When To Go To Court?

Thewoodman

At what dollar amount do figure it is worth the time and trouble to take a nonpaying customer to small claims court?

The one side of me says its the principal of the thing, they owe me money so dang it I am taking them to court.

But the the more logical side of of me says that its more trouble than its worth to go through all the court crap. just eat it and move on.

What to do what to do???

Mark

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Brickie

Roughly, how much money are you talking?

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Ed the Roofer

Poolman suggested this link in the "Getting Paid" thread.

www.olddebts.com

He vouches for it, but I have no experience with them.

It may be an easier and softer way to go on your anxieties, yet still cause some grief for the delinquent party.

Ed

POOLMANinCT

it has served me well

ray

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Mike Finley

Somebody could steal $1000 from me nicely and I might let it go. But somebody steals 5 bucks from me and is a dick about it, and I'm going to spend whatever time and money it takes to get even.

GregS

Can you at least file a lien on the property?

Or go in and remove whatever fixtures you put in and can easily remove?

It's still yours until they pay for it, right?

john elliott

Not in virtually every country in the world. Once it's fixed it belongs to the owner of the property, whether it's been paid for or not

John

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Ed the Roofer said "John too, in his crass and blunt demeanor.............."

slickshift

I've had success with the "Notice Of Intent To Lien" letter
It doesn't really matter if your state requires one or not, the letter itself can shake some apples from the tree

If you eventually do need to place a lien, many states require the "Intent" letter, then a waiting period anyway, if the letter doesn't work, it gets that part out of the way anyway

For a dollar amount, that's tough
Little guys who can least afford legal fees can afford less deadbeats too
Guys who can afford to "eat" higher amounts can more afford legal fees
It's a toughie

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marc

NO it's not. Go ahead and try doing that. When the cops pick you up try telling them it's yours. Let us know what they say.

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Marc

AtlanticWBConst

FWIW -
We have used collection agencies to get our money. It has worked.

They ask for 20-30 percent or a flat rate, based on the amount. We figure, it saves us time (that's a fact, and when you work for yourself, your time IS MONEY), and it's better than getting nothing.
They know what tactics to take and what buttons to push. They have access to people's payment histories, judgements, property ownership records, etc....

We have made phone calls to them .......and gotten our money in several days from the 'deadbeats'....

We have collected off debts as small as $600.00 using them.

Sometimes, it's not just about the money. If the guy is really 'jerking us around', ...... it's a nice swift 'kick in the head' for them.

One slimy guy: After bouncing checks with us, we make a call to the agency. The next day we get an angry phone call from the deadbeat that says.... "I just put your f***ing certified check in the mail".....

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GregS

Well that's no good.

I do have it on the bottom of all my invoices, "Goods remain the property of <company> until paid in full" left over from my mailorder days. It was done on advice from my lawyer in case the company I shipped to went into receivership. That would have been my recourse for reclaiming anything I sent them.

Ed the Roofer

Atlantic,

Which collection agency do you use? Also,are they nation-wide?

Ed

POOLMANinCT

exlore the web site posted a few back... some neat options,

one theif called me screaming she was in collections & threatened to sue me...... all I could say "that's hilarious, good night "

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john elliott

It's OK to reclaim stuff (maybe) that is lying around in packages, but no matter what you write on your invoices, once it's a fixture in or on their house, it's theirs, paid for or not

John

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Ed the Roofer said "John too, in his crass and blunt demeanor.............."

floor instal

Just hit the old debts sight, its great. I sure could have used it a few months ago. I have let a few bad debts slide because it wasn't worth taking the time off paying jobs to chase bad debts. Thanks for the info.

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POOLMANinCT

so????

throw those deadbeats to
old debts anyway....
I bet ya half of the recovery, you'll see some bucks.......

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parkerfairfield

Mark - great question.

IMO ...
a) if it's outside their house and you think there's a chance that they'll pay then I'd do what I did here:
http://www.contractortalk.com/showpo...7&postcount=19

You call and get the police dispatch number first - or you call 311 (which most places is how to call the cops for a NON-emergency).

If you do the bluff right, they'll either pay, or let you have the item. If you suck at poker... you're not the right guy to do this cuz you'll have a cop explaining to you local law (which is usually how he doesn't wanna do the paperwork and the 1 time it happened, the homeowner and I had a mediation session thru the cop; I got partial payment an left .. dont FORGET to tell your CPA as the badloan is a write off ...


iF it is inside the real issue is how much is the max you can take to small claims? If it's 5000 ... I'd do the process once to see how much of a pain in the a$$ it is.


BTW ... a BIG hint to all of you that sometimes think - SHOULD i give him a proposal cuz i don't think it'd be smart.

Put a price that OBVIOUSLY has an extra 25% ... for the potential pain ... and then discount the majority amount of it if paid on time; that way when you go to mediation and he's in violation you get paid for your time (I did this everytime i thought someone might not pay on time and i'd have to pay to file mechanics liens .... not a lot of time, but sometimes you've a feeling; plus it tells the custgomer how you really feel - and some are scum and need to know to buy from the stupider contractor.)

PAF

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Stone Mountain

MArc, for $3-400 it's probably not worth it, although last year I took someone to court for$450.00 (I won: they had to pay me the $450, plus $125 in court costs, plus $75 in interest for 18 months!)
As I've said here before: There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. (TanstaffL). If you've done the work, and they just refuse to pay for no real or substantial reason, the courts will likely take your side and make you pay.
2 years ago I had a gy who simply refuse to pay. The balance was $4500. He never showed at court, on 2 occaisions. I got a court ordered lein, and I eventually collected $7300, including interest and expenses!
You don't have the money now. If you go to small claims, you may still not have the money. More likely you will get a settlement, so go for it!

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