"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
05/08/2015 at 09:00 • Filed to: None
8
5|
"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
05/08/2015 at 09:00 • Filed to: None | 8
| 5 |
Pat Fowler bought a defective Chrysler and when she complained to the local TV station, they helped her get her car bought back by Chrysler. Now, thousands of people across America will be inspired to call TV stations looking for legal help. While the intention of the station was good, it will cause many people to misunderstand how the world works.
I should probably explain one more element in this equation: A disproportionate number of my clients (or people who want to become my clients) tell me that they might call a TV station “instead” of going through legal channels. They apparently believe that what happens with the Pat Fowlers of the world is the norm and TV stations aren’t there to sell advertising - they are there to whip businesses into action, helping consumers who have been wronged.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
In the 23 years I have been doing these kinds of cases in Michigan, I have appeared on all three of the major TV stations in Detroit (Channels 2, 4 and 7) as well as the major talk radio stations. I have also been interviewed many times by the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press . Oh, and CNN, The New York Times and the BBC. In that time I have spoken with the people who make decisions about what gets on the air or into print. It must be news . And, generally speaking, a person with a defective car is not news.
If the stations aired every story pitched to them about defective cars, your local newscast would be thirty minutes of defective car stories and even then they would have more they could not run. The station could go to “All Defective Cars - All The Time!” 24 hours a day with no commercials and probably still have car owners left out.
“But wait, Steve! I saw the woman on the TV. It happens.” Yes, in this case, the tone-deaf Chrysler rep told a woman in Seattle - complaining of roof leaks - to not park her car outdoors in the rain! It would be like telling a guy in Alaska to not drive his car in the snow, or someone in Hawaii being told not to drive their car in direct sunlight. THAT, I guarantee you, was the piece of this story that pushed it onto the air.
Want to call a news station or a radio station about your car problems? Go ahead, but don’t do it instead of calling an attorney. If you want to waste the time of the receptionist at the station, go ahead. But just make sure you call any attorney as well. The clock is ticking on your claim and the longer you wait - the harder your case will be to pursue. Especially if you are waiting for the callback from the TV station that will never come.
Follow me on Twitter: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Hear my podcast on iTunes: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 23 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! He wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
This website may supply general information about the law but it is for informational purposes only. This does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not meant to constitute legal advice, so the good news is we’re not billing you by the hour for reading this. The bad news is that you shouldn’t act upon any of the information without consulting a qualified professional attorney who will, probably, bill you by the hour.
Thanks David Kageyama for sending me the link!
CalzoneGolem
> SteveLehto
05/08/2015 at 09:17 |
|
... it will cause many people to misunderstand how the world works.
Isn’t that what the normally do?
|
SteveLehto
> CalzoneGolem
05/08/2015 at 09:18 |
|
Not as badly as reality TV.
Actually, I agree with you. I only complain when it affects my work.
|
CalzoneGolem
> SteveLehto
05/08/2015 at 09:22 |
|
My local stations are always doing some story on the 11 way your house could be killing you or some crap like that. Luckily they never run stories on the on boarding process for new hires at my company and so they never directly affect my job.
Director Malloy
> SteveLehto
05/09/2015 at 17:22 |
|
Some people are so “hurt” by the treatment they received they become more interested in hurting the company that “wronged” them, than they are getting a satisfactory resolution to the problem.
I am a director of a small Recreation & Parks District and I have seen people try to use the press to cover their grievance, when realistically they can only expect to embarrass us. The amusing part is when their request is so outrageous that the vast majority of readers conclude we handled the problem appropriately. So they end up doing the opposite of what was intended...
MercWagen
> SteveLehto
06/03/2015 at 14:02 |
|
Wow! She paid 34k for that POS Dodge?! For that kind of money she could have gotten a slightly used RX350 or something that has at least little more style and class. It’s her money though, she could have at least bought the same car a few years older and saved the depreciation. Whatever!