Upset consumers need to be civil

Here’s a “COMBAT Classic” from our casework files that demonstrates what not to do if you have a consumer dispute with a merchant.

A Bangor consumer brought his treasured 35mm camera to a local shop for repair. The camera was ancient, no longer in production, and the manufacturer had gone out of business. The camera store manager advised the customer that it would be very hard to find parts. He also warned that since the camera was so old, and the plastic parts brittle with age, that there could be further damage in attempts to fix it. The customer said he understood, and left the camera.

A week later, the store called with bad news. Indeed, the brittle plastic shutter lever had fractured when they attempted to remove it. No parts were available though store employees had tried virtually every source they could think of including aftermarket suppliers and used camera stores.

The next day, the customer came in to the shop to review the damage. The store manager again expressed his sincere apologies even though the problem was with the age and condition of the camera and not the store’s fault. In an attempt to make things right, the store offered to sell the customer a brand new $700 35mm camera for less than its cost ($250).

The customer was in no mood to negotiate and became threatening, verbally abusive, and loud. Eventually, the angry man left the store in a rage, the manager following hot on his heels, asking, “What can we do to make this OK?”

The consumer went to his car and, with the store manager outside still trying to find a solution, the customer did the unforgivable. He locked his car door, got up in the seat, pulled his pants down, and “mooned” the store manager. He then drove off in a huff.

Now the scene shifts to COMBAT several days later. The customer came to our office complaining that the store had destroyed his camera and asking for our intervention. We said we would contact the store on his behalf, which we did the next day.

The store manager carefully described all of the circumstances outlined above, but he also told us about the customer’s behavior. We thanked the manager, went back to our office, and called the customer, asking him to come in the next day.

When the consumer arrived, we repeated what the store manager had said and further advised “When your pants dropped, your rights stopped!” We told the customer that his behavior had been so outrageous that he could expect no help from us unless he went back, apologized for his actions, and started fresh with a more reasonable attitude.

Much to his credit, the customer recognized that he had “lost it” and behaved like a very bad boy. Contrite, he returned to the store, apologized, made friends, and eventually bought the new camera at one heck of a good price.

The moral of this story might be “keep your pants on when making a consumer complaint” but it’s much more. Unless YOU behave yourself and act in a civilized and mature manner, don’t expect any self-respecting merchant to help you. And certainly don’t ask COMBAT to condone angry or insulting behavior and go to bat for you.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT. For help or to request individual or business membership information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.