Today, I did something I never imagined doing – I had a settlement conference following a small claims suit I made earlier this year. I filed for financial compensation following negligence of bookkeeping services that I hired out for almost 18 months.
The thing about small claims court is they really want you to nail down the tangible aspects that you’re claiming for. I picked up on that today in the settlement conference. I had a vague scope this would be the trouble going into it but I truly did think I had flushed out my case enough but my failure to articulate the real tangible damage was not there.
It’s probably where a lawyer would have benefited me. Sometimes, I think that was one of my biggest mistakes in this whole situation; not bringing in official legal counsel.
At one point in settlement, I just became so angry and frustrated that I wanted it over and figured I should accept the settlement offer despite my personal convictions that there was more needed. It was the moment that I felt despite my best research and evidence, talking about money, loans, buying, and lack thereof would not work in court. It was too arbitrary and nuanced.
You can’t claim emotional distress either, which sucks because that’s something I for sure could have provided physical evidence of including therapy bills and the conversations held in that room. The fiscal toll of the last year and a half was hard, and the added burden of inaccurate filings and bills just added to it.
But it really can’t be teased out.
To some extent, I wish I had the courage to take it to trial because what would a lawyer conclude? What pieces of the law did I get wrong or right? There’s very little case law about bookkeeping suits in BC or Canada. It’s usually the bookkeeper asking for a client to pay, rarely a client asking for a refund and damages.
You can’t be unhappy with a service – you have to have viable damage and harm. This is the part where asking for a refund of services failed me. Ultimately, I was unhappy with the quality and performance of the contract. But this general unhappiness is not warrant for a refund of services paid. I know, right? Like you can be performing shit experiences for people and get away with it. Perhaps it’s this moment that I should have left a negative review.
I didn’t want to write a negative review. It’s easy enough as the person who reads negative reviews to disregard them in the sea of positive reviews. I become the crazy one then. The one with unrealistic expectations and standards.
Poor bookkeeping experiences run wild in the small business world. I’m not sure I’ve met a small business owner who has had a positive experience and the disappointment is just devastating. While I know how this can happen having had it happen to me, it’s so incredibly frustrating. To be teased along for weeks or months.
I truly thought they could figure it out. I truly thought the lack of communication meant all was good. I truly did not know what I was doing in my role as a client and director of my business.
This all bit me in the ass.
So if you’re here reading this because you’re headed to small claims court, consider a lawyer and be sure you’ve fleshed out the financial harm before sending in your suit.
If you’re here because you’ve had a shitty bookkeping experience, fuck sorry bud. I think next time, I’ll demand more onboarding support and monthly turn around. I think next time, I’ll need more from a bookkeeper to ensure that all is good and that I know what they need from me.
That chapter is now over, I’m looking forward to filing this binder of information away. As an AUDHD human I hyperfocused for days on creating and writing my settlement statement. It was 30 pages, I could only submit 20. I shrinked the font and deleted things. The hyperfocus on this task I’ll never get back, and that alone is why I’m here writing this. I hope that I can let go of this and move onto the next great things that will come.
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