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Barter Company Class Action?

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FrankASI

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Delaware

My business, and my director of operations Dr. M. Phd. had two separate and distinct barter member accounts with ABC Barter now known as XYZ Barter. My business had an account that I used and Dr. M. had his own personal account that he used for his own personal use.
Starting in 2013 and taking place over the course of about 18 months to the summer of 2014 every so often/very rarely a service that Dr. M had charged on his personal account would accidently get placed on my business account. This was a very rare occurrence but if it did happen, we would get with Dr. M. and go over the items on the invoice, Dr. M would pay us the Service fee associated with the personal barter good or service he had charged and we would forward that service fee to what had now become XYZ Barter. We would then call XYZ Barter and ask to speak to the president Mr. H. Mr. H would acknowledge the error and “make note of it”. Again, this happened rarely but when it did all parties involved were made aware of the mistake and it was noted with XYZ Barter and all fees were paid to XYZ Barter. We followed the procedures outlined in their terms of service, the service fee on the bartered item was paid and we made XYZ Barter aware of the error. It was always a professional and cordial exchange. Never a reason for concern all obligations by all parties had been met.
At the beginning of December 2016, I received a call from a Mr. Y asking if we needed any additional XYZ barter services. I said no we had not received any business through the barter club since 2010 and it would be just as well to close the account. It was then that Mr. Y told me to close the account I must make up the barter deficit I had accrued, I said that was impossible, I had hardly ever used barter and we had given out in barter roughly $7,000 dollars’ worth of services how could we have a deficit?
I ask Y. to send me records of barter charges, receipts, invoices anything that would explain the $2,159.00 barter deficit I was being charged with. He eventually sent me an account history summary. The account history that we received included the charges from the period between 2013 -14 that were mistakenly billed to the school account. I explained this to Mr. Y who then referred me to XYZ Barter current acting President Mrs. R. I explained to (R) that the charges were not ours and that it appeared that the account history record was not correct. Her response was I need to talk to Dr. M if I think he used the school account and I cannot close my account until I pay the deficit of $2,159.00. I know DR. M NEVER used the school account for personal purchases, and if on the rare occasion a mistake was made by XYZ Barter, it was addressed immediately with then XYZ Barter President Mr. H

Again, this is all to my astonishment and referenced in Mrs. Rs own emails to me. I asked to see the invoices for the charges and I was told that they cannot and will not produce the invoices because they handle thousands of transactions a year and cannot produce invoices. Realizing I was getting no help from XYZ Barter and they flatly refused to produce any supporting documentation for a $2,159.00 bill I reached out to since retired, Dr. M for him to review the only supporting documentation XYZ Barter would provide me, the account abstract. He reviewed the abstract and has claimed and identified as his own several of the charges on the schools account summary as being services that XYZ Barter mistakenly placed in the schools account back between 2013-14 and that was addressed at the time with the then company president Mr. H The following goods and services are DR. M’s’ NOT the business and Dr. M. has placed in writing that these are his charges. (SEE HIS EMAIL)
4/19/13 - Pictures by Todd (My head shots)
8/14/13 - TBT, Inc. Frank's Landscaping
9/5/13 - TBT, Inc. Franks Landscaping
10/1/13 - TBT, Inc. Frank's Landscaping
11/4/13 - TBT, Inc. Franks Landscaping
3/4/14 - TBT, Inc. Absolute Perfection (Cleaning of new house)
3/4/14 - TBT, Inc. Donelson Tree Service
6/2/14 - TBT, Inc. Franks Landscaping
So, to conclude this portion:
• I never received any of the goods or services listed above.
• The person who did receive the goods and services listed above has submitted a statement saying he did indeed receive these services……….. NOT ME
• XYZ Barter will not supply any supporting invoices from the vendors
• When an incorrect invoice did come in to ASI we called the then president of XYZ Barter and addresses the discrepancy and was assured it was taken care of.
• XYZ Barter wants me to pay $2,159.00 for services I have nothing to do with.
So, with all the above information I believe there is no way I can be held responsible for charges in dispute, I never received landscaping, never had my house cleaned, never had photos taken, or had a tree removed. The person that did, Dr. M is freely and willingly saying that they are his charges… not mine. Yet XYZ Barter will not correct the record or offer so much as an invoice to support their claim that I owe then $2,159.00. I am now in the process of reaching out to the vendors listed above and attempting to get the dates and times of their work from them for these services, the problem I am realizing with this is I was never their customer, they don’t know me and have zero record of me so they are extremely reluctant to get involved, and complicating matters, it appears associates and affiliates familiar with XYZ Barter might be trying to distance themselves from XYZ Barter for fear of having their business name and reputation associated with a possibly developing negative type of situation that could possibly leave the last few members left in with huge amounts of debt. and when you read the two paragraphs below you might get the same uneasy feeling.
And it gets worse……
XYZ Barter has stated (in writing) if I wish to close out my account I must continue to offer my services for barter through XYZ Barter until the barter deficit, keep in mind that is NOT mine and that they will not produce receipts for, is paid off, even though the person who’s charges they are has said they are his charges and not mine, I am being told I must continue to pay dues and be a member until this other person deficit is paid off. So, when faced with this CRIMNIAL EXTORTION, I figured I could offer barter of a class at my school and this would more than cover the deficit even though it is not mine and I can get out of this thing and away from these obviously desperate for cash individuals and whatever they are running and get my name off their website so if it all hits the fan I am far away and not dragged down with it. I was told by a friend in law enforcement that if a clerk at a store just randomly put stuff on your credit card for their personal gain, and refused to elaborate they would be carted out in handcuffs and that the county jails are full of people that charge people accounts for their own gain. I feel like I am being robbed of $2,159.00
So, to sum up the above:
• I am not permitted close my account
• I must continue to pay a monthly membership fee on my account that I am not permitted to close
• I must continue to offer my services for barter until “deficit” paid off

Now it gets really bad….
Again, figuring I just need out of this XYZ Barter thing before the last people left in get left with nothing and taking the fall , and I could maybe barter out as they mandated, I requested my XYZ Barter account user name and password so I could log in and possibly offer my services to the other members, I was told by Mrs.R No…. I would not be permitted to access my account, this is the same account that I cannot close and they are charging me $10.00 a month for and the account that has someone else barter deficit attached to it for $2,159.00 and I am being told I cannot access it to even see what activity is happening to the account. Mrs.R position is we will offer your services for barter for you. but if we tell you no one is willing to barter with you, and you cannot barter to make up this deficit, again that everyone agrees and fully understands is not mine, we will continue to bill you or you can pay us $2,159.00. XYZ Barter has not referred a client to my business in the last 7 years, I am skeptical at best that they will be capable of doing so now with what appears to be going on internally with their company.
So, to sum up this section:
• I must barter to make up the “deficit”
• YET, I am not permitted to log into my account to offer my barter services to any members or review activity on the account, as of this writing it could be up to $2,500.00, I am not permitted to log in and view my account, so who knows?
• My account is in good standing per their terms of service (monthly dues paid/ No outstanding service fees)
• I am still being charged a monthly service fee for the account.
• My account has a balance attached to it of $2,159.00 that I can’t log in and review.

I have never experienced anything like this in my life, I was not sure to notify the DE Attorney General, FBI, Postal Inspectors, or that TV show America Greed, what generally alerted me to something maybe being really out of sorts and possibly crashing down with this company was when they told me I cannot have access to my account. All I am seeking is to close my account and not be responsible for the $2,159.00 for services I did not receive, there not mine, and most importantly get my business name as unassociated and far away from any appearance of any involvement with XYZ Barter and Mrs. R.
members wanted to know if this would qualify as a class action situation is they all come forward with billing errors?
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Sue the barter company in small claims to get your account cleared or walk away from them (they'll likely terminate your account as is their prerogative once you file suit anyhow). To have a class action, you have to have other people with similar claims against the company and it is certainly not the pro se fun and games small claims is.

Hopefully, you've been paying taxes on all the things you've received through your labor to these entities. Barter is still income.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Sue the barter company in small claims to get your account cleared or walk away from them (they'll likely terminate your account as is their prerogative once you file suit anyhow). To have a class action, you have to have other people with similar claims against the company and it is certainly not the pro se fun and games small claims is.

Hopefully, you've been paying taxes on all the things you've received through your labor to these entities. Barter is still income.
I see no reason to sue the barter company because an agent of the school used the school account to charge items. If Dr. M already settled up with the school, then the school owes the money. If Dr. M hasn't yet settled up with the school, then Dr. M owes it to the school and the school owes the money.

I think that the OP needs to seriously consider suing Dr. M and, quite possibly, reporting the crimes to the police.
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
I see no reason to sue the barter company because an agent of the school used the school account to charge items. If Dr. M already settled up with the school, then the school owes the money. If Dr. M hasn't yet settled up with the school, then Dr. M owes it to the school and the school owes the money.

I think that the OP needs to seriously consider suing Dr. M and, quite possibly, reporting the crimes to the police.
We knew when the bill came in that a mistake had been made, Dr. M would point it out, we would call the barter company they would "make note of it" and Dr. M would pay us the barter service fee and we would mail it to the barter company. Dr. M has again said they are his charges in writing and sent it to XYZ barter?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
We knew when the bill came in that a mistake had been made, Dr. M would point it out, we would call the barter company they would "make note of it" and Dr. M would pay us the barter service fee and we would mail it to the barter company. Dr. M has again said they are his charges in writing and sent it to XYZ barter?
Then it's easy - just pull up your records showing you paid those charges.
If you didn't pay them, then you owe them (and Dr. M owes you).
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
Then it's easy - just pull up your records showing you paid those charges.
If you didn't pay them, then you owe them (and Dr. M owes you).
yes we have cancelled checks for the service fee. that no problem, the issue is with the Barter value deficit, EX: we provided +/- $7,000 worth of barter they are seeing we used +/-$9,000 worth of barter. so to close the account we need to pay the barter value decifict of $2,159.00 in cash to close the account.

The barter service fees were all paid at the time to us by Dr. M and we forwarded that to XYZ barter. a barter service fee is a % of the barter value So when lets the invoice came in for a tree dr. m had removed and the accidently placed it on our bill the barter vakue was say $1,000 the service fee on that was $150.00 cash payable to XYZ barter so Dr. M would pay us the $150.00 service fee and we would send that to XYZ barter and then we would call XYZ barter and tell them a mistake had occured, there repsonce was ok, sorry about that, "weve made note"
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
Sue the barter company in small claims to get your account cleared or walk away from them (they'll likely terminate your account as is their prerogative once you file suit anyhow). To have a class action, you have to have other people with similar claims against the company and it is certainly not the pro se fun and games small claims is.

Hopefully, you've been paying taxes on all the things you've received through your labor to these entities. Barter is still income.
if it gets to small claims court what in your experience will a judge say?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
yes we have cancelled checks for the service fee. that no problem, the issue is with the Barter value deficit, EX: we provided +/- $7,000 worth of barter they are seeing we used +/-$9,000 worth of barter. so to close the account we need to pay the barter value decifict of $2,159.00 in cash to close the account.

The barter service fees were all paid at the time to us by Dr. M and we forwarded that to XYZ barter. a barter service fee is a % of the barter value So when lets the invoice came in for a tree dr. m had removed and the accidently placed it on our bill the barter vakue was say $1,000 the service fee on that was $150.00 cash payable to XYZ barter so Dr. M would pay us the $150.00 service fee and we would send that to XYZ barter and then we would call XYZ barter and tell them a mistake had occured, there repsonce was ok, sorry about that, "weve made note"
You don't make sense. If you paid the barter fees already, then you have a record of paying them. Show those records to the barter company so they can correct their records. If you don't have a record of having paid the fees, then your only defense is going to be that the statute of limitations has run. Of course, you can't force them to close down your account if you don't pay it...
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
You don't make sense. If you paid the barter fees already, then you have a record of paying them. Show those records to the barter company so they can correct their records. If you don't have a record of having paid the fees, then your only defense is going to be that the statute of limitations has run. Of course, you can't force them to close down your account if you don't pay it...
yes Barter fees are paid, They are saying we used more barter then we provided.

so Dr. M has a tree taken down that would have cost $1,000 cash, instead he calls XYZ Barter company and they send out a tree guy and debit his account $1,000 worth of Barter, the barter compnay then sends the invoice for 15% of the Barter value to Dr. M BUT INstead they sent it to me.... SO we sit down with Dr. M he writes us a check for $150.00 and we send it to XYZ Barter and CALL XYZ Barter and say the tree removal was on the wrong account, they say ok "we made note of it" what they are now saying 4 years later is you Business that we made a mistake and put the charge on your account owe us eiither the cash for the tree removal ($1,000) or you must barter your goods & Services to make up for the barter value deficit.

Does this make sense or can anyone help me explain it better?
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
You don't make sense. If you paid the barter fees already, then you have a record of paying them. Show those records to the barter company so they can correct their records. If you don't have a record of having paid the fees, then your only defense is going to be that the statute of limitations has run. Of course, you can't force them to close down your account if you don't pay it...
They got the fees they want the full barter dollar amount equivalent before they will close the account. but it was miskenly placed on our bill and we told them. I belive that is why they wont show us the receipts for the services, they are not ours
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
They got the fees they want the full barter dollar amount equivalent before they will close the account. but it was miskenly placed on our bill and we told them. I belive that is why they wont show us the receipts for the services, they are not ours
You keep saying they're not yours, but you haven't offered up any actual proof of that. YOU paid the associated fees, thus acknowledging they were yours. You could have refused the pay the fees and reported Dr. M to the police for his embezzlement, but you chose not to do that.
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
You keep saying they're not yours, but you haven't offered up any actual proof of that. YOU paid the associated fees, thus acknowledging they were yours. You could have refused the pay the fees and reported Dr. M to the police for his embezzlement, but you chose not to do that.
we followed there policy of calling and letting them know of the mistake. the person who charges they are is saying they are his charges not mine.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I'll try one more time:
If they weren't your charges, then Dr. M should have paid them directly to the company. Instead, YOU paid them, thereby showing evidence that you accepted the charges as yours (the school's).
 

FrankASI

Junior Member
I'll try one more time:
If they weren't your charges, then Dr. M should have paid them directly to the company. Instead, YOU paid them, thereby showing evidence that you accepted the charges as yours (the school's).
Well Yes, I see your point, does the fact that Dr. M. paid us and we sent it to them, and then did as they required us to do and notify them, leave us any room for interpretation that one could argue we are not responsible? We are saying its not ours, the guys who charges they are is saying hey are not ours but are his. would phone records showing we called them help our case? and is our case made stronger by them not bringing forth any paperwork supporting their claim?

And lets assume that we are responsible, and we must keep paying on our account membership, are they breaking their end of the bargain by not allowing us access to this account we are paying for,
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Well Yes, I see your point, does the fact that Dr. M. paid us and we sent it to them, and then did as they required us to do and notify them, leave us any room for interpretation that one could argue we are not responsible? We are saying its not ours, the guys who charges they are is saying hey are not ours but are his. would phone records showing we called them help our case? and is our case made stronger by them not bringing forth any paperwork supporting their claim?

And lets assume that we are responsible, and we must keep paying on our account membership, are they breaking their end of the bargain by not allowing us access to this account we are paying for,
You could stop paying and let them bring it to court.
 

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