wiered situation your thoughts and input

JOCCO · Aug 14, 2009

A Friend does repair work (well leave the name brands and people out of it) Guy came in with a badly broken item. He told him cheaper/better to buy new object, he sells them too. Guy says no fix it. FAST FORWARD A BIT He fixes it has a lot in it (parts-labor) Happens to see the guy at a local ice cream joint one evening says your item is fixed and ready. The guy looks up and says "oh i don't need it I bought a new one at xyz company." and walked off. Your thoughts gentlemen???we will give you a point for the obvious of wanting to do a fat lip or black eye)

bison · Aug 14, 2009

Sell it if the item is worth what your friend has in it.If not,take him to small claims court.

He should have asked for upfront payment on the estimated repair cost in case the repair exeeds the value.

newfarmer9 · Aug 14, 2009

If your friend can get his money back out of it (which I doubt from what you said), then sell it. Otherwise talk to the customer first, remind him of his obligation to pay. Threaten legal action if he doesn't square up his bill. And then follow through with the legal action.

phillip d · Aug 14, 2009

Is it a regular customer or just a new walk in?If it's the later rather than the earlier,than if it was me,I would refuse to do any future work for the person without payment on the last object and a deposit on the new work.If it's a regular customer who spends alot of money at the shop and has been a good customer in the past,than probabbly not worth the effort of getting too upset unless of course it's an awfull lot of money,than some course of action should be taken.

phillip d · Aug 14, 2009

forgot to add if he's been a good customer in the past,than he can get him back in future transactions

davediehl@hotmail.com · Aug 14, 2009

Thats why you collect at least half of what the repair would cost. At least this way, you have parts covered and may be out some labor. My day job does exactly that. Then when the object is abandoned, the employees place their bids and walk away with some good stuff. The company isn't out anything and the item doesn't sit on the shelf. The customer also gets a nice little note on account as well. They pay 100% up front after that.

RodinNS · Aug 14, 2009

Well... the first thing that comes to mind is that there's two sides to every story... and that 'fast forward' can involve a lot of time.

I guess I'd ask the guy if he intends to pay for it... and if he doesn't, will he sign the item over so that it can be sold. Then sell it to get something out of it. I presume from you tone that the selling price won't cover the repairs...
If he won't do that, then slap a warehousemans/mechanics lein on it and sell it anyway. That has the added bonus of the owner having his name plastered in the local paper...

Beyond that I wouldn't do any further work for the guy without up front payment, if I could even be bothered doing that much.

Rod

Dieslerider · Aug 15, 2009

Send him the bill, if he doesn't pay in thirty days, like Bison says small claims court. Once the judgment is issued against him he will have to make good on it or the sheriff/ constable will sell off his property yo settle up plus court costs. The guy did order the work done he is obligated to pay.

trucker40 · Aug 15, 2009

In order to sue somebody you need a signed work order or bill.Now if he had him sign a bill before he did the work he would be able to sue him and probably win,but you stand a chance of loosing in court.If he doesnt have a signed bill or something,maybe a witness,it might be harder to win.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 15, 2009

You could go to small claims court but even if you are successful the court doesn't enforce the judgement. To get a sheriff involved is another lengthy/costly ordeal. Highly unlikely his property would be sold off to pay a small claims judgement. Up here I think a judgement is good for 10 years. Still could be worth going to court though. He may want to pay instead of going to court. If you can get a mechanics lean would be worth looking into. If he doesn't pay, he won't be able to renew his registration on the vehicle when it's do. Dave

Billy Shafer · Aug 15, 2009

When I was in field service and someone refused to pay. We just let the other shops know what happened. So no one would do work for them. Didn't take long for them to pay up after they found out they could not get repairs done.

BDT in Minnesota · Aug 17, 2009

Your friend hopefully learned a valuable lesson: He should Rely on HIS Better Judgement; as MOST of his customers do when they walk through his door....

Without raising a big stink,, check with your county attorney or other council as to the proper procedure for selling the item and recovering some expense....

I would remain polite, but firm through the ordeal...

wiered situation your thoughts and input

JOCCO

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bison

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newfarmer9

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phillip d

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phillip d

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[email protected]

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RodinNS

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Dieslerider

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trucker40

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Anonymous-0

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Billy Shafer

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BDT in Minnesota

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