Falsehood threatened because of loud stereo corrective request

[mjwalsh]

I was in inside my office at the car wash this afternoon & I heard a stereo turned up very disturbingly loud vacuuming his car. I motioned (in the most civil way possible) to the the 20 something guy in a nice way to turn the volume down. He immediately hung up the hose & followed me back to my office & started to accuse me personally of not refunding his money for a problem a couple of months ago. I told him his statement was false & it was slanderous for him to state that. He was crazy mad. If he puts that kind of falsehood in writing in a public way with whatever media ... it seems it would be libel.

At some point depending what he does now ... would any of my fellow car wash operators ever at some point consider filing legal action against him?

 

[Earl Weiss]

First you need his personal info. I seriously considered recentlyhaving my lawyer send a cease and decist letter with threats of a defamation lawsuit to the lady who said that she would tell her Blogger sidter with 250,000 subscribers how my wash was damaging to cars because it damaged her wiper. I had e-mailed her the video with the wiper on. She alos threatened negative reviews.

She also said having her lawyer handle it was no big deal for the $75.00 involved. Told her to give me the lawyers e-mail and I would send him the video. Then it came out - Daddy is a lawyer.

State laws vary but In Illinois a false negative statement about a business does not have to show actual damges.

As for the letter, I told the lawyer to write it and then told them to hold off until I see if she posted anything negative.

 

[mjwalsh]

First you need his personal info. I seriously considered recentlyhaving my lawyer send a cease and decist letter with threats of a defamation lawsuit to the lady who said that she would tell her Blogger sidter with 250,000 subscribers how my wash was damaging to cars because it damaged her wiper. I had e-mailed her the video with the wiper on. She alos threatened negative reviews.

She also said having her lawyer handle it was no big deal for the $75.00 involved. Told her to give me the lawyers e-mail and I would send him the video. Then it came out - Daddy is a lawyer.

State laws vary but In Illinois a false negative statement about a business does not have to show actual damges.

As for the letter, I told the lawyer to write it and then told them to hold off until I see if she posted anything negative.

He went into our laundromat probably to use the laundromat's restroom ... while he was there I did take down his license number on his vehicle.

He said he had friends that were witness to the so called unjust non refund that happened about 2-3 months ago. All three of us who work here always give the customer the benefit if there is any doubt so I have no idea what he was talking about in terms of not giving him his $10 refund. He seemed to not even consider that I was the owner & not just hired help. Maybe his concept of a business owner is someone always seen in a business suit??? I know the stereo level of sound was over our local decibel ordinance. We tolerate pretty high levels as long as it is not F this F that unbelievable rap vulgarities ... his music that was playing way too loud was not vulgar & he looked pretty clean cut.

 

[MEP001]

That's why I record any info like that possible in something I can show if necessary - whether someone asks for a legitimate refund or a bogus one I have a dated record of what happened. I used to use a spiral, later started recording in Excel so I could sort or search easily.

 

[Greg Pack]

You're making this too complicated. You don't need problems on your property, and he sounds like he is one. Kick the guy off the property and tell him not to come back. Have him trespassed if necessary. Don't worry too much about what he says if you know he's lying- most of his friends already know he's full of ****.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW I rarely "Tell" someone to turn music down. Got much better results with "Hi, how you doing, see those buildings over there? They call police on us because we have loud music. Please turn it down so we can avoid the hastle." Seems to work pretty well.

 

[robert roman]

Whenever someone acts on the extreme side they are compensating for something on the other.

He played loud music to get attention. Attention seeking behavior may be caused by lack of self-worth, feeling of neglected, arrogance, etc.

One way to deal with attention seekers is to simply ignore them.

This might work for an acquaintance but a consumer can come back unless legal action is taken.

Another way to deal with attention seekers is to understand what is driving their behavior and then work on helping them instead of ignoring them.

For some reason, the guy is angry about alleged claim for $10 refund.

To prove his point, he came back, spent money to vacuum, and then played obnoxiously loud music to irritate and then a confrontation.

Is this over the top for $10.00?

Doesn’t matter, defuse the situation is first step towards resolving customer disputes.

If $10.00 is so important to this guy, give it to him. He’ll go away.

Of course, you can then request that he know long visit your establishment.

Or by talking with him after refund, you may find out the real reason for his behavior and save a customer.

I’ve found this approach sure beats dealing with attorneys and such.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I can't even believe I am reading this on the autocare form. Son you should have called the Law immediately and kick his *ss off your property immediately trespass him. I do this 4-5xs+ a year he will make a scene at your site where Mrs.Jones in her high heels is watching all this go down drinking her Starbucks coffee while he is acting a fool and she will never come back and tell everyone in town how bad the clientele is at your site. Then the guy showing off making a scene knows he can walk all over you then he tells everyone all his punk buddy's and they will give you hell and run all over top of you in the future to come. I have a no tolorance program at my site for that reason protecting my attendant,customers and myself it's just not profesional to allow that. You don't want a arrogant customer like that making a scene I personally don't want a customer like that period at my site. He got mad because he can't play loud music and I almost promise you he is lieing about a refund. This is how I approach this "hello sir could you please turn down the music I have signs posted everywhere" then I wait 20seconds if he looks at you and ignores you I call 911 immediately and tell the disbatcher "I have a customer I need trespassed and making a scene causing a disturbance" Most of the time the law shows up treaspass him very easy and safe. I have seen them leave in handcuffs car towed away off my lot bc it's the same guy that has a Warrant for his arrest or drugs in possession 80% of the time. Hope this helps just be careful don't let him see you calling the police go in equipment room. good luck next time. I hate when this happens in the SS industry but it does been doing this since I was a kid. If anything him following you back to your office yelling like that is a threat I would have told him to get off my property and never to come back and told the police he was following me and I felt threatened man that same kid would hit you in the back of your head when your not looking. I know many operators that this has happend too. If he can't talk in a civil way without yelling call the authority's tell him that, most of the time he calms down because he has drugs in the car and he knows you are not playing & being serious. He might even opologize by that point and you give him a refund and he goes on about his way. Different situations for different people.

 

[cwguy.com]

This has a lot to do with the demographics of the wash. Talking to them like Earl says usually works or just stand close to them and ask if you can help them.

This is how my conversation went Friday.... REALLY LOUD MUSIC
"What kind of stereo is that?" followed with "Why do you have a baseball bat?" Person turned down the music and left.... LOL

This just sounds like you escalated the problem? There is no need to take business personally. I have had people make up and demand refunds from 2-6 months earlier..... this has to be your first time? It is always $10-20....

I would try next time being very nice and standing close to them.... being friendly. It has worked 95% of the time.... the other 5% I put money in the machine for them (they may have actually had problems?). The majority of the time they know they made it up. Usually losing 1-4 golden dollars does not keep people that mad very long. Everyone still eats fast food.... which is more expensive.

 

[Waxman]

I've had a few I have told to leave the wash and not come back. A few others I've told they can only use the wash if they follow this rule: " wash, pay, then go away ". Anyone who is disrespectful to me, and employee, another customer or even the equipment is not welcome. It's not personal; it's how to run the business.

 

[mac]

Look, just go down to the Sports Authority and get a nice Louisville Slugger. It helps getting rid of idiots, helps open locked cars, and you can clean the vac filter bags with it. Not bad for ten bucks.

 

[Eric H]

Look, just go down to the Sports Authority and get a nice Louisville Slugger. It helps getting rid of idiots, helps open locked cars, and you can clean the vac filter bags with it. Not bad for ten bucks.

Do you recommend wood or aluminium?
My Mother in Law has been carrying the same louisville slugger in her car since she got her liscence in 1962

 

[cwguy.com]

Do you recommend wood or aluminium?
My Mother in Law has been carrying the same louisville slugger in her car since she got her liscence in 1962

I have an aluminum t-ball bat. LOL

 

[mac]

As Clint Eastwood said in one of those westerns "There's nothing like a good piece of hickory."

 

[boywonder]

Look, just go down to the Sports Authority and get a nice Louisville Slugger. It helps getting rid of idiots, helps open locked cars, and you can clean the vac filter bags with it. Not bad for ten bucks.

Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy and closed!! 2x4 works too!

 

[mjwalsh]

I think it is kinda nice ... not sure ... some humor came out of this thread.

If ya'all remember or re-look at the original post of how the person was approached "I said I motioned to him to turn down the stereo" No words spoken at all ... no obscene gestures ... nada ... just the appearance of fingers turning an old style volume radio knob. For an older person like myself ... that made sense & it was effective because he did immediately turn the "extreme ear drum busting" volume down. It was within a minute later ... all of a sudden he came out of nowhere in my face ... totally unglued ... with his false imaginery accusations. Honestly ... I had already walked away.

Just think of a coach or referee who uses one or more hands to gesture a "time out" or whatever & the coach or referee ... just doing his job ... gets vented on verbally in a really bad & terrible way.

 

[cwguy.com]

Obviously it bothers you.... You are still talking about it. But it is a scam.... You should be happy nothing bad happened.

Watch this is will cheer you up.
[video=youtube_share;eyjrUAimzZg]https://youtu.be/eyjrUAimzZg[/video]
I have never seen this before. Good call though.

 

[Randy]

A person like that is definitely mentally unstable. I’ve had encounters like this before and I call 911 and tell the dispatcher this “I have a person my property who has just threatened to harm me, I feel my personal safety is in danger, I’m armed and will not hesitate to draw my weapon and fire, send help now” I had a homeless person threaten me a while back and I had 4 police cars at the wash in less than 3 minutes. This one of the prime reasons we go to the car wash at 0500 so we do encounter very many customers.

 

[mjwalsh]

Randy,

The loud car stereo incident was relatively mild ... I actually am speculating it was some affluent kid's son trying to throw his weight around pretending that he is & was a civil rights hero ... not sure though.

We have a homeless shelter a little over a block from our facility. Last February we had a horrific incident that wound up across the street that I was on 911 for & witnessed it ... the within .5 of mm 1/64" any direction sudden death knife to the carotid jugular area was intended for me as shown on hi res video him originally clearly in a full run after me. One of the worst of the worst from Detroit is now going to be standing trial for attempted murder coming up soon in December. His lawyer is actually having him plead not guilty. Immediately after the incident some of the murderous person's buddies from the shelter did some "subtle intimidations" of threat ... we put a stop to that & those specific ones finally left our city. Hopefully, they do not come back unless they have enough of a "change of heart". We have a "Marcy's Law" on the ballot for our state coming in November to help make sure victims are more protected ... I am leaning towards voting for that based on some experiences & some insider "off the record" sharing from some local county sheriff's department people. I really feel for some operators who can not afford to have strong enough employees &/or co-workers.

What are the odd's of me being at a local fundraiser & happened to be visiting within a group with the same ER doc that I was with on a mission trip to Guatemala. Also the odds of that being the doc as the first doctor to be on top of the victim's beginning stage care. I did play a role in putting pressure on the over foot long stab wound preventing the victim from bleeding to death before the ambulance people came & took over.

mike

 

[cwguy.com]

I usually leave before things escalate to that level.

The worse I have had was this shooting in an abandoned house across the street from my car wash.... after these guys robbed a c-store next to the house (which apparently also had a couple dog fighting rings). This police investigator who knows who it was.... it is the same guys that sell drugs at the c-store. While the investigator and I were talking he was purposely pointing at my cameras, then pointing at the guys (which were watching the whole thing), shaking my hand, patting me on the back and being really loud. I told him I only video my own equipment not c-store drug deals. So he leaves.

I understand what you should do.... and how things should be handled. I also support how you are handling the situation Mike. But I trust the local police department about the same as the locals do to protect me.... our police do not patrol the area. They just pick up people. So after the investigator left.... I decided I did not want to be set up. I walked over to the guys and told them the truth.... I did not tell the investigator anything, my cameras only video the car wash and I have no clue what he was talking about. I would stay out of that stuff even though it is the right thing to do.

My best advice is you need to hire a "friend" from the neighborhood.... my area is pretty transient. Just pay someone to clean up the place that lives around your wash and then gradually talk to him about asking other people to stay away. Should work.