Hot Chocolate Scalds a Child: Resolving Customer Complaints in Hospitality Management

Abstract

Customer’s lawsuits for alleged harm done from experiences with products and services are frequently attacked as frivolous by some elected government officials and company executives. “Tort reform” legislature is an attempt to weaken consumers’ abilities to successfully receive redress in the legal system for alleged harms experienced from products and services. Critics of “tort reform” refer to new legal restrictions against lawsuits as “tort deform.” The movie documentary, Hot Coffee, presents three detailed case studies relating to tort reform (deform). Take 2:28 minutes to watch the trailer of the movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBKRjxeQnT4. Doing so is a useful preparation for interpreting the following case reported in this chapter. A mother drove her daughter to Wonder’s Best Burger for an apple pie and a hot chocolate. After the mother got the food, she returned to her car and gave it to her daughter. The kid was excited, so she immediately opened the hot chocolate. Unfortunately, a tragedy occurred as the hot chocolate scalded her. The mother, holding her daughter, rushed into Wonder’s Best Burger and argued with an employee about her kid being scalded.

Citation

Tsai, C.-F. and Huan, T.-C.(.C.). (2017), "Hot Chocolate Scalds a Child: Resolving Customer Complaints in Hospitality Management", Trade Tales: Decoding Customers' Stories (Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 14), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 15-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1871-317320170000014003