sircanegiem
New Member
Short version:
About a year ago, I repaired a woman's computer and charged her $90 for the motherboard, hard drive, and labor. She paid me with a bad check written from her husband's checking account, and my bank charged me a $15 fee for attempting to cash it, bringing the total to $105.
I told her this and although she had some complaints with the work I did (even though I did exactly what I told her I was going to do and she has no proof otherwise) I told her I'd soak up the $15 fee if she'd just pay me the $90, which she never did. She claims she has copies of the two money orders she sent to me and proof of delivery.
After attempting to call her and her changing her phone number, then emailing her and her blocking my email address (all of the emails have been saved), she took the motherboard and hard drive and ran away with it. Her last email said: "Oh, and by the way, emailing me won't work anymore. Blocking is fun."
I have proof of purchasing the motherboard, all the emails we sent back and forth (none of which include us talking about the two complaints she had with my work), and I'm sure I could dig up the bad check with the "NSF" non-sufficient funds stamp on it.
Could I confidently bring this to small claims court?
Long version:
At about this time last year, a woman contacted me after seeing my ad on Craigslist for computer repair, and said her computer would no longer boot up. I told her it was likely the motherboard or the power supply, and after testing it, the motherboard needed to be replaced; I quoted her $70 for the repair (which is very cheap because she was on a budget) and she accepted.
I have a few emails saved of us contacting each other, with me telling her that I received the motherboard, when our availabilities were, etc. The motherboard I bought was an OEM board, which I told her before I bought it, which means there was no back plate to cover up the connectors in the back. (I bought an OEM board because it cost less to fit into her budget; after the computer is plugged in it's completely un-noticeable and it does not affect performance whatsoever.)
After replacing the board, I did a routine test of the other hardware in her computer and noticed her second hard drive for backing up files was beginning to fail, so I told her this and she agreed to pay another $25 for the hard drive replacement. I removed the old 20GB drive and replaced it with a 30GB drive and moved her data to it; she swears that I said I'd install a 40GB, but I did not, and she has no proof of me saying so.
After she came by and picked up the computer and handed me a *check* written out for $90, the check written from her husband's TCF Bank checking account, I cashed it and 2-3 days later had it sent back to me with an Insufficient Funds stamp on it and a $15 fee for trying to cash the bad check she gave me. I called her at her home phone and told her this, and said that I now needed $105 in cash, and she said that she would get it to me.
A week passed and she said that she mailed two different money orders to me, but I did not receive either of them. She then said that she had a copy of the order and accused me of lying about not getting it, and then changed her phone number so I could no longer contact her.
I then began contacting her through email again, saying that I was going to take this to small claims court, and she ended up blocking my email address, her last email saying: "Oh, and emailing me won't work anymore. Blocking is fun."
I then tried to call her at work two or three times, and when she begun to hang up on me, I spoke to her manager and asked if there was any information that he could give me that would help me contact her, and he said that he could not, and so I left it at that.
The last thing she said to me through an email was that she would not pay the full $105 because of my "shoddy workmanship" by using an OEM board without the back plate, and because I only installed a 30GB hard drive instead of a 40GB drive. I told her that if she only wanted to pay me $90 for those reasons I wouldn't even care and that I just needed her to pay me, but she never ended up doing it.
Is this something that I could confidently bring into small claims court? Sorry for the long post.
Matt
About a year ago, I repaired a woman's computer and charged her $90 for the motherboard, hard drive, and labor. She paid me with a bad check written from her husband's checking account, and my bank charged me a $15 fee for attempting to cash it, bringing the total to $105.
I told her this and although she had some complaints with the work I did (even though I did exactly what I told her I was going to do and she has no proof otherwise) I told her I'd soak up the $15 fee if she'd just pay me the $90, which she never did. She claims she has copies of the two money orders she sent to me and proof of delivery.
After attempting to call her and her changing her phone number, then emailing her and her blocking my email address (all of the emails have been saved), she took the motherboard and hard drive and ran away with it. Her last email said: "Oh, and by the way, emailing me won't work anymore. Blocking is fun."
I have proof of purchasing the motherboard, all the emails we sent back and forth (none of which include us talking about the two complaints she had with my work), and I'm sure I could dig up the bad check with the "NSF" non-sufficient funds stamp on it.
Could I confidently bring this to small claims court?
Long version:
At about this time last year, a woman contacted me after seeing my ad on Craigslist for computer repair, and said her computer would no longer boot up. I told her it was likely the motherboard or the power supply, and after testing it, the motherboard needed to be replaced; I quoted her $70 for the repair (which is very cheap because she was on a budget) and she accepted.
I have a few emails saved of us contacting each other, with me telling her that I received the motherboard, when our availabilities were, etc. The motherboard I bought was an OEM board, which I told her before I bought it, which means there was no back plate to cover up the connectors in the back. (I bought an OEM board because it cost less to fit into her budget; after the computer is plugged in it's completely un-noticeable and it does not affect performance whatsoever.)
After replacing the board, I did a routine test of the other hardware in her computer and noticed her second hard drive for backing up files was beginning to fail, so I told her this and she agreed to pay another $25 for the hard drive replacement. I removed the old 20GB drive and replaced it with a 30GB drive and moved her data to it; she swears that I said I'd install a 40GB, but I did not, and she has no proof of me saying so.
After she came by and picked up the computer and handed me a *check* written out for $90, the check written from her husband's TCF Bank checking account, I cashed it and 2-3 days later had it sent back to me with an Insufficient Funds stamp on it and a $15 fee for trying to cash the bad check she gave me. I called her at her home phone and told her this, and said that I now needed $105 in cash, and she said that she would get it to me.
A week passed and she said that she mailed two different money orders to me, but I did not receive either of them. She then said that she had a copy of the order and accused me of lying about not getting it, and then changed her phone number so I could no longer contact her.
I then began contacting her through email again, saying that I was going to take this to small claims court, and she ended up blocking my email address, her last email saying: "Oh, and emailing me won't work anymore. Blocking is fun."
I then tried to call her at work two or three times, and when she begun to hang up on me, I spoke to her manager and asked if there was any information that he could give me that would help me contact her, and he said that he could not, and so I left it at that.
The last thing she said to me through an email was that she would not pay the full $105 because of my "shoddy workmanship" by using an OEM board without the back plate, and because I only installed a 30GB hard drive instead of a 40GB drive. I told her that if she only wanted to pay me $90 for those reasons I wouldn't even care and that I just needed her to pay me, but she never ended up doing it.
Is this something that I could confidently bring into small claims court? Sorry for the long post.
Matt
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