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O n T h e C o v e r : H o w t o D e a l Wi t h a n Un r u l y C u s t o m e r
by Erik Wilson
Attorney, Erik Wilson and Associates with contributions from Sgt. Darren Schlosser
Houston Police Department Auto Theft Division – Vehicle Fraud Unit
Houston Police Department Auto Theft Division – Vehicle Fraud Unit The past year has made all of us face extraordinary challenges and business disruptions, from a worldwide pandemic and the economic fallout, to natural disasters such as forest fires, hurricanes and mass flooding. In all this, consumers, some now suffering from lower incomes or no income and/or lower credit scores have likely been hit the hardest with the most immediate and detrimental impacts being felt to their families’ safety and well-being.
Of course, those same people are your customers. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that stress levels in your customer base are at an all-time high. Further, the effects of 2020 have spread throughout almost every industry at all levels which has led to a snowball effect all of us are trying to recover from with multiple disasters hitting all at once. Currently, in our industry this has been a recipe for high tensions and confrontations with customers. There are many things that can be done to help dealers deal with the unruly customer that range from little things done around the dealership that improve the customer experience, to the most extreme of responses
involving the courts and temporary restraining orders and or police intervention on site.
First, it is important to realize that we currently live in the digital age and a dealer should expect that there is always someone recording a heated interaction. “With the increase of social media videos, there seems to be more instances of people causing scenes inside of businesses,” said Sergeant Darren Schlosser from the Houston Police Department Auto Theft Division, “While this is not a new phenomenon, it does gain more attention with the capturing of the situations on cell phone video. It is almost inevitable that a business will experience an unruly customer, or even a disgruntled employee, at some point in time.”
It is best for the dealer to try and diffuse the situation calmly and as quickly as possible. To that end, likely one of the best and easiest ways to handle an unruly customer is to simply ask them to calm down, and, if the customer cannot calm themselves, you have the authority to ask them to leave your business. This is your fist line of defense, as once you have asked someone to leave your business, they are now considered a trespasser by law.
The Texas Penal Code states that (summarized): A person commits an offense if he or she enters or remains in or on the property of another without effective consent and the person has received notice to depart but failed to do so.
Effectively, a person is only allowed on your property while you have consented to their presence. Once you no longer consent, for whatever lawful reason, that person must leave your property. If they fail to do so, you now have several legal remedies including, but not limited to, calling the police to have the person removed.
Sgt. Schlosser adds that “When situations become volatile, it is imperative to maintain a calm demeanor during the situation for two reasons: 1) It does not help the situation when both sides are escalating the situation with angry words; and 2) If someone is video recording the situation you can bet the only side shown on social media will be the negative clips of the dealership.” Here are some suggestions Sgt. Schlosser provided for how to handle unruly people in the dealership:
Have one level-headed employee address the unruly person and don’t have multiple people attempting to engage in the incident. This will only result in chaos and will likely cause the situation to escalate. Other employees should remain clear of the situation, but ready to respond if needed.
Keep an acceptable distance away from the person to ensure
