Bartering gone bad - software engineer

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CT

We were enticed in June of 2007 to leave our daughter's competitive team/dance school to join one started by a mother on the dance team. We were told about simple annual tuitions and team co-op's that were going to even make it less expensive then we were used to. We agreed and joined this new school/team.

We were called one of the charter-members - those stolen from the other school.

We were told we would have co-op rates and the rec kids would carry the team.

I also personally agreed to help with the business model and develop custom software for the cash register (they run a dance clothing store) and the dance school/team.

For that our family was going to be forgiven $2200.00 - which was the tuition fee for the year. This is just a small part of a huge bill for comp dance...

We spent many, many hours - off-site and on-site - I knew we were losing our shirt on this deal.

By May of 2008 several of the charter-families decided to leave this new studio. We also decided to leave - we were all returning to the prior school...

I had the added obligation of helping them get the data from my office (hosted site) to them and then the added obligation of helping the new quickbooks team get them off my software. I told the husband of this dance-team mother that I would do that at my normal hourly rate - since we were already past this years commitment and without future tuition fee-reductions this deal was way to expensive for me.

At that point our bill to them was outstanding to an amount of around $2500.00. We worked to help in the transistion to the tune of about $1500.00. Leaving about $1,000.00 owed today.

Well - in the mail we just got a new bill for $6594.36 - without even showing any payments that we made. And it also now showed the charge of $2200.00 - the tuition that we bartered for.

The husband of this dance mother is the CEO of pepsi/frito-lay and he's been threatening me all the way here...

At any rate - what do I do next?

I thought I was going to pay $1,000 which I might still owe. Now they are completely re-inventing what we thought we were doing. I've got bills for every month for the past 12 months - so this new bill is completely outrageous.

We also have cancelled checks showing all kinds of direct-to-the-teacher payments in CASH for the first 3 months the studio was being built.

These people think they are above the law because they have so much money!!!

Help!!!!!!

btw - I'm active on a forum like this for MS software development - always nice to see another working version of this forum software! Do you get ratings for activity on your forum like we do?

Do you have anything in writting about the original aggreement to waive tuition for your services? If not then you only have a verbal agreement, still binding as long as you can prove it.

Contact a lawyer. The agreement, if written, will have to be examined for possible actions available to you and/or the individual you made the agreement with.

If you have a verbal agreement, a lawyer will be able to explain your rights, they vary from state to state. I can tell you that you will need to look for any proof you can find of the agreement. Documents which show some kind of agreement was in effect and/or wittnesses who were aware that an agreement was in effect.

Good Luck

We have our first bill from Sept 2007 showing the Tuition charge - then the next month the tuition being "credited" off the bill. I probably have 100's of e-mails from this woman - I'll look through them for further proof.

We also kept track of the hours we worked after the split - each 1/2 hour or hour worked was reported via e-mail mentioning the "total" as it was accruing.

So I guess simply paying the amount we think we owe based on our latest legitimate bill - with the reduction for the work we did - won't close the door on this situation - right?

szlamany said:

So I guess simply paying the amount we think we owe based on our latest legitimate bill - with the reduction for the work we did - won't close the door on this situation - right?

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Don't pay anything without getting a receipt , written or printed and signed, saying that the account is paid in full and closed.

Speak with the person you made the agreement with. Try to barter for the amount you think you owe (personally, I'd start low), if the person turns you down, speak a lawyer.

Did you already pay taxes on the income from the bartering?

tranquility said:

Did you already pay taxes on the income from the bartering?

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Sorry - I never saw this reply in the thread.

No I did not pay taxes on the bartering.

Since I'm in this business would the "bartering fees" become part of my business income (I'm in a partnership with my wife in this business) - or would they simply apply to me personally?

Also - back to the original question.

We have once again received an invoice for the absurd large amount - not showing any of our payments. I left a message on her cell phone - I don't expect a reply. I asked for a more legitimate account of what is owed - mentioning the lack of payments on the invoice - and the fact we were "working" down the balance anyway.

Can I make this problem go away in small-claims court? Can I bring her to court and have it settled once and for all?

She keeps tacking on late charges...

Should I go to the Better Business Bureau? Send all my paperwork to the Attorney General??

Sounds like you have good records of the work you performed for them.

You can bill them for the hours you worked. Attach copies of all the emails you had sent them and any emails they sent you talking about the work you did. This will show that they were in agreement with the work.

I am afraid to that these folks have the $$'s to make my life miserable - I got an e-mail from her today (due to a phone call saying that I did not understand the over-the-top invoice I just received)...

...I am offering you 2 options regarding Stasia's tuition. You can either pay it along with your other outstanding items, or you can choose to consider it payment from FPD for your "system" and not pay it. If you choose the latter, than I will sue you for not delivering what you had proporsed and all of the damages caused by your choice not to complete and deliver a working system.
...
Your total outstanding balance should read 7673.79 with the Cars choreo and that amount will be adequate until Sept. 1. At that time additional fees will be charged and I will begin to solicit legal action. If you need to work out some sort of payment set up, I will work with you, but you gave Al your word of honor that the outstanding balance would be paid as soon as school was out last June.

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I was thinking of replying with this e-mail

Our legal counsel told us that we should not make any payments until we can all agree on a legitimate amount that is owed.

After careful review of invoices, paper work and other correspondence we have with you we have come to the conclusion that these are the amounts owed to XXX and XXX.

Balance forward from May - $xxxx.xx
Competition costumes - $xxxx.xx
Glitter sales - $xxxx.xx
Music editing - $xxxx.xx
Unpaid choreography - $xxxx.xx

We feel that this represents the total amount owed. Payment will begin upon your agreement.

Thank you,

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Does that seem like a reasonable response?