But it seems to me like an unkind ("dickish") way of getting the money back.
Other people have made suggestions for alternatives: tptacek (small claims court), tjic (scary lawyer letter), boredguy8 (a social engineering approach).
Other people have made suggestions for alternatives: tptacek (small claims court), tjic (scary lawyer letter), boredguy8 (a social engineering approach).
Lawyer Letter: TJIC's suggestion is a very good one. However he's already sent them a copy of the legal contract the company signed, so it's possible this could likely be a waste a few hundred bucks of attorney fees. If he tried this, and they continued to ignore him, would a collections agency be a logical next step? If not, what would?
Social Engineering: Frankly it sounds like the new CEO isn't going to say "Oh you're going to fly here, man I better cut a check quick". So you're probably out a plane ticket a day of work.
The last thing a small business needs to do is to have a key person wrapped up for hours/day/weeks trying to recover money from a clearly uncooperative/belligerent person. They need to find the best balance of revenue versus time spent. After the threatening legal letter (which is sort of dick-ish I guess), I think a collections agency is the next logical step.