Buyer’s Recourse
Illustration by Thuan Pham
Legal Aid to the Rescue
In the course of our daily lives, we rapidly make hundreds of decisions, sometimes with well-researched information, but too often with the dubious convergence of knowledge, intuition, and experience. Various media blare the siren’s song, and we reach for the plastic, electronically transfer our funds, then eagerly await arrival of the delivery van which rests on our porch a box filled with household gadgets, or food items for the pantry.
Other decisions are more deeply impactful. Human relationships, contracting for a place to live, or trusting agents of hope who guide people through the perils of addiction, homelessness, or the not-so-simple process of aging can lead to wonderful stories of affirmation in the human spirit, or a deep-seated distrust when outcomes are less than expected, or promised.
Imagine a trip to a pet store to purchase a fancy puppy, digging into your wallet for over a grand, then taking her to the vet, only to find out she has a terminal illness. Did the seller know this in advance? Does saving the receipt matter?
What if you pay your rent each month, but when it rains, the water collects in the globe of your light fixture, and drips onto your mattress, which can only be positioned one direction, given the dimensionally-challenged bedroom, and your landlord never returns your calls?
Ever faced an abusive partner who threatens physical, verbal, or financial retribution if you seek to end the relationship?
If you don’t have much money, who can you turn to that knows how to approach those who’ve ignored responsibility, or culpability, regarding your dilemma?
One possibility is Kansas Legal Services, a non-profit law firm with 11 regional offices around the state that collectively handles over 20,000 cases each year, with family services dominating the types of aid provided.
Steve Minson is one of several attorneys at the Wichita office of KLS, and he deals with many local area consumer issues, often successfully, by reminding businesses of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Though remindful of why law is a challenging occupation, the lengthy statute is filled with specific examples of events and actions that lack good faith by one or more participants, and it packs a punch in terms of addressing the various types of remedies that keep both law enforcement and the judicial system forever busy issuing fines or cease and desist orders.
“Many issues are settled after a letter from an attorney pointing out which part of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act is being violated,” Minson said. “That often motivates a retailer to respond favorably to a consumer’s complaint.
“Kansas Legal Services assists low-income and elderly Kansans. We regularly receive requests for assistance relating to debt collection lawsuits and garnishments. Businesses retain counsel to recover relatively small debts. For a variety of reasons, including lack of resources to retain counsel, many low-income defendants do not appear in court in response to a debt collection lawsuit. A default judgment results. Judgments in Kansas generally remain ‘live’ for five years but can be extended, with post-judgment interest accruing.
“This leads to people facing crippling wage or bank garnishments many years later. Sometimes, bankruptcy is the result. If defendants in debt collection lawsuits contact us before judgment is entered, we sometimes are able to provide a defense. But providing meaningful assistance after judgment is entered and garnishment has begun is much more difficult.”
Minson provided two specific examples that demonstrate the need to address not only buyer’s remorse, but also landlord’s neglect: “In one case, a woman came to us after being sued by a pet store for $1,000 after she had financed the purchase of a puppy. The puppy became sick right after she took it home. A veterinarian diagnosed the puppy as having a terminal congenital heart defect. The store refused to take the puppy back, and the woman then refused to pay for it. The puppy died a couple of months later. Three years after the purchase, the pet store sued her to collect the debt. Because she came to us before judgment was entered, KLS was able to defend her in the lawsuit, and we also asserted Kansas Consumer Protection Act counterclaims. The result was a settlement in favor of the woman for $3,000.
“We also have many low-income applicants seeking help with landlord-tenant disputes. In one case, a disabled senior citizen came to us after his landlord refused to remedy a leaking ceiling. Every time it rained, water leaked into his bedroom light fixture and then spilled over onto his bed. After an initial repair attempt failed, the landlord simply quit responding to the tenant’s request for repairs. The landlord also rejected his request to relocate to another apartment in the same complex. Water ruined the senior's bed and pillows. The leaks also caused the apartment to be moldy and make the senior ill. We sued the landlord. After a bench trial, the Court awarded the senior $4,600 in damages for rent abatement, money to pay for a new bed, and punitive damages.”
Validation via Vetting
Have you renewed that car warranty yet? Can you please provide your Social Security number to us so that we can make sure your stimulus check arrives within the week? We Nigerian Princes simply need your bank account number so we can ship some gold coins out of our country to a buyer. Will you help pay for the cost? You will receive 10% of the profits from the sale!
Though tempting to assume that consumer protection agencies address these egregious phishing attacks all day long, at the Better Business Bureau’s Wichita office, Kansas State Director Denise Groene assures us that she and nine other employees spend a significantly bigger chunk of time vetting businesses to determine whether they are legitimate. The scrutinizing buyer wants to know: Does a business follow through with contracted work? Does the entity have any prior issues with consumers? Is the company financially solvent?
“We have 60 employees for our region, which includes Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Southwestern Iowa,” Groene explained. “We pool resources among the four regional providers, and vetting businesses is the main function for most of our employees.
“If you see the BBB logo on a company’s advertisement, that should mean something,” Groene continued. “We also spend a great deal of time and energy looking over advertisements to make sure businesses aren’t misleading the public by pretending they have our endorsement. Some of the 213 logo violations we’ve recently uncovered were companies that had numerous consumer complaints, even criminal activity. We had a locksmith who was breaking into vehicles, so we do have to monitor who’s using our logo.”
Phishing scammers are getting more creative, according to Groene, even to the point of accessing information from social media, and internal emails to concoct stories that sound very convincing. In one case, an employee was asked to transfer money to a company executive who was out of town on a business trip, and the email contained other information that should otherwise only be internally known.
“The attempt failed,” Groene said, “but it is a wakeup call to understand that scammers are becoming more sophisticated, creating authentic looking fake websites, and even sending texts to people who thought their cell number was private.”
Groene also pointed out that organizations are preemptively mandating online scamming classes to minimize damage, or forcing employees to complete a training class as a punitive measure for making a mistake that does harm to the company. “Given the huge number of emails we receive a day, it’s easy to just ‘click, click, click’ and then you have to take training,” she said.
Another perspective to understand, Groene points out, is that scamming is a job for some people, it’s how they make a living, so they pay attention to what’s going on in the news. “After a hurricane, for example, we see a rise in ‘GoFundMe’ and other charitable sites.” Many of them are fabricated to steal your money, playing upon your good intentions.
Other typical scams include pandemic sites offering fake vaccine passports, quicker delivery of various government assistance checks, and various identity theft ruses.
How can we protect ourselves from business malfeasance, from online, pajama-wearing basement scammers?
Groene advocates deep breaths to deflect the high pressure techniques that often accompany scams, demand time to consider an offer, and then apply an abundance of common sense.
“Conduct your own research, and see if the Better Business Bureau has vetted that company.” As for online scammers, she agrees with other cyber crime experts: don’t click on any document you don’t trust, and don’t give out your credit card information to anyone you didn’t solicit. The FTC also provides words of wisdom to avoid the embarrassment and financial loss from digital pirates.
Overall, Groene has faith in the integrity of the companies who work with the BBB. “We are a 501c(6) organization funded by businesses who want to establish trust with consumers,” she said. “I do believe businesses are compliant and want to do the right thing,” Groene concluded of the consumer complaint process. “Most companies respond to consumer problems, and around 80% make that good faith effort to resolve a customer dispute, that’s all we’re asking for.” She said that her agency even occasionally receives a “thank you” card from targeted businesses because they see the BBB as an ally in maintaining consumer faith.