small claims court the next step?

[Lakewood90712]

Broadway, Have you thought about just going to the company office in person to demand payment ? I realize it's some travel. Give it some thought.

 

[Brat]

Here is the real threat to the company: Federal/State IRS determines that you (and maybe others) are really employees. They want to collect various employment taxes for all. In some cases they will hold corporate officers personally liable.

I still think you should call your local state labor 'board' to discuss your options with them.

 

[Ready]

Unfortunately, this sounds exactly like the company I last worked for. We had terrible cash flow problems so the vendors complained to me all the time about difficulty getting paid. Eventually we did pay everyone though. Based on everything the OP has stated, I still believe a payment will be issued long before any court action will be necessary. The important thing is to remain visible in the follow up. Document the dates and times that communication took place and the promises made by the company. They will get tired of hearing about it and issue the check. It's way too small of a dollar amount to mess around with.

 

[broadway]

I received an email on Friday 11/9 that their outside accounting firm had "released" the check and that I should receive the check Tuesday/Wednesday.
So I decided to add some cushion and go to my PO box today Friday 11/16.


No check.


Left annoyed voicemails for both the CEO and finance guy.
And also responded to their email from last week.

Guessing they may not be at work given that they are working "short" hours due to cash flow problems.


This is so frustrating and disheartening.


Apparently "released" is not the same as mailed.
And who knows whether something came up and they decided to hold the check at the last minute.



Argh!


.

 

[mystang52]

Broadway: Several of us have given some practical suggestions, yet you seem to choose to solely pursue directly with the company. This, despite the fact that the company has never shown good faith in their dealings with you. Annoyed voicemails are empty - and useless -threats to this company.
Is there an unspoken reason you are not pursuing other, and likely more effective, channels?

 

[broadway]

The one practical suggestion was to call the PA labor board.


I am leaving that as last resort.


As for showing up in person, do you suggest I bring a gun?
What is going to make them pay me?


.


Which action did you suggest that I did not follow?




.

 

[Texas Proud]

The one practical suggestion was to call the PA labor board.


I am leaving that as last resort.


As for showing up in person, do you suggest I bring a gun?
What is going to make them pay me?


.


Which action did you suggest that I did not follow?




.

No gun.... but if they say they have a check then say 'Good, I will be by in an hour (or whatever time it takes) to come pick it up'....


Do not let them mail it... that means more excuses etc. etc..

 

[broadway]

No gun.... but if they say they have a check then say 'Good, I will be by in an hour (or whatever time it takes) to come pick it up'....


Do not let them mail it... that means more excuses etc. etc..

The CEO has insisted that the local finance guy use an outside accounting company -- location unknown. This was the case even when I was there.
When I was there and they needed my work, the local finance guy processed the check himself.



Since they "fired" me, the CEO directed the finance guy to use the outside accounting company. Hence I cannot just show up.



So, I ask once again, short of using a gun, I can't think of a way to force them to write me a check and give it to me.


.

 

[Ready]

The last company I worked for did this with every vendor, including the 1099 contractors. They had terrible cash flow problems, but eventually everyone did get paid. I continue to believe you will too, even if not in the time frame you are hoping for. It is very frustrating though, and I received many complaints from vendors saying they never wanted to do business with us again after what they went through.

 

[Sunset]

The CEO has insisted that the local finance guy use an outside accounting company -- location unknown. This was the case even when I was there.
When I was there and they needed my work, the local finance guy processed the check himself.



Since they "fired" me, the CEO directed the finance guy to use the outside accounting company. Hence I cannot just show up.



So, I ask once again, short of using a gun, I can't think of a way to force them to write me a check and give it to me.
.

Unlike the movies, a gun will land you in jail as the bad person, and you still won't have the check.

 

[jollystomper]

Do you have a friend that is a lawyer? Get them to send a letter to the firm, on the law firm stationery, stating their concern over this matter and requesting payment ASAP or else legal actions will follow.

We once paid a lawyer friend of ours $50 (they would have done it for free, but we don't want to take undue advantage of our friends businesses) to send such a letter to a place than DW has done some tutoring for and had not gotten paid... that took care of the situation.

 

[pb4uski]

I like the lawyer letter idea. That, or email or phone them daily... squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Sell the debt to a debt collector? No idea of how much a debt collector would pay you. Even 50 % is a lot better than 0. And the debt collector will make life interesting for the company management.

If a company has chronic cash management problems, and the owners cannot or will not inject Capitol, the business IS bankrupt, IMO.

A company who enters into a contract without adequate capitol is committing fraud IMO.

 

[Sunset]

I like the lawyer letter idea. That, or email or phone them daily... squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Fax them a demand letter every day, -> 20 copies at a time, or once every 30 minutes continuously if you can set your machine that way.

It will be seen by various workers, making the embarrassment more public as each worker takes the fax to the "boss".

Once a fellow was ignoring me, wouldn't take my phone calls. After a couple of weeks of being ignored, I sent him 200 faxes to phone me.
He called the next day..

 

[Bamaman]

If the job is still in process and not been completed, see if you can drop a lien on the job. Like a supplier that didn't get paid.

 

[broadway]

The last company I worked for did this with every vendor, including the 1099 contractors. They had terrible cash flow problems, but eventually everyone did get paid. I continue to believe you will too, even if not in the time frame you are hoping for. It is very frustrating though, and I received many complaints from vendors saying they never wanted to do business with us again after what they went through.

You are indeed correct.

I did eventually get paid.

Deposited the check today November 20, 2018 , exactly 85 days past my last day of work there.

Although the check showed as "released" according to whatever the finance guy was seeing on his computer screen on Friday, November 9,
the actual date on the check itself was Tuesday, November 11.

So, the finance guy had no clue what the outside accounting company's ( bill.com ) system was actually doing.

In addition, the envelope had no postmark. No clue when it was actually mailed. It didn't even have one of those postal machine postmarks.

 

[Ready]

Glad to hear it all worked out!

 

[broadway]

I sent the finance guy photos of the check and the envelope.
I think he thought I was bonkers for saying that the check wasn't there last Friday.
He told me I would be getting it last Tuesday or Wednesday.

No, I am not nuts. Their system stinks.

 

[Scrapr]

You are indeed correct.

In addition, the envelope had no postmark. No clue when it was actually mailed. It didn't even have one of those postal machine postmarks./QUOTE]

So now we can add mail fraud to the list of charges?

 

[broadway]

So now we can add mail fraud to the list of charges?

No ... we can add no postmark means no idea of when check was mailed.

 

[ERD50]

I sent the finance guy photos of the check and the envelope.
I think he thought I was bonkers for saying that the check wasn't there last Friday.
He told me I would be getting it last Tuesday or Wednesday.

No, I am not nuts. Their system stinks.

So now we can add mail fraud to the list of charges?

No ... we can add no postmark means no idea of when check was mailed.

So with no postmark, what good does it do to send photos?

BTW, it does bug me that those sorts of postmarks are not dated, sometimes I do want a record of that date. I try to remember to write a "Rec'd On" date on the envelope, but forget, or sometimes the date isn't an issue until later, when something comes up.

-ERD50

 

[broadway]

So with no postmark, what good does it do to send photos?

BTW, it does bug me that those sorts of postmarks are not dated, sometimes I do want a record of that date. I try to remember to write a "Rec'd On" date on the envelope, but forget, or sometimes the date isn't an issue until later, when something comes up.

-ERD50

The photo of the check with the date proves that the check was not released on November 9.

The photo of the envelope shows that they have no clue what is really going on timeline-wise with the Bill.com company!


The finance guy was assuming that what Bill.com told them was true.
He assumed that "released" meant mailed. It doesn't.



You know what they say about assume, right?





.

 

[Texas Proud]

Just curious... you say they told you Fri the 9th and check was Tue the 11th... but the 11th was a Sun.... Tues was the 13th... so you must have made a mistake...







Sounds to me like 'released' means that it was input into the system on Fri to pay... but later in the day... past the time to send out that day...


Then you have Sat and Sun with no processing... and Mon was the 12 but that was the official Veterans day holiday so Tues was the first day that it would be processed and mailed... my bank says it can take up to 5 days for a check to be received so it seems to track...


BTW, the funds would have been taken out of the account on the 9th...

 

[broadway]

Just curious... you say they told you Fri the 9th and check was Tue the 11th... but the 11th was a Sun.... Tues was the 13th... so you must have made a mistake...







Sounds to me like 'released' means that it was input into the system on Fri to pay... but later in the day... past the time to send out that day...


Then you have Sat and Sun with no processing... and Mon was the 12 but that was the official Veterans day holiday so Tues was the first day that it would be processed and mailed... my bank says it can take up to 5 days for a check to be received so it seems to track...


BTW, the funds would have been taken out of the account on the 9th...

As I wrote before, Vic the finance guy in PA has no clue what Bill.com is doing.

I was relying on Vic to give me the correct information.
I do not know anything about how Bill.com system works.
That's his job!
All I cared about was when would I be getting paid.
And the most important piece of information was when was the check mailed?

Vic assumed that mailed was equivalent to "released".
Hence, his email to me on Friday 11/9 said that I "should be seeing it Tuesday/Wednesday".
Obviously he forgot about the federal holiday on 11/12, but he clearly thought the check was mailed on 11/9 .

My email to him with the photos was to show him that his assumption that "released" = "mailed" was incorrect.

If you and I know enough about how our banks worked, why didn't Vic ?

By the way, Vic had originally told me that the check was "released" on Tuesday 11/6 .

.

 

[MichaelB]

Glad to hear you got paid. This has been a real saga.

I sent the finance guy photos of the check and the envelope.
I think he thought I was bonkers for saying that the check wasn't there last Friday.
He told me I would be getting it last Tuesday or Wednesday.

No, I am not nuts. Their system stinks.

Yes, their system stinks, and if what the Fin Director says is true, they haven’t made any effort to track their accounts and understand how they are being managed. Shame on them.