Demand to Cease threats

I am an electrical subcontractor and I "file" or I thought we file a mechanic lien but apparently they only send a threat letter, as they did not sign the document sent neither recorded the lien. My client, who has not paying us, hired Andrews Myers and they send us a Demand to Cease Threats of Invalid Filing letter, (here is where I found out that level set did not recorded the lien) They are claiming that we failed to record a lien affidavit in the time required. They said we should recorded it by November 15, 2022 as last labor and material was completed on July 2022, and the job that we did recently back on april, 2023 was not allows to revive the timeline to record the lien, based on the Chapter 53 of the Texas Property Code, my question is - How can we proceed with out having a bad record? They owed us $6,786.90 since July 11, 2022, with the received letter from they attorneys, we assumed they do not have the intention to pay us - Can we contact or client directly and aske them again for payment or from know on do we need to talk with the attorney? - Our case is lost? on January 23, 2023 I received an email from our customer account receivables department, asking us to sign final waiver, I told the that we have not been paid in full, they told me Valvoline, their customer will release the retainers after they receive all final waivers from subcontractors, I signed, notarized and send the final waiver. On March 10, 2023 we received an e-mail from our customer, the subject is: Euless outstanding punch-list issues, we completed the outstanding punch lists items on April 14, 2023. For us, a job completed under a Punch-List is part of the original contract, it is not a "warranty work, replacement work, and/or repair work" specified on Section 53 of the Texas Property Code, are we right? with this been said, our framing time to file a lien is active/correct? We just want to know what to do, how to proceed, as we had never before had a demand