> After about five calls of runarounds, I realized that customer service channels would not help me and I had use the legal system.
> I filed a case online for $200
> Two days later, I received a response <..> I respectfully declined.
> A day later, I requested a 3rd party pre-auth to find an outside plumber.
> I counter-offered 80% plus arbitration filing fee reimbursement. The next day
By my count, he called them 5 times, threatened (and followed up with) legal action, and took 4 rounds of negotiation all to receive less than he was entitled too.
Also, I don't blame OP at all here - they did a fantastic job of handling the situation they were in, but it's a shitty system that allows them to be caught like that in the first place.
As the lawyer above said, they could have hired a lawyer to do the work for him and the company would have had to pay the lawyer. Alternatively they likely could have claimed for their time based on their hourly rate, also they should likely have claimed for the inconvenience of being without water for several days. I think they really went to light on the claims and that's likely also why the settlement was so quick.
I like your perspective. However, I have to make about that many calls every week just to deal with messed up bank balances, errors in credit card bills, etc. I spend well over an hour a week on stuff that in the late 80s and early 90s could have been taken care of with a single phone call to the institution involved. (I have several residences and small businesses so YMMV.)
> After about five calls of runarounds, I realized that customer service channels would not help me and I had use the legal system.
> I filed a case online for $200 > Two days later, I received a response <..> I respectfully declined. > A day later, I requested a 3rd party pre-auth to find an outside plumber. > I counter-offered 80% plus arbitration filing fee reimbursement. The next day
By my count, he called them 5 times, threatened (and followed up with) legal action, and took 4 rounds of negotiation all to receive less than he was entitled too.
Also, I don't blame OP at all here - they did a fantastic job of handling the situation they were in, but it's a shitty system that allows them to be caught like that in the first place.