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Police came to my wash today

Axxlrod

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My manager calls me and says that the police are at the wash, and want to speak with me. Turns out that a customer came thru the wash yesterday, and then discovered a piece of plastic from her rear bumper was missing after she got home. She drove back to the wash, and talked to my manager about it, and he found the piece under the blowers. He took her name, number and info, and said he would give it to the owner (me) when I came in next. She wasn't happy with that answer so she went to the police station, and made a complaint. So an officer shows up today to write an "incident report".

When I spoke to the officer on the phone, I explained that this was a civil dispute between two citizens, and since no laws were broken, I didn't see how police involvement was warranted. He said that he was writing an incident report for the customer per her request so she could have that for court if this was not resolved to her satisfaction. I said I felt that was not right as the report would only reflect her side of the story. i said we have a disclaimer sign that says were are not responsible for, among other things, loose trim or parts, and whenever a piece blows off a car while under the blowers, that piece was obviously loose.

I said I would be calling the customer to have her bring her car down to the wash when I am there next, and would make a determination at that point if I would paying to replace that piece.

The officer then left. I don't know if he will be writing the report or not.

Anybody ever had the police get involved for something like this?
 

MEP001

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It's not like that report is on permanent or public record against you. As he explained, it's just an incident report.
 

rph9168

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If she went to all that trouble I would be ready for a problem. Do you have cameras?
 

Dirtychuck

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I had something simiilar happen this summer. Customer complained that my high pressure "sandblasted" his paint off... Customer left me a note then went to police and filed a report. Police came to my house later that day and talked to my wife. I turned everything over to my insurance company and they denied the claim. Never heard any more from customer, police, or insurance.
 

pitzerwm

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Actually, unless invited by the owner of the property, the police can not enter your property, unless some law has been broken or he thinks there is danger. Deciding to get into a pi$$ing match with the city might not be the best plan. I had a guy that was going backwards at 21MPH and hit one of my post, he called the cop and wanted an incident report files. The stupid cop didn't bother to discover that he didn't have a valid divers license or had transferred title to the truck as required. My insurance paid him $1100 and then raised my price $1100 the next year. I canceled them and found someone else. If I had the time, I'd have files a complaint with the city, but right then didn't give a damn.
 

Red Baron

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A few weeks ago a guy pulled up beyond the ACW so he could get out and insert his money. The gantry came down and hit his bumped, breaking a trim piece that he said was $450. I hadn't at that time told him, yet, that our equipment did nothing wrong and I won't pay for his damage, because I figured I'd see if it goes away. So far it has.

I'm trying to decide if I need YET ANOTHER SIGN that says not to pull up beyond the ACW.
 

Earl Weiss

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Having customers call the cops is not an unusual occurrence. (I have places in "interesting" areas.)

I am always cordial to the police and rarely tell them what they can or cannot do. You never know when I will need them to like me or my place. It helps that I have the city contract to wash Chgo city vehicles. If they ask for something they are not entitled to have, like my insurance info, I politley refuse to give it to them. They know what is civil and what is criminal. They also know they need to appease the public, and if making some report will do that then that is what they do.

It is pretty much black letter law that if the officer doid not witness the incident the report cannot be admitted. However, if you or the customer says something that could hurt your case ad the customer records / writes the sttatement, the fact it was said is admissable.
 

mac

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Bad cop. No doughnut.
 

Washmee

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Actually, unless invited by the owner of the property, the police can not enter your property, unless some law has been broken or he thinks there is danger. Deciding to get into a pi$$ing match with the city might not be the best plan. I had a guy that was going backwards at 21MPH and hit one of my post, he called the cop and wanted an incident report files. The stupid cop didn't bother to discover that he didn't have a valid divers license or had transferred title to the truck as required. My insurance paid him $1100 and then raised my price $1100 the next year. I canceled them and found someone else. If I had the time, I'd have files a complaint with the city, but right then didn't give a damn.
This is a classic example of why you need to have the right kind of liability insurance. You need to make sure your policy is the "Legal Liablity" type and not "Direct Pay". With Direct pay, the insurance company can decide whether or not to pay, with legal liability, they only pay if you are actually at fault. Most direct pay policys pay no matter what.
 

JMMUSTANG

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Yesterday, a VERY slow day, after reading your post I had a police car pull into the lot and park.
I thought great "now what" and got a little (o.k. a lot) nervous.
Thankfully the police dept. wanted to buy car wash packages for all their cars.
Almost made my day.
 

Joe Gillis

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Police

I never ceases to amaze me the stupidity of a small percentage of the population.

Sunday is family day in our house so I like to get all my car wash chores done early. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted at my wash at 7 AM by a policeman, with his flashers on. My pulse raced.

A customer called the cops and said that my meter box intentionally took him for $12. (I'm $1.75 for 4 minutes). He was demanding a full refund, or he wanted to press charges against me for stealing his quarters. I asked the man if he'd ever received any awards for being the stupidest man in Ohio? He then moved toward me and the cop had to step in. All I'm thinking is I'm going to have to fight this knucklehead before I finish my first cup of coffee, so I appologized to for not having mentally handicapped meters.

All the adrenaline pumping to my brain helped me come up with a solution. Since we were all in agreement that the meter was broken. (It wouldn't accept any coins). I offered to refund all the coins in the box. He agreed. I opened the box and there were 5 loose quarters and one stuck in my Slugbuster II. Upon closer inspection the jammed quarter was coated with what appeared to be concrete.

What a coincidence, the guy's got a sign on his pickup truck that says "Joe's Concrete." Now I'm on fire. I hand the cop the quarters and he gives them to Darwin Award contestant who demands the rest of his $12.

I say no dice and offer up small claims court. He hurls some more explatives at the cop and myself which prompts the cop to ask for some identification. He says it's at home, jumps in his truck and takes off. The cop is laughing too hard to do anything.

Thank goodness we got the licence plate number in case he ever came back.

Never saw him again, but I always looked for him. Can you imagine Thanksgiving at that guy's house and he doesn't get the drumstick??
 

pitzerwm

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Normally, having a cop car on your lot is a good thing, I usually work with the cops as you need them more than they need you.

They use to park on my lot using radar, a request for a cut was rejected:)
 

Deepshift

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I had a customer in a hi top van pull over the guard rails on my D & S 5000. The gantry hit their van and did a number all down the side and top of the van. They called the cops and they came out and made a report. The cop told me that he was an accident reconstructionist and could tell exactly what happened. He showed me where the van ran over the rail. He got their insurance info and gave it to me. I got over $1500 from the van owner's insurance company to repair my machine.
 

Randy

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Here it is day 67 of 2009 and I?ve had the Police out to my Car Wash 7 times. The calls range from Theft of Services, vandalism or equipment break ins. I think it?s going to get worse as the economy worsens.
 

Axxlrod

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Yes, but aren't you the one calling the police? This was a customer calling the police on me because a piece of plastic blew off her car when under the blowers.

I called the customer the next day to talk about the situation. She was lives about 400 miles away and was just passing thru. I told her that whenever anything blows off a car from the blowers, it obviously was loose to begin with, and we aren't responsible for loose parts.
 
Etowah

jprb

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Randy, Hopefully having called the police to your place so many times will help them keep an eye your place. They'll know it's a hot spot. I'm sure they'd love to catch someone 'in the act' of breaking into something! Are there a lot of other burglaries in your area?

JPRB
 
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