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This seems like a sensationalist title and article. It seems like this police department entered a contract with Axon and now wants to sever the contract partwa

This seems like a sensationalist title and article. It seems like this police department entered a contract with Axon and now wants to sever the contract partway to save costs. But they've already entered a business contract with the other entity here, so that's on the police department. The actual email from the Axon employee also seems standard and professional. What's the issue here?

handedness 8y ago
The contract contained a Termination for Convenience clause. I tend not to threaten people or advise them to "ride it out" when they terminate for convenience and our agreement contains such a clause.
- lotu 8y ago
  In short they got bad legal advice about a contract from someone at the company on the other end of the contract. It is not even clear if this person is a lawyer, who would have understood the details of the contract, but they very clearlly are not the lawyer for the city.
  - handedness 8y ago
    Sounds like they didn't even get bad legal advice–they got none at all. Which I understand, because lawyers cost money, and the city doesn't look like it has an in-house attorney, but uses outside counsel (a quick search brings up someone who claims to act as their city attorney, along with two other nearby cities). Still, with a clause as clear as that one sounds, it doesn't take hiring a lawyer to get a sense of what one's options are. They should have read it. Axon shouldn't have put the legal screws to them without doing some due diligence.
  - JackFr 8y ago
    It's like your introductory offer ended, and you call your cable TV provider to cancel, and customer service telling you if you cancel, it will affect your credit rating. It's a lie. To keep you paying.
JackFr 8y ago
> What's the issue here? The Axon employee misrepresented the contract. Or what some people call 'lying'.
- oh_sigh 8y ago
  Lying involves willfully misstating the truth. Unless you have insight into the mental state of the rep, you can't say they were lying. What is the rep was lied to by whoever trained them in the company? Or they aren't a lawyer and just misunderstood the contract?
  - JackFr 8y ago
    I think it’s reasonable to assume that a sales rep is more familiar with the contract than is the buyer. The buyer typically executes one contract while the rep executes many. To assert that cancelling the contract would affect the cities municipal credit rating, is to affirmatively imply to the buyer that you, the rep know more than they do about the contract. You are right, I don’t know the state of mind if the rep — they could have been trained to lie, but then the problem remains. Either an agent if the company lied, or the company trained its agents to lie. That does leave the possibility of gross incompetence, that the rep was untrained, did not understand the contract and innocently told the customer something that sounded plausible. Sure.

handedness 8y ago

The contract contained a Termination for Convenience clause. I tend not to threaten people or advise them to "ride it out" when they terminate for convenience and our agreement contains such a clause.

lotu 8y ago
In short they got bad legal advice about a contract from someone at the company on the other end of the contract. It is not even clear if this person is a lawyer, who would have understood the details of the contract, but they very clearlly are not the lawyer for the city.
- handedness 8y ago
  Sounds like they didn't even get bad legal advice–they got none at all. Which I understand, because lawyers cost money, and the city doesn't look like it has an in-house attorney, but uses outside counsel (a quick search brings up someone who claims to act as their city attorney, along with two other nearby cities). Still, with a clause as clear as that one sounds, it doesn't take hiring a lawyer to get a sense of what one's options are. They should have read it. Axon shouldn't have put the legal screws to them without doing some due diligence.
- JackFr 8y ago
  It's like your introductory offer ended, and you call your cable TV provider to cancel, and customer service telling you if you cancel, it will affect your credit rating. It's a lie. To keep you paying.

JackFr 8y ago

> What's the issue here? The Axon employee misrepresented the contract. Or what some people call 'lying'.

oh_sigh 8y ago
Lying involves willfully misstating the truth. Unless you have insight into the mental state of the rep, you can't say they were lying. What is the rep was lied to by whoever trained them in the company? Or they aren't a lawyer and just misunderstood the contract?
- JackFr 8y ago
  I think it’s reasonable to assume that a sales rep is more familiar with the contract than is the buyer. The buyer typically executes one contract while the rep executes many. To assert that cancelling the contract would affect the cities municipal credit rating, is to affirmatively imply to the buyer that you, the rep know more than they do about the contract. You are right, I don’t know the state of mind if the rep — they could have been trained to lie, but then the problem remains. Either an agent if the company lied, or the company trained its agents to lie. That does leave the possibility of gross incompetence, that the rep was untrained, did not understand the contract and innocently told the customer something that sounded plausible. Sure.