When a client engages our services for ongoing maintenance, they get a list of fees and services, and a disclaimer concerning organisms we sell, and organisms purchased elsewhere... ie: we guarantee what we sell, but if the client opts to buy elsewhere, it voids any warranty we had. I can't control what comes from other dealers, and while most are reputable, some aren't. Even with the most conscientious of dealers, sometimes a sick fish is inadvertenly purchased. Crap happens... but after another maintenance client got peeved off at me last year because the fish they bought elsewhere, brought ich into their tank, and they were mad because I actually charged them to treat their fish/tank :roll: The fish that died were the ones bought elsewhere, everything I'd sold them actually survived (whew!), but all were infested for a time. Anyway, after that unpleasantness, I added in the bit about fish purchased elsewhere.
No contract is signed, per se, but the agreement is provided, with a statement that by engaging our services the client agrees to this - verbal agreement is binding here in GA. I've also learned to cut people off a lot sooner - I don't let accounts get too far behind before I suspend their service for non-payment. Had one a few years ago that always wrote bad checks, and she "fired" me for phoning her one too many times and asking her politely to please settle her account with cash or money order... I don't need customers like that, that's for sure. I've only ever had to send 2 accounts to collection, I can usually collect it myself, but this "shark dude" is one of them. The other was a restaurant who only called us when they screwed things up.... they owed me for 2 invoices and suddenly lost their command of the English language when I started to make collection calls. Amazingly, once my collection agent phoned them, they remembered how to speak English, and they wrote a check!
What my client doesn't realize is that they're arguing apples and bowling balls. The bill they aren't paying is for tank cleaning service and merchandise... stuff we delivered and service we performed in a timely way, without adverse incident. A judge will look at the invoices, ask if we provided the goods and services as stated, and when we show that we did, they'll have to pay.
On the other hand, for the counter-suit, the burdon of proof shall lie with the client, to establish that some act or omission on our part, caused the untimely death of the shark. Not possible. Please drive through.
When I suspended their service for non-payment, I sent them a collection letter explaining all this, along with some facts about the shark, reiterating its inappropriateness for their system in the first place. I did put all that in writing, but after the fact. Still, it does not change the facts: They made a stupid decision, the fish they paid $900 for is now dead, and they are not willing to be accountable for their own choices.
Another interesting factoid... in February when the guy bought the thing, he came into my store to brag about it, and told us he paid $900 for it. Now that his $500 maintenance bill is in the hands of a collection agent, he's telling my agent that he paid $2,000 for the fish 8O and that's what he's going to sue me for. Hope he's got a receipt.
Either way I have liability insurance, so if he does decide to sue me, he can tangle with my insurance company's attorney. He's got a hell of an uphill battle to pin that animal's death on my company, so I'm not terribly worried about it, but I have to say that the inconvenience of it all is rather a pain in the rear, but that's a part of doing business. About once a year I get a customer that is totally unreasonable, so I just learn to deal with it. Anyone I've spoken with about this issue, who has even a tiny amount of aquarium experience/knowledge, just laughs when they hear about this - that customer should be ashamed of himself for having bought the fish in the first place, let alone threaten to sue my company over it.
Since all this went down I did amend my service agreement to cover this type of thing also though. Lessons learned....
OK... topic went right to crap again.... but I guess the info might be helpful
Jenn
