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Karens for Hire

posted by Adam Levitin

The Washington Post has an article about a new business, "Karens for Hire," that is basically a way to hire a customer service advocate. Having spent way too much time with customer service of late, the article really hit a nerve. It gets at the central problem of consumer law, namely that the dollar amounts at issue in almost every dispute are way too small to litigate. Instead, consumers have to work through customer service and hope that they receive some sort of resolution, but that's a process that imposes substantial transaction costs (wait times, e.g.) and in which the consumer has no guaranty of a positive resolution, even if the consumer is in the right. 

There's some level of reputational discipline on companies with bad customers service, but it's pretty weak and indirect: when was the last time you investigated a company's customer service reputation before making a purchase? 

There are a few attempts to regulate customer service of which I am aware—TILA/EFTA error resolution procedures and RESPA loss mitigation procedures—but there's no general system of public regulation. Figuring out exactly what, if anything, would work as a more general solution to ensuring fair and efficient resolution of customer service calls remains one of consumer law's great challenges. 

December 27, 2022 at 12:29 PM in Consumer Contracts

Comments

Excellent analysis Adam.
I once had a case involving a man that sexually molested his nieces (both under age 10). He went to prison for those crimes. The nieces obtained a default civil judgment against him. When uncle filed bankruptcy and the nieces sued, asserting that his conduct was "willful and malicious", he answered that he never intended to harm them thus no malice. He attempted to compel the girls to testify in bankruptcy court about the assaults.

Posted by: Hon. Carol J. Kenner (retired) | January 04, 2023 at 10:58 AM

Adam, Oops. I was attempting to post my comment in connection with your piece on Alex Jones, not your Karens for Hire piece.

Posted by: Hon. Carol J. Kenner (retired) | January 04, 2023 at 11:00 AM

Myflixer.. they will get the benefit of watching some special tv shows and movies. But do not worry, those are also for free.

Posted by: Myflixer | March 17, 2023 at 02:53 AM

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Posted by: soap2dayfree | March 23, 2023 at 10:00 AM

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