On 8/26/2014 10:59 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Tuesday, August 26, 2014 11:22:50 AM UTC-4, Moe DeLoughan wrote:


Nonsense. If they don't give you the gift cards, you can do anything you please, you have no obligation to them.



If you signed up, they can still haul you into court for failing to

honor the contract even though they failed to honor it as well. That's

the point: that you are creating a potential legal headache for

yourself if these guys decide to pursue their legal claim against you.

If they do what you suggested, which is have you sign
the contract, then fail to pay you a cent, no gift cards at all, do
you really, really think they are going to haul you into court?

Yes, because it is so inexpensive to file a suit compared to the
potential payoff of forcing you to abide by the contract you signed.

Remember: if they didn't give you the gift cards, it is only your word
that they didn't. Once you list your house, they can pursue legal
action, at which point the burden of proving they didn't honor their
end of it is your problem. They have very little to lose and lots to
gain by filing suit...including making it clear to other local
homeowners that they cannot shirk their agreement.

It
would be like the example I gave you, of a guy agreeing to buy your
car for $3000 next Saturday, then you never see him again.

No, it's not, because these folks have you sign an agreement. That
gives them a legal document showing you agreed to abide by its
conditions. What have you got? Just your claim that they didn't
provide the goodies as promised.


He *could*
take you to court. I could file a frivolous court action against you
or anyone else, regardless of what one signed or didn't sign. The point
is, the company isn't going to take you to court for a case where they
didn't pay you a cent and have no case.

There are two key points: 1. You signed a contract. 2. Your defense is
that they didn't follow through on their end. And that's all it is: a
_defense_. Unless you want to initiate the legal action yourself, by
filing suit to void the contract on the grounds they failed to hold up
their end of it. In either case, you are bound by the agreement you
entered into unless/until you get a judgement that one party or the
other failed to perform, and thus voided the contract. In either case,
it means time, expense, and aggro. The contract doesn't just magically
vanish because one side *claims* the other side welshed. That's what
the courts are for.


Five years on, and it's your word against theirs that they failed to

uphold their end of it. In the meantime, they've got your signature on

the agreement.


They would have to prove that they provided you with the gift certificates.
No proof, no case.

No, all they need to provide is the contract that you signed, agreeing
to the terms. Then they tell the judge hey, we did our end - but this
person welshed. At that point, you have to defend yourself by somehow
proving you did *not* get the gift cards. Sure, you could've sent
letters, hired lawyer to notify them, etc. But that gets back to my
original point: any homeowner who signs up for this is potentially
setting themselves up for a lot of expense and aggro in return for
very little. It's just not worth it.