Ever Had To Sue A Customer??

I'm about a day away from suing a customer for non-payment. He started out as a weirdo (wouldn't give me his address, introduced me to his dog, etc....) and then turned into a total douche (refusing to pay me and trying to intimidate me with legal jargon)! I did the work at his house and everything was fine...but he left when I took a 30 minute lunch even when I told him I would finish around 3 and it was noon. Then when I called to tell him I was done he wash rude but we worked through it and agreed I would leave the invoice in the mailbox and he would send me a check right away.

The next morning he calls to tell me his wife was very happy with the results which scored him some brownie points and made him happy and he would send me a check right away......then a week go by. I send him emails for a few weeks and call and he ignores it all till - then emails to confirm my current address as opposed to my previous address. He's a para-legal - which is a legal secretary not even close to a lawyer, so he must have looked up my address history because I wrote my mailing address on the invoice! I guess he was trying to intimidate me or just being creepy but anyway.....still no check for a few more weeks so I very politely tell him I am going to sue him if he doesn't make arrangements to pay me soon.

Then he sends me an email trying to question whether I ever did or completed the job because I took a lunch he called it "abandonment" and questioning if we had ever even agreed on the work and the price. This was getting weird and aggravating!! But I'm a pretty smart cookie and my dad is a real lawyer!! Eventually he wears down and agrees to send me a check and tells me standard time is a month for payment....on a residential job, with no agreement ahead of time??? I just want my check so I am happy and even thank him for paying me and then the check comes in for half the amount due and a memo saying "RELAX - payment 1 of 2".

So now another month goes by and I email him again and we have this exchange:


Mon, September 9, 2013 12:44 pm

Jeff,You still have an outstanding balance of $225 do immediately - I have recently sent you 2 more emails that you have once again ignored. I willhave no choice but to take you to small claims court if you do not make payment or arrangements for payment soon.
___________________________________________
Mon, September 9, 2013 5:05 pm

Mr. Simmons I have asked and went as far as demanding you to stop e-mailing me about your problems. I take these emails as nothing more than harassment by you, therefore I will make this last demand that you stop with this harassment.

Respectfully,


Jeff Burns

_______________________________________
Mon, September 9, 2013 5:41 pm

Jeff,I am not harassing you at all. I have very politely asked you via emailwhen I can expect your final payment....I have not called you, texted you,mailed you, faxed you, or shown up at your door. The fact that haveignored my emails does not make my very polite attempts to contact youharassment. Once again, you have not given me any reason to believe thatyou intend to pay me the balance on $225 that you own me - and have forover 2 months now. I have every right to request payment from you andcontinue to attempt to contact you until you either inform me of when Ican expect payment or I finally receive that payment....neither of whichhas happened. There is but one very simple resolution to this and youknow exactly what it is - just pay me what you know you owe me for theservices I provided to you to your satisfaction.You can use all the legal jargon you want and "demand" that I stop"harassing" you and try to make this out to be "my problem" but you can'tchange the fact that you owe me $225 and you have not paid me nor given meany reason to believe that you intend to.Again I politely ask: Please mail me the second and final payment of $225to the address I have provided immediately.

Thanks,

Daniel Simmons
______________________________
Mon, September 9, 2013 7:11 pm

Mr. Simmons Thank you for your offer to pressure wash my house for $225.00, but I must declineyour offer as I have found someone else who can do a better job.

Respectfully submitted

Jeff Burns
______________________________________
Mon, September 9, 2013 7:40 pm

Seriously Jeff,

You think I don't have all the chains of emails you have exchanged with me, phone records, a copy of the check you sent me with the MEMO: "relax,payment 1 of 2" that will coincide exactly with the dates of our emails? Oh yeah, and before and after pictures of your house, driveway and windowswith times and dates built into them? I even spoke with one of yourneighbors while I was there. Here is probably my favorite email but thereare several others that I like as well:
--------------------------
"Jeff Burns"Jul 23to me
Daniel - Relax... You are going to get paid, so quit e-mailing me. Normal business turnaround for payment of invoices is 30 days.

Respectfully

Jeff Burns
----------------------------------

Jeff, this has gone on for too long and I just want my money - nothing else. I am again politely requesting that you send me the $225 you owe me out of the $475 we agreed on for my pressure washing and window cleaning services. My dad is a real lawyer and we will have no problem sending you demand letters and then taking you to small claims court to get my money so don't think you can get out of paying me.I know you would love for me to send you some threatening email so you could try to leverage it against me but I have not and will not threaten you with anything other than legal action for your refusal to pay me. Ifyou have some legitimate reason why you cannot pay me right now, but expect to be able to pay me in the near future, please let me know now and I will do what I can to work with you....I am an understanding and caring man. Please let me know when I can expect to receive the check.

Thanks,

Daniel Simmons


____________________________________________________
Mon, September 9, 2013 8:39 pm

Mr. Simmons WATCH OUT ON WHO YOU THREATEN

I do not need to leave the house to find out everything I want to know about you.Here is just a small sample of what I know about you. - (and then lists my history of properties, businesses, cars, voter registration and drivers license number)
_____________________________________________________________

Am I wrong here? I wasn't going to sue his ass till that last email but now I am for sure and I'm not sure if even that is enough for this guy! Let me know what you think!

Daniel Simmons
http://www.pressurewashinghouston.com


 
Wow, sounds like one member on this forum and other forums.

Have you contacted the police for theft of services?

I would call Ron Musgraves, he has been doing this longer than most and always has great advice.

Good luck.
 
Although you are definitely in the right with the situation, at this point, I would just walk away. I would have my lawyers send him a letter stating he needs to pay, if he still did not pay, I would put him in collections. But I could not justify wasting the time out of my day by pursuing it in court for only $225. Maybe $2,225 but $225 is not even worth the time and effort.

I have all my customers sign a residential contract form and they get the pink copy that has the terms and conditions on the back. Don't know if that would have helped with this guy or not, but I would advise doing that in the future. All the time and effort wasted on this guy you can pick up 10 more house washes that will pay right away. I look at my time as money. I get about 5 of these clients a year, they always end up in collections. Sorry you ran into one of these jerks! We also put clients like this on the DNS list or Do Not Service list. You would be surprised I have had clients like this call me back a year or two down the road. We just laugh at them and refuse to service.

Good luck!
 
I have tried to be understanding with him but he just keeps coming back as a jerk...now I am "pot committed" as the poker players say. My dad is a lawyer otherwise I would probably just have let it go...but he really got me fired up with his last email! I know if I hadn't stayed on his I would never have even gotten the $250 so I guess that is a small victory of sorts....
 
I would have a lot more than $225 wrapped up in getting my attorney involved at this point. If you were going to send a demand letter it should've been sent from the beginning. So I vote "No" for suing him. I would take what he gave you and let it go.
 
File a lien on his property, let him have a lien on his "background history" for lack of paying for a pressure washing service, you will eventually get your money
 
Wright him a letter saying you will be suing him for non payment, putting a lien on his home, and taking him to court. Mail it to about five of his neighbors mailing addresses and see what happens next! They will open it and see it was for him and walk it over. EMBARRASSING!!!!!!
 
If your going to go after him, first have a lawyer friend of your dads send a letter of intent. That way lawyers name is different.

Next file the lawsuit for the total amount you can sue for in your area in small claims. Some places are $2500, others go to $5000. Reason being, you will have more cost's and fee's wrapped up before said and done and the judge will give you everything you have proof and receipt for.

Also do the property lean to hurt his credit.

If he is rich, and is a d$&k like you say, he will probably pay the fee, and change it to a jury trial. At that point you will have to have a lawyer and may not be worth the extra $$$.

Some people like to play these games to fuel there crappy existence of life.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Wright him a letter saying you will be suing him for non payment, putting a lien on his home, and taking him to court. Mail it to about five of his neighbors mailing addresses and see what happens next! They will open it and see it was for him and walk it over. EMBARRASSING!!!!!!


I like the Way you think James!!!


And I think the customer is just upset because he is a "fancy paralegal" and doesn't make $475 in a day
 
I understand the principal about it and I would feel the same way but it will cost you more than 250. I not sure if Texas will allow it or not but sometime if you call them at work they get more prompt in paying. Then again if you Dad is a lawyer kick his axx as much as you can. In his own word let him know IT NOT A THREAT IF YOU FOLLOW THRU.
 
me, I would pay a guy one hundred dollars to stand in front of his house or work with a sign that says " deadbeat jeff burns does not pay his bills "
 
me, I would pay a guy one hundred dollars to stand in front of his house or work with a sign that says " deadbeat jeff burns does not pay his bills "

LMAO!
 
You guys have some creative ideas! I was considering putting some ads on craigslist for free awesome stuff and say come and get it with his address!! But I don't want to hurt other people's feelings....I'm sure a little Muriatic in his yard would ruin his day! But I'm not much of a plant killer. Being the "high and mighty" jerk he is and assuming he got beat up a lot in middle school I am afraid he would make my life hard by posting a bunch of negative comments about me online or reporting me as a tax cheat to the IRS or something to make my life hard.

I can't decide if I need to send him one more email to let him know his little attempt at intimidating me will not work..... I already knew all those things about myself but thanks anyway. What - are you writing my bio?? And then let him know he is being sued.
 
It's not theft of sevice you call the police they will laugh an make a joke of it. Stop emailing an just do what you need to do to get your payment go to his house 1 more time when he is home.If he refuses go straight to the courthouse an do the paperwork .Sounds like he just wants to be a .ick.Good luck hope it worksite for ya.
 
I would turn it over to a bill collector. Then I would tell them to have one of their women operators call him at 2 AM (I know it's illegal to call at 2 AM) with a real sexy voice but make it not sound like a standard bill collection call while he is laying there next to his wife in bed.

I bet you see a check in the next few days.
 
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