I’m writing this as a warning to anyone who uses Myers Internet service and especially real estate brokerage managers and owners of mortgage brokerage businesses.

On Friday, May 11, as I was winding down for a 2 day weekend I opened some mail to find a letter from some company called Credit Mediators Inc in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania addressed to my company to tell me that my account with Myers Internet had been placed for collection and that immediate payment of $150 within 48 hours would avoid further action.

Since I have never had an account with Myers Internet, I called this agency to see what it was about. Talking to some phone jockey at the company, he told me an agent (not the company) had an unpaid bill with Myers. I pointed out that an agent is an independent contractor and that the company is not responsible for an agent’s contracted obligations. He insisted I pay, so after I called him a “bottom feeder’ and “worse than pond scum” he decided to hang up.

Then I called Myers and talked to Victor. He acknowledged it was not my bill and I gave him 3 hours to get this corrected. I provided him with a fax number and email address that he could send me proof it was out of our company’s name.

Neither was done. The other part of my promise(demand) was that if it was not completed I would post this warning on every realtor and mortgage website to which I was a registered member, including Active Rain, all of the Real Town lists and AgentOnLine.net.

Since you are reading this post, they clearly did not follow through.

If you own a real estate office or a mortgage brokerage business, be sure to check to be sure that your agents do not list you as owner of their personal websites. If they use Myers, you can be assured that Myers will try to collect from you, even though you have no contractual arrangements with Myers. And their collector, Credit Mediators Inc. will try to collect from you with a letter, hoping you just pay without following up.

I have lived 62 years of life without EVER having an account in collection. Myers and their low life collection agency have placed my business’s ability to obtain new credit in jeopardy and caused me undue stress and lost time. I will be looking at litigation with my attorney on Monday morning.

This is interesting. You are afterall responsible for all the actions by your agents. If the agent doesn't pay their phone bills, websites, and other bills with YOUR company name and logo will the broker be responsible?

The agents are independent contractors but they are still under your supervision anytime your name and brokerage name is used.

Just as the broker is responsible for receiving and paying commission generated by the agent, the broker might be responsible for bills generated by the agent too.

realting, you should know better if you are dealing with contracts on a daily basis. The person who signed the contract is responsible, period!
Not the broker/company or the agents mother, brother or friend.

Thanks for the laugh! Great to know I no longer need to pay my mortgage since the company's name was used for my place of employment. They can leave me alone and settle the debt with my broker. My free ride in life starts NOW.....

I love that!

Pikes, I don't know about that. I think your great grandmother can still be held liabile. The CSI team will step in do a complete DNA test.

Now back to real estate. We're not talking about your relatives or mortgage company here. I'm also not talking about your childhood reference or your favorite family pet.

The person who signed the contract is responsible but that peson is representing YOU the broker. When an employee or worker of a company signs a contract and results in negligence or becoms the party at fault, the company that that person works for is held liabile.

I know where you people are coming from with the whole issue. We can laugh all day long but the reality is your agent works for you. You are responsible for the signatures they send out.

I would love to see this case go to court. Mabye then we'll get the opinion of someone that is qualified.
I would love to see the judge throw the ax at the agent.

But that's not going to happen in this case.

Just because I work for a broker, I can't be held liable for any expenses my broker made for me, like advertising my listings.
I went through that when a Homes Magazine tried to collect $12k from me which my company had contracted for, but didn't pay. No signature on a contract from me, no money from me.
p.s. remember, we are not employees and under any circumstance can obligate the company/broker financially. What does your independent contractor employment agreement say?

The original poster is a broker so he's speaking from the broker perspective. You are speaking from the agent perspective.
Did your creditor take you to court?

I don't have an answer for you but it would be interesting to see what a real judge says.
You are mixing contractual obligations with agency obligations. What you and your broker have on contracts are between you and your broker. But when another party accuses you of a wrongdoing on the part of and as a representative of the broker that's a different issue. You have a contract with the STATE that your agent is your obligation.

The real issue here is whether the judge will use civil contract law or agency law to hear this case. Under contract laws you are 100% that the agent is liable for his own debt. Under agency law, the broker is liabile for his agent actions when acting as agent for the broker.

The agent signed the contract but the agent MOST LIKELY INCLUDED his broker company name on the contract too.

Somebody call Judge Judy.

P.S. the agent is never liabile for the broker's action. But the broker has a statutory obligation ( agency law ) to watch over his agents. We're talking about two different issues here.

"You have a contract with the STATE that your agent is your obligation."
Only in regards to consumer protection and real estate. Any other criminal activity by an agent is not the responsibility of an employing broker. (Your car insurance should cover the broker/company besides yourself, if you drive clients around)

"Did your creditor take you to court?"
It was not my but the owners creditors.
Take me to court for what? The owner split town with over $100k+ unpaid bills, including about 70+ agents E&O insurance payments.

This is too crazy.
realting, you are talking about "deep pockets"
So what does it matter if the Broker is getting 10% That doesn't make the Broker a ATM machine.

Don't get the 2 confused. The Broker is the babysitter for the Real Estate Dept., But the umbilical cord is cut, when the agent contracts outside of the real estate laws.
Most Brokers I know, make this clear when hiring a agent?
We have a separate contract stating that if you go out and wrap yourself up into something without my permission, consent, and even if I'm awake. You pay for it!

I've had people attempting to shake me down. I tell the agent, you pay now or you pay when your next check comes down the pipeline. They usually wait (because they are broke)

I had one agent that quit. So I just called the company and simply state. Is my name on that contract? No, then stop calling here or sending your paper here filling up my mailbox, or I will sue for harrassment.
And I have and won!!!
But I rarely hear from them again and if I do. I give the creditor company the new brokers address. They know all along that they can't get it out of the brokers, when it's not contracted by the broker!

Once you tell a collector that a bill isnt yours and you ask them to prove it and they haven't. And they continue to harrass you. Shut up and keep a paper trail. Let them take you to court (if you have the time).....then turn around and counter sue and collect damages, plus cost, whatever your state allows. Make sure you check out the legal codes and document all the collection laws that they have violated....They always do. What did "Pa Broker" call them "Phone Jockey's" lol..."Bottom Feeders"
"Pond Scum"........he's giving them too much credit.

It can get expensive for the Broker to keep fighting a loose agent and some companies prior to dealing with a agent asks "who is your broker and your broker must sign". That's the educated companies, that deal with agents on a daily basis and have tried to collect and couldn't.

Oh no, now I"m having flashbacks of the Red Carpet Logo painted on my window and I let a out of town developer use a desk in my office!:(

Just to clarify, I as the broker am responsible for any agent bills that I certified I am responsible. For instance, if an agent doesn't pay their MLS fees, I get billed. If an agent fails to pay their board fees, I get billed.
As the broker, I know I am not responsible for charges made by an agent on their own. If they don't pay for some flyers they ordered, sue them, not me. If they forgot to opt out of a free trial, sue them, not me.
I never had any contact with this company until Friday, so as far as I am concerned, they can kiss off.

Just to clarify what Pa Broker said, a broker actually SIGNS a document relating to MLS and board fees that MAKES them liable if their contractor/agent does not pay them.

A broker is only held liable for expenses for which they have assumed potential liability in writing. So a broker cannot be held liable for any expenses incurred by an agent unless the broker signed something with the entity owed money to indicating they would cover those expenses.

There is no assumption - legal or otherwise - that indicates a broker can be held liable for he expenses of their agent.

R

I can definately agree with how some of you "feel" on this issue. It's an uneasy feeling to think that someone else working for you can hold "you" responsible for their bills.

But this case isn't your typical "personal" bills as someone you alluded to earlier. The agent in this case bought service from a company and included the broker name on the bill of sale. I'm not a lawyer so I don't know all the details in and outs. Further, the product purchase contact the broker company name all over it. The product purchased was for the benefit of the broker and agent.

We're not talking about privaet consumer debts this is about a debt that has the broker name part of the product purchased.
Some of you people think that agency law only applies to "criminal" matters involving the state, state, and broker. Thats not at all the case because a consumer can pull the agent anytime to court as a representative of the broker.

Let's look at what happens when two employees for MTV decides to do a prank in Boston last year. What happened? MTV was pulled in and fined? MTV never signed or gave them permission to do those pranks in public but the employees acted on the behalf of MTV show.

What happens when Janet Jackson pulled off her lady's part on tv? Viacom got fined. CBS never gave Janet permission or sign any papers for her to do this.

What happens when a bunch of football players for the Atlanta Falcons get stopped for DUI? The Falcon's owner/ceo/coach gets pulled into court. The Falcons never gave the players permission or signed papers for such behaviour but they get pulled in.

I doubt anyone will be going to court over $100-200. We know this was a scare tactic from the beginning. But in a case involving higher amounts I still stand that the broker can be held liable WHEN THE BROKER NAME OR COMPANY NAME IS ATTACHED TO THE PRODUCT PURCHASED.

The issue then comes to DID MR. BROKER HAVE A SIGNED CONTRACT THAT PROHIBITS HIS AGENT FROM BUYING PRODUCTS OR SERVICE UNDER HIS COMPANY NAME?

To that, an earlier poster said it best. There needs to be a contract between the agent and broker company that spells out what the broker is or isn't responsible. In the absence of this contract I think the broker is resonsible.

But that's just an opinion from someone that has no judicial power.

Doesn't everyone have this statement in their office policy manual? They should, to preclude the issue mentioned above.
AUTHORITY OF REALTOR AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES
No employee or agent, other than a person so designated by authorized officer of the company, has the authority to obligate the company in any manner, for goods or service. Should a controversy arise because of unauthorized actions or commitments made by an employee or an agent, that individual shall absorb any cost incurred as determined by the company, e.g. ordering work done on a property in the name of the company, etc.
p.s. all advertising is required to have the office/brokerage name shown, that does not automatically mean the office contracted for the advertising.
Don't get employee and independent contractor status mixed up, i.e. Boston prank, Football players, Janet Jackson etc. probably were all employees to perform these tasks.

Good disclaimer. I don't think Janet works for CBS or Viacom. Obviously there's potential problems or the person that drafted the clause you wrote wouldn't have drafted in the first place.

The last person we need is a goof like Judge Judy Scheindlein. I can't stand her.

A judge will inquire as to whether the agent was authorized, either directly or ostensibly, to enter into a contract on behalf of the broker. In most cases, the answer will be NO. In financial disputes (excluding fraud), civil contract law will usually prevail.

I am stunned that this discussion has gotten this far.

If what some seem to think is the case, all we ever have to do is simply WRITE the name of our company on a form and suddenly they are liable for our expenses.

A real estate agent is only our legally recognized agent for the purposes of real estate transactions. At least state law in California pretty clearly spells out what we are responsible for regarding our agents, and their debt is not one of them.

You cannot make a brokerage a party to your debt without the expressed consent of the brokerage - PERIOD.

Agency law has NOTHING to do with an agent incurring debt - whether that debt is brought about while conducting his duties or not. There is no agency relationship created between the one owed money and the agent owing it... it simply is not germane.

The ONLY way a broker can be held to account for his agents expenses is if they have signed an agreement to do so.

R

And just to follow up, I finally got an answer from Myers yesterday that they made an "error" and they never should have turned it over for collection in the company name. They did have a home address, email and phone number for the agent involved.

Also, I "fired" the agent yesterday. We found an unopened envelope from Myers on his desk postmarked February which he never opened. I had him open it in my presence and it was a bill. He said he never opened it because he "assumed" it was an ad. We all know you never "assume" anything in real estate. Imagine the problem if this had been something involving a transaction or a buyer-seller dispute or anything else pertaining to real estate law or Realtor ethics.

As a broker, we assume some liability for the actions of the licensees in our office, but we should never assume any liability for stupidity or malfeasence.

Has this agent had a history of screwing up?

Exactly. Be very careful not to ratify any improper actions by the agent after-the-fact.

I had a long conversation with Tracee from Myers yesterday as well as a few emails. They are trying to correct it and get me something in writing from their (bottom feeding) collection agency which so far will not return phone calls.
As far as the agent is concerned, this is the third time I have received of some kind of late notice, but the first two were for board dues and MLS fees. As the Broker of record, I would be responsible for these if they were not paid. This agent was here 9 months, never wrote a contract or listed a property and never completed the new agent training program (we have two different ways to accomplish this).
I'm sure the (bottom feeding) collection agency figured they could send a letter and somehow the company would just pay it without checking out the origin of the bill.

brokers are not responsible for debts created by agents who act outside the scope of their agency

unless their agreement says otherwise, agents are not authorized to create debts for their brokers

Hopefully my last post here on this.
The collection agency called Thursday morning to see what I needed to end this.
I mentioned the fair credit collection laws and the fact that they violated the laws.
They were supposed to fax me something, but I've been at NAR Midyear since Thursday morning, so I'll find out if they did on Monday morning.

Good for you!

So much for their "DEEP POCKETS" scam.
And
if they don't send you your letter, enforce your rights!
Remember that type of collection agency is "Pond Scum" etc.

Incorrect---CBS got fined for putting the wardrobe malfunction on the Air which was their responsibility. There is always a slight delay in airing even on live shows and it could have been edited! But, as to the issue of liability, we are brokers not lawyers and the independent contractor agreement should be specific as to the financial liability when the affiliation "broker name" is used by sales associates. The clauses are drafted for risk reduction/management and prevention. Even if there is no legal basis--we have to avoid any risk, possible disputes, claims and complaints.