Forum Moderators: buckworks
I don't mind helping the guy, and the call center I'm using takes phone orders for people who don't want to (or can't) order on-line.
The problem is that he keeps placing (small, so no fraud here) orders and he keeps telling me how hard it is and that he needs help, even though he already has placed orders in the past.
In one e-mail, I told him that he is doing ok and he just need to place the orders the same way he had already done previously on my site.
To that, he responded that he forgot how he did it, and kept talking more about how hard it is for him and how much he would love to keep shopping.
As I said, I don't mind helping him and doing some hand-holding, but today something just hit me. I recalled a case of a disabled man in California going to restaurants and then suing them because mirrors were too high or doors were too narrow. He kept doing this on regular basis and collected something like $400k and counting on Americans With Disabilities Act or some similar law.
Does something like that apply on-line? I read there were some talks about this stuff and that some laws might be adjusted/enacted. But is this already a reality for e-commerce or is it only in the works?
Could an e-commerce store get sued under this act?
I'm really worried right now because this guy is just too persistent and too "confused". I understand there are people with disabilities, but this guy just keeps takling on and on about how hard it is for him as if all e-mail transcripts were already destined to become case exhibits.
Does anybody have any info on stuff like that?
this guy is just too persistent and too "confused"
I cannot give you advice but personally I would put my guard up.
The guy is not 'too confused' to be 'too persistent', ie he knows what he's doing in being confused.
The guy is not 'too confused' to be 'too persistent', ie he knows what he's doing in being confused.
That's what I'm afraid of. Any ideas on how to handle that?
Be very careful dealing with him.
If it is worrying you this much then cut him off
I don't care about losing some profit. It's not that much anyway. But cutting him off would actually make me discriminate against a disabled person. Which _might_ be exactly what he is trying to achieve.
Be very careful dealing with him.
What do you think being careful is in such situation?
What do you think being careful is in such situation?
BUT keep in mind there are millions of very prosperous elderly who shop the web because they can't get to stores. Are his orders consistent with that situation?
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BTW, we had a post on here a few months ago about rude customers. One WebmasterWorlder said he eventually learned that one such customer was calling from a mental institution. :) (big market btw)
I've been sued in the past on some obscure Act I've never even heard of (over this same website, actually). So now I worry that there might be some law that is not well known in public, but being mined by some lawyers.
The same way we go after niches in marketing, there are lawyers that go after legal niches by finding people who could become victims under such Acts and then pointing them to businesses that are likely to break those Acts.
It's really scary.
but being mined by some lawyers
Sounds like you're being more than polite and helpful to him.
are you in the USA?
Sounds like you're being more than polite and helpful to him.
First time kept the phone tied up for 30 minutes to complete the order, we checked the cc and found it stolen reported it to the cc and phone co, but he would call every month with the same try, finally after about the 10 try the phone company would come in and say this was a suspected fraud.
I wouldn't be surprised it this wasn't the same thing so be on guard this guy might be a fraud as the phone company wised up to him and banned his use.
If I get several small orders from someone, and then get a bigger order, I don't let it slide just because it's an existing customer. I still check all the usual things.
So if that's the case here, I'll find out after he decided to order a lot of merchandise.
And if I'm out of the money for the small order + chargeback feed -- that's not such a huge deal. Not pleasant, but not terrible either.
Check out useability laws and comply - last but not least!
Incorporate your site, youll sleep easier at night.
Yes, they can be horribly confused... and yet they can be clear enough to be horribly persistent, eg, remembering what they want to do, but not having the foggiest how to do it, regardless of how many times they've done it before.
And once they find a willing helper, as you have apparently been, they will continue to come back and back... if only because the rest of the world is so quick to close their doors that you become one of a very few options for them.
I would ask him outright what his disability is*, how it affects him... if he has a nurse or caregiver writing for him then that should be do-able. Phrase it in terms of you'd like to know the best way to help him. If you can get an understanding of what his problem is, then things may start to fall into place as far as what his problem with the site is.
Of course, that depends on how much effort you want to invest in him.
....and, of course, bear in mind that if it is a head injury and you reach out a helping hand... he will continue to come back... and back...
* don't know the first thing about the laws where you are, or if you can ask, but if this is done with a clear intention of helping you to understand the issue, rather than finding a reason to close the door on him might be ok?
Sounds like he may have a head injury
Yep. Talked to him today. Turns out he is an old WW2 vet with serious mental and physical injuries.
Try and find out just what he finds difficult about the site and amend if at all possible.
Won't do much good in this situation. And he is well aware of how confused he is. Overall a nice guy, but changing site to suite him is simply not possible.
Check out useability laws and comply - last but not least!
Did that a long time ago.
Incorporate your site, youll sleep easier at night.
Same here. Did it right from the start, but the ease of sleeping hasn't kicked in for some reason :)
Of course, that wouldn't work if what he really wants is the chance to talk to someone helpful every so often. But, if he's legitimately needing the same or similar products regularly, you might be able to find a way to make it easier for you & him by getting his orders handled without involving the website for every purchase. (This depends on whether you have recurring billing or reference transactions available via your gateway, and can support it via your sales/call center staff.)
If you've processed orders from him before, then presumably identifying what he wants to order isn't a huge problem, but rather putting the order in?
Could you write a quick step-by-step that you could send to the caregiver to file for next time? I know you may already have something like this on site - FAQs and such - but the thing is with head injuries they can often only cope with information from limited sources... something they can pull out of their *own* filing system is fine, but having to look for information on a site (ie, use someone else' filing system) is beyond them.
