Posted on
January 28, 2009 in
Telephone message from Terry Fifer, Tel. 480-345-3324: “New case — an injury that I was involved in. Please call me.”
Since a) I don’t take injury cases; b) this is an out-of-town number; and c) the call went directly to my answering service (a listed number, but not one that I give out, so that the only people who call it are telemarketers) I googled the number.
It’s the folks at R.W. Lynch (I come up #3 in a search for R.W. Lynch; if everyone who reads this and has a blog links to this post referencing R.W. Lynch I hope to hit number one) are calling again.
Recall that back in April another of R.W. Lynch’s stupid marketers going under the name “Kevin McHenry” called me nine times, leaving increasingly desperate messages. McHenry used the same deceptive tactic in trying to get a call back for R.W. Lynch as Fifer — “PLEASE CALL ME RE: PERSONAL INJURY CASE”.
R.W. Lynch is calling people pretending to be potential clients with personal injury cases, in hopes that hungry lawyers who want personal injury cases will call them back and sign up for whatever services they sell. Sure, R.W. Lynch can argue that the messages aren’t fraudulent — that they really are calling regarding a “personal injury case” or “an injury” that they were involved in. But lawyers are not universally stupid, and many of us can actually recognize a lie when we see it.
If R.W. Lynch were calling personal injury lawyers saying that they were calling regarding “personal injury cases”, the only calls back they would get would be from people looking for marketing services, referral sources, or case runners. But they clearly don’t want calls back from those people; they want calls back from working lawyers who are trying to help injured people, one at a time.
So, R.W. Lynch, if you have to lie to people to get them to call you back, do you really think they’re going to be happy when they find out that you’ve lied to them?
I know that greedy people are the easiest to con, but when lawyers call you back thinking that they’re going to sign up the next 18-wheeler crash case, do they ever wind up paying for whatever marketing snake oil you’re selling?
If you have to lie to market your own business, R.W. Lynch, why would any lawyer want you marketing hers?
Asshats.
That reminds me of a telephone call I used to get every few weeks. My Caller-ID always showed the obviously fake phone number 999-999-9999. I have no idea who it was—or even if it was more than one caller—because I never answered it. Why would I? The caller has managed to lie to me before I even say “Hello.” What possible good could come from talking to them?
I hadn’t realized who these people were. We’re in a small Florida town, and have gotten this telephone call several times in the past year or so. Thank goodness I ignore them completely.
Are they that thick they think we’ll respond? How often do you actually speak to clients in other states, unless they had accidents in your county?
Unreal.
I just received a call from a man at RW Lynch asking if my firm handled personal injury cases as he had a referral. I thought it was strange that I was getting a call from Arizona when I practice law in California. The man on the other end seemed too unprofessional to be a lawyer looking to refer a case out and too much like a telemarketer to be a prospective client. When I told him my firm handled only defense work, he asked if I was sure that we didn’t handle plaintiff work. After assuring the man I knew a little something about what I was talking about, I hung up. I felt a little weird about the call, so I googled the number and found this blog. Now I wish I would have totally messed with this guy…
But Terri Fifer is a real person with a personal injury situation (terrible accident). I know her. Yes she’s in AZ, but you could respectfully call her back and tell her you don’t handle personal injury cases instead of writing a blog about those who are out to take advantage of you. Usually the simplest explanation is the correct one.
Bullshit. If Terri Fifer had been looking for representation rather than shilling for RW Lynch, she would have mentioned it in her bar complaint against me (which the State Bar dismissed). This post was 21 months before her car crash (if this is she).
But really, thank you for playing “spot the lying sack of shit.”
Same call from R.W. Lynch to me today in Beaverton, Oregon, 971-246-0388, and I don’t even work in the legal profession! And if Terri Fifer was injured prior to 2010 as the dated newspaper article shows, then what’s the statute of limitations for personal injuries in Arizona? 7 Years? No, and Mark’s Bullshit Detector is working just fine!