Small claims, would love everyones opinion
Customer has 2007 highlander, antenna breaks off. Our disclaimer sign clearly states "not responsible for antennas" and also another line that states "not responsible for vehicles 10 years or older" We explained this to her, and she is insistent that it is our fault. She filled out one of our incident reports and signed it, and the incident report that she signed clearly states the same that we "are not responsible for antennas" and "not responsible for vehicles 10 years or older"
I told her to turn it into her insurance and if they fell that it's my fault they'll reach out to me. This wasn't good enough. I offered to split the cost with her because she's been a customer for a long time. This wasn't good enough. The antenna broke off clean at the mount and the threads are still stuck inside of it. We told her we'll get a new antenna, and if we can get the threads out by drilling it out, we'll put the new antenna on and replace it for you. But if we can't get them out, it turns a 10 dollar fix into a 150 dollar fix, and we aren't willing to do that. We bought the new antenna, and my manager could not get the threads out by drilling out. She took it and had body shop do estimate. 120 dollars. She says she's taking us to small claims court if she doesn't hear from us by "x date" So I called her on the day she said that and I said fine I'll call the body shop and tell them to just fix it and send me the bill. So I did, and the bill came out to be about 150 bucks, but..whatever. So I send a check, and think all his well, and low and behold I get served and am due in small claims court she is seeking the estimate amount which was 120 bucks. I'm thinking like "ok...we're gonna fight about something I already paid for?"
So about a week later I see her come through one of my washes, and catch up with her and ask her if everything was taken care of on her highlander and she says yes. And I said great, was it taken care of to your standards and liking? She says yes. I said great, well then there's probably no need for us to meet in court eh? And she says well, no, I've got legal fees involved now too. And i said well that's on you, that was your decision to make a small claims. I spoke to you before you did that and told you that we would take care of it...and we did. She's claiming we didn't take care of it in a timely manner, and also that if we hadn't tried to drill out the old threads, she would have been able to have the body shop drill the threads out and replace just the antenna and not have to replace the base. I'm thinking what does it matter, you didn't end up paying for ANY of it? I did.
I talked to the body shop and asked them about this and they said no, we didn't do any further damage or anything to it. Sometimes you can get them out, sometimes you can't, and this one wasn't able to get the threads out, so they had to replace the base. Us trying to drill out the threads didn't cause any further damage or work, and didn't have anything to do with it.
The paperwork says she is seeking damages in the amount of the estimate...which is already paid for and fixed. But she says at the hearing she is going to now seek her legal fees to be paid for too.
Am I going to lose or not?
Customer has 2007 highlander, antenna breaks off. Our disclaimer sign clearly states "not responsible for antennas" and also another line that states "not responsible for vehicles 10 years or older" We explained this to her, and she is insistent that it is our fault. She filled out one of our incident reports and signed it, and the incident report that she signed clearly states the same that we "are not responsible for antennas" and "not responsible for vehicles 10 years or older"
I told her to turn it into her insurance and if they fell that it's my fault they'll reach out to me. This wasn't good enough. I offered to split the cost with her because she's been a customer for a long time. This wasn't good enough. The antenna broke off clean at the mount and the threads are still stuck inside of it. We told her we'll get a new antenna, and if we can get the threads out by drilling it out, we'll put the new antenna on and replace it for you. But if we can't get them out, it turns a 10 dollar fix into a 150 dollar fix, and we aren't willing to do that. We bought the new antenna, and my manager could not get the threads out by drilling out. She took it and had body shop do estimate. 120 dollars. She says she's taking us to small claims court if she doesn't hear from us by "x date" So I called her on the day she said that and I said fine I'll call the body shop and tell them to just fix it and send me the bill. So I did, and the bill came out to be about 150 bucks, but..whatever. So I send a check, and think all his well, and low and behold I get served and am due in small claims court she is seeking the estimate amount which was 120 bucks. I'm thinking like "ok...we're gonna fight about something I already paid for?"
So about a week later I see her come through one of my washes, and catch up with her and ask her if everything was taken care of on her highlander and she says yes. And I said great, was it taken care of to your standards and liking? She says yes. I said great, well then there's probably no need for us to meet in court eh? And she says well, no, I've got legal fees involved now too. And i said well that's on you, that was your decision to make a small claims. I spoke to you before you did that and told you that we would take care of it...and we did. She's claiming we didn't take care of it in a timely manner, and also that if we hadn't tried to drill out the old threads, she would have been able to have the body shop drill the threads out and replace just the antenna and not have to replace the base. I'm thinking what does it matter, you didn't end up paying for ANY of it? I did.
I talked to the body shop and asked them about this and they said no, we didn't do any further damage or anything to it. Sometimes you can get them out, sometimes you can't, and this one wasn't able to get the threads out, so they had to replace the base. Us trying to drill out the threads didn't cause any further damage or work, and didn't have anything to do with it.
The paperwork says she is seeking damages in the amount of the estimate...which is already paid for and fixed. But she says at the hearing she is going to now seek her legal fees to be paid for too.
Am I going to lose or not?
