Bad Business Practice- How Would You Handle It?

I personally don't believe you should have had to pay for it since you were not handling the merchandise. I think it was the owners fault for placing it in a bad location causing it to be bumped. I would have very graciously made my feelings known about this, explained my side of the story and left the store.

I have been a retail facilities manager my entire career - basically my job is arranging to have broken stuff in stores fixed. So I've seen literally hundreds of instances where customers and store staff alike have broken or ruined things in stores - from furniture, to glass, to countertops, carpet, even light fixtures, believe it or not.

In 99% of the instances, the customer never pays a dime, even when the damage is intentional. It's just the cost of doing business. Even when we have customers drive their cars through the storefront (happens more often than you'd think), we have business interruption insurance to cover lost sales while the storefront is repaired. Is it inconvenient? Yes. But good sales people everywhere are trained to do everything possible to get customers to come back again, and if you make them feel badly for an accident, or (God forbid) force them to pay for an item that was accidentally broken, that customer will never, ever come back.

My guess is, the next time you go back to that area, you'll find the store has closed. She won't be in business long with an attitude like that.

I don't think she should have paid for it either. Honestly stuff that can be easily broken (like bumping into a table and it falls) should be put on higher shelves, more stable surfaces, or behind the checkout where they can't be broken. If anything they should have had non breakable stuff on a low table like that, like those soaps you guys originally purchased. Sorry that happened to you guys, i'm glad you didn't let it ruin your day together.

In my opinion, she should not have paid for the item, but too late now. I would say she should have insurance for these type incidents. It was completely an accident and seems to be in the wrong location. I am not even so sure a judge would have ruled in the store owners favor.

I would report the incident to the Better Business Bureau. Also, put in the store name on Google. Sometimes, there will be a way that you can write your experience with the store. I've done that for restaurants myself. I also check out other peoples reviews about places on Google. I recently had a bad experience with a major sporting goods store, so I googled it and guess what? Several people wrote similar stories as mine and reported it on Google (I think it's called insiderpages). Check it out. I bet you'd find other people in the same boat as your mom.

I'm sure a large part of your mom's decision to pay was the unexpected nature of the woman's reaction, but I never would have agreed to it myself. Out of curiosity, I did a little internet searching and found that even if there had been a "you break it you buy it" sign posted (which there wasn't) it's not really enforceable under the law. From what I understand, you would have to be acting in an extremely negligent way (juggling the statue, for example) in order to be held financially responsible. And even THEN she would have had an extremely difficult time proving/enforcing that, probably even having to take you to small claims court.

Maybe I'm just the suspicious type, but I'm a little afraid that you both got scammed. Clearly the table was in a poor spot (owner's fault) and was hard to see (owner's fault). Being right next to the cash register, it was also in an extremely high traffic area so the chances of this type of thing happening multiple times is pretty darn high. And doesn't it seem a little convenient that it happened to be something she paid retail for? Why would a store owner ever pay retail for anything? Where's the profit in that? And any type of inventory list that she "happened" to have handy is hardly proof of payment on her part.

Plus, just the fact that she offered to give you a discount shows that she was negotiating with you....which right there proves that she knew you didn't HAVE to pay anything at all.

Even if it wasn't a scam, she's clearly a wretched business owner. Honestly, she's very lucky that your mom didn't fall and injure herself on that table or it would have been HER that was paying out.

Since you've already paid for the item (and assuming you can't stop the payment), your options are fairly limited. I would go onto as many review sites as possible, most especially Google maps which MANY people will look at since it's in a "tourist town" and share your experiences. All you have to do is open up Google, click on "maps" at the top of the page and do a search for the business. Once you find it, there might already be reviews listed. If you click on the reviews you should be able to follow the prompts to leave your own. Let me know if you need any further help with that.

Really, people need to be warned about this business and, if they still choose to shop there, at least they'll know to be extra careful where they walk and what they touch. Also, it would be really nice if you'd let all of us know what the name of the business is so we too can avoid it like the plague....especially those of us with little ones!

Here's that article I mentioned earlier: http://legallad.quickanddirtytips.com/you-break-it-you-bu...

This is "mom" I think we were so taken aback, that as J. said we weren't thinking clearly, but reacting. All your answers were great and many good suggestions.

Having slept on it what comes to mind is - was it a scam? Good guy, bad guy. The husband was very nice, while we never saw the wife until the husband was trying to figure out what to do!

I would be curious 5to know if they moved the table. If not, then I really may believe she (they) are hoping this will happen. I may write to the Chamber, BBB or newspaper, just so someone else doesn't have the same thing happen if the table is still there!

But as someone said, dwelling too much on her is toxic to me.

J. E.

I would have refused to pay for it. The only way the owner could have gotten the money is for her to take your mother to Small Claims Court and win a judgment. I hope the item was not expensive, tho if it were, that could explain the woman's really awful attitude.

Since your mother has already paid there is nothing she can do about it now, unless she paid by check or credit card and can cancel the sale with the bank or cc company before the money is taken out of or charged to her account. If she paid by credit card, I suggest that she talk with Customer Service about it. In the past I remember at least one of my CC acts had a provision for such sort of incidents. Today's credit industry is so much different now that this is likely no longer available.

Unless the item was expensive I would let the matter drop. Trying to do anything will keep you involved with the woman and she is most definitely toxic.

Later: I forgot to say that I believe that she is not legally responsible for paying for it.

If I were you, Joanne, I would write a letter to the Better Business Bureau and if she's a member of The Chamber of Commerce I'd cc it to them also. I hadn't thought of the possibility of a scam but it does sound possible. Even if it's not a scam, she did not handle any of this in a professional manner and others should be warned.

you and your mom are courteous, mature and wonderful. i'm SO glad you didn't let it ruin your day.
the shopkeeper needs to find another line of work.
khairete
S.

I wouldn't have paid for it and let her try to find a way to sue me. I know this is a different scenario and far less cost, but I was in Target once and turned my eyes for about 15 seconds to look at something - my son grabbed a bottle of bubbly water I had put in the cart (he was maybe 16 months) and threw it on the floor. The whole entire thing exploded and went all over the place. The people in Target just came over, cleaned it up, no questions asked. No one asked me to pay for anything. They shouldn't have asked your mother to pay either. Unfortunately what's done is done, I would definitely consider writing the owner a letter, sending something to the BBB and posting something online - maybe a site like yelp.com.

I own a very small business, though it's not primarily retail. There's a very small retail component. IMO, if what your mom had broken was meant for re-sale, you could have offered to pay her the wholesale price to offset her loss. But if she paid retail for it, was it supposed to be resold? It sounds like it was more of a decorative loss. And then that's just a risk of doing business. And it doesn't sound like she's very intuitive. It was clearly an accident and I would probably have walked out if she became belligerent with me. Why alienate a paying customer?

They should have insurance to cover stuff like that. My ex-husband is in the insurance industry & he said those signs that say "you break it, you buy it" aren't true.

I think the shop owner should have understood that it was an accident. It would have been different if you were messing around and it was obviously not accidental. Since the situation is over with, it will most likely need to be buried and you'll have to move on from it. Next time, yes I think you have a choice to decide that it was an accident and refuse to pay for it and leave. Maybe returning the soaps letting them know that you will not be supporting their business because of the way the incident was handled, yet that could bring up more conflict.

J. -
You're right, the store owner handled it very poorly. Had she been kind and forgiving, perhaps your mother would have offered to split the cost or something and everyone would have left feeling good. I would think a business owner would consider unintentional breakage of smaller items to be part of the cost of doing business, and have insurance to cover something more valuable were it to be broken. It's an adult accidentally bumping into a poorly placed display. Not the same as if you had unsupervised children running wildly through the store. You did MORE than the right thing despite the negative treatment, and you should feel good about that. Just never visit that store again!

Poorly positioned table and a rude shop owner? Not your mother's fault. You were a dear to pay for it; I would have refused just based on the wife's reaction and rudeness. Definitely the cost of owning a business and not laying out the store and the contents in a safe manner.

The store owner should have insurance that covers stuff like that. Your mother did not have to pay for it. Who's to say that she is not going to turn it into her insurance co too?
I don't think there is anything you can do about it at this point, but just be informed that in the future...the you break it you buy it policy isn't true.

I agree with Catherine, it's just the CDB (cost of doing business).

I think both parties should accept responsibility for the accident. YOur mother was polite and paid, but it sounds like the statue and the table were displayed in an awkward and inappropriate area. If it bothers you, then you should go back to the store and politely discuss your feelings that statue was in a place that was easy to bump and that you would like 50% of your money back -either in store credit or cash. If they are not accomodating, at least you tried. I think you should also tell the lady politely that everyone makes mistakes and that your mom does not need to be treated disrespectfully and that she should think before she decides to react so rudely.