Political Crossfire Forums

Not really advice, more like looking for information that I can utilize in a settlement.

Basically, here are the facts in a nutshell.
1. Was part of a country club. I e-mailed them to cancel my account. They e-mailed back saying I had to fill out a form (but didn't mention it was required as a by-law).
2. I didn't fill out the form. Or rather, I'm 99% sure I didn't. It's been well over a year now I don't remember.
3. My credit card expired the month after I told them to cancel. No charges or contact from the country club appeared out of my bank account. 3 months later, they contact me saying I owe money plus late fees, etc. I thought everything was canceled so I called them and said I thought it was canceled. They told me it needed to be in writing, I said it was in writing. Then they back tracked and said it needed specifically that form I didn't fill out. I said I'm not paying it, nobody ever told me that it was required and that it's apparently part of the by-laws (which I can't confirm yet).
4. They send to debt collection company. Debt collection calls me 6 months after #3 conversation. They said the cancel needed to be in writing. I said it was in writing. They asked me to forward the e-mail I sent, so I did. 3 months later, they call me again. I explain the situation again. The also backtracked and say that it had to be that form and they asked if I filled it out. I said I'm pretty sure I didn't and that I'm not paying it. Guy hangs up and says "I'll see you in court."
5. They send me a letter saying it's on the way to a lawyer's office and will take me to court.

Just curious as to what extent does the law have regarding commercial debt (I believe this is classified as commercial debt), statute of limitations, etc. I'm going to end up settling something as I would rather avoid court, though, of course I don't want to pay for a club that I wasn't a part of. I've requested a copy of the club by-laws and full breakdown of the charges (it looks like they overcharged me anyways based off an old statement I found).

Gotta love it.

My legal advice is talk to a lawyer. A real lawyer not a loony public defender from one of those pot smoking states.

I know that already.

how much was the membership?

Well, state laws vary from state to state so you'd probably want to talk to someone in Texas to know for sure. I have a friend that is a lawyer (Houston) but I don't think he would look at this as it would take a lot of research and he doesn't like to do this type of thing very much for his friends. He used to but then everyone started asking him for legal advice all the time and it became overwhelming for him. I'll point him at the post but I make no promises.

I think its going to come down to two things. First is what exactly their charter/by-laws say. Second is if they can legally require you to send in a form. If the charter says that you have to and it is legal to have such a requirement, they've got ya by the short curlies.

Chances are both are true. If its in collections, you can usually negotiate a deal with them. Like only having to pay 50% of the amount owed or setting up some kind of payment plan.

Is the amount rather high? If not, I doubt its worth hiring a lawyer over.

Do you know a lawyer you could talk to just for some friendly advice without actually hiring? As uber indicated, you want to speak to someone licensed to practice in your state.

Call their bluff, say "Take me to court... and oh yeah I'm a turnip."

Edit to add, you also need to learn to lie to debt collectors (in cases like this) better. Your answer to whether you filled out the "required" form would be "yes, I called them to cancel my membership and they said it had to be in writing, then I emailed them my written cancellation and they said it needed to be on this form, so I filled one out and mailed it to them."

Step 1 - get a copy of the by-laws and read them very carefully.
Step 2 - determine if they ever sent you the form after you told them your intent to cancel.
Step 3 - determine, via the by-laws, if you have another avenue other than court (arbitration would be nice, since it'd likely be paid by the club); small claims court is also good, as you can likely represent yourself
Step 4 - obtain copies of the laws in your state regarding contracts, collections, and companies (specific to whatever type of corp the club is - you're looking to see what weight their by-laws carry); also search collections agencies

Get back to us on it.