A Fine Line, Part 1
Where does holding someone accountable end and retribution begin? Our society teaches us that revenge for the sake of revenge is immoral and serves no public function. However, our society also teaches us that we must reward good behavior with praise and benefits, and bad behavior with punishment. Yet where is the line between these two on which the term “justice” sits? I’ve been confronted with this question twice this week, and thought that maybe my readers could help me out with some answers.
Case #1:
As many of you know, this past spring I experienced a fire in my dwelling that wiped out just about all of my belongings and made me homeless for almost a month. (By “homeless” I mean staying in $200/night hotels, so don’t pity me too much.) During the weeks and months after this minor tragedy, I had to call upon friends, neighbors, family, businesses, and government to assist me in putting my life back together. As we all know, times of crisis show the true strengths and weaknesses in all relationships, no matter what face they may have our non-crisis lives.
Some parts of those I mentioned above came rallying to my aid as soon as they heard about what happened, giving me support and assistance I could have never imagined. Others actors performed as expected, neither exceeding nor failing my expectations. The rest, however, failed to live up to their expectations. Most of those falling into this category are for-profit organizations that must make an annual profit to survive, but must also provide adequate service to their customers when required.
Liberty Mutual, insuring my apartment against this kind of loss, has been completely inconsistent and lackadaisical in their handling of my insurance claim. They haven’t disputed that the fire took place or that they owe me money under our agreement. They simply…don’t care. Each positive response from Liberty Mutual representatives requires five or more phone calls. Money has been delays weeks, if not months, for reasons such as “I lost your paperwork,” or “your adjuster quit”, or my favorite…”I just don’t have time.”
Bank One (now Chase after a merger) held my primary credit card account. Because it was necessary to purchase large volumes of clothing and furnishings immediately after the fire, my primary AND secondary credit cards became hugely important in purchasing items such as clothing and furnishings that could not immediately be paid with my normal monthly income. Numerous times the Bank One credit card was declined because purchasing activity was considered “abnormal”, even after I had discussed my situation with account representatives three times. Also, because so much was being purchased at one time, both credit cards reached their pre-set spending limits quickly. I was denied a credit limit increase after being a loyal customer for almost 11 years, always paying my bills on time.
The worst grievances, however, were perpetrated by some hotels in which I needed to stay while I searched for an apartment. The Residence Inn in Logan Circle stands out among the pack as the least compassionate, refusing to check for additional room availability (I was tired of bouncing between three hotels in a week), informing me that they catered to out of town visitors and not “local residents down on their luck”, and forcing me to move my car after only three minutes in the check-in parking lane.
So I have my “Naughty and Nice” list. What do I do with it? I’ve tried my best to express warm gratitude to those who helped me when I needed it. I’ve probably failed to do this adequately, but I have tried. The question remains…what do I do about those who failed me? My initial impulse is to get the word out about their horrible service…hence this entry. Second is to register my complaints with government organizations and the Better Business Bureau. Third is to end my relationships with these organizations. This is last because…frankly…I still need some of them. Am I being too harsh? Isn’t this the way our capitalism is supposed to work? Or should we just accept incidents of bad service as anomalies against the backdrop of general good service? I want to do my best to express dissatisfaction with them without crossing that line into unbridled revenge. I’m finding this difficult to do.
Case #2 will follow in the next post…
Case #1:
As many of you know, this past spring I experienced a fire in my dwelling that wiped out just about all of my belongings and made me homeless for almost a month. (By “homeless” I mean staying in $200/night hotels, so don’t pity me too much.) During the weeks and months after this minor tragedy, I had to call upon friends, neighbors, family, businesses, and government to assist me in putting my life back together. As we all know, times of crisis show the true strengths and weaknesses in all relationships, no matter what face they may have our non-crisis lives.
Some parts of those I mentioned above came rallying to my aid as soon as they heard about what happened, giving me support and assistance I could have never imagined. Others actors performed as expected, neither exceeding nor failing my expectations. The rest, however, failed to live up to their expectations. Most of those falling into this category are for-profit organizations that must make an annual profit to survive, but must also provide adequate service to their customers when required.
Liberty Mutual, insuring my apartment against this kind of loss, has been completely inconsistent and lackadaisical in their handling of my insurance claim. They haven’t disputed that the fire took place or that they owe me money under our agreement. They simply…don’t care. Each positive response from Liberty Mutual representatives requires five or more phone calls. Money has been delays weeks, if not months, for reasons such as “I lost your paperwork,” or “your adjuster quit”, or my favorite…”I just don’t have time.”
Bank One (now Chase after a merger) held my primary credit card account. Because it was necessary to purchase large volumes of clothing and furnishings immediately after the fire, my primary AND secondary credit cards became hugely important in purchasing items such as clothing and furnishings that could not immediately be paid with my normal monthly income. Numerous times the Bank One credit card was declined because purchasing activity was considered “abnormal”, even after I had discussed my situation with account representatives three times. Also, because so much was being purchased at one time, both credit cards reached their pre-set spending limits quickly. I was denied a credit limit increase after being a loyal customer for almost 11 years, always paying my bills on time.
The worst grievances, however, were perpetrated by some hotels in which I needed to stay while I searched for an apartment. The Residence Inn in Logan Circle stands out among the pack as the least compassionate, refusing to check for additional room availability (I was tired of bouncing between three hotels in a week), informing me that they catered to out of town visitors and not “local residents down on their luck”, and forcing me to move my car after only three minutes in the check-in parking lane.
So I have my “Naughty and Nice” list. What do I do with it? I’ve tried my best to express warm gratitude to those who helped me when I needed it. I’ve probably failed to do this adequately, but I have tried. The question remains…what do I do about those who failed me? My initial impulse is to get the word out about their horrible service…hence this entry. Second is to register my complaints with government organizations and the Better Business Bureau. Third is to end my relationships with these organizations. This is last because…frankly…I still need some of them. Am I being too harsh? Isn’t this the way our capitalism is supposed to work? Or should we just accept incidents of bad service as anomalies against the backdrop of general good service? I want to do my best to express dissatisfaction with them without crossing that line into unbridled revenge. I’m finding this difficult to do.
Case #2 will follow in the next post…
posted by Marty Stroodler at 11:34 AM
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