customer blew air horn down phone,damaged hearinf

lifeandtimes

hi guys

im not looking for legal advice just information and any stories or experience in this matter.

i work in telesales for a large company and had a customer call in,long story short customer became very angry and abusive to me annd then blew an air horn down the phone and hung up.

since then my hearing has been damaged and i cant hear correctly and what im wondering is this classified as assault as the man was fully aware what he was doing and if i workwd face to face and he did this i could the police

also the calls are recorded so i have proof.

any stories similer and info would be great appriciated

ResearchWill

Assault.

2.—(1) A person shall be guilty of the offence of assault who, without lawful excuse, intentionally or recklessly—

(a) directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another, or

(b) causes another to believe on reasonable grounds that he or she is likely immediately to be subjected to any such force or impact,

without the consent of the other.

(2) In subsection (1) (a), “force” includes—

(a) application of heat, light, electric current, noise or any other form of energy, and

(b) application of matter in solid liquid or gaseous form.

(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

As you can see application of noise is "force" for assault, if medical injury has been caused then it may possibly be section 3


3.—(1) A person who assaults another causing him or her harm shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

If you think it's serious make complaint to AGS.

lifeandtimes

ResearchWill wrote: »

Assault.

2.—(1) A person shall be guilty of the offence of assault who, without lawful excuse, intentionally or recklessly—

(a) directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another, or

(b) causes another to believe on reasonable grounds that he or she is likely immediately to be subjected to any such force or impact,

without the consent of the other.

(2) In subsection (1) (a), “force” includes—

(a) application of heat, light, electric current, noise or any other form of energy, and

(b) application of matter in solid liquid or gaseous form.

(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

As you can see application of noise is "force" for assault, if medical injury has been caused then it may possibly be section 3


3.—(1) A person who assaults another causing him or her harm shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

If you think it's serious make complaint to AGS.

thank you researchwill,thats some very helpfull information,it was definatly intentional so ill be fileing legal proceedings

nelly17

You might want the logs of the call and if they record the calls for "Quality and Training Purposes" this could also be usefull I guess

Dan133269

lifeandtimes wrote: »

i work in telesales for a large company and had a customer call in,long story short customer became very angry and abusive to me annd then blew an air horn down the phone and hung up.

Just out of curiousity, did you call them or did they call you?
And why was the person so angry?

mikom

Could the customer have been in a marina at the time?

MagicSean

Do you have medical evidence that your hearing was damaged?

Dave!

I presume the onus is on the OP to prove that it was done intentionally, right?

Could the defendant hypothetically have one of their friends/family claim that they did it as a prank on the defendant? In which case would the friend then be liable? Would it still be classed as assault if it was (they say) accidental?

jhegarty

A phone line shouldn't carry enough volume to damage your hearing.

lifeandtimes

hey just to clarafy,

i work inbound in cancellations so i didnt call him and he was angry because he still had nine months left on his contract and he couldnt afford it anymore.

it was intentional as he said stop talking,blew the horn and cursed me out and hung up.

i work with a headset and the volume was load enough to damage my hearing,i have to get it checked it out but its worse than like after a gig,my ear just feels really heavy and i cant hear much through it

M cebee

i was at a rock concert once
-that was loud too

Procrastastudy

Sounds like you should be going after your employer for failure to provide a safe system of work.

Mance Rayder

Personally i think you haven't got a leg to stand on.

A phone has a maximum output and its nowhere near the actual volume of an air horn.

cuores

Mance Rayder wrote: »

Personally i think you haven't got a leg to stand on.

A phone has a maximum output and its nowhere near the actual volume of an air horn.

I think you do have a leg to stand on, though I have no particular expertise in anything at issue here and it’s just an opinion, but a phone, or as is more likely in this situation a headset does have a maximum output, but significant hearing damage can be caused over the phone line. What may be after occurring here is Acoustic Shock, which has been connected to people working in call centres. Your company probably has what happened addressed in their health and safety statement where it would be categorised with a high hazard rating, but a low possibility of occurrence. First and foremost report the incident to your team leader. Make a complaint about the customer who called you and ask for your team leader to review the recording. Also ask them to review it from a health and safety perspective. I am making the assumption that you work in a call centre based on your post and most professionally operated call centres would take this seriously and investigate it - ensuring their staff can hear is the life blood of their business.
Once you have done this go to your GP and request to be referred to an audiologist to have your hearing checked. This will enable you to establish if you have suffered an injury, and they should also be able to establish whether the discomfort you describe could be caused by what happened.
Following this, speak to your employer and assess their support in you making a complaint to the Gardai. Whether they do or not is irrelevant, but it will signal your intent that this matter be taken seriously. You must remember that dealing with difficult situations is a part of the very difficult job you have and that your customer may have felt extremely frustrated if you were not able to facilitate their request, but this is no excuse for their actions. As a previous poster noted this could be categorised as an assault, and if it was established that it caused you injury then all the more serious. You should definitely make a complaint to the guards, the person who did this probably had a laugh down the pub about what he did and should realise that what he did was idiotic.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

you can absolutely get ear overload by volume if you are using an adjustable volume headset - particularly round the 2 to 5 k freq range * which most phones cover as standard.

if your headset allows you to turn the volume up to loud , this is a problem ,

your employer should be supplying you with in line limiters / compressors to stop volume spikes
- if not then you have a case against your employer at least

i hope it gets better .

lifeandtimes

cuores wrote: »

Mance Rayder wrote: »

Personally i think you haven't got a leg to stand on.

A phone has a maximum output and its nowhere near the actual volume of an air horn.

I think you do have a leg to stand on, though I have no particular expertise in anything at issue here and it’s just an opinion, but a phone, or as is more likely in this situation a headset does have a maximum output, but significant hearing damage can be caused over the phone line. What may be after occurring here is Acoustic Shock, which has been connected to people working in call centres. Your company probably has what happened addressed in their health and safety statement where it would be categorised with a high hazard rating, but a low possibility of occurrence. First and foremost report the incident to your team leader. Make a complaint about the customer who called you and ask for your team leader to review the recording. Also ask them to review it from a health and safety perspective. I am making the assumption that you work in a call centre based on your post and most professionally operated call centres would take this seriously and investigate it - ensuring their staff can hear is the life blood of their business.
Once you have done this go to your GP and request to be referred to an audiologist to have your hearing checked. This will enable you to establish if you have suffered an injury, and they should also be able to establish whether the discomfort you describe could be caused by what happened.
Following this, speak to your employer and assess their support in you making a complaint to the Gardai. Whether they do or not is irrelevant, but it will signal your intent that this matter be taken seriously. You must remember that dealing with difficult situations is a part of the very difficult job you have and that your customer may have felt extremely frustrated if you were not able to facilitate their request, but this is no excuse for their actions. As a previous poster noted this could be categorised as an assault, and if it was established that it caused you injury then all the more serius. You should definitely make a complaint to the guards, the person who did this probably had a laugh down the pub about what he did and should realise that what he did was idiotic.

cuores thank you for your post it was most helpful and to all the posters who say the volume wouldnt be loud enough,try working in a call centre amd then have an airhorn blown into your ear and then tell me it is'n loud enough

Mance Rayder

lifeandtimes wrote: »

cuores thank you for your post it was most helpful and to all the posters who say the volume wouldnt be loud enough,try working in a call centre amd then have an airhorn blown into your ear and then tell me it is'n loud enough

I think you misunderstood me. I have worked in 2 call centres and I know those headsets can be loud. I would support your case but I just think it may be difficult to sell to a judge.