Can I sue a company for unexceptional business practices?

[SOSTrooper]

I've worked in a small mom&pop computer store for 4 years. My primary job was assembling new computers, installing software into the new computers, and repairing computers that were brought in by customers. I recently quit the computer store because of a few uncertainties that the company started to perform. First was the indirect piracy of Microsoft operating systems that the company pre-install for customers who didn?t buy the license number. However, the company did not provide customer a valid CD Key to activate the pre-installed OS, but encouraged customers to ?find? a CD Key to activate it. Secondly, the computer store?s owner refused to give the whole truth to customers and overcharged on unnecessary repairs to the computers on a few occasions. An example of this would be replacing a new CD-ROM when the old one was clearly in operation and telling the customer that he needed a new CD-ROM because the old one wasn?t working properly. Lastly, also on a few occasions, the company did not include all of the manuals and CDs of Microsoft OS to customers because they bought 10-20 computers. In other words, out of the 10-20 computers that the customers will receive, the company only provided 2 to 5 copies of the MS OS CDs and manuals and kept the rest for unknown reasons. The stickers containing the OS CD Key were provided to customers, however, by tagging them onto the case as directed by MS?s OEM instructions. Just that not all the CDs and manuals were given to the customers.

Now, I?m never a person that would want to do anything to ruin anybody or any corporation. I just want to know if whatever I said sounded suable against the company. My ex-boss (the owner of the company) did not like the fact that I quit and *may* try to defame (thx Harvey) me by giving untrue/damageable references to future jobs that I want to have. I have no way of telling whether my ex-boss will attempt such a matter, but I want to have something to protect myself from in case it does turn into reality.

Hopefully I would not get flamed for asking such a question. But instead I want to hear some advice from fellow ATOTers. Thanks.

*Edit* Misspelled words on title.

 

[AntaresVI]

I guess it would seem that you had more grounds for a court case if they actually defame you in the future. I really don;t think you could sue, at max maybe you could give the police a tip or soemthing, if u really wanted to.

 

[spidey07]

I just want to know if whatever I said sounded suable against the company. My ex-boss (the owner of the company) did not like the fact that I quit and *may* try to deface me by giving untrue/damageable references to future jobs that I want to have

THAT! Is when you can sue. Most days the only thing your employer should give out are date of employment, position, salary and if they are eligible for re-hire.

just MHO

 

[atom]

On what ground would you be suing them for though?

You can report them to MS if you want.

 

[Kadarin]

"unacceptional business practies"? WTF?

I doubt you could sue, since you're not an aggrieved party (i.e. a customer who paid for but did not receive the proper CDs or manuals), but a lawyer could probably give you a better answer there. You might consider reporting these guys to the BSA (Business Software Alliance).

 

[SOSTrooper]

I don't plan to sue the company anytime IF I get hired by another place w/o complications. I'm actually planning really ahead just to prepare myself for any situation. If my ex-boss did confront me (thru phone/email) with threats, I want to have something to back me up and hopefully to let my ex-boss aware of the consequences.

 

[Howard]

Unexceptional business practices? Aren't those the norm?

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
I just want to know if whatever I said sounded suable against the company.

Your ex boss's business practices are illegal, but you do not have any grounds to sue him unless he actually damaged you in some way. For example, you could sue if somehthing he did cost you money. OTOH, his customers would have a great case against him if they ever get busted for bootleg software, especially if they were the more naive mom & pop type. Geeks who know what's going on and went with it knowingly would not have as strong a case.

My ex-boss (the owner of the company) did not like the fact that I quit and *may* try to deface me by giving untrue/damageable references to future jobs that I want to have. I have no way of telling whether my ex-boss will attempt such a matter, but I want to have something to protect myself from in case it does turn into reality.

I think the word you want is defame, not deface, and you could sue him for libel or slander if he says something negative about you, especially if it costs you money or a job.

The only defense he could offer is that whatever he says is true, and you may have to be able to disprove whatever he says or at least challenge his truthfulness. That's where his business practices come in. It would be a good idea to have some evidence of the practices you listed in your post.

Of course, if you just want to "get" him, you could report him to Billy Borg's anti-piracy folks... as long as you can prove it's true.

Good luck. I hope you don't have to dive into that pit.

 

[Koing]

The selling of 10-20 computers and not giving out the exact number of manuals and cd's is fine. As long as the owner is giving out the correct number of licenses to match the number of computers with that OS installed on its fine. The cd's can all be burnt on normal cd's also as long as the licenses are legal then it is all fine. Most companies will store the manuals and cd's away somewhere or just keep a few copies of them anyway. The rest they will throw out. Well this is my understanding of it......

The ripping off of customers is not cool, but I'm sure it fixed the problem and the cd roms did work for the customer in the end? I'm sure a lot of places do bad practices like this and others.........

 

[bunker]

Anonymous email here will take care of it.

 

[heartsurgeon]

the reason for "suing" somebody is to get money out of them..short and sweet.

how much money do you think you deserve....and more importantly why do you feel you deserve money?

what's really going on here?
it sounds bizarre to think that somebody is going to "defame"
you because you moved on from a job that could hardly be described as a long-term career path....

what part of the "shady" activities did you participate in?

did you ask for a raise, get turned down and quit?

something about your "story" just doesn't sound right......

 

[SOSTrooper]

Well my ex-boss is a Chinese woman. She is one of those people that you don't want to mess with. She has a very short temper (sp?) for dealing with people. She push people that work/worked for her very hard. Since I started working, there were at least 15 different people who got hired there and quit within 3 months. I was the longest employee there at the time I resigned. Since I worked there for the longest time, you can imagine how much burden were on my shoulders. So when I confronted my ex-boss that I want to resign, she immediately dismissed my request and argued that how I will cause her company to cripple because of it. It was that threatening tone that made me think over the weeks that she might defame me from getting another job. The company was sued once by Microsoft about 3 years ago, but I do not know the reason nor the outcome of it. Since then the company hardly performed any questionable practices until recently with the economy taking a dive and affecting the company's profit. Now hopefully you can sort of connect some of the things I've said and get the big picture how I came to this situation and what kind of person my ex-boss is who I hopefully don't have to deal with.

*edit* Oh and I'm not trying to make money off of it. But it's sort of a.... 'defense' for myself if my ex-boss do try to defame me. My actual intention is if it does come to an ugly situation, that I can tell my ex-boss that I can and will tip MS/BSA (as people suggested) about the practices she had done. I actually asked this question before I knew I can sue employers for misleading references for future jobs.

 

[heartsurgeon]

don't threaten her, just move on...
don't even list her as a reference

 

[TwinkleToes77]

You'd have no grounds to sue unless they defame you.

But if they are dishonest like you say. you could always make an annonymous complaint to the BBB.

 

[Amused]

"unexceptional"?

I think the proper terms would be fraudulent, dishonest, immoral and criminal.

"Unexceptional" implies slacking, not thieving, lying and cheating.

 

[flot]

No. To be honest, most of what you describe simply sounds like a mom-and-pop shop trying to survive. (The broken Cd-Rom drive is pretty shady, though)

The thing to do, though, when applying for your new job, is to be very honest about your previous situation. (Without making it sound like you're a snitch) They are sure to ask about your previous employment and probably references. When they do, tell them that you quit because you weren't happy with the way they were doing business, and then give them a VAGUE explanation. IE things like overcharging customers for work not needed etc. Tell them that this made the work environment uncomfortable for you, so you left. That's a perfectly valid reason to quit a job, and it will also give them some expectations when/if they call on your references.

There's nothing you can do "against" your previous employer, but there's really no reason to either. And the obvious disclaimer to the above, is that if you're going to go work somewhere else with questionable practices (say, circuit city or compusa.. ;-) then you might want to be even MORE vague. I'd be surprised if your previous employer badmouths you, but if you find that it IS happening, then simply remind him that you have no hard feelings towards his company, but if he stands in your way, you'll be more than happy to stand in his way.

 

[Spac3d]

I would think you did have something better to do with your time

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
Can I sue a company for unexceptional business practices?

i think the term you're looking for is UNPROFESSIONAL business practices.



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http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/reporting/

Penalties are $150,000 per incident.