Yeah, it's tough to say what would have happened with a different approach. I'm obviously biased, but I still feel like the communication style made a big difference. Given how hostile Herscu was in the first email, I don't think I would have reached successful resolution had I just angrily demanded payment.

>I mean, the "professional way" has nothing to do with managing to escalate to the CEO (how exactly did you manage to get his e-mail?).

No, that's a critical part of it. The thing I learned from patio11's article was how valuable it is to navigate their bureaucracy and get to someone who has incentive to help you.

Everyone else at the company who was emailing me had the email "[firstname]@kissmyketo.com". I looked up the CEO's name and confirmed the email by Googling "alex@kissmyketo.com", which turns up several of the company's old blog posts that invite readers to email him directly.