eSlander and Threats of Lawsuit Over Honest Mistake(s)

[emoore]

I spend a lot of my day communicating via email, as do a lot of internet salespeople - hence everything is "in writing". There is ZERO room for error. Even if an honest mistake is made, you can no longer just send a retraction or update without the threat of lawsuits, online slander, Better Business Bureau investigations...etc.


It seems that due to the economy, everyone is looking for their piece of "something-for-nothing" (or that's the excuse). But here's the crazy part. The customers giving us the biggest headache are not the ones suffering from the economy. They are Doctors and Lawyers who have the time and money to take it as far as they want.

It used to be much harder for a disgruntled customer to tell alot of people that he/she was upset. Now with the internet - it's just a couple clicks away to tell the whole world...and customers realize this!

- How is everyone else handling this?
- Do you / your salespeople have a disclaimer as part of your signature that goes out on every email?
- What is a good C.Y.A. disclaimer?
- What are our legal rights?


I'd look forward to hearing your input!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Here are just 3 things to work on:

1. First, make a disclaimer page on your website that talks about pricing and posted options/equipment that are on your website. With technology and people not being perfect you will need something to fall back on when there is a mistake on your site. Here is mine: Disclaimer

2. Be very diligent before hitting the send button. I don't know what the legal ramifications are for not honoring something in writing, but I have seen some dealers get slammed on forums, blogs, and review sites for not honoring something. The publicity is not worth the loss of not honoring a mistake in just about everything I've ever seen.....and in every case the dealer has ended up taking the loss anyway.

3. Learn and work reputation management. Be sure you're proactive in building a positive online portfolio for your dealership. This way, when something bad pops up, you've got a ton of good stuff to neutralize the bad.

 

[danoneil]

Alex... could you expand more on point #1. What to put in disclaimers is a great talking point for ISM's.

I'll admit that I just had a mistake happen where I sent a quote on a Element vs a CRV. Since we would not lose money, we sold the CRV at the Element price. But ! If there is a mistake and we are losing money, we will not sell the vehicle regardless of threats or negative feedback on the internet. Keep in mind that I have sent 2000 quotes over the last 9 months. 2000 to 1 are pretty good odds, but mistakes do happen.

What does a retailer do when a price is misprinted in a ad ? They post something that the price was in error.

The one thing we have done to try and make the right quote is to include MSRP on the vehicle. This allows us to double check the vehicle we are sending info on.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Alex... could you expand more on point #1. What to put in disclaimers is a great talking point for ISM's.

I added our Disclaimer page to my original post. Feel free to adopt ours.

 

[emoore]

We have a disclaimer on our website as well as on the quotes that go out. Where we stumble, is after the initial quote goes out, and we are replying to a request for additional information. That is we are not dilligent in protecting ourselves with disclamiers. Once we have received a response from a customer, we relax and are slightly less formal - replying maybe from a cellphone etc. (That is where we have run into a couple of snags.) This is also why I asked if anyone has a disclaimer built right into their signature?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I think if you want to have a short disclosure in your "price quote" emails then I would build it into the bottom of the template...under your signature if you will.

Question - would be to link to a disclosure that would be valid for your email price quotes? This way you are not going disclosure overboard in your email?