Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

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Well, what if someone pulled this on you? What would you do?

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Tell him there was no agreement about the jack and that he bought a car not a jack.
Tell him he owes you $50 and you will give him an amount of time (3 days or a week) to pay you.
Threaten to take him to small claims court.
Call his mommy
Give up.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

I see. Yeah, the guy is a [censored] moron for pulling that crap. You can buy a bottle jack for ten bucks at Harbor Freight, so what's up with the fifty? Still, it's not worth chasing down the money through any kind of outside source.

Swede

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

You will spend more than $50 to fight this. Setting fire to the car is a better idea.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Well, what if someone pulled this on you? What would you do?

[/ QUOTE ]

Kidnap his family. Take them out on a boat with large cinder blocks tied to their ankles. Give him a call. Camera phone is a +.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

This sucks.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

Small claims court is easy. And when you win he also owes you your filing fees and postage. Since you know where he banks you can just walk into the bank with the judgement and have them pay you right there.

If he bothers to respond, you will have to waste a few hours at court. If he doesn't respond, you win by default.

In any case, it's good practice for your first small court case to be a slam dunk. I'm assuming you have the sale price in writing somewhere, like on the title.

Also don't sweat court and stuff it's 51% proof, so it is just whoever the judge believes.

Really the guy won't even answer your certified mail and you will win by default.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

The one thing you are missing here is the time spent researching and filing this small claim. Obviously the OP doesn't have much expertize in this area, and unless he's a college bum with nothing better to do the opportunity cost of going through all this would exceed the $50. Or does small claims court also consider personal time spent when figuring out the damages?

Swede

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

in texas it costs $26 to file in court (i believe that's the fee). as the above poster mentioned you have to send a certified letter to him also. so that's an extra couple bucks plus writing the letter. plus the time you have to file the court fees. so you'll have spent about $30 and plenty of time right away.

you dont have to have a contract in court but you have to expect the other party not to lie and say what the true sale price was. if you win he has to pay you money owed plus court costs but then you have to file papers to get the money after that. (ive won $800 in small claims court before and never saw a dime of it).

the dude gained possesion of the property before properly paying for it and is screwing you over trying to renogotiate the price now. the dude's a jerk. id call him up and act like you're ready to play hardball but never intend to go through w/ it.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

Uhhh if you guys wrote out some sort of receipt (I HOPE YOU DID) you should just be able to say "the car was sold for $2950, I've only received $2900." if this was the only written agreement you have, you are in the right.

That is, if you took it to small claims...which is a waste.

Re: Getting money that is owed.. (small claims?)
 

He'll spend probably an hour at home filling out paperwork, an hour or two at court, and travel time.

He'll probably win 75 dollars or so at court, and next time he's near the guys bank he just goes in and gets the money.

But the main thing is is it's fun and he'll be learning how to assert his rights. Also I figure this will become more important in the future. Just look at New York and the subway search thing.