Legal question: contacting someone at their workplace

steve_c

steve_c

steve_c

Associate
Joined
3 Jan 2005
Posts
1,736
Hi all,

Bit of an odd one and something that I'm having trouble Googling.

We have had a customer raise a chargeback against us for some goods that they received (around £400).

We have a signature for the goods and have had no response to our numerous emails and calls.

It seems the person is clearly trying to pull a fast one.

He has stupidly registered used the same email address as his personal profile on Facebook. This also lists the place where he works.

Through a bit of stalker-ish investigation, we can surmise his email address ([email protected]).

Is there any law against this kind of thing? We're thinking that mailing him at this address may put the boot up his backside.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, as usual!
 
No - try police or small claims.

EDIT: If you have an address send a letter maybe registered that if you don't have a reply within a reasonable amount of time you will be taking it up via small claims.
 
Dis86 said:
No, I'd just report it to the police...
Click to expand...

We need to go through the chargeback service (where our payment gateway tries to argue with the customer's card provider). 9 times out of 10, this is unsuccessful, despite the evidence being stacked in our favour.

After that, it may be possible to go through a legal channel, but I somewhat doubt it.

I was hoping this may be a decent chance to avoid the long winded process.
 
Do you not have his home address?

Surely you just go through the chargeback process then go to small claims court if it fails.

Also report to the police for fraud in case they can be bothered to do anything.

I think you may be able to use his work address for the small claims court/county court however you can't enforce anything at that address but could just use it to contact him if you've not got his current home address.
 
steve_c said:
We need to go through the chargeback service (where our payment gateway tries to argue with the customer's card provider). 9 times out of 10, this is unsuccessful, despite the evidence being stacked in our favour.

After that, it may be possible to go through a legal channel, but I somewhat doubt it.

I was hoping this may be a decent chance to avoid the long winded process.
Click to expand...

The issue is that doing that could scupper any future legal proceedings.
 
I don't know about the legalities but I'd certainly try contacting him on his work email address and if that gets no response, I'd probably contact someone senior at the company.

If this was an online transaction that he did, then I guess you're probably not using 3D Secure. I'd recommend enabling it because it pretty much eliminates fraud.
 
I had an item shipped to my work address once. It didn't arrive despite the tracking saying it'd been signed for by the Receptionist.

Turns out the driver forged the Receptionist signature (he knew what it was like as delivered daily).

A signature isn't really conclusive.
 
neil_g said:
I had an item shipped to my work address once. It didn't arrive despite the tracking saying it'd been signed for by the Receptionist.

Turns out the driver forged the Receptionist signature (he knew what it was like as delivered daily).

A signature isn't really conclusive.
Click to expand...
:eek: Thats terrible.

Did you get the item/refund?
 
If you are concerned the person is acting illegally then make it a legal matter. This sort of individual will probably crap out if a legal letter drops on their carpet, assuming they still live there of course.
 
What would emailing him at work achieve?

Assuming it's to try and rule out the possibility that the emails are going to spam and he simply doesn't answer from numbers he doesn't know, then I have a potential suggestion for you.

Do you have a Gmail account? Install Streak CRM (free) and email him from that. You can track emails and see if he has read it. At the very least it should confirm if he is actively ignoring you.
 
Dis86 said:
It alerts them for a start, meaning they have time to put together a defence!
Click to expand...

How is that specific to him contacting them at work rather than at a residential address? Also I'm not quite following, he wants/needs to get in contact with them. You can't pursue someone for a debt and eventually take them to court without them being contacted or 'alerted'.
 
Forget emailing his work, I think you should at least write a very polite, concise and professional letter on your company letterhead and send through the post to the billing address explaining that there's been a chargeback and that you would like an explanation or for them to pay the overdue balance. Might be a good idea to use signed for.

There is some good info on the barclays business website here: https://www2.barclaycard.co.uk/business/help-and-support/accepting-payments/online-phone-mail

Your bank should be able to tell you why it happened.



dowie said:
How is that specific to him contacting them at work rather than at a residential address? Also I'm not quite following, he wants/needs to get in contact with them. You can't pursue someone for a debt and eventually take them to court without them being contacted or 'alerted'.
Click to expand...

What I personally find "wrong" with emailing him at work is when you email anyone at a company/exchange email server you are essentially emailing the company, not just the person.

If his email was public domain or something then maybe it's not such a big deal, but op said he has done "stalker-ish investigation", which doesn't look good if it goes to court.
 
Last edited:
dowie said:
How is that specific to him contacting them at work rather than at a residential address? Also I'm not quite following, he wants/needs to get in contact with them. You can't pursue someone for a debt and eventually take them to court without them being contacted or 'alerted'.
Click to expand...
That's true I suppose, pestering them at home would give them the same amount of warning. I haven't said he should do that though! The first contact I'd make would be via legal means and give them the standard reply time. I'd not give them a second longer which independent contact would do.
Also if it does go to court his digging of information on the gentleman in question could be seen as being a bit off by some magistrates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom