response 75 of 98:

Feb 27 09:41 UTC 2001

If the agreement is not specifically referenced, that may be a means to
avoid the terms of that specific supplemental agreement.

response 77 of 98:

Feb 27 19:16 UTC 2001

Mary did a really good job with the landlord - might she be willing to make
a tactful phone call (and maybe mention that our member who is a lawyer
thought the contract might not be valid anyway?).

response 79 of 98:

Feb 28 16:04 UTC 2001

You have to be careful about bringing lawyers into the picture, as some 
organizations will immediately transfer a matter to the legal department
 as soon as they hear the word "lawyer."

response 81 of 98:

Mar 6 21:45 UTC 2001

Are we still paying these people anything?  We shouldn't.
I really doubt if they will try to enforce such a contract
by suing *us*.  Or don't I understand the situation?   8)

response 83 of 98:

Mar 7 20:10 UTC 2001

I made the call today.

Well, they're pretty well used to fielding questions on this situation, and
not very flexible sounding.  :(   Possibly somebody better at than me at this
could have made some headway, but it didn't sound promising, since the first
guy I talked to made it sound like this was item #1 on the FAQ they read from.

Anyway, here's what I did collect:
To cancel the account, we need to send the letter including:
Merchant #
Business name
Reason for closing ("not feasible to use" would be OK; I asked and this
wasn't any trick question we had to answer exactly).
Signature of person who originally opened account (I spent a couple minutes
on this one, since what if that person(s) had left the company?).  aruba or
remmers could sign this.
Date account is to be closed:  August 3, 2001 (mandatory).

Letter should be mailed to:
Card Service International
Merchant Operations Department
Attn: Account Closures
P.O. Box 5180
Simi Valley, CA 93062-5180

We can also fax it to (805) 552-8453, Attn: Account Closures as well as
mailing it (we can do both, to be on the safe side).  

We should mail/fax on May 5 (earliest date of window), and after a month
follow up if we haven't gotten confirmation.  

Sorry I couldn't come up with better results; I didn't feel like I had
anything for leverage other than "some of people thought it sounded a bit
sleazy to set things up this way".  I'm usually pretty good at getting tech
support results, but that's when I've got a solid issue to work with.  :(

response 85 of 98:

Mar 7 22:33 UTC 2001

Dave - they are taking money directly out of our checking account, so
stopping payment is not as simple as not sending a check.

response 87 of 98:

Mar 7 22:54 UTC 2001

Presumably we can ask the bank not to pay the money they're taking out of the
account.  The question, I suppose, is whether Cyberspace Communications'
credit would suffer as a result.

response 89 of 98:

Mar 7 23:38 UTC 2001

I think we should eat this one and consider it a good lesson.

response 91 of 98:

Mar 8 15:28 UTC 2001

I checked our contract with Card Service, and it makes it clear that remmers
and I are personal guarantors of Grex's account.  That gives CSI the right
to go after us if Grex breaks the contract.

Needless to say, this makes me less than keen on trying to unilaterally end
our contract.

response 93 of 98:

Mar 9 01:28 UTC 2001

I can understand that.

At this point I'd have to say that we just realize that we messed up, and deal
with the consequences.  I'm sure that we'll be okay. :)

response 95 of 98:

Mar 10 04:34 UTC 2001

Agreed

response 97 of 98:

Mar 12 21:26 UTC 2001

S/he who gives a personal guarantee commits suicide by fountain pen. 8-)