your opinions please...

S

Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would like to ask the opinions of the many posters here. I know what mine is, but I'd like to hear from others...

What would you do if you gave someone a service and they paid you with a check, and then asked you to hold it for a month. Then when the check was deposited it bounced, and the person gave you the runaround about how they had $$$ troubles and would pay you "as soon as they could". It's been FOUR MONTHS since the service was provided (and by their own admission they benefitted from the service), and the debt remains unpaid. Would you blow it off, keep trying to convince them to pay you, or sue them in small claims court? FWIW, the value of the service was $300+. MI law allows you to sue for triple damages, plus court costs...plus, IIRC bouncing a check is fraud.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Chalk it up to experience. Its not worth wasting your time. Never take a check from someone you don't know or maybe just refuse to take checks period. Even if you took them to Small claims and you won, they still wouldn't pay so I say lesson learned!.................They'll get whats coming to them sooner or later...............Dave
 
an easy answer

Call Vito.


Scott Lee said:
I would like to ask the opinions of the many posters here. I know what mine is, but I'd like to hear from others...

What would you do if you gave someone a service and they paid you with a check, and then asked you to hold it for a month. Then when the check was deposited it bounced, and the person gave you the runaround about how they had $$$ troubles and would pay you "as soon as they could". It's been FOUR MONTHS since the service was provided (and by their own admission they benefitted from the service), and the debt remains unpaid. Would you blow it off, keep trying to convince them to pay you, or sue them in small claims court? FWIW, the value of the service was $300+. MI law allows you to sue for triple damages, plus court costs...plus, IIRC bouncing a check is fraud.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...
 
small claims court
Click to expand...

I've never sued anyone in my life Scott,but you sir are not getting $hitted,you have been Shatt.

I wouldn't hesitate to get "all legal" on his arse and collect whats due.

Gotta be sure the word in the PHs is your gonna get yours...So people know your not guy to dick with ya know?Letting it slide is not an option imo.
Make the F'r pay...even if it cost you money and time.
It will save you some money down the line.

JMHO
 
I've never heard of small claims allowing triple damage in anything but automobile related sales. I'm sure your state must be different.

What I would do is have him arrested for theft of service no matter what you decided civilly. Somehow the silver bracelets have a special way of paying off.

You would need to find a supervisor in the local PD who is willing to do an arrest warrant for the person based on your evidence. Sometimes locals have a way of avoiding this. It is a criminal offense ( I'm retired from law enforcement) If you get a hard time locally, go higher in the dept. If that doesn't work, go to the state police. They too, may be slightly less than receptive to the warrant.

This all sounds like a lot of work, but its nothing more than a few phone calls and perhaps a meeting with someone from the PD.

When, and if they shy away from doing a warrant, a call to the Att. Generals office should have new and fast results for your arrest.

They will bond him out or simply promise to appear in court. I'll bet you get paid before the court date.

Small claims merely gets you a judgment, no money. Liens and other attachments get to be a pain in the butt. Try the arrest, I think you will get faster results.
 
Most times, once legal action is initiated it is settled, either in full, or by a compromise agreement.

Provided a valid reason, like illness, job lose, or death is NOT responsible for the situation, I would give advance notice to the party, by certified mail, of my intention to file suit. Hopefully the other party will make an attempt to settle. If not, I would follow through.

You have given the party enough time to make payment for a valuable service that he contracted for and received.

Good luck.
Jim
 
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3andstop said:
I've never heard of small claims allowing triple damage in anything but automobile related sales. I'm sure your state must be different.

What I would do is have him arrested for theft of service no matter what you decided civilly. Somehow the silver bracelets have a special way of paying off.

You would need to find a supervisor in the local PD who is willing to do an arrest warrant for the person based on your evidence. Sometimes locals have a way of avoiding this. It is a criminal offense ( I'm retired from law enforcement) If you get a hard time locally, go higher in the dept. If that doesn't work, go to the state police. They too, may be slightly less than receptive to the warrant.

This all sounds like a lot of work, but its nothing more than a few phone calls and perhaps a meeting with someone from the PD.

When, and if they shy away from doing a warrant, a call to the Att. Generals office should have new and fast results for your arrest.

They will bond him out or simply promise to appear in court. I'll bet you get paid before the court date.

Small claims merely gets you a judgment, no money. Liens and other attachments get to be a pain in the butt. Try the arrest, I think you will get faster results.
Click to expand...

I agree. Arrest is the best course. This guy knew before you provided the service that he didn't have the money but took the service and then wrote you a bad check.

I promise, yours is not the only time this person has done this.

Bust him and if he is an AZBer I would out him here also.
 
Scott Lee said:
I would like to ask the opinions of the many posters here. I know what mine is, but I'd like to hear from others...

What would you do if you gave someone a service and they paid you with a check, and then asked you to hold it for a month. Then when the check was deposited it bounced, and the person gave you the runaround about how they had $$$ troubles and would pay you "as soon as they could". It's been FOUR MONTHS since the service was provided (and by their own admission they benefitted from the service), and the debt remains unpaid. Would you blow it off, keep trying to convince them to pay you, or sue them in small claims court? FWIW, the value of the service was $300+. MI law allows you to sue for triple damages, plus court costs...plus, IIRC bouncing a check is fraud.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I say forget about it, and chalk it up as a lesson learned. Next time you'll be sure you have a "paying" customer. It's $300, and while I could always use another 300 bones, it probably won't be worth the hassle. Sorry, just MHO...
 
file it with the bad check division in your county they will issue a warrant for his/her arrest they will not go out looking for this person but, the check will stay on file. if and when this person gets pulled over by the cops (police) it will show he/she has a warrant for their arrest and will be arrested and they CAN NOT get out of jail until the bad check is paid in full.

I own a advertising business and I provided services to a business that wrote me a bad check I went to the bad check division in my county and this is what I was told.

3 years later I get a check in the mail for $675.00 from the county where I live for the full amount, yeah basically I wrote it off figuring I would never get the money but as described above it will happen someday may be 1-20 yrs but they cant run forever.
 
Make sure the check is at least $500...felony city. $300, sell the debt to a local for $200 and walk away smilin'.

You asked, :cool:
 
Most of the replies here are good but I have heard about another way that often gets your money. Stop by his house when he or his wife is home. Pick up his cue stick (valued at $600.00) leave him a note that says you are holding as collateral until he pays the debt by xx day or you are free to sell the cue and keep the proceeds. Once you have it in your hand it is difficult for the other to come up with a reason why you should give it back.

From a business perspective, I never pursued a debt, I just let it be known the client was a debtor whose word could not be trusted. Youngstown is not all that big when it comes to business and I have had a few people come back a year later to clear their reputation with me and ask me to stop bad mouthing them.

When this happened I did and let people know that the debtor had indeed made good on their bill. If they never did make good, I just ate it, but people knew my mehtods and after a few years there were few who did not pay.
 
JoeW said:
Most of the replies here are good but I have heard about another way that often gets your money. Stop by his house when he or his wife is home. Pick up his cue stick (valued at $600.00) leave him a note that says you are holding as collateral until he pays the debt by xx day or you are free to sell the cue and keep the proceeds. Once you have it in your hand it is difficult for the other to come up with a reason why you should give it back.

From a business perspective, I never pursued a debt, I just let it be known the client was a debtor whose word could not be trusted. Youngstown is not all that big when it comes to business and I have had a few people come back a year later to clear their reputation with me and ask me to stop bad mouthing them.

When this happened I did and let people know that the debtor had indeed made good on their bill. If they never did make good, I just ate it, but people knew my mehtods and after a few years there were few who did not pay.
Click to expand...


If they don't voluntarily offer this cue stick to you, then you will be on the other end of those silver bracelets I talked about, and I'm not sure, but I'd bet someone trying to beat you out of 300 bucks won't give up his 600 dollar cue to ya. :)
 
Don't Pee In My Ear And Tell Me It's Raining

If you want to finally recover what's owed to you, I have only 1 word for you: JUDGE JUDY !

Doug
( take it to TV, get paid & get some publicity also....... imo )
 
Scott, as a friend,

I would collect by any means possible. It is owed to you and you don't work for free. You are a business. If the tables were turned and you wrote a bad check to your mechanic for fixing your car, would he just let it go? Would your CPA? No. Secondly it can eat at you if you let it go. Similar situation once, where my wife told me to let a debt go. I regret it ever since. And believe me, it isn't about the money.

Third, I don't think it would ever go that far. A simple letter from an attorney will get the job done in most cases. IE, if this debt is not settled by xx date then we will be filling a suit and seeking the following and threaten with the 3x+ costs. A simple ISF check is almost proof enough of a contract.

Good luck
 
So if you sue him in small claims court, it just makes him pay you more. If he's not paying you now, why would a judge telling him to pay you triple change his mind?

I agree with Kevin... Settle the debt old school.


Edit: You COULD make a deal with him. You get to hit him with a tazer at 100% and the debt is cleared.

^Tape it!^
 
It wasn't me! Although the time frame fits (March-April)?

Anyway, I guess you have to put it in perspective. It probably represents about 6 hours of lost time. Is it worth another 6-8 hours of lost time to pursue this legally?

Maybe it is, but maybe it's better to take the loss (and hope that guilt will force your student to pay up eventually) and meanwhile, for future students you don't know personally, get some type of deposit or cash payment up front.

Good luck.
p.s. I STILL haven't watched that video [analysis] you made of me! I may be your worst student in that department!
 
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