Ok here’s some details.
The guy is in business in NY, and I’ve now heard through other people in the industry that he’s done it before.
The check amount was $8500, on a package sent COD through FED-EX.
Yes I’ve called repeatedly, he stopped returning them after several excuses.
lucwarm, send me an e-mail, the address is in my profile.
Does anyone know if a collection agency would buy a one-shot debt? I doubt it, but if so you might be able to recoup a percentage of the money by selling the debt to the agency.
–Cliffy
P.S. I generally agree with Random; the rigor with which legal questions are approached in GQ has really flagged in the last several months. I implore everyone out there to please be more judicious in posting. If you’re not a lawyer or have no particular experience in a given situation, why not wait a few hours until someone with a certain amount of expertise comes along?
You may be elligible for treble damages under California law ($25,500). I can’t say much more without “practicing law” on the boards, which I avoid. Check the Civil Code.
Sorry, but I don’t want you to get too excited over treble damages. On second thought, statutory cap may apply preventing full treble damages. Again, check the Civil Code or consult your attorney for applicability to your case.
I’m going to stop now to avoid practicing. Good luck!
“Does the amount make a difference on whether the police will get involved?”
One time I called some state troopers cause this happened to me & they said they don’t get involved if it’s under $250.00
COD can be handled with a check, but I believe last time I looked at the UPS form not USPS, there was a check box for cash only, no checks, if you wanted that.
For $8,500 I would come to California myself & make him pay. Of course, if the item wasn’t legal, well, I would skip that…
Send him a letter with words to the effect of, “Where’s that $12,500 you owe me for X?” With any luck, he’ll do the stupid thing and mail you back, “What?! I only owe you $8500!” Presto, you’ve got a writing from him acknowledging the debt. Should make the court proceedings go quite smoothly.
Interesting, Max Torque, but…
I would expect the seller to throw away any letter, let alone take the time to send a written response.
The debt is already evidenced by a writing, namely, the NSF check.
…and on CIVIL the treble damages thing, if it applies, and I’m not saying it does, and I’m not saying that you might CODE need to take extra steps to even think about being potentially elligible for it, maybe, possibly, not SECTION so sure here, and I’m not your lawyer, and I’m not gving you legal advice, check with your lawyer and 1719 research the law, don’t even think about trying to get more than about $1500 over the contract price even if you have a good case, which I can’t say that you do.
Gotta give you some credit for making me laugh, Bear. Not easy to do, considering that I’m still sitting at my (office) desk at 8:00 on a Friday night.
Sure sounds like California law, which I know nothing about, is real similar to Illinois law which has absolutely nothing to do with this dispute on this issue of the civil treble damages available to someone who is given a bad check in exchange for goods.
BUMP
Two weeks later, and I still haven’t been able to collect on that debt. lucwarm if you’re still reading the board, can you contact me at the e-mail in my profile?
Stuffy, why don’t you email lucwarm? According to his profile he is contactable by email.
Well, I sent you an e-mail.
“You may be elligible for treble damages under California law ($25,500).”
If the person has that much to give you…chances are, if they can’t pay that $8.5k check they won’t be able to pay you three times it.
I once asked my local cops to write a letter to the guy & they did, can’t say I got anything though & they wrote a letter that made it seem that it was my responsibility that the person couldn’t pay.
I’ll second this. In 1999, I ordered an item from a US-incorporated company. I paid by money order, and they never sent me the item. After contacting the company failed to resolve the issue, I filed a report with the US postal inspectors using the form available on their website. A month or two later, I got my item from the company. I don’t know what the postal inspectors did, but it sure did the trick.