourself as a support resource rather than an obstacle or bottleneck. Your words and actions should be reassuring, because if you act defensively, customers quickly lose confidence in the fact that you are trying to help them. In the many years I`ve written this column, I`ve heard thousands of customer service complaints from readers who believe they didn`t get what they paid for.
Here`s the deal, people think they can sue for anything. And they`re right, but only crazy people complain if they don`t have at least one plausible case. Sometimes the threat is simply made in the heat of the moment; In other cases, the client goes far enough for a lawyer to write a threatening letter. In addition to their legal significance, legal threats can lead to a number of practical outcomes: So, while you should take the support case seriously, you shouldn`t take the customer`s behavior personally. If the customer is so dissatisfied, they may need to ventilate, and you may be the first person they can talk to about this issue. So your answer is simple: my goal is to help you get there now, I want to help you solve each of these challenges, so if you`re leaving here today, the only thing left for you to write about is how much you love it here. I would really appreciate another chance to make this happen to you. This threat is often used to bypass CSRs and others that have layers above them in the corporate hierarchy. The client has decided that threatening the livelihood of the person in front of him, possibly putting him “in trouble”, is the way to get what he wants. This is a version of the online threat on steroids. The client hopes to scare you into believing that I-Team investigators will plaster you and your shady practices with a phone call on the evening news. I asked Sternberg for a brief outline of what a business owner should do if the identity of the complainant is known and when not.
These two threats are first cousins and probably the most common threats directed at businesses today. Consumers are drunk on the power of the internet and social media, and they vastly overestimate their power when it comes to a simple disagreement with customer service. A cease and desist (C&D) letter is a formalized legal request that a party cease (“cease and abstain”) an activity (“cease and abstain”) that the requesting party deems objectionable, usually couched in formal language, and accuses the activity of violating the law. Legal threats take many forms. What they all have in common is that the party making the threat is bringing some form of legal action. The most common is the threat to take legal action against the second party. Other threats may include an administrative action or complaint that refers the other party to a supervisory authority, turns the party into judicial authorities for a crime or civil violation, or similar. Legal threats are often obscured or indirect, such as the threat that a party will be “forced to consider their legal options” or “refer the matter to legal counsel.” Part of your flight instinct may be to destroy information to protect yourself from criticism and exposure.
Although you don`t owe anything, this physiological response can cause you to behave destructively and get rid of things. The best thing both sides can do is put ego and anger aside, react calmly and reasonably, and then work together to find a real solution. Document and record every keystroke or word as you do it. If it goes to court, it protects you more than anything but an iron and hard contract. If you have both a contract and documented evidence of trying to resolve the issue, you can make sure that you won`t be sued because the threatening party`s lawyer will read and review the case first, and then advise their client on whether they can win, what they can win, and whether it`s worth it. The better your case is out of court, the less likely it is to go to court. So how do you respond to a customer who threatens to sue you? I`m not a lawyer and it`s not legal advice, it`s just sound advice from my experience. “It`s much easier to take action against the complaining party if you know who they are and where they are,” he says. “As a general rule, this should start with a cease and desist letter from a lawyer familiar with online defamation. The letter should cite the false claims they post online, explain the harm it causes to your business, and categorically – but politely – demand that the posts be removed or face the certainty of legal action. Your response should also be published online. While most potential legal threats are easily identified as benign or serious, litigation threats can sometimes be more difficult to assess.
A customer who threatens to sue because you forgot to put cheese on their burger is clearly an empty threat. However, a customer who threatens to sue after a slip-and-fall injury on your premises is likely to pose a more serious threat. Then you say, “It`s a lot for me to make a call. I cannot process everything you have said and respond with something similar to an answer. I appreciate you being so honest and honest with me. It helps a lot. However, I have to think about all this. Can we make another appointment in three days? Or a week. everything you need.
