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ok, now that things have calmed down a bit I can post this

rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
so last week at work I get a call. One of my good customers tells me that he had an alarm installed by us and later on that night his car caught on fire. I couldnt hardly believe him, but it was true. Turns out one of my installers may have taken money from this guy to do an install on his car. This is highly illegal. Well long story short my installer quit and is making more money elsewhere. The guy who we did the install for will likely be SOL because he didnt have insurance. That is the part I feel bad about.

Things need a little more time before I can post pics, buy they are bad...very bad.

I havent been in a flamewar for a while, and I thought this might give you guys some bait.
 
try and help this guy get a new car. i know you have no obligation to..but man i would just feel so awful id help him out from my own pocket.
 
i'm confused. where is the theft involved? who you are firing? the guy who quit?

did the customer think that your employee was doing as a job through you're company? or was he hiring him on his own for the job? How man $$$ in damage are we talking? and was the fire a direct result of the installer. (and if this guy sucked enough to start fires-- why was he working for you in the first place?)
 
Originally posted by: Yossarian
what's illegal about the guy taking money to install an alarm?

p.s. your storytelling skills suck.
Click to expand...

its not illegal. its unethical. There is a major difference there.
 
Originally posted by: Rallispec
i'm confused. where is the theft involved? who you are firing? the guy who quit?

did the customer think that your employee was doing as a job through you're company? or was he hiring him on his own for the job? How man $$$ in damage are we talking? and was the fire a direct result of the installer. (and if this guy sucked enough to start fires-- why was he working for you in the first place?)
Click to expand...

I guess the customer paid my installer on the side to install something in his car. The total damage was probably around $5k. No one knows if the fire was a result of what my installer did. All we know is that the car caught on fire after my installer did the install.

He was a good installer, and a good friend. He was more than able to do the install. But when you are working with electricity things can happen. If I had to guess what happenned I would say that a wire got pinched, short out, and started a chain reaction. But there is no way to tell from the pics. All they show is a jumble of wires and a ton of melted plastic.

And I know I am being vague, thats just because I dont know all the details.
 
Interesting situation. But, I have to say, it takes two to tango. The customer is partially at fault for offering to pay for the service under the table in the first place. In addition, he should know FOR SURE that your guy caused the problem before you start helping him out...

Dan
 
Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
im confused about this story too, maybe some background, like what type of company you have
Click to expand...

I work for a fairly large local car audio place. Anyone in Michigan would know the name, but probably not anyone else. We are very similar to Best Buy, but better.
 
Originally posted by: dmurray14
Interesting situation. But, I have to say, it takes two to tango. The customer is partially at fault for offering to pay for the service under the table in the first place. In addition, he should know FOR SURE that your guy caused the problem before you start helping him out...

Dan
Click to expand...

If our guy or us caused the problem, everything will be OK for the guy who had the stuff installed. We are very well insured. I just feel bad because 2 people's christmas's are now ruined because of a stupid incident.

And in this case it took at least 3 to tango. At least one of my salesmen let this happen (if it went down the way the customer said.) I may have to do some more damage before this is all over.
 
Originally posted by: GoodDad
Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
im confused about this story too, maybe some background, like what type of company you have
Click to expand...

I work for a fairly large local car audio place. Anyone in Michigan would know the name, but probably not anyone else. We are very similar to Best Buy, but better.
Click to expand...

Oo, I know what it is 😀 I used to go there all the time, they gave me a great deal on my MTX tower speakers.


<--- feels special
 
Originally posted by: Black88GTA
Originally posted by: GoodDad
Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
im confused about this story too, maybe some background, like what type of company you have
Click to expand...

I work for a fairly large local car audio place. Anyone in Michigan would know the name, but probably not anyone else. We are very similar to Best Buy, but better.
Click to expand...

Oo, I know what it is 😀 I used to go there all the time, they gave me a great deal on my MTX tower speakers.


<--- feels special
Click to expand...

Oh...I remember the MTX towers. You came in for the cheap ones huh?
 
Originally posted by: GoodDad
Originally posted by: Black88GTA
Originally posted by: GoodDad
Originally posted by: MrDingleDangle
im confused about this story too, maybe some background, like what type of company you have
Click to expand...

I work for a fairly large local car audio place. Anyone in Michigan would know the name, but probably not anyone else. We are very similar to Best Buy, but better.
Click to expand...

Oo, I know what it is 😀 I used to go there all the time, they gave me a great deal on my MTX tower speakers.


<--- feels special
Click to expand...

Oh...I remember the MTX towers. You came in for the cheap ones huh?
Click to expand...

Well, not that cheap....they were listed at @ $700 for the pair, IIRC. I think I paid $450 - 500. Expensive when you have no money and are going to school, and don't want the $180/pr Jensens.

**EDIT - this was in 1998 or so
 
Your customer obviously hired your installer to save some money OUTSIDE of the company. Why would your company pay for his car when your ex-installer was NOT acting as an agent for your company.

Why would you file an insurance claim against your company when they were NOT paid to do the install? You could get into trouble if the company insurance investigates and finds out that you are passing off a fraudulent claim.
 
Yeah, man.

They (the customer and the installer) both knew they were doing something shadey. If you feel responsible, is it because you were friends with the guy, or because he worked for you?

I really don't think you did anything wrong. Unless you knew that your buddy did this kind of thing.

Either way, you should wait until you know for sure what caused the fire.
 
agreed. it's understandable to feel bad, but the guy did try to bypass ethics and the legal way of proceeding by doing it without your company's knowledge. if there was no fire, you wouldn't be in this position and you wouldn't even have known about it. am i correct?

granted, the guy who performed the installation was affiliated with your company. but what he did, as you said, is highly illegal. and as far as i can tell, he wasn't doing it as a representative of your company anyway, so tell him to go jump in a lake.
 
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