Does the maximum amount you can sue for in small claims go up with inflation?
Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
261–270 of 314 posts
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#262Small claims court does get a company's attention. They either have to show up or lose. Not that showing up means a win. I'm surprised that someone had trouble serving a subpoena on Facebook. Looking up "Meta" in California Corporation Search brings up everything with "Metal" in it, which is a hassle. Their actual company name is "Meta Platforms, Incorporated". Search for "Meta Platforms" here.[1] California company…
To me this appears as a way to outsource customer service to an external entity funded by a cash flow to which Meta does not need to contribute. The courts are always going to exist, Meta is always paying its lawyers, so why bother hiring extra people to staff a support line? And by making support have to go through the legal system you've already cut out 90% of the support calls you would normally take. Financially,…
It isn't this.
It's because if meta mistakenly gives the wrong account to the wrong person, the potential losses are huge.
Whereas if a judge gives the account to the wrong person, meta isn't liable.
There is nothing else they can do when someone set up their Facebook account 15 years ago and has lost their email address and phone number from back then.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't actually think it's unreasonable. Meta probably earns $2,000 in a span of a few seconds. They can afford to provide users with basic services such as account recovery, that allow users to use the services under the terms that were agreed upon when the user's account was created.
Meta might make a lot of money, but the profit per user is probably quite low, and they make up for that by having billions of users. Customer support scales with the number of users, not the profit overall. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cost (on their end) of a single customer support call to meta makes you a net financial loss for them. And how many customer support reps would they need to handle support for billi…
'I suspect running a properly funded customer support line might be able to put the whole company in the red.'
Well, maybe it should?
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#264It isn't meta's fault the system is set up to incentivize this behavior, and it isn't wrong of them to do what is in their best interest. Now that we've discovered the loophole just legislate it closed. 1. make the loser pay court fees or arbitration fines 2a. the court fees grow by some percentage with each loss over the last year. lose 1, pay 1x; lose 100 pay 10x etc 2b. the court fees are proportional to the loser…
> make the loser pay court fees or arbitration fines The big problem with that in the US is that many complaints that much of the rest of the world handles by having some government agency deal with them are handled in the US by the complainant having to sue in civil court. This would discourage many people with legitimate complaints from suing unless they have an open and shut case.
It's a good point, the fee shouldn't be punitive. Just make the court fee ubiquitous and increase with every additional suit.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
At some point the courts might start complaining to the legislatures and the congress. Or they might start adding punitive damages to their rulings.
Generally speaking, I don't think small claims courts can add punitive damages.
Where they can it's a statutory provision. For example, litigants who bring lots of nuisance suits.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
An absolute free market is a dangerous illusion.
Indeed, one run by corporate lobbying is much better.
Are you admitting that you only believe in a "free market" because the alternative is run by corporate lobbying. Not all regulation is subject to capture by default. It has taken a lot of work to erode the system enough.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or they were out of stock of a component, but same idea.
for sim cards? thats like running out of dirt.
Sure, but any supply that is consumed can be exhausted locally, including dirt.
Maybe the restock was in the .0006% of containers that fall off ships yearly! Who knows.
I’m not even arguing that this is what happened here; just that a lifetime in ops and logistics has taught me there is a steady, non-zero failure rate.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you reported these and the fact that this is a reoccurring issue to the FTC? Most of these agencies need consumers to initiate action. Every time you see these scam 'ads' or sponsored listings, report them. Every time you get something unsafe from Amazon (for example I submitted the semi-recent Youtuber investigating fuses that are unsafe) report it to the FTC. The agencies that stop this initiate action from re…
How about google just delist the fraud sites or ban their advertising? Google is making money on this...
They have proven they won't unless they are punished. You can wish it worked different, or you can accept reality and report these things, or you can live in a society full of scams. Those are your options.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article says that small claim court has $100 filing fees - considering that every case is heard for 10 minutes, it sounds like small claim court should be able to mostly if not completely self-fund.
10 minutes is nowhere near the correct timeframe and $100 is nowhere near enough to cover the court’s costs.
Even if it's 20 minutes -- which it often isn't -- that's $300/hour. If that's not enough to cover costs, well, maybe the costs are out of line.
Re: Small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, one run by corporate lobbying is much better.
Are you admitting that you only believe in a "free market" because the alternative is run by corporate lobbying. Not all regulation is subject to capture by default. It has taken a lot of work to erode the system enough.
do you think these are the only two options?
i pick option three: the current system.