POLICE CODE RED! SCAM ALERT! Me: WTF???
So I'm sitting in the kitchen with a friend earlier today, and the house phone rings & goes to voice mail. And we hear the following (slightly paraphrased):
This is Officer I-Don't-Know-Jack-Shit of the XXX Police Department with a Code Red scam alert for all XXX Town Homeowners. The Police Department has received numerous calls of two men in a white van offering to clear snow from house roofs at three times the going rate. If you have been contacted or have had your roof cleaned by them, please call the police department at blah blah blah.
Excuse me, but what the flying FUCK? Is there now a state or local ordinance covering the prescribed amount for which you can be charged for snow removal services? The alert doesn't say the homeowner didn't need the work done. The alert doesn't say the men didn't do the work. The alert calls it a scam simply on the basis that some people think they were overcharged??
I listened to this alert and here's what I heard:
"This is the XXX Police Department. Two entrepreneurial guys are going around with a ladder, roof rakes & shovels, offering to clear snow off house roofs (a dangerous job, you know), and after they're done someone else tells the house owner they got overcharged. So then they call and gripe at us. There's nothing we can do about it, but we're going to waste more time and money putting out a robo-call to everyone in town and interfere with a perfectly legal service these guys are offering, thereby committing a dislegal act of restraint of trade."
This is ABSOLUTE BASIC CONTRACT LAW here folks. I offer to perform a service for you at a given price. You accept. I perform the service. You pay me. FINISHED. COMPLETE. THAT'S IT, GAME OVER. STATE INTEREST IN THE CONTRACT = NIL. The ONLY time I accept (indeed, demand) government interference in this basic contract law is when one party in the exchange does not have equal standing -- i.e. the parties are on unequal footing. Examples would be individual employment (minimum wage laws, employment safety laws), the safety and effectiveness of food, drugs, and mass-produced products for sale (consumer protection laws), and so-called 'boiler-plate' legal contracts where the consumer is at a legal disadvantage and cannot negotiate contractual terms (credit card, mortgage, lease, loans and other bank agreements (lending laws such as ECOA and FCRA).
This is fucked up. The cops have NO reason to be sticking their nose into this. None. And they should be bitch-slapped for doing it.
This is Officer I-Don't-Know-Jack-Shit of the XXX Police Department with a Code Red scam alert for all XXX Town Homeowners. The Police Department has received numerous calls of two men in a white van offering to clear snow from house roofs at three times the going rate. If you have been contacted or have had your roof cleaned by them, please call the police department at blah blah blah.
Excuse me, but what the flying FUCK? Is there now a state or local ordinance covering the prescribed amount for which you can be charged for snow removal services? The alert doesn't say the homeowner didn't need the work done. The alert doesn't say the men didn't do the work. The alert calls it a scam simply on the basis that some people think they were overcharged??
I listened to this alert and here's what I heard:
"This is the XXX Police Department. Two entrepreneurial guys are going around with a ladder, roof rakes & shovels, offering to clear snow off house roofs (a dangerous job, you know), and after they're done someone else tells the house owner they got overcharged. So then they call and gripe at us. There's nothing we can do about it, but we're going to waste more time and money putting out a robo-call to everyone in town and interfere with a perfectly legal service these guys are offering, thereby committing a dislegal act of restraint of trade."
This is ABSOLUTE BASIC CONTRACT LAW here folks. I offer to perform a service for you at a given price. You accept. I perform the service. You pay me. FINISHED. COMPLETE. THAT'S IT, GAME OVER. STATE INTEREST IN THE CONTRACT = NIL. The ONLY time I accept (indeed, demand) government interference in this basic contract law is when one party in the exchange does not have equal standing -- i.e. the parties are on unequal footing. Examples would be individual employment (minimum wage laws, employment safety laws), the safety and effectiveness of food, drugs, and mass-produced products for sale (consumer protection laws), and so-called 'boiler-plate' legal contracts where the consumer is at a legal disadvantage and cannot negotiate contractual terms (credit card, mortgage, lease, loans and other bank agreements (lending laws such as ECOA and FCRA).
This is fucked up. The cops have NO reason to be sticking their nose into this. None. And they should be bitch-slapped for doing it.