KBB - February 2009 - (Page 40)

Practice Talking Points Avoid consumer litigation with communication Consumer lawsuits can be severely detrimental to the kitchen and bath industry because many of the claims that arise are not covered by insurance. Moreover, most states have consumer fraud statutes that award a successful plaintiff double or triple damages and provide for the reimbursement of their legal fees. However, you can dramatically decrease the likelihood that your business will be sued by employing several key communication strategies. are not signed by the plaintiffs), the case becomes one of “he said/she said,” which will ultimately result in your company settling with the plaintiffs. Clearly, the litigation described above could have been prevented with a structured sales procedure that involved taking clear and concise notes and having the customers sign off on them, as well as your drawings. During the initial interview with your customers, you could have asked them to initial the notes taken on the desired length of the island to verify that the information was correct, and final drawings should have received your customers’ written, not oral, approval. Communicating in this manner could have saved your company a significant amount of money. Although obtaining written approval from a STRUCTURED SALES PROCEDURES Whether your business is large, small or in between, the key to avoiding litigation is to have a clear understanding of your customers’ desires, needs and expectations and to effectively communicate to The key to avoiding litigation is to have a clear understanding of your customers’ needs and expectations. him/her your company’s abilities, policies and procedures. This is accomplished by having a structured customer sales procedure. Consider the following example. New customers enter your showroom and explain what they are looking for, including, for example, the length of a kitchen island. In response, you enthusiastically pull out product samples and speciﬁcations, while jotting down some notes to assist you in designing their kitchen. The customers like what they see, schedule a time for the measurement of their kitchen and await the completed design, which is to include the island at the length they originally requested. Being focused on the sale, you submit the design to the customers, obtain verbal approval, collect a deposit and place the merchandise order. So far so good, right? When the merchandise arrives, you receive payment on the remaining balance, deliver the cabinets and begin to install them. Unfortunately, the customers complain that the center island is 1 ft. shorter than what they ordered. Being a careful and detail oriented designer, you know that you designed the island exactly as they requested. Despite your attempts to appease the customers your company is sued. Your customers, now known to you as “the plaintiffs,” claim that they told you the proper length and that you acknowledged it. Unfortunately for you, all you have to document your initial meeting with the customers is “chicken scratch” on a note pad. Since you have no competent evidence to prove what length the customers originally requested (note: the ﬁnal drawings are not sufﬁcient proof since they customer may not prevent a lawsuit, it will give your company a good chance to dismiss the case on an early motion and keep you from having to pay the customer any money. ADDITIONAL PROTECTION Additional ways to prevent litigation during the design and ordering phases include: (1) making sure that the particular style or product (for example, a particular color countertop) is still available before promising it to the customer; (2) keeping organized notes of all customer telephone calls; (3) insisting that all change orders be signed; and (4) making certain to advise the client in advance of the possibility of delivery delays. There is no hiding the fact that we live in a highly litigious society and that the freedoms provided by our country allow a consumer to sue a business for just about anything. While you cannot stop that litigation train from riding the rails, by ensuring proper communication with your customers—through good note-taking and customer signoffs, as well as properly constructed contracts—you can limit or even eliminate the number of times the train stops at your station. I —Peter J. Lamont, Esq., is an attorney practicing at McCarthy & Jennerich in Rutherford, NJ. He will be authoring a monthly article for K+BB’s website at www.kbbonline.com and is open to any suggestions on topics to be covered. Email him at plamont@mcjennlaw.com. 40 + K BB February 2009 / www.kbbonline.com / The Ofﬁcial Sponsor of K/BIS www.kbis.com http://www.kbbonline.com http://www.kbbonline.com http://www.kbis.com

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KBB - February 2009
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KBB - February 2009