Is the customer always right?

If you have ever been into our fab new offices (not actually that new, we’ve been in nearly three years!!!) you’ll have seen our rather cheeky mugs, which bear the slogan

“Don’t confuse your Google search with my law degree”

It started as a bit of a joke when I saw the mugs online a few months before we completed on the purchase of the offices, but now we have a cupboard full of them, and they make me smile every time.

I also smile every time someone phones me up and argues with my legal advice, based on something they read or heard from a non legal source. Yesterday it was someone who queried some paperwork we’d prepared on a party wall act issue, because his architect (not even a surveyor) had said it was more detailed than he needed (it wasn’t). I don’t mind being challenged, in fact I enjoy a good debate, but being told that I had to be wrong and the caller had to be right simply because the architect said so (and because the customer is always right – yes he actually said that to me) makes it hard to take people seriously, and also goes to show that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

In my experience, you can’t know everything and you don’t actually need to know everything, you just need to know who to go to for the right advice and at the right time. One of the many benefits of my extensive networking is that no matter what the problem, I know someone who will know the solution. What I find hard, however, is making sure that everyone knows the wide range of services we can cover. With our ever growing team, there aren’t many legal issues that we can’t deal with.

For example, did you know that we have experience in education law? We have acted for a number of clients in the education industry, such as people working for and running schools and running training centres. Whilst in many respects the advice they need is no different from the advice every business needs (such as employment contracts and terms and conditions) they do still have their idiosyncrasies. Holiday pay, for example, is dealt with slightly differently, because of term time and school holidays.

So if you know anyone in the education field that needs commercial advice from someone who understands their industry, teach them a lesson and send them my way!

Kleyman & Co Solicitors. The full service law firm. An educational experience.