Small Claims Court Rant

[movnup]

I spent four hours today at small claims court for a guy that owed me $1000 for three direct mail pieces we sent out for him for him in October (my business is a lot like a Kinko's). At the beginning, the judge asks does anybody want to go to arbitration to get out more quickly / be first in line if it doesn't work. Trying to save time I said yes and twice we came close to an agreement but he backed out both times - he wanted to pay $100 / 11 months after I waited 5 months to get him to court. I even didn't charge him for some of the extra work we did that was close to $200 because he didn't have the mailing lists and documents set up right so they would even print out in the first place / be accepted at bulk mail.

The kicker is that he didn't believe that we actually did the work and drop them at USPO bulk mail because he had bad attendance at his seminar series "How to introduce comedy into your legal practice / courtroom delivery". To make a long story short by the time we got back to the judge she said there wasn't any time left even though we were supposed to be at the front of the line and I would have to come back again!!!

I got a parking ticket, I have to wait to get in front of a judge again, and I really want to charge for the four hours being there plus the interest for him using my money for this long. As a backgrounder, I write off to bad debt anything under a grand and he was at $1024 so this almost didn't happen in the first place. It shows a complete lack of regard for honest people trying to make a honest buck .... what a waste of of a beautiful Seattle afternoon !!!!

[Marlin]

Yea I gave my customers a chance but once i sent the certified letter off and they did not pay, it was the judge or nothing. No more bargains or promises.

[cabinetman]

I have been to court several times trying as a last ditch effort to collect money on custom work. What is so disheartening is to give a client time out of your life and the craftsmanship to do a nice job, and then realize the SOB just wants to screw you out of the money.

One interesting case was a lot of very custom work involving metals and veneers that were inlayed. When I consummated the contract the client showed excitement having me do the job over many other lower bidders. Didn't balk about price and didn't try to negotiate the price down.

That type of a circumstance is very rewarding to feel that the client wants you and the price doesn't matter.

BUT
THE JERK NEVER INTENDED TO PAY THE LAST ONE THIRD OF THE CONTRACT.

After completion of installation, there were two - three months of excuses and the never ending punch list. Knowing that if I took him to court, and it would not have been small claims, as the amount owed was waaaay beyond the limit. If by a chance that I won my case, collecting the money is something else. Besides, the cost in going to court, lawyer, time out of the shop, makes legal action the last alternative.

So, on the last ridiculous punch list, I went to the house and told his wife that there was a recall on the hinges, and they had to be removed. I took off all the doors, about 70, which were part of the big cost, brought them back to the shop. After about a week or so, I started getting calls about when the doors would be coming back. These people were real socialites in that they had to impress everyone on what they had and how well to do they were.

While we were in this limbo state, I heard from the other subs that they weren't getting their money either. That he had planned on ways to not pay people, thinking he would get away with the farse. Each of the subs including myself filed a "Mechanics Lien", which at least it would be some sort of reconciliation at a later date.

After about 3 weeks of not having any doors, and having all their plates, and pots and pans showing, I simply told them cash or cashier's check and they will be reinstalled. For him to get doors from someplace else would have cost him greatly and they wouldn't be nearly the same quality.

Ultimately he apologized and did pay and had some big story about his "problems". This proved to be a better choice that going to court even though it was probably more stressful.

[atgcpaul]

So, on the last ridiculous punch list, I went to the house and told his wife that there was a recall on the hinges, and they had to be removed. I took off all the doors, about 70, which were part of the big cost, brought them back to the shop.

That is pure genius!!! Great story.

For extra credit in law school, my wife handled some mediations (not
arbitration) in small claims court. She always had good stories to tell me at
dinner. It's amazing what people will try to get away with.

movnup, good luck to you.


Paul

[JSCOOK]

Cabinetman that great thinking!!!

With our family business (Tree Service & Removal) we've had to deal with several deadbeats over the years ... my Dad is the old fashion type where handshakes and a man's word is as good as a contract (I've in recent years been able him to slightly change his perspective ... sad, eh?) ... we try to avoid small claims court as much as possible cause it ususally ends up as a loss even if you win.

Several years back, we had one jerk that had to have a big tree cut back ASAP and agreed to the price. We did the work, sent the invoice, and he was suppose to pay within the month (30 days) ... month came and went, called and was told several excuses and that payment would be sent and that he was sorry ... time came and went again, and now our calls aren't getting answered.
So early one morning my dad takes one of our BIG dump trucks full of shredded wood chips and other tree related junk and backs into the entrance to his driveway, raises the box up ready to dump, and waits for the guy to leave for work in the morning.

Should point out that the guy lives in a pretty nice area of town.

Sure enough the garage door opend, small sports car backs out and turns around to leave out the drive. To his surprise here's our loaded dump truck getting ready to dump ... the guy is all mad and irratated and wants to know what the #$%@ we are doing here and he's got an important meeting to get to ... very claimly my dad says to the guy:

"Well since your not wanting to pay for the work we did, we thought we'd bring you back your tree. So either fill out and sign a check now for the total amount owed, or your gonna have to call in and tell them your not going to come in today as your going to have to dig out your driveway."

Man I don' think I've ever seen someone fill out and sign a check so fast ... I've never really seen my dad get red hot mad, but he sure did know how to get results ...

[eezlock]

court troubles

Not trying to hijack your thread here...just an interesting event anyway.
This happened to me several years ago.....

I'm an independent locksmith working alone and trying to make a living by
providing lock services in a lot of different situations, including car lockouts
(emergency openings, making replacement keys,etc.)

A woman called me to unlock her car at her residence, I told her what the charge would be for service and she agreed, and told to come open it for her.
I went to the location, found her, opened the vehicle, retrived the keys and asked for payment. She payed me with a check...which turned out to be
no good. I tried for a period of several weeks to contact her, I called her,
went by her house several times, sent her certified letters to her house,
all to no avail. Well, I was getting irritated by this time and decided to try another couse of action, I went to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's office
and filed the paperwork to have her taken to court on fradulent check charges. I had all my paperwork with me and in proper order for them,gave
the deputies everything they asked for and let them take it from there.

Well, low and behold, almost a year to the date of filing the paperwork
I got a phone call at the shop one day, guess who it was? The woman who had written the bad check, She asked me if I knew who she was...my
reply was "I sure do know who you are...you are the woman who wrote me a bad check about a year ago for a car opening". She said that she needed to clear this incident up..."I said...ok!" She wanted to me meet with me and pay for the check and any outstanding related charges, we agreed to meet at the bank and go from there. I told her how much it would be...total amount due. I had to bring my company stamp, for paperwork and sign-off on the court orders to receive my monies and all would be cleared up.

I asked her why she wanted to do this now....this is the good part.
She was at work, decided to pull up her social security number and check
her benefits and other info. on the computer. When she did this, a
message typed in huge red letters....said...ARRESET WARRANT all over
her computer in front of her and her colleagues was there for all to see!
This embarrassed her so bad she decided to clear it up right away!

Moral of story here, if they owe you...make them PAY... eezlock

[JeffW]

Gotta luv it. All good stories.

[Tom Slick]

I worked about 2 months for a scumbag that wrote hot checks constantly. you'd be amazed at what he could get away with. with his logic he was always the victim!!

[broschultz]

If you are going to write off a bad debt send the IRS a 1099. You will need his SS # so make that part of your contract or estimate.

[dlminehart]

My brother is a home builder, and honest to a fault. He's only gotten burned a couple times with non-payment, and both times the clients were lawyers. Talking with other subs, he found that their standard practice was to wriggle out from under the final payments. So, he no longer works for lawyers.