🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BDa9yB1w165w@bma.jeslacs.wimsey.bc.ca>,
  wbarr@bma.jeslacs.wimsey.bc.ca (William Barr) writes:

>> trouble!  BBS subscriptions reflect a one year provision of a BBS service. Th
>> fact that the BBS closed down, means that there are subscibers (by Cardz's
>> numbers over 3,000 of them) that are owed a refund on part of their
>> subscription.
> 
> Perhaps, but I doubt it.  People have lost money on magazine subscriptions
> when the publisher has gone broke or closed up shop.  The thing that is
> easily proven is that there indeed was a BBS that people subscribed to; there
> was no "scam".
> 
   I am not a lawyer, but :

   I'm assuming here that you have asked for a refund and been refused. 
It's not unreasonable for the owner to take a little while getting the 
refunds calculated and sent out. If it drags on, or if he outright 
refuses to consider either paying refunds or continuing to operate the 
service until all subscriptions expire then he has clearly done
something "wrong".

   There was no "scam" ( in the sense of fraud ) UNLESS it can be proven
that the owner took the subscription money AFTER he had decided to close up
shop ( I presume this is not the case , and even if it were would be
virtually impossible to prove ). But it seems to me there is a clear "breach
of contract". So the owner is not likely to be liable for criminal charges,
but clearly is open to civil suits from anyone who prepaid for a
service which the owner ( of his own volition ) no longer intends to
deliver. 

> There may be an ethical problem with not refunding subscriptions on a pro rated
> basis, but I would wager you should kiss your money good bye.  Mind you, I'm
> of the opinion that you get what you pay for.
> 
   The customers "paid for" a year of bulletin board service, so they 
deserve to get the service ( or a refund ). Are you saying that
because they were trusting enough to prepay for the service they deserve
to get stiffed? If so then would you feel the same way if they took the
service and refused to pay the vendor for it? A service like a bulletin
board can not be run on a basis of "Cash on the barrelhead" , the parties
have to trust each other.

>> So I ask: Can any businessman wake up one morning and close his store down
>> ignoring the obligations he has contracted with his clients?  Isn't this a
>> scam?  Why hasn't the owner been arrested yet?
> 
> No, it isn't a scam.  They did nothing illegal.  And you can file a claim
> against them for you $65, if you want to.  Just contact small claims court
> and they will give you all the appropriate information.
>

  Again, there is nothing "criminal" about such action, but it is a 
violation of contract law. No party to a contract can unilaterally decide 
not to uphold his end of it ( unless a clause in the contract 
specifically permits such action under some set of circumstances )

  Small claims court is the route to go here. I don't know the facts of 
this case, but if your claim is valid I suspect there's a good chance the 
other party will give you your refund rather than waste time fighting it 
in court.

> 
>> What am I missing?
> 
> Remedial lessons in life, 095.
> 
  You're apparently not cynical enough about the ethics and legal issues
involved when two parties enter into a contract.

-- 
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Malcolm Dunnett    Malaspina College                Email: dunnett@mala.bc.ca
Computer Services  Nanaimo, B.C. CANADA V9R 5S5       Tel: (604)755-8738