G
gretchn
Guest
What is the name of your state? Kentucky
I want to thank HomeGuru (Mr. Catatonic State) for helping me the last time around (under the name Gretch30....there was a problem with me signing on under that name tonight so I had to go with a new name...oh well)
Anyway,
I've been involved in a "situation" for about a year now. Here's what happened....in the smallest nutshell I can possibly squeeze it into.
I worked as an Independent Contractor for a company that sold different cell phone companies services...like a middle man... (dubbed the "Indirect Sales Channel"). I had previously worked as a salaried salesperson for another cell phone company (the "Direct Channel") - I was #1 in the country...yippie for me! As I was saying, I worked as an I.C. for the company for a mere 3 or 4 months. I signed a huge deals worth quite a bit of money. Throughout the negotiations with the business client who I sold 200 cell phones to there were many, many meeting scheduled by me with the company I was representing as an I.C. and the specific cell phone company we were going to use.
I had worked with this client of mine in the past and new his specific needs. When dealing with such a large business deal everything has to be organized and executed perfectly so there are no hiccups once the phones are activated and billing begins.
Well, everything was supposed to be fine. I exhausted myself making sure I had done everything perfectly. I have all the documentation of everything from start to finish. It's my reputation out there and as a "salesperson" I like to protect my integrity and reliability.
So, skipping ahead....my client and his 200 employees get their bills from the cell phone service provider. A freaking mess! Ninety percent of the bills were overcharged....way overcharged. I was irate, my client was irate, and the friggin' company I was representing was not doing too much about it (I guess they didn't want to make the cell phone provider mad at them and lose their license to sell that provider's phones/service)
Skipping more ahead. I did everything imaginable. Promises were made to my client by the cell phone provider, only to forget what they had promised and all 200 phones got disconnected in the middle of a work day! The cell phone provider apologized to my client, said he forgot to follow-up with the billing dept. and turned the phones back on. Then they got another bill the next month....still all of them were inaccurate! I though I had died and gone to hell. Meanwhile, I'm fumed, exhausted and mentally drained. The company I'm representing is being passive, and no one is really doing anything. Then, I find out from my client that he got a call from the cell phone provider offering to let him out of the 1 year contract without penalty. My client deserved that. However, as for me, I had signed a contract with my "employer" stating that if someone I sell to cancels within 6 months then I owe back the commission.
Seems (unfairly) open and shut, right? Not exactly. Here's what I found out towards the end of that catastrophe. The company I worked for as an I.C. knowingly allowed me to sell to a business when they knew they were NOT allowed to sell business accounts (they're only allowed to sell to individuals (like 1 or 2 phones). And, the cell phone provider's Indirect Channel Manager knew of the same and ignored that as well (I wasn't familiar with this policy because I had never worked in the "Indirect Channel")
And why is that so important??? Because the reason the "Indirect Channel" can't sell business accounts is because they don't have a billing system that supports large accounts!! Both parties KNEW it was going to be a complete flop! I guess they were going to "go for it" though because it was the end of the year and they both saw $$$$$ and bonuses coming to them off of my sale.
So, I'm in a lawsuit right now (I'm the one being sued) because the company I was an I.C. for wants the money back and I said "No" (by way of an attorney). It's been going on for months now.
My attorney says we're screwed if the judge looks at the contract "as is" And I'm mad because I have oodles of damning facts, information, timelines, etc. that show each (the people I worked for and the cell phone provider itself) was misrepresentative to me and my client as well as negligent...etc.
By the way, my client died in a freak car accident shortly before I was informed I was being sued. Very sad personally and very sad because he was very loyal to me professionally and would have gone to bat for me, not to mention my "key witness."
I don't understand why a judge wouldn't look at all of the information I gave my attorney before just looking at the contract itself and making a ruling off of that. Aren't there exceptions in regard to contracts?
My attorney is suggesting it might be a good idea to settle. It's been very slow moving.... I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. What they did to me and to my client is wrong. I hate this. It's not right. They're also coming after me for over $100,000 in punitive damages and interest on their losses! My attorney says in contract law you can't sue for punitive damages. I don't know if that's right or not. I sure hope she's right or I could be in some deep &*(# if I lose. They've also now made a request that all of their information on file at the prosecuting attorney's office be confidential. (???)
Can't I countersue or something over all of this??? I feel so helpless. I feel like I'm the one that should be suing them. And they're the ones that should be suing the cell phone provider, not me, since the cell phone provider is the one that offered my client a "free" break from the 200 line cell phone contract instead of fixing the situation. I did everything I was supposed to do, and they both lied to me and to my client.
HELP ME PLEASE! I'm tough, but I'm scared about this.
I want to thank HomeGuru (Mr. Catatonic State) for helping me the last time around (under the name Gretch30....there was a problem with me signing on under that name tonight so I had to go with a new name...oh well)
Anyway,
I've been involved in a "situation" for about a year now. Here's what happened....in the smallest nutshell I can possibly squeeze it into.
I worked as an Independent Contractor for a company that sold different cell phone companies services...like a middle man... (dubbed the "Indirect Sales Channel"). I had previously worked as a salaried salesperson for another cell phone company (the "Direct Channel") - I was #1 in the country...yippie for me! As I was saying, I worked as an I.C. for the company for a mere 3 or 4 months. I signed a huge deals worth quite a bit of money. Throughout the negotiations with the business client who I sold 200 cell phones to there were many, many meeting scheduled by me with the company I was representing as an I.C. and the specific cell phone company we were going to use.
I had worked with this client of mine in the past and new his specific needs. When dealing with such a large business deal everything has to be organized and executed perfectly so there are no hiccups once the phones are activated and billing begins.
Well, everything was supposed to be fine. I exhausted myself making sure I had done everything perfectly. I have all the documentation of everything from start to finish. It's my reputation out there and as a "salesperson" I like to protect my integrity and reliability.
So, skipping ahead....my client and his 200 employees get their bills from the cell phone service provider. A freaking mess! Ninety percent of the bills were overcharged....way overcharged. I was irate, my client was irate, and the friggin' company I was representing was not doing too much about it (I guess they didn't want to make the cell phone provider mad at them and lose their license to sell that provider's phones/service)
Skipping more ahead. I did everything imaginable. Promises were made to my client by the cell phone provider, only to forget what they had promised and all 200 phones got disconnected in the middle of a work day! The cell phone provider apologized to my client, said he forgot to follow-up with the billing dept. and turned the phones back on. Then they got another bill the next month....still all of them were inaccurate! I though I had died and gone to hell. Meanwhile, I'm fumed, exhausted and mentally drained. The company I'm representing is being passive, and no one is really doing anything. Then, I find out from my client that he got a call from the cell phone provider offering to let him out of the 1 year contract without penalty. My client deserved that. However, as for me, I had signed a contract with my "employer" stating that if someone I sell to cancels within 6 months then I owe back the commission.
Seems (unfairly) open and shut, right? Not exactly. Here's what I found out towards the end of that catastrophe. The company I worked for as an I.C. knowingly allowed me to sell to a business when they knew they were NOT allowed to sell business accounts (they're only allowed to sell to individuals (like 1 or 2 phones). And, the cell phone provider's Indirect Channel Manager knew of the same and ignored that as well (I wasn't familiar with this policy because I had never worked in the "Indirect Channel")
And why is that so important??? Because the reason the "Indirect Channel" can't sell business accounts is because they don't have a billing system that supports large accounts!! Both parties KNEW it was going to be a complete flop! I guess they were going to "go for it" though because it was the end of the year and they both saw $$$$$ and bonuses coming to them off of my sale.
So, I'm in a lawsuit right now (I'm the one being sued) because the company I was an I.C. for wants the money back and I said "No" (by way of an attorney). It's been going on for months now.
My attorney says we're screwed if the judge looks at the contract "as is" And I'm mad because I have oodles of damning facts, information, timelines, etc. that show each (the people I worked for and the cell phone provider itself) was misrepresentative to me and my client as well as negligent...etc.
By the way, my client died in a freak car accident shortly before I was informed I was being sued. Very sad personally and very sad because he was very loyal to me professionally and would have gone to bat for me, not to mention my "key witness."
I don't understand why a judge wouldn't look at all of the information I gave my attorney before just looking at the contract itself and making a ruling off of that. Aren't there exceptions in regard to contracts?
My attorney is suggesting it might be a good idea to settle. It's been very slow moving.... I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. What they did to me and to my client is wrong. I hate this. It's not right. They're also coming after me for over $100,000 in punitive damages and interest on their losses! My attorney says in contract law you can't sue for punitive damages. I don't know if that's right or not. I sure hope she's right or I could be in some deep &*(# if I lose. They've also now made a request that all of their information on file at the prosecuting attorney's office be confidential. (???)
Can't I countersue or something over all of this??? I feel so helpless. I feel like I'm the one that should be suing them. And they're the ones that should be suing the cell phone provider, not me, since the cell phone provider is the one that offered my client a "free" break from the 200 line cell phone contract instead of fixing the situation. I did everything I was supposed to do, and they both lied to me and to my client.
HELP ME PLEASE! I'm tough, but I'm scared about this.