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We changed telephone carriers a year ago. We have two telephone books put out in our area. The first book that came out, they listed my husbands first name as his last. He did sign the contract that was sent to us without noticing the mistake. When I contacted Time Warner, they did informed me that he did sign it, I did point out to them that the young lady that called me went word for word the spelling of our last name, it was place attention to myself and billed to my husband with the right name. With many conversation they admitted repeatedly to me that it was their mistake, do I have that recorded no. We have asked them for some kind of help with this mistake, they refused most of my request. The problem became worse when the second telephone book came out, and my husband's name was completely omitted, and now in the white pages I am listed. My husband is a dentist we live in a rural area and depend on this telephone book. We are wondering is there anything we can do?
Optional Information: State/Country of Question: Ohio Already Tried: I have done most of the work myself, I have contacted a friend who is lawyer, he is very nice man but I am afraid he will not be very aggressive and we are afraid of losing a lot of our business.
Hello,
Are you looking to have all the phone books reprinted with the correct information?
We know that there is no way that the telephone books can be reprinted. We have always been there for our patients, we go in constantly for emergencies and we worry about how our patients are going to reach us. We have thought of mailing magnets with a letter, placing advertisement in the local news paper and possibly advertising on radio stations. We have a proposed figure of $5000.00 with some of that already.
Hi,
Okay, thanks. As an attorney with her own professional practice, I do understand the bind that you two are in. I just wanted to make sure you weren't looking for the phone company to reprint everything--you'd be amazed at what some people on here expect. That being said, I do think you have a valid claim for a breach of contract here. In Ohio, the most you can sue for in Small Claims is 3K, so you would have to sue in District Court if your expenses are going to be 5K to remedy this breach, and if that is the case, you would definitely want an attorney to help you. I can guarantee the phone company will have one. I think that the price you are asking for is reasonable and I think that since this is the second time this has happened, a judge will be sympathetic to your plight. Before you file the lawsuit, your attorney should send the phone company a demand letter, just outlining what has happened and asking for compensation to fix their mistake. You may never even have to take this to court as it will certainly be bad publicity. I mean, who wants to advertise in a phone book that cannot even get a name straight--twice!
Our friend has told us that they are somewhat protected my the FCC, basically telling me that they maybe to big to fight. Do you agree with that. Can we be compensated for loss wages, we seriously are afraid of that. We average at around 20 new patients a month. Our son received a telephone call today, asking him if his father was not practicing anymore because he is not in the telephone book. My husband is a man with a very kind heart, we seriously are called into the office almost every weekend to take care of our patients. I don't know what we are going to do.
This is true, and they will have big attorneys--that is IF they are not willing to settle with you before you even file the lawsuit. It is worth sending a demand letter, and your friend can certainly help you with that. Lost wages would be difficult to prove and you would end up having to spend a lot of money on an economist to calculate your damages before they would be seriously considered by the court. But I truly feel that if you had the right person threatening them with action, they would end up settling because they wouldn't want the publicity.
The only thing we can hope for is for them to take care of the advertisement we are requesting, is that what you are saying. I don't mean to sound like I am desperate, but we look for at least a loss of 20 to 30% of our production because we are so very afraid that our patients will think we are no longer in practice we depend on thes telephone books because we are small town. I have had so much anxiety over this. I also want to know can I change telephone careers before this is settled
Listen, I understand what you must be going through here. Can you tell me if you paid to have his name put in this book or was it just a residential listing?
We do pay to have this in the telephone book for the business (in the yellow pages). With this mistake though he is no longer listed in the business or residential. That is what really bothers us we had his business telephone number listed under our residential number in the past, but we no longer have that.
That's what I thought you said originally happened--I wanted to make sure that this was a service you had to pay for, not just a courtesy listing in the white pages. I think you can also ask for lost wages, there is no legal bar to doing so. I would ask for everything you can up front, as the settlement will always be less. If this does go to court, you will probably need an economist to figure your lost wages as the phone company will have one. Also, you have a duty to mitigate your damages--and the court is going to want to see that you did--so you can go to another phone book company right away. I am really sorry this has happened to you. You and your husband sound like lovely people and it's really a shame.
Experience: Civil; Family; HOA; Landlord/Tenant; Real Estate; Probate; Insurance; Immigration; Wills & Trusts
Thanks, XXXXX XXXXX nice people who care about our patients. We not only worry about ourselves we worry about our patients. We just recently had a little girl who was playing softball with her father. He threw the ball hit her in the mouth, she lost three of her permenant teeth, this was a Sunday nite, we happened to be in our office at the time because of a bicycle accident, we placed her teeth back in, we took care of the fractured teeth from the bicycle accident. What is going to happen to our patients when they can't find our telephone number. Thanks for your time, I know there is nothing we can do to really fix this. Time Warner is such a big company I am not sure that we would be threat to them.
Still, try the demand letter, you may be surprised what comes of it. And you have nothing to lose with that.