Punishment
Punishment is a three-way process. On the one hand, a decision is made on punishment. On the other hand, punishment is perceived as the loss of something valuable. On the third hand, punishment affects the punished person.
It is not clear how to address this threat, either explore all these sides, or deal with one of them.
There is a contradiction: exploring one aspect might result in to missing the opportunity to resolve the buyer’s problem, while exploring all aspects might take too long.
This contradiction could be resolved as follows: ask what is more important for the buyer: the fact and severity of punishment, its consequences or its impact.
Another approach to resolving this contradiction is like this: begin dealing with the impact of punishment, and then, if there are difficulties with reducing the severity of punishment or reducing the value of the loss, deal with them in more detail.