Dear Dr. M.

Thank you so much for your reply. It has been both encouraging and
enlightening. Here are the factors I feel were unethical about my consulting progarm 
that is suing me for breach of contract.. First of all their contract is very slanted toward 
them and gives the doctor no rights priveleges or protection should the program not 
work out for the Doctor. It just so happens that I am incorporated and the attorney feels 
that from the language of the contract I don't have any professional earnings at all
under the contract since I am an employee of the corporation. He feels that the contract 
isn't worth the paper it is written on and will be representing me in court in this matter 
and will ask for a summary judgement meaning that the court would make it a State law 
that I do not owe the consultants anything. If he gets a bad judge he will ask for this to 
go to the Federal court for hearing and make a federal case out of it. As it turns out, the 
consultants coach, mentioned that if I got all the stats in, this would go away. This was a
lie, it was simply an attempt for them to get evidence that we owed them
something. I had had problems with daysheets not being properly filled out in October 
and complained of my problems with the stats.. My coach said "either you will get it 
straightened out or the IRS will do it for you. I took this as a thinly veiled threat that  if 
I didn't comply with forwarding the stats to them prior to the hearing, that they would 
complain to the IRS that I was trying to cheat them. I didn't like the lack of
professionalism in the seminar meetings. As I look back on it, they spent
much time laying guilt trips on people for not keeping their committments. Also, I did 
not like the way they publicly revealed certain desparate problems that some of the 
Doctors were having in front of the whole class......such as tax problems etc. And 
would say in front of the class, they幢l  release you from your contract. (Funny thing 
they didn廠 tell you until after contracts were signed that they would sue any doctor that 
fails to fulfill his monitary obligations to them.  Also they made a statement to one of 
the Doctors about doctors who tried to cheat them. They said they would call them up 
all the time and harass them, then they said "If that doesn't make his practice go down 
nothing will" Of course I had alot of consternation about that, and of course I had 
already signed the contract but was already having misgivings about it. It seems as if 
they were there only for their own good and not the doctors.  They give the doctors a 
little taste of their seminar and get their juices flowing, then tell them they have to leave 
at a certain time if they don't sign up. . A program should earn on the basis of merit not 
contract! Also this idea of basing payment on 15-25% of the increase in collections 
over the pevious 3-6 months is ridiculous. If you look at our practice, three months of 
before and after Christmas are always seasonally down for us here. So I got charged
for seasonal increases. We actually did worse under them than we did before but ended 
up actually owing $8000.00 for nothing! I consider that very unethical and unfair. Also 
I did not like their methods of patient recruitment. Do you remember the old stories 
about free chicken dinners in chiropractic colleges advocated by unethical consultants in 
chiropractic college....well, they are the epitome of the free chicken dinner in my
opinion! They use freebies to get the patient's in the door....usually the wrong kind of 
patient who is a curiosity seeker, and stays only for a couple of visits.  Also they are 
into getting patients to sign contracts for care....another of the infamous things that 
plague our profession.  Thanks

A:

Thanks for the e-mail. There are many horror stories within the world of chiropractic 
and chiropractic consulting. Many do very well for their clients but some take advantage 
of the weak or new DC's.Once at a seminar of a well known consultant I watched as 
one by one they called out the DC's who were both guests and active clients after 
completing a survey of their office statistics and concerns. One by one they were seated 
next to a staff member that attempted to go over their concerns and the solutions were 
expensive extra services and classes of which the staff members were bonused. On the 
surface this seemed okay as the DC's were there for solutions and extra class time and 
private consulting possibly should cost extra but the fees were astronomical and the end 
result for many was the same with little change. Although the consultant tried to help 
the money factor and business atmosphere was not conducive towards growth .. more 
like "let's get what we can while they got it." Yes .. some if not many were assisted 
greatly or this consultant and the others would not be thriving as they do .. but many 
DC廣 going do not.

So as I watched this interesting display .. I commented to a friend that it looked like a 
National Geographic newsreel with Lions on the hilltops and Willow Beasts within the 
plains. The lions were licking their chops as they waited for the weak before they 
collectively pounced for the kill. 

So what you wrote is not unusual and I'm sure a review of their contract under scrutiny 
could be questioned. But .. as they say in business .. a contract is a contract .. and a 
reputable businessman should sense the moment and make it possible to handle any 
miscommunication and upsets without lawsuits and ill will.

I hate to read your story and further hate to write what I just did. If you feel you are 
justified in fighting this lawsuit than go for it and hire your own attorney along with 
your accountant assisting you. Possibly write a registered letter to this consultant and 
address your concerns in a non threatening manner and approach either a settlement 
buy out or .. as you write .. let them know that you do not intend on paying. Whatever 
you do be prepared to have counsel once they do not agree with any compromise you 
request.

As you may have read in my weekly e-mail sent today .. I intend on providing one day 
weekend seminars. I have enough material with the stuff I taught at Life and found in 
my Smart Start or other books to help a lot of DC廣 and staff. I do not intend on 
charging an arm and a leg .. just $150 for a DC and $25 extra per staf member 
including any associates .. with a minimum of 10 full paying DC廣 it幢l be worth my 
while to give a class. Before I can run I need to walk so the fees and the minimum 
number of full paying DC廣 will be part of paying my dues. If you have any desire to 
sponsor a seminar (gathering a minumum of 10 full pre-paying DC廣) you and staff go 
free and private consulting time is available. This is how I helped Greg Stanley get 
started many years ago. Give it some thought.

Hang in There

Have a Great Day

Dr. M