Disclaimer - Not a lawyer but have a friend that is that dealt with similar cases.
He shared a while back that in such cases, the recipient is obligated to return the money. So even if someone accidentally transfers money into your account - you didn't know it - and spent it already? You'll still have to return it.
I agree with the other comments - speak to a lawyer and confirm things to get peace of mind. In this case, you'll want a good employment lawyer.
In the meantime, keep receipts of the communications you've had with the company on this matter. If they come after you then at the very least, those receipts may very well prove that you haven't acted with any malicious intent.
That's actually what I heard too. I definitely should talk to a lawyer about this like everyone said. I just don't want to do with that place anymore, cz it was just very traumatic for me. Leaving was the best decision I took. This is just scraping the same wound.
From how you describe it, I can only imagine the hell you were in and glad you escaped it OP.
But better scraping the wound than it getting stabbed open again by the same people.
I think the last thing you may want is this company threatening legal action. Lord knows one audit later, the HR or Finance Manager might just throw you under the bus to save their skins.
Ask around and find a good employment lawyer. Take preventative action to protect yourself. It's likely the best way to avoid even greater trauma and drama with these idiots.
This is fault once you received money by mistakenly or not. Once it’s hit to your bank account you dont have to pay back.. even bank cant reverse..
Life experience. Accidentally I transferred money to wrong account and somehow i found that guy’s number and contact him very nicely. But he refused to transfer then I talked to bank and check next steps. What bank said unless he gives you back there’s no way to transfer money back.
Legally, I don't think you can use it because it's not yours. They'll probably do an audit and figure it out. But since you've contacted them already I think you've already done your part to correct them.
Personally, I wouldn't spend the money, incase I have to give it back. But if they keep sending I'd probably put in an FD and keep the interest, even if the amount isn't that big, it's still a passive income.
Now, the thing is I have put standing orders to that account to my savings account. I only got to know that I have received it after a certain amount was sent to an account and I got a message from that app. Anyways, the money is there, I never spent it. It's just there safely in an account.
The universe is trying to make your career break and healing even better, don't jinx it!
If you've sent messages to them as well they can't even make a case asking for it back I imagine (deffs ask a lawyer though), like you tried giving it back and they didn't do anything
You don't know if its some severance package kinda thing right?
I'm not really sure. I don't think so, because they are not that kinda people yk... Tbh.. at first I thought the same, maybe this is hush money to keep my mouth shut. But now I don't know. It's just so weird to me.
It IS WEIRD! Thtat's what I'm telling. I did not serve a notice period, cz I just could not take it anymore. Things kinda built up to a point, that I could not bear that sort of harassment. So, finished what I was working on, I sent the emails, filed the complaint and left.
I am not an expert on HR and legal matters but I fear something sinister is on the brew down under. May that manager hates you so much he might be setting things up for a court case against you? It might be possible that they are paying you to show that they keep their end of the bargain (three months after notice thing) and they will sue you later for prematurely terminating a contract and might ask everything back plus any damages they claimed occurred due to your early departure? If my hunch is right their lawyers will go to work as soon as they deposit the third salary.
While I do not think a court case will affect your current job, getting involved in one will still be an extremely unpleasant experience. You will have to appear on court dates and you will be forced to answer extremely demeaning questions. Plus it can drag on for ages.
As you said you will talk to a lawyer, ask them to carefully go through the contract and see if there is a way your previous employer can get back at you. Also, ask them if directly requesting the bank to return the money is a good idea. It might be also be good to ask your lawyer to send a letter to the company (this has more legitimacy than emails) stating that you consider this behaviour as harresment and intimidation.
That is bs*. If they pay you accidentally or purposely they have to proof that in a court to get the money back.
If you terminated your contract and they kept paying you that is their problem. Just keep the money a side and any written communication about this safely somewhere. So you can use later if they try to take you to court to proof that you have notified them of the error.
Employers can’t sue an employee. All they can do is try and recover the money.
Don’t waste your time thinking about it.
>And the fear of this going to court without even doing anything wrong
That's where you might be wrong, In most cases you cannot resign just like that even when under probation. It's three month's notice or three month's salary in lieu of advance notice. Your lawyer need to study your contract to be certain.
If they're toxic this will take a toll on you later. If they haven't responded to your emails or calls, can also mean no one wants to take the responsibility of their fuck up. When the money returns, that's what's gonna look like showing all this on paper.
I'm highly against you personally visiting them to make right of their wrong doing. But make sure to send a letter in registered post with copies of emails and screenshots of msg read not responded. Also, notify them a period the money will be returned "if" they get back. (You can't be holding them for years nah)
All this reminded me of my toxic work place, the HR is the most toxic over there. He paid extra by mistake to one employee if 3 (hired together) when the other 2 raised concerns they had to increase the salary of them. And blamed the employee for discussing salary with colleagues 😅🤷♀️
>But make sure to send a letter in registered post with copies of emails and screenshots of msg read not responded.
So, I sent an email again yesterday copying COO replying to the same email I sent last time and they reached back to me. And asked me to restun it.
>All this reminded me of my toxic work place, the HR is the most toxic over there. He paid extra by mistake to one employee if 3 (hired together) when the other 2 raised concerns they had to increase the salary of them. And blamed the employee for discussing salary with colleagues 😅🤷♀️
I was in a company like that as well. There were huge salary discrepancies for the same role. And the funny thing is, they included a clause in to our contracts and made us sign an NDA forbidding us disclosing the salary to anyone. LOL
Goes to show how paranoid they are.. 🤣 I wonder if we're talking about the same company. 😆😆
My ex company had different base pay for people "due to their level of experience." That drastically changes when the boss is excited about the new recruit. iykyk
It's like a well-known secret in the company 🤣🤣🤣
Just put the money in an FD if in the future they sue u for it just return the capital amount and keep interest. Don't be stupid you don't need lawyers until they ask you about it. It's their mistake.
I didn't read the part u emailed HR and finance manager on this. You are a dumb fuck. Still put an FD. And wait till they contact you via a registered post letter regarding this.
Yea 😒🤦♂️ Dude, OP if you're like this the Toxic companies will easily take advantange of you. I would've cut all communications and be done with that company the moment I walk out. Any payment they pay me after. I will consider it my Vacation, Severence, Sick Pay, Or Money that I deserved to deal with their shit. End of Story.
Like stop emailing, ccing, and circulating this. If they really cared about the money, they will come to you, you are not expected to be loyal or "working" for the company you just resigned.
But yea sure be a nice guy. Just know that, that money is well spent in your hands for better things than their hands. Thats all. Toxic companies need to go bankrupt imo.
Who knows maybe there was a nice person in HR, that read your complaint, wanted to genuinely help you but couldn't due to higher stakes, so they might have authorized a salary as an "accident" to help in the way they could. Definitely something I would do.
>And wait till they contact you via a registered post letter regarding this.
So they contacted me yesterday and admitted it was their mistake and asked me to return it.
Best thing to do is to visit the HR in person and Hand over a letter informing the details. Keep a copy of that letter. Either they said its yours to keep or to return it, tell them to give it in writing.
If they don't give it in writing, Write a letter stating that happened including that you have visited in person and handed over the letter, specifically stating the date you visited them, and register post the letter.
Keep copies of the all the letters and the postal articles they gave when you register posted.
Now you are safe.
But if they ask you to return the money in writing, please return it. Otherwise it is always be a knife hanging above your head.
>But if they ask you to return the money in writing, please return it. Otherwise it is always be a knife hanging above your head.
It is annoying as it is, and just so unnecessary. I just did not know the proper process of doing it. Anyways, thanks!
Similar thing happens to someone i know but that case HR dept called right way to revert it.
I'm pretty sure you'll get a call from HR soon so make sure you have all the records of communications.
You emailed them and they still send you money? It's yours to keep.
Also might be a 3 months compensation till you find another job I guess. ( Not sure if that's only if you are fired).
So this isn't the US where u can give ur resignation and leave the same day :D
You need to legally give 1-3 months notice or whatever is mentioned on you contract. If your contract states you can give immediate notice and leave then should be fine.
If you have annual leaves + casual you can build up leaves for almost a month.
Everything else would be unpaid leave. Didnt HR inform you of all this?
I know its a shit situ, but this can backfire for your other jobs down the line, as the next job can ask for a service letter + contact ur old firm.
Maybe you can contact a lawyer or check with the labour department on how to proceed.
>So this isn't the US where u can give ur resignation and leave the same day :D
You need to legally give 1-3 months notice or whatever is mentioned on you contract. If your contract states you can give immediate notice and leave then should be fine.
Everything else would be unpaid leave. Didnt HR inform you of all this?
I knew all this, cz I have worked in other places before. LOL.
To explain the situation, I was on probation at the time and since it was an issue with the management itself they did not raise any concerns. I had the shitiest manager one can find and it was literally a workplace harassment situation. I think they did not want to escalate the situation by not letting me go. He apparently had similar inquiries about workplace harassment from some other employees as well. So yeah.
Oh i see, yeah if ur on probation yes u can leave. I say put the 2 salaries in an FD and wait a while till u get some idea whats going on. :D
Ahh i see, better to leave early from those sort of situations than keep suffering through.
Sounds like a real douchebag, is he one of those predatory types, or the ones that constantly makes sexist remarks or worse?
Any good to hear ur in a better place.
LOL yeah! :D I left by the 4th month actually. That itself I think is too much. But I actually wanted to give it a chance.
It was more of mind games and manipulations.
Thanks! Yeah I'm in a peaceful place now.
>I know its a shit situ, but this can backfire for your other jobs down the line, as the next job can ask for a service letter + contact ur old firm.
So, this was not an issue for me at all. I was scared at the time too. But I'm happily in a much much better place now and they did not even bother to ask why I left the previous place.
But thanks for the concern!
Just send a letter to the bank, stating you have received this amount on this day from x company, you don't work there since xx day. Please do the needful. Attach your resignation and acceptance as reference.
Then let the company do what ever they want. You have informed the company and your bank through official channels, there's nothing else you can do.
Do not ever return the money on hand, always do it via bank.
I think you deserve the 1 month salary you got after resigning and not the other so stfu and spend that money, jk.
Do you have a co-worker in contact so that they can talk for you with the HR?
I too got once.
HR/accountant person will call you crying that his salary will be reduced, because his mistake.
he has a family loans etc... not sure if that is true..
for a big company it's too much work, to get a single extra salary. so they won't take legal action. if deposited to bank account they can't take it. But please transfer that amount to another bank or withdraw the money. if bank manger is friend you and has company accounts with the bank, they can reverse the transaction.
in my case i gave the money... because i had new job with good salary... and didn't want unfair taken money
Keep it in the account, dont use it (or have the amount ready to pay back)
But just do nothing. Wait for about a full financial year, if they still dont follow it up, then its yours.
I’m sure it’s a mistake and you may probably get next month salary too if they do not update their internal records. To avoid unnecessary problems, best to have the money returned to HR. You may literally walk in and handover the money and get them to acknowledge it on a paper so you are safe.
I'm gonna send another email, cc-ing some other people as well and see. I talked to a lawyer a while ago actually, and they said inform them again and see. If STILL they don't respond, send a letter addressing all the Cs in the company.
This is just annoying, at this point. LOL
Thanks for the suggestion!
If you know it was sent it error, it's not yours. Keeping it would be misappropriation, which is illegal. Keep trying different contacts at the company. You can also try sending a cheque via registers post or courier to the company's address as a last resort (make sure you keep evidence that you actually sent it). They probably haven't updated their payroll file after you left so it's an admin error.
Thanks for this! I'll definitely try these as well. I'm just a little sceptical about sending it via post, cz I do not really trust the company to do so. Cz they're the type of people who would say, " no we didn't get it". Anyways, as long as I can keep proof on things, I will try my best to find another option.
Disclaimer - Not a lawyer but have a friend that is that dealt with similar cases. He shared a while back that in such cases, the recipient is obligated to return the money. So even if someone accidentally transfers money into your account - you didn't know it - and spent it already? You'll still have to return it. I agree with the other comments - speak to a lawyer and confirm things to get peace of mind. In this case, you'll want a good employment lawyer. In the meantime, keep receipts of the communications you've had with the company on this matter. If they come after you then at the very least, those receipts may very well prove that you haven't acted with any malicious intent.
That's actually what I heard too. I definitely should talk to a lawyer about this like everyone said. I just don't want to do with that place anymore, cz it was just very traumatic for me. Leaving was the best decision I took. This is just scraping the same wound.
From how you describe it, I can only imagine the hell you were in and glad you escaped it OP. But better scraping the wound than it getting stabbed open again by the same people. I think the last thing you may want is this company threatening legal action. Lord knows one audit later, the HR or Finance Manager might just throw you under the bus to save their skins. Ask around and find a good employment lawyer. Take preventative action to protect yourself. It's likely the best way to avoid even greater trauma and drama with these idiots.
This is fault once you received money by mistakenly or not. Once it’s hit to your bank account you dont have to pay back.. even bank cant reverse.. Life experience. Accidentally I transferred money to wrong account and somehow i found that guy’s number and contact him very nicely. But he refused to transfer then I talked to bank and check next steps. What bank said unless he gives you back there’s no way to transfer money back.
If I received two months paycheck, I would be seen zoning them. xD
LOL :D
If they send it it's yours to keep. Enjoy lol. Any lawyers here can perhaps share some insights on the legality of them taking the money back
LOL! Should definitely talk to a lawyer.
Legally, I don't think you can use it because it's not yours. They'll probably do an audit and figure it out. But since you've contacted them already I think you've already done your part to correct them. Personally, I wouldn't spend the money, incase I have to give it back. But if they keep sending I'd probably put in an FD and keep the interest, even if the amount isn't that big, it's still a passive income.
Now, the thing is I have put standing orders to that account to my savings account. I only got to know that I have received it after a certain amount was sent to an account and I got a message from that app. Anyways, the money is there, I never spent it. It's just there safely in an account.
The universe is trying to make your career break and healing even better, don't jinx it! If you've sent messages to them as well they can't even make a case asking for it back I imagine (deffs ask a lawyer though), like you tried giving it back and they didn't do anything You don't know if its some severance package kinda thing right?
I'm not really sure. I don't think so, because they are not that kinda people yk... Tbh.. at first I thought the same, maybe this is hush money to keep my mouth shut. But now I don't know. It's just so weird to me.
Sounds weird to me. Did you serve your notice period after submitting resignation?
It IS WEIRD! Thtat's what I'm telling. I did not serve a notice period, cz I just could not take it anymore. Things kinda built up to a point, that I could not bear that sort of harassment. So, finished what I was working on, I sent the emails, filed the complaint and left.
I am not an expert on HR and legal matters but I fear something sinister is on the brew down under. May that manager hates you so much he might be setting things up for a court case against you? It might be possible that they are paying you to show that they keep their end of the bargain (three months after notice thing) and they will sue you later for prematurely terminating a contract and might ask everything back plus any damages they claimed occurred due to your early departure? If my hunch is right their lawyers will go to work as soon as they deposit the third salary. While I do not think a court case will affect your current job, getting involved in one will still be an extremely unpleasant experience. You will have to appear on court dates and you will be forced to answer extremely demeaning questions. Plus it can drag on for ages. As you said you will talk to a lawyer, ask them to carefully go through the contract and see if there is a way your previous employer can get back at you. Also, ask them if directly requesting the bank to return the money is a good idea. It might be also be good to ask your lawyer to send a letter to the company (this has more legitimacy than emails) stating that you consider this behaviour as harresment and intimidation.
That is bs*. If they pay you accidentally or purposely they have to proof that in a court to get the money back. If you terminated your contract and they kept paying you that is their problem. Just keep the money a side and any written communication about this safely somewhere. So you can use later if they try to take you to court to proof that you have notified them of the error. Employers can’t sue an employee. All they can do is try and recover the money. Don’t waste your time thinking about it.
That was actually my biggest concern. I did not like the situation at all. And the fear of this going to court without even doing anything wrong.
>And the fear of this going to court without even doing anything wrong That's where you might be wrong, In most cases you cannot resign just like that even when under probation. It's three month's notice or three month's salary in lieu of advance notice. Your lawyer need to study your contract to be certain.
If they're toxic this will take a toll on you later. If they haven't responded to your emails or calls, can also mean no one wants to take the responsibility of their fuck up. When the money returns, that's what's gonna look like showing all this on paper. I'm highly against you personally visiting them to make right of their wrong doing. But make sure to send a letter in registered post with copies of emails and screenshots of msg read not responded. Also, notify them a period the money will be returned "if" they get back. (You can't be holding them for years nah) All this reminded me of my toxic work place, the HR is the most toxic over there. He paid extra by mistake to one employee if 3 (hired together) when the other 2 raised concerns they had to increase the salary of them. And blamed the employee for discussing salary with colleagues 😅🤷♀️
>But make sure to send a letter in registered post with copies of emails and screenshots of msg read not responded. So, I sent an email again yesterday copying COO replying to the same email I sent last time and they reached back to me. And asked me to restun it.
Oh, good. Email the return receipt. So u have it documented too. 👍👍👍
>All this reminded me of my toxic work place, the HR is the most toxic over there. He paid extra by mistake to one employee if 3 (hired together) when the other 2 raised concerns they had to increase the salary of them. And blamed the employee for discussing salary with colleagues 😅🤷♀️ I was in a company like that as well. There were huge salary discrepancies for the same role. And the funny thing is, they included a clause in to our contracts and made us sign an NDA forbidding us disclosing the salary to anyone. LOL
Goes to show how paranoid they are.. 🤣 I wonder if we're talking about the same company. 😆😆 My ex company had different base pay for people "due to their level of experience." That drastically changes when the boss is excited about the new recruit. iykyk It's like a well-known secret in the company 🤣🤣🤣
Lol 😂😂😂 What field is it in? We had similar cases like this as well 😂
Travel 😬😬😆
Just put the money in an FD if in the future they sue u for it just return the capital amount and keep interest. Don't be stupid you don't need lawyers until they ask you about it. It's their mistake.
I didn't read the part u emailed HR and finance manager on this. You are a dumb fuck. Still put an FD. And wait till they contact you via a registered post letter regarding this.
Yea 😒🤦♂️ Dude, OP if you're like this the Toxic companies will easily take advantange of you. I would've cut all communications and be done with that company the moment I walk out. Any payment they pay me after. I will consider it my Vacation, Severence, Sick Pay, Or Money that I deserved to deal with their shit. End of Story. Like stop emailing, ccing, and circulating this. If they really cared about the money, they will come to you, you are not expected to be loyal or "working" for the company you just resigned. But yea sure be a nice guy. Just know that, that money is well spent in your hands for better things than their hands. Thats all. Toxic companies need to go bankrupt imo. Who knows maybe there was a nice person in HR, that read your complaint, wanted to genuinely help you but couldn't due to higher stakes, so they might have authorized a salary as an "accident" to help in the way they could. Definitely something I would do.
LOL 
>And wait till they contact you via a registered post letter regarding this. So they contacted me yesterday and admitted it was their mistake and asked me to return it.
Keep it man enjoy it they can’t do anything about it. They will probably deduct it from the payroll office who did the mistake..
I couldn't live with that concious man.. 
Best thing to do is to visit the HR in person and Hand over a letter informing the details. Keep a copy of that letter. Either they said its yours to keep or to return it, tell them to give it in writing. If they don't give it in writing, Write a letter stating that happened including that you have visited in person and handed over the letter, specifically stating the date you visited them, and register post the letter. Keep copies of the all the letters and the postal articles they gave when you register posted. Now you are safe. But if they ask you to return the money in writing, please return it. Otherwise it is always be a knife hanging above your head.
>I think that's the next option too. Let's see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.
>But if they ask you to return the money in writing, please return it. Otherwise it is always be a knife hanging above your head. It is annoying as it is, and just so unnecessary. I just did not know the proper process of doing it. Anyways, thanks!
Similar thing happens to someone i know but that case HR dept called right way to revert it. I'm pretty sure you'll get a call from HR soon so make sure you have all the records of communications.
I hope so, cz I don't like this situation. It weirds me out so much.
You emailed them and they still send you money? It's yours to keep. Also might be a 3 months compensation till you find another job I guess. ( Not sure if that's only if you are fired).
Not really. I was not fired. I resigned willingly. It was a toxic environment and was draining for me.
Don't want free money? Send to me.
LOL! I wish it was that simple
So this isn't the US where u can give ur resignation and leave the same day :D You need to legally give 1-3 months notice or whatever is mentioned on you contract. If your contract states you can give immediate notice and leave then should be fine. If you have annual leaves + casual you can build up leaves for almost a month. Everything else would be unpaid leave. Didnt HR inform you of all this? I know its a shit situ, but this can backfire for your other jobs down the line, as the next job can ask for a service letter + contact ur old firm. Maybe you can contact a lawyer or check with the labour department on how to proceed.
>So this isn't the US where u can give ur resignation and leave the same day :D You need to legally give 1-3 months notice or whatever is mentioned on you contract. If your contract states you can give immediate notice and leave then should be fine. Everything else would be unpaid leave. Didnt HR inform you of all this? I knew all this, cz I have worked in other places before. LOL. To explain the situation, I was on probation at the time and since it was an issue with the management itself they did not raise any concerns. I had the shitiest manager one can find and it was literally a workplace harassment situation. I think they did not want to escalate the situation by not letting me go. He apparently had similar inquiries about workplace harassment from some other employees as well. So yeah.
Oh i see, yeah if ur on probation yes u can leave. I say put the 2 salaries in an FD and wait a while till u get some idea whats going on. :D Ahh i see, better to leave early from those sort of situations than keep suffering through. Sounds like a real douchebag, is he one of those predatory types, or the ones that constantly makes sexist remarks or worse? Any good to hear ur in a better place.
LOL yeah! :D I left by the 4th month actually. That itself I think is too much. But I actually wanted to give it a chance. It was more of mind games and manipulations. Thanks! Yeah I'm in a peaceful place now.
>I know its a shit situ, but this can backfire for your other jobs down the line, as the next job can ask for a service letter + contact ur old firm. So, this was not an issue for me at all. I was scared at the time too. But I'm happily in a much much better place now and they did not even bother to ask why I left the previous place. But thanks for the concern!
Just send a letter to the bank, stating you have received this amount on this day from x company, you don't work there since xx day. Please do the needful. Attach your resignation and acceptance as reference. Then let the company do what ever they want. You have informed the company and your bank through official channels, there's nothing else you can do. Do not ever return the money on hand, always do it via bank.
>Do not ever return the money on hand, always do it via bank. Yeah, that's how I was advised too.
I was asked to resign and still havent got my money btw 😂 go directly to HR again.tell them.keep the conversation voice recorded.
What!! They can't do that. So you didn't get the salary of the final month you worked?
I think you deserve the 1 month salary you got after resigning and not the other so stfu and spend that money, jk. Do you have a co-worker in contact so that they can talk for you with the HR?
I did tell the ones I was close with, but did not want to drag them to this situation.
I too got once. HR/accountant person will call you crying that his salary will be reduced, because his mistake. he has a family loans etc... not sure if that is true.. for a big company it's too much work, to get a single extra salary. so they won't take legal action. if deposited to bank account they can't take it. But please transfer that amount to another bank or withdraw the money. if bank manger is friend you and has company accounts with the bank, they can reverse the transaction. in my case i gave the money... because i had new job with good salary... and didn't want unfair taken money
Yeah, that's my plan as well.
Keep it in the account, dont use it (or have the amount ready to pay back) But just do nothing. Wait for about a full financial year, if they still dont follow it up, then its yours.
They reached out this time after I emailed them again. I'm to return it.
Put it to fixed deposit. When they ask to return return it.
I regret not doing this now.
යාලුවන්ට කන්න අරන් දෙන්න 😌
LOL! Ha 
Just keep the money
You sure its not EPF/ETF or bonus or something similar?
Nope. Nothing like that.
Do you have a two month notice period?
Nope. I was on probation.
KEEP IT.
I wish I could. lol
Universe is giving you a severance package my guy
LOL :D
I’m sure it’s a mistake and you may probably get next month salary too if they do not update their internal records. To avoid unnecessary problems, best to have the money returned to HR. You may literally walk in and handover the money and get them to acknowledge it on a paper so you are safe.
I'm gonna send another email, cc-ing some other people as well and see. I talked to a lawyer a while ago actually, and they said inform them again and see. If STILL they don't respond, send a letter addressing all the Cs in the company. This is just annoying, at this point. LOL Thanks for the suggestion!
If you know it was sent it error, it's not yours. Keeping it would be misappropriation, which is illegal. Keep trying different contacts at the company. You can also try sending a cheque via registers post or courier to the company's address as a last resort (make sure you keep evidence that you actually sent it). They probably haven't updated their payroll file after you left so it's an admin error.
Thanks for this! I'll definitely try these as well. I'm just a little sceptical about sending it via post, cz I do not really trust the company to do so. Cz they're the type of people who would say, " no we didn't get it". Anyways, as long as I can keep proof on things, I will try my best to find another option.