This is a true story. A well-known telecommunications company we’ll call WKTC missed its service appointment. Actually, it missed four appointments in a three-week period. Plus it took me hours to navigate the company’s automated phone-tree and to re-explain—when I finally did get a human on the line—that their installers had again failed to show up. Rescheduling their missed appointments was Kafka-esque.
Frustration aside, this incompetence cost me real money: I had to use vacation time to be at home during each four-hour appointment window. When I complained to WKTC, they told me, with great munificence, they wouldn’t charge me for the period when I had no service. Seriously. But when I said I wanted to be compensated for my lost time, they repeatedly declined. Once, when I asked to speak to a supervisor, a particularly nasty “customer service” rep sent me back to the beginning of phone-tree hell.
So I sued WKTC in small claims court.
New York City’s Small Claims Court operates five days and four evenings a week. When I arrived at the courthouse for the 6PM calendar call, the narrow hallway outside the locked courtroom was teeming with frightened people. There were a few defense lawyer regulars who seemed to know what they were doing. Although I am a lawyer, I was not among that experienced group. The vast majority of people were confused. With a limit of $5000 on the amount that can be recovered, most Small Claims Court plaintiffs don’t have legal representation.
Soon after we were ushered into the large, high-ceilinged courtroom, most of the 200-odd people became even more stressed. The court clerk explained that he would begin calling the calendar, and when we heard our name, we should stand, identify ourselves, and say whether we wanted our case to be heard by a judge; or whether we would agree to binding arbitration. Both parties had to agree to arbitration to go that route.
Since it appeared that the vast majority of people in the room had no prior experience with Small Claims Court – or really understood the pros and cons of arbitration – there was more than a little uncertainty. But as cases were called, the room slowly emptied as parties were directed to various waiting rooms, hearing rooms, and hallways. When my name was called, I stood and announced, “By the Court,” meaning I wanted to go before a judge. When the clerk shouted, “WKTC”—twice—there was just silence.
An hour later, I was led into a small room before a judicial hearing officer – for all practical purposes the judge. He appreciated the irony of the situation: I wanted compensation for my lost time because WKTC had failed to show up for four scheduled appointments; and now they had failed to show up in court as well. The judge looked at my documentation and signed a judgment for slightly more than $2000. He also informed me that WKTC had 30 days to appeal the verdict. They didn’t.
To collect the judgment, I had to go to either a City sheriff or marshal, who would attempt to find WKTC – the worldwide headquarters was within spitting distance – and get a check or seize an asset. (I wouldn’t mind one of WKTC’s ubiquitous trucks.) I went to a sheriff. But when he went to WKTC’s world headquarters, he was told there is no legal entity called WKTC – despite the sign on the building and the notice on their website saying WKTC was the copyright holder. I have to go back to court to get a judge to transfer the judgment to a state-registered legal entity. That process will take several months.