My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

to be disgusted by this behaviour?

51 replies

kitesfoorever · 23/07/2014 23:08

A relative of mine was in a clothes shop recently when she tripped on the stair (no hazards, her fault) and bruised her leg. She reported the 'incident' to the first aider and made a big fuss. The following day she told me about the 'accident' with glee and said she may sue the large retailer Hmm.

She was waiting for a call from the store to apologise and it didn't happen. So she contacted head office and their customer services took notes and invited her to meet the store manager to discuss
She declined and demanded that they make her a payout. She told me she regretted not going to a & e over said incident Hmm Then she complained about the store staff not recording the accident properly and so a member of staf for has now had a disciplinary.

I find all this appalling and totally immoral. She has admitted that although she had some bruises there's no lasting damage. Apparently now the legal department have offered her a token payment presumably to go away I have pointed out to her that the staff member she reported may get sacked or miss out on promotion etc, may have a family to feed etc.

Am I over reacting or was I right to fall out with her over this?

OP posts:
TheReluctantCountess · 23/07/2014 23:09

I agree with you; she is in the wrong.

YouTheCat · 23/07/2014 23:12

I don't think I could be friends with someone like that.

AnyFucker · 23/07/2014 23:12

Christ, I can't fucking stand ambulance chasers

ObfusKate · 23/07/2014 23:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

appealtakingovermylife · 23/07/2014 23:16

I agree this is wrong. Is this a chain store or somewhere smaller?
Have they checked their cctv? If in doubt over a genuine injury you would at the very least expect someone to go to a and e.
How much is the "token payment"? That could be seen as an admission of guilt by some.
Some people are just opportunists.

ilovesooty · 23/07/2014 23:19

I wouldn't want anything more to do with her, relative or not.

LadySybilLikesCake · 23/07/2014 23:20

Wow, that's nasty of her. I studied law and I hate ambulance chasers. If something bad happens which changes someone's life, then they deserve financial help to try and rebuild things, but this is taking the piss.

Ds walked into a shop door once (on the way out). It was made out of glass and had no stickers to indicate something was there and he went flying into it. I didn't sue for it though (I did ask them to put something on it to stop it from happening again, which they did).

Wonc · 23/07/2014 23:21

You should tell the store.

kitesfoorever · 23/07/2014 23:22

I don't think she's going to sue them anymore as they paid her £50. It is a large chain, but I disagree whether it's large or small as I see her behaviour as lies and extortion. By the sounds of it she did have to go to a lot of trouble to get her £50, I find it really immoral though.

I'm glad I'm not the only one by your responses.

OP posts:
bigbuttons · 23/07/2014 23:26

It's because of people like her that we have such a blame culture. It limits all our lives. I had an argument on the phone today with some bloke phoning to discuss my accident. I told him " you know I haven't had an accident, why are you calling me?"
He said " we wouldn't call you if you hadn't had an accident"
So I said !" You mean to tell me that I have had a serious accident in my car and I know nothing about it."
And so the conversation went on

ArabellaRockerfella · 23/07/2014 23:29

I agree I couldn't associate with someone like that, it makes my blood boil!
YANBU

CoffeeTea103 · 23/07/2014 23:32

Yanbu, karma will get her good though. Hope the poor worker isnt sacked though.

mindthegap79 · 23/07/2014 23:32

I would be tempted to write to the shop, telling them thar she's been bragging about this. I would also no longer be friends with her.

UncleT · 23/07/2014 23:34

Ugh, what a piece of scum.

kitesfoorever · 23/07/2014 23:35

Her justification of it was that 'other people do worse' well as this thread proves, most don't! Unfortunately it's a relative. I don't have any friends who would do this.

OP posts:
kitesfoorever · 23/07/2014 23:38

I think the store knows it's bullshit to be honest, it took her days of hounding to get £50 so I suspect they decided it was costing more in wasted staff time not to pay her a token.

OP posts:
SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 23/07/2014 23:38

How hideous.

Does no-one have accidents any more? Why does someone always have to be to blame?

YANBU.

kitesfoorever · 23/07/2014 23:40

Santa I think most people are honest, but a minority ruin it for the rest of us.

OP posts:
PricillaQueenOfTheDessert · 23/07/2014 23:52

Oh please write to the store and let them know the truth, the poor worker who has done nothing wrong - imagine how stressed they must be feeling. You don't need to give your name.

Birdsgottafly · 24/07/2014 00:20

I don't agree with her claim.

However, an accident should be recorded properly, so it's either been a training issue, or the Staff member hadn't done their job properly.

This one incident won't get her the sack, bit she should be doing her job properly and it shouldn't take a major (and sackable) incident before this was found out, so at least your friend has been if service, in that respect.

BrevilleTron · 24/07/2014 09:42

People like that make my blood boil.
I've just gone to my wages department as they've paid me £250 that I don't think I'm entitled to.
I could have kept quiet. I could have really done with the extra.

But no. I didn't want anyone to get into trouble and I couldn't have spent it without feeling guilty.
Clearly I was brought up very differently to your relative and I'm 34.

LumpySpacedPrincess · 24/07/2014 09:46

My mil tried something similar once. She tripped over a basket that another customer had put down then tried to make the store take responsibility. Accidents happen. However, the staff member should have recorded the incident properly.

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Pinkrose1 · 24/07/2014 09:47

Yanbu. It's disgusting. Angry

The store paid up just to shut her up because if she took her case to a small claims case (she would lose) it would still cost ££££ for them to defend their case with legal fees!

Theas18 · 24/07/2014 09:48

Makes my blood boil. We've just paid out at work ( well the insurers have ) over a similar matter, we should probably have taken it to courts but we're as small business and struggling to so the day job we are so busy so the stress of defending it personally wasn't worth it.

JamNan · 24/07/2014 09:52

I doubt she'll get a penny. I know someone who really was quite badly injured in a store (stores' fault) and the store's legal department dragged it out for so long that she could no longer afford to sue them. Fucking bastard ASDA you know who you are.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.