getting my money

[treeman82]

I thought this was funny and would share with you guys.

I had done some landscaping for a woman back in 2001. She neglected to pay me $2,000 out of $7,200. I took the beating, because she was selling the house and I knew that the new owners would have a lot of money to spend on the landscaping. I had my accident a few months later and was unable to finish out the season. I asked a good friend if he would finish it out for me by doing the leaves and cut the grass. He agreed and sent his guys to do the work. The bill wound up being $1,500 for the work. The woman left the country and is now in Singapore. I sent the bill for the leaf clean-up to her neighbor as she had asked and heard nothing for several months. Then I sent another copy of the bill to her mother. Again I heard nothing. A few months ago I paid her mother a visit and gained the daughter's e-mail address. We e-mailed eachother back and forth several times. Each time I would send an e-mail asking for my money, she said she refused to pay. Well a few weeks ago I sent her an e-mail saying she has until 3/14/03 for the check to be in my mailbox or else I will turn the debt over to my friend who WILL get the money. In a round about way I told her I was handing her bad debt over to the mafia if I don't get my money Sure enough this past weekend she sent me an e-mail she is going to pay the bill, but she is very unhappy and blah blah blah.
I am taking comfort though in knowing that I got the money... and she WILL be getting a visit when she comes back to the states
Just goes to show what happens to dead beats when they try to screw the wrong people.

 

[tophopper]

you thought that was funny?

sounds to me like you stalked this woman and her mother, then you threatened her.

 

[Dan Flinn]

Have you guys ever heard of a mechanics lien? Or, is it a contractors lien? Anyway, if someone doesn't pay, this lien can be used. You can only place this during the 180 day period following the invoice date. It prevents the sale of the property until the debt is paid.

I may take awile to get your money, but if they want to sell their house, they have to pay!

Dan

 

[treeman82]

Top hopper-

My former customer instructed me upon our meeting that if she moved and still owed me money that I should send the bill to her next door neighbor, and that neighbor would get the bill to her. I did as she asked and never saw a check. About 7 months later I decided to call the mother and ask if I could send the bill to her, and have her send it to her daughter. She said she would do that. So I sent her the bill and she sent it to her daughter. Again I sat on that for about 3 months. After not hearing anything, I stopped by one day at the mother's house when I was in the area to make sure the mother had recieved my bill. She said that she did and forwarded it to her daughter. She had asked her daughter about the issue and the daughter told her that she was taking care of it. I NEVER saw a check. So at that visit I asked the mother for her daughter's e-mail address. She gave it to me willingly and I sent the daughter some very nice e-mails. The daughter claimed she never got the bills, which is a bunch of crap, and refused to pay. Finally I got fed up and said to myself "I want my money" and sent the last e-mail. I can forward them all to you, if you want.

When this woman screwed me for the $2 G's it was a job on which we had BOTH agreed on a rate. The woman was VERY happy with the work we did, she expressed it, as did her mother and real estate agent. Sure enough, it came time to get paid and she re-negged on our agreement for my rate. So I got the shaft for $2K. Now if I get screwed, that's one thing... but when my friend get's screwed for helping me... that's a COMPLETELY different story which I really am not at liberty to get into.

By the way, I didn't say outright that she was gonna get a visit if she didn't pay. I worded it as "Mrs. Philbrick-

As of 2/22/03 I had not recieved a check from you to cover the leaf clean-up bill from fall 2001. I will ask one more time that you send me a check to cover that bill. If I do not have a check in my mailbox as of 3/14/03 I will be handing this matter over to a collection agency of sorts which does not let up until they have collected the amount due.

Thank you-

Matthew Lang"

 

[treeman82]

Dan, by the time I had the bill in my hands.... the woman had already sold the house and left the country. A lein would have done me no good. I checked into small claims court... that doesn't work either.

 

[MidwestTree]

Property Lien! In a case like this and you don't get your money you can put a lien on the property, you will get the money before the property is sold (title has to be clear before deed work is completed). It has to be done prior to the sell. You can place the lien and if ten years down the road the proerty sells or if the owner dies you will get the money (or the property) before the deed changes hands. I am usually more ready to place the lien if the property has the for sale sign in the yard when I arrive to do the work. Luckily I have not had to use this method but was down to the last request for money on a custumer once, but they finally paid.

 

[Jumper]

Good luck. I am chasing after an amount quite a bit less than that. At least you did not get stiffed for the whole $7200. And in the interim you could have used the $$$$ I am sure, just as is the case with me. I am having to do without (for example medication I have to pay for), I will manage, but it is vexing.

 

[Stumper]

I'm glad you got paid but this whole scenario baffles me. The Mechanics lein is a powerful tool which I would not hesitate to use but it has never come to that. My policy is simple, payment upon completion! If a job totals $1200 or more then I get progress payments for work completed(usually $500-700 increments. I am not going to get stiffed for more than $1199 EVER! In actuality I have been beat out of $100 once and $95 another time. In retrospect I wish I had filed mechanics leins in pursuit of justice. The reality was that it was too much hassle for those amounts.
If someone had failed to pay me $2000 dollars, they would think that MY name was Guido or Vinnie!

 

[NeTree]

Situations like this are why I always get paid before I leave the premises. "Payment in full is due upon the completion of the work" is printed right on my contracts. I figure they can either afford to have the work done, or they can't.

 

[Greg]

Sounds like she might need a little smacking around. Killing or beating up customers is terrible for repeat/referral business. I hate it when someone asks one of my customers, "How'd ya get that black eye?", and they answer: "I paid the tree guy a little late, he came out and whipped my a$$"
Greg

 

[mikecross23]

Originally posted by Greg
"I paid the tree guy a little late, he came out and whipped my a$$"
Greg

Since most of us are all BIG bad fella's, you know we would lay down an a$$ woopin!

-Mike-

 

[Jumper]

Well after y'all finish with treeman82's client, come on up here and we all will pay my ex boss a visit!! Someone bring an 088 so we really can make a big impression on the front door of his fancy new west end house.

 

[NeTree]

Alternatively, you could put an arborists' lean on the trees on the property....



Yes, lean, not lien.........

 

[NickfromWI]

Threatening...

If you are doing bill collecting, it'd be worth it to check out the laws pertaining to bill collecting in your state. For example, in California, a collector is not allowed to call a person at work, threaten the debtor, contact family other than to obtain contact information and stuff like that.
It would suck if you said the wrong thing to a client and they turned around and sued you!

love
nick