I can't believe you put that on the Internet

In a recent negotiation with a collection agency defense attorney, I feel that my blog about the situation caused them to settle for more money than my original demand.

A couple of things happened that cause this.

1. They did not meet my original demand in the time line that was given to settle.
2. I memorialized everything that was said to me by their attorney in my blog
3. I posted actual emails that he sent me.
4. I taunted mildly in my blog.
5. I have the recordings I claimed to have.
6. I did not let them hear them. I just gave a cursory overview of what they contained.
   
7. They did not want a jury or judge to hear them either.

I was chastised by their attorney for making our negotiations public, it was "bad faith". In my opinion it was bad faith that they, collection agency compliance officer, did not return my phone calls in the outset, they did not communicate in a timely fashion and that they BROKE THE LAW.

There is noting wrong in memorializing my affairs with them online in my personal blog. Those are my thoughts and I did not make any false statement of facts. That blog had almost 800 hits in less than 48 hours! It was because the trolls emailed it around the country to other collection agencies and attorneys. I assume they all verified my thinking in that the collection agency screwed up and there was nothing wrong with me posting facts and personal thoughts on the Internet. Fortunately for me, they drove the majority of the traffic to it. Granted I did drive some traffic to the blog by posting links to it in forum post, but when the forum trolls (aka collection agency lurkers) started seeing it it created a viral traffic source.

viral traffic - The reason it's called "viral" is because it works just like a virus. One person sees your blog and passes it on to as many people as possible. But compared to a computer virus,
it's not dangerous and it gets you noticed.

It also generated some income from other means than the eventual settlement. If you would like more info on that send me a email. From this particular transaction I learned some valuable things.

1. Don't show your hand until all the chips are in the middle of the table. They tried to cast doubt on the content of the recordings. I did not let them hear them. If they wanted to hear them they could agree to $xxxx.xx or hear them in court.
2. Attorneys and collection agencies don't like you to call their bluff and if you have the goods don't let them try to bully you. I had a royal flush and they had two pair.
3. Collection agencies don't like to be made a mockery of, but they don't mind trying to intimidate you.
4. They will settle real fast if you play your hand properly. Nine days from Intent to Sue email/fax to settlement.

Make sure you read my disclaimer.