Michael Palumbo

I wish I had a crystal ball so that I could avoid arrogant, unreasonable, and and entitled clients like you. John is a 28 year old man-child. Like many of my clients had an EZ Pass issue, but unlike many of my clients the problem was not caused by EZ Pass or an understandable mistake but by him. For over a year, with no rational explanation, he failed to pay over 350 tolls. Perhaps he thought the Toll Paying Fairy was paying his bill IDK. When you fail to pay a toll you get mailed a bill. So he ignored 350 bills. After a while they suspend your vehicle registration, but before that the DMV sends a warning letter. Ignored. Living in his fantasy land of not taking accountability, he continued to drive a vehicle with a suspended registration. on March 26, 2022 he was arrested for just that. His court date was June 15, 2022, and living up to his reputation as Mr. Irresponsible, he waits until June 14, 2022 to call me in a panic. He told me that he owed $7,000 in violations, and $3,000 in tolls. I was VERY SPECIFIC when I asked him if the $7k was the gross amount of the violations, or if it was the reduced amount. He told me that it was the gross amount. Based on his representation, I told him that the MTA is currently reducing the gross violation amount by 80%, so that is what I anticipated that I could get for him, plus also get him on a payment plan. He hired me by signing a brief, two paragraph contract. However, the MTA, they told me, and sent me the spreadsheet, that the gross amount of the violations was $35k, not $7k as I had asked him ad nauseam. In other words, he incorrectly told me that the $7k was the gross violation amount, and in his world of immaturity and irresponsibility this is my fault. I completed the work by getting him a payment plan and giving him detailed, written & verbal step by step instructions on how to execute on the payment plan and get his vehicle's registration suspension lifted. I expedited the work, doing it in the same day he hired me so that he would have the information for his court appearance the following day. He asked me to represent him in court as well, and I told him that it would be very expensive but that he did not need to hire a lawyer and I gave him a verbal tutorial on how to represent himself. The man-child was a bumbling, blubbering bundle of stupidity, arrogance, and nerves, and I could have easily talked him into hiring me for a fee of thousands of dollars for his court case, but I didn't do that I explained to him what to do and saved him thousands. Does that sound like a slime ball to you? After I had settled everything and the emergency was over, he wants his money back. What this entitled baby doesn't seem to have the grey matter to comprehend was that he is not entitled to a refund because of misinformation he provided that I relied upon. After the work has been performed, he attempts to re-define it as an agreement to reduce the $10k owed to something less. That was never the agreement. The agreement was a comprehensive contract to negotiate a reduction of what he owed from the GROSS amount, negotiate a payment plan, and to explain to him how to execute on the payment plan, which will then lead to getting his vehicle registration suspension lifted. I also provided him additional services in training him on how to represent himself in court, and also explained and showed him how to pay future tolls online before they accrue violations for untimely payment. The only slime ball here is John, for intentionally not paying his tolls, expecting me and you to support his expenses, continuing to drive under suspension, and attempting to damage my reputation. But you don't have to believe me. I have the entire file in which I can show you the contract he signed, quality and quantity of my work, as well as his accusatory and nasty e-mails to me showing his true character. I would be happy to share so that you can judge for yourself which one of us is the slime ball.