What Happens If?
Here is the situation I am in. I hired a guy to do a job for me. I paid him some of the money upfront for supplies for the job. He never did the work and will not respond to my phone calls. What are my options? Can I call the police on this matter? I am not sure what I can do to this guy to get the money back. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim
I've had this happen with subcontractors before. Sorry. It's not pleasant.
Probably proceedure varies from state to state. Check with your local sherrif's office, but they'll probably tell you you must sue, either small claims or regular, depending on how much money we're talking about. If you must go above small claims, check him out first. You can win a lawsuit, and if he has nothing in his name, no assets, you will collect nothing and be out court cost and lawyers fees. Same thing for small claims, but smaller fees. If you win, then it's up to the Sherrif's dept. to sieze assets if he doesn't pay. Can get messy and take a lot of time and energy. In the future, if you don't trust them (e.g., have references), you buy the materials (separate price for labor and materials and in contract that you are providing materials and you have the receipts) and if he absconds with these, then it's theft.
Terry
Hi,
Is it not considered a left anyway? I mean he basically stole the money. I just want the police to show up at his door.
Thanks,
Jim
It's not a theft it's a civil matter and you will need to sue to recoup your money.
The big question is "Do you have a contract or some documentation stating you paid him this money"?
You probably will end up in court. We had a similar problem with a contractor, but we did not give him any money. Thank God!! We finally met him with our lawyer, and settled out of court.
From now on, everytime, you need to communicate with him in writing, and you need to send him any correspondence as a certified mail, so you have them in your record, when you have to go to court. I would even call Police to see, if they can do something about it. The other people may have been ripped off by this guy too. Who knows.
Good luck.
I would call an attorney right away. If you are afraid of the cost, ask him up front if he will charge you just to answer the question. Otherwise, call or visit the local police station and see what they say. People like that belong behind bars. Good Luck!
Check with your states Contractor Licensing authority. It is the home owners responsibility to verify the contractor is licensed. (At least in my state of Oregon) If he is licensed you should be able to attach his Bond.
If he is not licensed, you just learned a big lesson on hiring the non licensed cheep guy/person.
Good Luck
As stated by concrete and the people's court, when somebody does you wrong, take them to court.
Just take him to small claims court. He won't show up and once you have your judgement you can garnish his future wages.
You don't need the expense of a lawyer or copies of a contract. Just take him to court.
In Ca, if you win in court, you then have to ID his assets in order to get the Sheriff to levy on them. If he has no regular job, you wont be able to garnishee his wages.