What's new
What's new

OT: What to do when someone stops payment on a check ?

Richard Rogers

Titanium
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Location
Bentley, Louisiana
I've had someone who has goods I've shipped to them, and they've now stopped payment on a check to me. I'll save you the trouble. Needless to say, I'm not happy with this. What can I do to get my money. It is a company check. It is from out-of-state.

Thanks,

Richard
 
Sounds like it's gonna have to be a plane or bus ticket fix. Buy your ticket, make a trip, wring some neck bone.

But before that, exhaust ALL possibilities of communication including his local municipality.

The stop payment could be considered a theft if the issuer knew there was insufficient funds when writing the check.

Problem is you are dealing with his local agency (PD/Sheriff) and some will not want to get involved due to the civil nature. JRouche

Some info:

http://www.co.denton.tx.us/dept/jp2/Forms/2.pdf

http://161.58.77.84/CDA/stop_payment_checks.htm

http://www.lawca.com/lawdude/howto/14.html

http://www.co.orange.tx.us/DA_Office/hot.htm
 
The check is a legal document and they are still liable for the amount of that document if they have your goods, whether than canceled payment or not. Parlaying that legality into actual payment of debt owned without spending time and money on your end, is the tricky part of course.

First off, have you contacted them and if so, what do they give as the reason they stopped payment ?

Also would help to know what sort of money is involved so we know how concerned to be ;)
 
Well, the "reason" is that they've claimed there is a problem with the part fitting. To make a long story short, I know this isn't so. The way they're saying this is not fitting isn't even possible. The guy slipped up once and mention a part he was "borrowing."

I put two and two together right fast and figured out he'd bought or traded for something else, and he's trying to balk on our deal. I'm not game for that one. Sooooo, he's pulled the plug on the check.

IF he returns the parts (he hasn't yet) then should I accept the package? I'll be talking to a collection agency Monday. They charge 25 percent, so I'm not jumping to go that route first, if you know what I mean. I always seem to get news like this on a Saturday when I can't get into contact with anyone.

Thanks

Richard
 
Also would help to know what sort of money is involved so we know how concerned to be
The amount is 1500 plus a little over $100 for shipping. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. The sale was "as-is" It's frustrating to have this happen on a Saturday.

Richard
 
Send a demand letter, then file suit in small claims at your local courthouse in your state. Ask for whatever damages your state allows for fraud or 'civil theft', which is usually treble actual invoice. Since you file in your locality, he must either travel to your area or retain an attorney in your area to contest. He will likely lose and if he does not bother to show up to contest, he will surely lose. This will cost you about $100 in filing fees. Win or lose, his costs will be far more than $100, thousands if he chooses to retain an attorney. If you win a judgement, you then make a date with his local sheriff to execute the judgement on his business property. He won't want ant part of this and will probably settle long before it goes this far.

Ask me how I know :D

Jimbo
 
If you win a judgement, you then make a date with his local sheriff to execute the judgement on his business property.
$1500 is enough to be concerned about, as for
getting to his property, how far away is he?
That bad check should be all the evidence you
need, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to collect
all the other documentation you have, blue print,
purchase order, etc, etc. Unfortunately you
might spend $1500 in time and money collecting
from this jerk. You giving up is what this
clown is counting on, can you resell the part
if he returns it?
 
DO NOT CALL THE COLLECTION AGENT! STOP NOW!

Most states have a "Bad Check Unit" of the attorney generals office. They enforce things like this for a living, and for free might I add. Anything over $500 is felony fraud, as in he goes to the slammer. The bad check unit will have a form letter that you should send to him certified mail, return recipet, etc. If you do this and he does not pay up inside 30 days you send a copy of your letter, reciept, etc to the bad check unit. THEY will send a sherrif out to arrest him. The bad check unit WILL collect and send you a check.
 
I went through this with a former business partner who pulled a similar move with borrowed stuff, stopped checks and such. He then moved to Texas. I knew he was moving, but he lied about his departure date, made his 'settlement' with me and was gone the next day, rather than next month as he had stated. He thought he got clean away. But I immediately sent a demand letter then filed suit the next week for trebel damages, about $7500.00. He paid back every penny. I did everything without a lawyer as the amount was really too small to make that economical. But none of this is complicated stuuf. Imagine his suprise when the local sheriff seved him summons at work :eek: To make thing worse (for him), he was trying to start a new life with a new wife and house. But no bank will come NEAR you for a mortgage with a lawsuit dangled aroud your neck! And there was just no way to cheaply fight a suit brought in another state; he either had to travel to my county or hire an attorney here, either of which would have cost thousands, and he could still lose. Better just to give back the $2500 and make it go away.

Jimbo
 
RJ:I thought it had cleared. I guess I goofed.



Buyer is out of state. I may not have made that part clear. I plan to see my District Attorney about this Monday.

I've had no word about the merchandise. It may be in transit to me. I did not approve a return.

I have no way of proving this, but I am certain the guy found the same thing from a buddy for $500 and then wants me to have to eat the deal I made with him. A deal is a deal. The product is not faulty.

To describe a little, the part has a female taper, and it fits onto a male taper spindle. He said what the measurement is at the taper's opening, because when he called me with the "problem," I got him to measure it, but not with a micrometer, just to make sure. That opening is 3.5" or so. Now, get this---he tells me it "takes up tight on the taper 1 1/2" higher than it should" Just for info I did not make this part, it's just something used I had.

Well, he also said it's tight against the spindle at the 3.5" diameter point(its opening's size). Now we're machinists here, so think of it like this: Drop a ring onto a cone, and it'll stop where its diameter is met by that point on the cone's diameter, and that won't happen 1.5" above that diameter, will it? I've even seen rubber o-ring ID widgets that work on this principal. No doubt others have too. That's when I knew he was lying about it not fitting the taper. It's a bogus story. It's a pretty steep taper, and 1 1/2" above the place it should take up is WAY smaller than where its opening is.

Thanks for the pointers.

Richard
 
"I plan to see my District Attorney about this Monday. "

After the additional info, it's a civil matter. The D/A is not gonna want to touch that. JRouche
 
Richard,

If the customer is someone you met on this
form, or even if not, I would think it would
be nice to name names, so none of the other
self-employeds here will fall victim to this
person, if you don't mind,........Bob
 
No one from this board, Dualkit.

JRouche: Passing worthless checks is criminal. A dispute over the parts fitting and a return of the money would be civil. That's why I'm going to the DA, to make this guy pay for what he got from me. At least this is my hope. I'll know more Monday.

Richard
 
We always turned hot checks over to the prosecuting attorney. Of course ,most of them were local, with a few being over the local state line. Anytime the P.A. couldn't help us he directed us correctly on what to do, and who to talk to.

jackal
 
"JRouche: Passing worthless checks is criminal."

He didnt pass a NSF check, he stopped the payment. Big diff., stopping payment on a check is not against the law, not here in California anyway. We are somewhat of a liberal state though :D :D JRouche
 
Is it anywhere near Pittsburgh? I just got to collect on a bad check (payment stopped) from some work I did. I used a collection agency, but he is a friend of mine that is about 300 pounds. It worked great.

Stopping payment can be illegal too though, maybe in this case. Basically he sent the check for payment, got the item, then stopped payment.
How long did he have it? Checks usually clear within 2 days now, how long did it take to ship it to him?
If he stopped payment before he even got it, that is possible too.
 
From my business dealings, I understand the law to be (here in CA but I believe its national)that a bank has 10 business days to clear a check. This 10 business days does not include holidays or weekends (most banks are open saturdays but those aren't included). If after 10 business days, the money is still in your account, its yours. Usually when you deposit a check, the money immediately shows up in your account balance (sometimes on hold depending on your prior balance) but within that 10 day period, it could still disappear if the check returns NSF or is cancelled.
 








 
Back
Top