Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/708096
W EEKLY EDITION JULY 27, 2016 Dealing with Custo mers You Don't Want to Serve …continued By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director • Den ial due to distance . You can refuse to provide units if doing so would be outside your service area. Be sure to clearly articulate your service area in writing and go over i t with potential customers. That way if someone of another faith is getting married 75 miles from your yard and you only serve a 50 - mile radius you can easily support your "no" decision. Of course, it's important that you don't actually have any units outs ide your stated service area for this to be a credible justification. • Denial to comply with a law or standard. You can refuse to provide service if the customer is asking you to break a law or published standard. If the customer's location requires you to drive trucks on a road with weight limits you can't meet, it's okay to say "no." If they don't want to get enough ADA units for an event requiring public accommodation, ditto. You can even refuse to provide fewer units than are required by published OSHA standards (which have the force of law) or PSAI/ANSI standards (which do not have the force of law) provided you consistently adhere to those standards for all your customers. • Denial due to danger . If you determine there is no safe location on which to pl ace units you can deny service on the basis of danger to users or your service team. It's best to have this policy spelled out in advance and, if the situation arises, you clearly state that you are refusing to serve the customer due to the dangerous condi tions that you articulate (e.g., the ground isn't stable, there is nowhere for your service truck to park, the protesters are waving guns or throwing bottles, etc.) Citing a clear danger that any reasonable person would understand to be hazardous will mak e it easier to defend your decision and make it harder to see your denial of service as discrimination. These are just a few examples; there may be other scenarios under which it is okay to deny service. However, remember that the onus is on you, as the b usiness owner, to make sure you are not breaking any laws or violating Constitutional rights. States, counties, and municipalities may have additional laws of which you need to be aware. Make it your business to know what they are. Be proactive. The wors t time to decide you want to deny service is when you are faced with an ambiguous situation and the customer needs an answer. The recent case in Kentucky is a good example. Maybe the company doesn't want to be associated with protests of any kind and didn' t realize what the unit was for when they agreed to provide it. If that's the case, it's their misfortune that the refusal turned into a media firestorm. Here are some things they could have done – and that you can do – to avoid the situation. • Have polici es clearly stating your service area and the types of services you provide. If there are services you don't provide or scenarios you never want to be in (e.g., no units for weddings or children's birthday parties, no pumping RV tanks, no high rise building projects) make sure this is clearly stated in written policies and the policies have a date on them. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 PAGE 3