Log of communications – A sample

How to make difficult decisions when emotions are involvedwhich can be found by clicking here. This is a summary of the communication that took place between myself and another individual. To protect the privacy of others, the name of the other individual has been removed, as have client names and fee amounts (totaling the equivalent of four of my mortgage payments). September 14, 2016 / Day 1H: “Howdy, chica! Since you no longer deal with Chase, how did you want to issue payment? Did you just want to snail mail me a check? Or do you have another method set up? Thanks!”Z: “I have you set up through Bank of America.  If all your information is the same we are good.”Me: “Awesome. Yup, it’s the same. Client A said that they mailed the check around the 2nd, so it should definitely be there by now – even with mail being literally “snail.” LOL! Thanks!” Z: “I have it.” October 6, 2016 / Day 23Me: “Just wanted to check on receiving their payment. My credit card bill with their travel stuff is due next week.”Z: “I had submitted the payment by check prior to getting the personal cash set up. You should see the check soon.” October 13, 2016 / Day 30 / 1 monthMe: “Just wanted to check on the payment from Client A. I haven’t received it yet.”[no response] October 21, 2016 / Day 38Me: “Just wanted to check on the payment from Client A. I haven’t received it yet.”Z: “Yikes. I’m in a seminar all weekend but will get this checked ASAP.  Will check address or just cancel and send via square cash will do on Monday.” November 2, 2016 / Day 50Me: “My keynote went very well. I’m hoping that Client A gave you great feedback. Will the $amount be arriving by snail mail or electronic check?”[no response] November 4, 2016 / Day 52H: “Is there something going on? Did something happen?”Z: “No. Nothing happened. Checks went out.  I prefer direct deposit because it seems like it takes so long”  November 14, 2016 / Day 62 /2 monthsMe: “Dear Z,I’m extremely concerned. The payment from Client A has been in your possession since September 12th. I received my expenses payment from Client B on October 29th. If they mailed my speaking fee to you at the same time, that has also been in your possession. My mailing address for physical checks has not changed. The Square account [account link listed] that you had me set up for electronic payments has been active since September 20th. Today is November 14th, and I have not yet received either payment ($amount from Client A and $amount from Client B, for a total of $amount). My husband has been pressing me to take legal action, but I have been defending you and giving you the benefit of the doubt this whole time. Maybe you’ve fallen ill. Maybe you hit a rough patch financially. Whatever the case is, it has not been communicated to me. Please issue payment ASAP. Thank you for your help with this,”  Z: “The money is out of my account because when I do a check payment they immediately pull the funds.  I will cancel those today, it will take a day for the money to go back into my accountAnd I will set up the direct deposit again for the new account.  We need to do that anyway. Give me the routing and account number again and type of account : bus checking, personal checking? I will set it up today and as soon as funds go back in my account I will set for direct deposit. I sent some money via square even friends and family, they take money. Send me the banking information and I will get this handled.” Z: “I believe at this point it doesn’t serve me to continue to actively market you  based on the above; however I will continue to foster the current outstanding possibilities at fees of our standard agreement.This is acceptable 30 days notification to end direct marketing services according to our agreement.” Me: OK Z: “The whole threat thing is just no fun for me. You didn’t have to ask several times.” November 15, 2016 / Day 63Z: “Personally I would like to keep going with us. The market is turning in our favor and all the work we have put in is starting to turn around.  Payment is getting reset for direct deposit and lets just move past this.  If you’re okay with continuing as we have been going.” November 16, 2016 / Day 64Me: “Howdy, Z! Since I was in a rush yesterday morning, I just quickly glanced at emails for any questions or calls to action. During lunch today, I had a chance to read over them. Not to beat a dead horse (I’m against animal cruelty!), I did want to respond to something that you stated so that you’d understand why I’ve been so stressed and puzzled. Referring to me saying that I’d asked multiple times about payment, you stated:“You didn’t have to ask several times.” I requested the payment from Client A on September 14, September 20, October 6, October 13, October 21, and November 2. So for it to have been November 14th, and I still hadn’t received it, things were very worrisome, hence the extremely upset husband and the email on the 14th. He’s a teacher, which means we rely on my income, too, to cover the bills, so we’ve been doing some scrambling over the last two months. I’m looking forward to seeing the payments in my account this week. I really appreciate your understanding through my perspective.”  Z: “Got it”  November 21, 2016 / Day 69Me: “I just checked both my physical mailbox and my bank account. There is still no payment.I requested the payment from Client A on: September 14 September 20 October 6 October 13 October 21 November 2 (both Client A and Client B) November 14 (both Client A and Client B)Today is November 21. I’m making a final request for payment from Client A ($amount) and Client B ($amount).Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.” Z: “And my response again was checks were sent through the bank.  We have established you didn’t get them.  I was waiting for the bank to put the money back to send a transfer.  The transfer will take 3 -5 business days that’s standard.  So today, I will send the $amount for the Client B, that’s 30%, you made the agreement saying you needed to clear $amount and that was my event not paid at 20% but to be paid at 30%.  I will send it via SquareCash now.The other is set to transfer.” [Note: Z lowered our agreed-upon net to me by 12.5%, deciding to go with the minimum amount I initially told her that I’d work for when negotiations began, instead of the higher final agreed-upon amount. She also sent the payment via a method that deducted a service fee of 2.75% on my end. This is a total payment of 15% less than what was due.] Me: I’m confused. The email you sent last Monday said that you were canceling the checks that you said you’d mailed, it would take a day for the money to go back into your account, and you’d send payment to my bank.In the past when you’ve sent a transfer to my bank, it has taken 3 to 5 biz days for the money to hit my account, but your bank would notify me by email that the transfer had been initiated.  November 28, 2016 / Day 76Me: Hi, Z. Today is Monday, November 28, 2016. Here’s the current status: I requested the payment from Client A on: September 14 September 20 October 6 October 13 October 21 November 2 (both Client A and Client B) November 14 (both Client A and Client B)November 21- request for payment from Client A ($amount) and Client B ($amount)November 22: Partial payment of $amount received via bank transfer for Client B.November 28: Payment still owed for:Client A: $amountClient B: $amount Will these payments be sent by physical check in the mail or via electronic transfer to my bank account? Thank you, [no response] December 1, 2016 / Day 79We looked at what had transpired:*I did not receive a response to my prior email from Z*I’d never received any notice that an electronic transfer had been initiated (which is always emailed when a transaction is initiated)*If she’s a speaker agent for 10-20 clients whom she needs to pay, how are they getting paid if there’s not a reliable payment system set up?*it had been 79 days and still no movement forward with getting any “bank errors” resolved*she had chosen to short one of the payments by 15%So we decided to contact Legal Shield (pre-paid legal service) and order a collections letter. December 6, 2016 / Day 84Z: “Look like funds are back in the account and everything is set.  Sorry for the inconvenience. Everything should be transferred and cleared no later than December 15.” Me: “When you didn’t respond to my email last Monday, my husband had a collections letter sent last Thursday, so that should be arriving soon. When the funds are in my account and I report that everything is paid in full, they shouldn’t contact you again.” Z: “I have stopped the payment.  I received the letter from an attorney today and will cease communication.  I will have my attorney handle this matter with the allotted 30 day response from today.We will also give formal notification of termination of our agreement and will be removing you from our website.  This is our 30 days notification in writing.”  December 7, 2016 / Day 85Me: “Hi, Z.I must confess that I’m finding this really confusing. When we agreed to Client A, you said that you’d ask them for the money up front ASAP since I’d be paying out of pocket for all of my expenses. They mailed you the check the first week of September, so I figured that you’d zip it over to me within a week, if not a few days. If I’m understanding you correctly, it is an acceptable business practice to not release payment for 90 days or 60 days or even 30 days? I was ecstatic when I received your email that you were going to finally issue payment, then heartbroken that you’d decided to delay payment further by putting a stop payment on it. I am devastated.”  Z: “And I was devastated to get an attorney threat. Now I have to let my attorney handle this and show payment receipt to your attorney. Letter clear states to communicate with them.The other issue was bank error and banks do make errors.” [Note: The collections letter clearly states that all future communications and payments should be sent directly to me.] December 14, 2016 / Day 92 / 3 months[Note: I looked at how much time and money I would spend hiring a lawyer, commuting to small claims court in Dallas, and how much income I would lose out on during those periods. I looked at the emotional strain I would most likely experience. In the end, I decided that – logically – it would not be worth it to pursue a legal claim, which is why I took the advice of one of my business advisers and offered her the payment plan that you see here.]Me: Offered her the chance to make 3 payments of 3 post-dated checks if she’s having financial issues.Z: “That’s very kind.  The money had been returned and was scheduled when I received that letter….I will make sure the attorney has responded and the check was sent.  And thank you for the grace.”Z: “I’m sorry if I contributed to that. We should have just talked us through. It truly was a banking error.”Z: “But I’m truly heartbroken not to continue to refer you as my productivity and time management person. I have 5 schools that were looking at spring.Why don’t we do this.  I’ll send a new agreement that agrees to you paying commission on these and we will redo the contract to have them send you the money and you can pay me.” Me: “May I think about this and contact you next week?” December 21, 2016 / Day 99Z: “Checks were mailed” January 6, 2017 / Day 115Me: “Can I get an ETA on the checks, please? They still have not arrived.” January 7, 2017 / Day 116Z: “I will ask the attorney on Monday.  Sent an email.” January 10, 2017 / Day 119Me: “Any update from the attorney?”[no response] January 13, 2017 / Day 122 / 4 monthsMe: “Any update from the attorney?”Z: “I thought a check went out but let make sure where he responded and sent the payment.  I thought we had agreed directly but he might have sent it to the firm that sent the letter.  He’s out today.  I will call first thing Monday morning.” January 17, 2017 / Day 126Me: “Any update from the attorney?”[no response] January 18, 2017 / Day 127Me: “Any update from the attorney?”Z: “He hasn’t responded to me and I’m out of town for my nephews wedding. But if it’s not handled by Tuesday and you don’t have checks I’ll pay via square and move on. Sorry for the delay”Me: “Thank you. Safe travels.” January 24, 2017 / Day 133Me: “I just checked the mail, and there are no checks.”Z: “I’ll Square tomorrow. “Me: “Thank you very much.” January 27, 2017 / Day 136Me: “I received a payment of $remainingamount for Client B. Thank you. I’ll watch for the Client A payment.”   February 1, 2017 / Day 141 Me: “Is the Client A payment going to arrive via snail mail or electronic transfer?”   February 2, 2017 / Day 142Z: “Air tenet has tracking on the check. He is checking. It required a signature. He’s sending me the address and checking.”[no follow up info received] Tuesday, February 7, 2017 / Day 147Me: “Did your air tenet guy have the tracking info? There is still no check.”Z: “Give me till Monday and I will just wire funds.   I have to cancel this check so money goes back into my account.  The CPA hasn’t responded to my request for tracking number.” as of Tuesday, February 14, 2017 / Day 154 / 5 monthsNo payment received; no notification of pending payment received  Addendum:On February 14, 2017, I shared with my speaker coach what was going on. She contacted Z. Alas, Z threatened us both with defamation lawsuits and other legal action. BUT on February 23, 2017, I received an email that funds were being transferred to my account. On February 24, 2017, they arrived in my account. This situation is finally over!]]>