Probably one for Ripley's Believe It Or Not:
http://www.switched.com/2009/12/09/woman-sues-burger-king-for-texts-about-shakes-and-whoppers/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-n|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.switched.com%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fwoman-sues-burger-king-for-texts-about-shakes-and-whoppers%2F
While this lawsuit doesn't suprise me it does bother me more than a bit. It seems like a waste of valuable court room time. I would definitely come out with a different opinion if the lady hadn't willingly given Burger King her cell phone number. If the text messages were sent by a robo call method to a bank of phone numbers and were constant I'd be all for the lawsuit. As an added note Oregon just recently banned Robo calls, are they allowed in your state? For those that don't no, robo calls are computer generated calls sent to a mass of phone numbers and are often sent several times a week to the same phone number. Before the robo calls were banned in Oregon we were getting a lot of "your auto warranty is about to expire calls" that were a scam and also multiple calls from Jane from Verizon that were so often and so annoying that they almost lead me to cancel my Verizon accounts.
What do you think about the famous Burger King Lawsuit? If it went to court and you were on the jury would you award the lady a cool five million? Would you award her anything? And what do you think of robo calls, should they be legal or banned?
I would award the lady two free Whoppers, that's it. And I think robo calls should be banned in every state and country in the world.
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8 comments:
I'm with you about the lawsuit. Talk about frivolous! I'd fine her for stupidity for giving Burger King her cell phone number in the first place. But I'd also place an injunction on BK to stop them using up people's minutes.
I HATE robocalls. For a while, I was getting one or two a day from somebody who wanted to clean my carpets. Apparently people all over the country were getting them, and somebody had actually found the culprits, but that didn't seem to stop them. I still get the occasional one.
I also don't love the one that tells me my car warranty is about to run out and I should "press one" to find out how to renew it. My car is 18 years old and I bought it secondhand, so any warranty is purely imaginary. Absolutely, robocalls should be banned!
Hi Pat
You do have to wonder what kind of an idiot would give their cell phone number to a fast food restaurant unless their kids worked there. Not the case in this instance.
Speaking of idiots enough people must fall for those robocalls for them to make it worthwhile to them to keep sending them. Yet, I haven't had one person tell me they didn't hate to them nor have I had anyone tell me they fell for the scam.
A local newspaper columnist here did push the 1 on the car warranty scam and tried to get their address and name of the company. No dice.
Bill
I'm a little ambivilant about the lawsuit. Oh, I think the dollar am't is ridiculous. However, I'm wondering if the woman DID give BK her number... cell numbers can now be garnered, just like regular numbers. IF she didn't give them her number, and she was gettting a lot of these messages, it could have seriously upped her phone charges for minutes. However, I think a demand for her number to be removed and her minutes reimbursed would have been the answer.
We have all of our phones, whether landline or cell, on the no call list. We still get calls. And apparently robo calls totally ignore the no call lists (well, obviously, if it's an automated system that just tumbles numbers, as is often the case). With a real person, you can say you're on the no call list and nicely ask for their company name, so you can report them. They usually go away immediately. With Robo calls, you never get a person, that I know of. Like you and Pat, I find them extremely annoying. While we've not gotten text messages (well, one or two, which we immediately delete unread), we have gotten a couple robo calls on our cells, which tells me you don't have to give your number out, as the only people who have mine are family and a few close friends and one or two doctor's offices, from when I was caring for Mom and we spent more time in doctor's offices and on the road than at home, sometimes waiting for test results or app't confirmations.
Yes, to banning robo calls. Yes to turning in anyone who calls you and ignores the no-call list. Yes to the $5 mil being frivolous and ridiculous. On the fence over whether or not she should have taken action, if she didn't give BK her number (and I can not imagine why she would have, UNLESS she entered one of their contests and a phone number was required.
Bill, I had the same experience as the reporter once when I tried to "press one" to find out who was annoying me with calls. I got a real person, but when she realized I wasn't buying, she hung up on me. I could have made an app't and caught them that way, but that was too much police work for me, so I dropped it. I try to remember to let them get all the way through their robotic pitch and then hang for a while, just to raise their phone bill, but usually I forget and just hang up.
Hi DR
You are always the most charitable then the rest of us!
One reason the amounts are so large in lawsuits against BK and the coffee suit against McDonalds is they try to come up with a figure large enough to cause the company enough damage to prevent them from continuing the behaviour that caused the lawsuit. 5 mil to BK is like a dollar to you and I.
I never ask a telamarket nicely to do anything, usually I hang up on them.
One reason she may have given BK her phone number is for alerts. A lot of companies send out alerts for specials they are having. You get a heads up before the ads go national.
Bill
Hi Pat
I never thought about keeping them on the line so their phone bills go up, I always just hung up on them.
I do remember one time when I was at Mom's a lady called and said she was from Social Security and wanted Mom's phone number. I really lit into her telling her she was scum of the earth for preying on the elderly and that she no more was from the social security department then I was from the CIA, then I asked if her Mom was proud of her for the way she was trying to scam people her mom's age, She hung up before I finished.
Bill
Bill, I wish I could have heard you telling that woman off. Good for you!
As to keeping them on the line, let me make it clear that you don't have to listen. Just put the phone down and do something else until you're sure they're gone.
If it's a real person, I don't let them give their sales pitch. As soon as I know it's a sales (or charity) call, I say nicely, "Please take me off your calling list. Thank you", and I hang up quickly. Between that and being on the Do Not Call list, my annoying calls have gotten much less. I wish they'd all disappear, but afraid I'm doomed to disappointment there.
Hi Pat
I was surprised the lady stayed on the line listening to me chew her out as long as she did.
I knew you just sat the phone down and went about your business and I am going to try that if I get anymore of those darn calls.
I usually answer the phone with, "I hope this isn't a sales call." I can tell when they pronounce my name wrong it isn't a pitch. Or ask for Mrs. Dahn
Bill
PS
I am on the do not call lists also but they expired a couple of years ago and you had to re-up and I never did.
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