This is the fourth installment of my ongoing Small Claims Court Experience...
In yesterday's blog entry I mentioned that I went to the company's office and was told, upon informing them that I was heading to the courthouse to file a small claims court case, that a partial payment had been sent earlier in the week. I felt I was being lied to, but didn't know what else to do than just wait it out and see if payment did arrive by the end of the week. After reading the comments in yesterday's blog post and a few private emails, I decided that I had a better chance winning the lottery then getting payment (or a truthful statement) from this company, so today I went and filed the paperwork. The courtdate is in early August, assuming everything goes to plan (i.e., the don't file for a later date, they are properly served, etc., etc.).
<rant>
When filing the paperwork the employee who was assisting me did a quick search on the company and noted that the company's address as recorded by the secretary of state was different than the address I had put down as the place to have the defendent served. This piqued my interest so after leaving the courthouse I stopped at this other address and found yet another office for this corporation. A bit more of an exhaustive search on this company revealed that they also have offices in San Jose and Scottsdale... but they can't freakin' pay their instructors the small sums they promised them for the services the instructors have already performed. Gah.
</rant>
Ok, enough ranting on about this. In fact, you probably won't see another entry on this small claims court hubbub for a while, until the actual court date draws nearer. I don't mean for this series of entries to turn into a whine-fest, but rather to serve as a source of information for other independent consultants who arrive in a position similar to the one I find myself in. As aforementioned, the best way to avoid such a headache is to not let yourself get in this position in the first place. See the first blog entry for more suggestions on this matter.
A complete list of blog entries related to this topic can be found at My Small Claims Court Experience and through Going Independent category. Your feedback is most welcome - please leave a comment or drop me a line.