How Much To Buy Justice?

There was a guy on a forum that I belong to who was telling a story about a certain nationwide music store.

He had put a guitar on layaway. His layaway was up on 11/10/09. So he goes in to make another payment on his guitar and when he gets there they tell him that his guitar has been sold to someone else.

You see, they had made a mistake. They thought the layaway deadline was 10/11/09 so when a customer wanted to buy that guitar they sold it to him.

Now, this just reeks of bullshit to me. First, they had the receipt which would have laid out all of the terms and conditions of the layaway. It would have had the date that the layaway was over and all they needed was a calendar to know that the guy still had time left to pay off the guitar. Second, they could have called the guy and told him that he needed to pay off his guitar that night or another customer was going to buy that guitar. He would have reminded them that he still had time and he would still have had the guitar.

A guy bonds with a guitar. Some guitars that feel great to me might not feel great to you. He had shopped until he found the guitar that felt right to him. Now that store had just sold his guitar AND was going to keep his money.

There are statutes for every state of the union. They are the laws and are available to anyone who wants to see them. There are statutes for everything including consumer protection. Colorado, for example, has a statute that says that a layaway is a binding contract and that the full terms and conditions of the layaway have to be disclosed on a contract or receipt. Plus, if he went back there to pay off his guitar and they told him it was gone and they told him they had another guitar and it only cost $100 more for him to get that one then it would be a "bait and switch" situation.

There are stiff penalties in Colorado for jerking around a consumer. The law USED to say that the remedy for such a case would be three times the amount of damages or $500, whichever was greater PLUS $2,000 for the infraction PLUS $2,000 for doing it to the individual. The problem is that the law has no "teeth". What that means is that the District Attorney is unlikely to prosecute anyone for a single infraction. They won't prosecute because there isn't enough money to justify the legal expense of going after the culprit. They would tell you it is a civil case. That means that the guy would have to spend his own money to hire an attorney to go after that music store.

He COULD take them to court on his own. Yeah, right. Do you know how difficult it is to do something like that? Do you know the paperwork that has to be filed just to get the case heard? One mistake and the whole thing gets tossed out.

It takes money to get justice. Even then you're not guaranteed to get justice. Most attorneys that I've run across couldn't give a shit if they win or lose the case. They get paid regardless. You have to sign an agreement that basically says that there is no assurance that they are going to win the case and they want their money up front or they don't take the case.

WTF? What if the rest of the world worked on that principle...

You go to a restaurant. The waiter takes your order. Then he passes you a contract that says you may or may not get your food but he wants the money for the meal up front. The plumber says he might or might not be able to fix the leak but he wants to be paid in advance for the job.

It gets worse. The longer the lawyer can string out the court case the more money he makes. Phone calls...1/4 of his hourly rate, minimum. Emails...cha-ching. Types you a form letter...$50 bucks or more. Goes to court and gets a continuance... that just cost you a grand.

Wouldn't you think a guy who had been an attorney for twenty years could hear what you had to say about your case, evaluate the evidence and give you a pretty good ballpark figure on how much it's gonna cost to put this all behind you? Nope. They can't even tell you if they can win it. Oh they make you THINK they can win it. Would you hire an attorney that listened to what you had to say and said "Uh, you're gonna lose this case." No, I wouldn't either.

Do you think OJ was acquitted because someone else killed Nichole and Ron? Uh-uh. He had Johnny Cochran and a shitload of money. Trust me...if it were YOU in OJ's place, the gloves would have fit. In fact, your attorney wouldn't have even thought to QUESTION if the gloves fit.

It's nothing to do with justice or right and wrong. It's about money. M-O-N-E-Y. Make no mistake about it. The entire court system is designed to separate YOU from your hard earned cash. Why do you think the law is so complicated? Do you think it really HAS to be hard to understand what's fair? Of course not.

OK. Here's how to remedy the situation, get what you want and make sure they don't do it again.

First, read the law. Second, print and highlight the relevant part. Now, go to that music store and ask to speak with the manager. Explain what happened to him and why you're upset. Now show him what you've printed and highlighted. Explain to him that you really don't want the hassle of getting an attorney and going to court and getting the music store's corporate office involved. BUT, what the store did was wrong and violated the law even if it was unintentional and you're going to give the manager the chance to make things right.

Ask the manager to sell you a better quality guitar for the price of the original guitar (the original guitar was a Studio model and you should get a Standard model). Believe me, the manager can do that and make up the money another way. He does NOT want attorneys, courts cases or corporate scrutiny. He KNOWS they did wrong because they probably do that all the time. He's going to want to make you go away as fast as possible. He doesn't want to gamble that you're bluffing about ANY of it.

If you're tactful and diplomatic, you're gonna walk out that store with a better guitar than what you were gonna get in the first place. Is that fair? I think so. Be bold or go home.