[strombofulous]

I see this a suggestion a lot and I can only assume the person making it hasn't been screwed by a company (sorry if you have, not trying to attack you). Unfortunately, the reality is that raising a stink won't do anything more than annoy the 1800 operators (if they don't have a button on their screen to give you what they want, it is impossible for them to do it for you, no matter how persuasive you are).

Suing in small claims court is a) a massive ordeal (even without the lawyers) and b) a permanent, public record that you can legally be discriminated against for

In my experience your only real recourse is a chargeback (which, to be fair, will almost always work), but that only is an option for a few months after your purchase.

[tomatocracy]

I agree that chargebacks should be the first port of call here. My experience with that route has been great.

But small claims isn't as difficult as you make out, at least in the UK. In some areas there are specialist law firms who do all the work for you and will to take the case no win/no fee (but often they will take a share of any award as well as full court-awarded costs in return). Their entire business model is to make the process as pain-free as possible for you.

This works because some companies have a policy of ignoring and/or fobbing you off continually but will immediately settle when you issue proceedings against them because the cost to them of any outcome which involves going to court (win or lose) is higher than the cost of settling (eg Ryanair is pretty notorious for this).

[justinclift]

> suing [in] a small claims court is a) a massive ordeal and b) a permanent, public record that you can legally be discriminated against for

Are you sure you're talking about the same thing?

[strombofulous]

I don't understand, why do you think this is wrong?

[justinclift]

Isn't the whole point of the "Small Claims" court, to be simple and not require a massive undertaking?

Also, the discrimination thing is a result that I've not (personally) heard anyone mention before.

[strombofulous]

It's supposed to be less complicated than bringing in lawyers but you still need to file everything, show up in a suit, and be prepared to argue your case. It isn't like you can just fill out a brief online form and get a refund. It's an all-day affair. Also most courts are only open during working hours, so you'll have to take time off, but there are exceptions to this.

I'm not sure how to respond to your second point about discrimiation, it becomes public record and "suing someone" isn't a protected class. Here's something I found after a brief google: https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/17917/can-companies-...

[justinclift]

Oh. You said "massive ordeal", which (to me) is much more than a single day thing.

I guess it's just a difference in terminology. :)