How to prosecute hot check writer?

[Chris Sparry]

Also, banks will only deposit twice.

Boy do I know about 'bad checks'.
Number one, here in GA. you are required to send out a 'ten-day letter' that icludes your origional check amount plus any and all fees added.


If no response to ten day letter, than you take it down to your local courthouse and swear out a warrant for that person's arrest. After a month or so,when it finally goes to court, you get a judgement for the amount owed plus added fees (court cost, bounced check fees ect.)

If the person owns nothing guess what, they will set up payment arrangements for them to pay you. This could be $5 a month until the judgement is paid in full.


If the check was written on a closed acount, go directly to the courthouse swear out a warrant, no letter needed here. but possibly the same outcome with the payments.


Been there over and over. I'll still be getting 5 and 10 dollar payments in here when I retire.

[GlassStarz]

In all truth what are you really out? less than a buck in resin and some time send him a letter hope he pays and move on. The negative stuff just isnt worth it.
You get too worked up about stuff like that and before long your getting out of shape when you see a competitor working on a car somewhere maybe start taking down the other guys signs etc . Where does it stop?
Outside sales is tough enough without letting someone get you pissed off and thus screwing yourself into the dirt and effecting the next sales pitch you give resulting in you not making that sale either. Before long your day is shot and you have let some squirrel cost you a days pay. Again send a letter move on in the grand scheme of things its only $50 and not worth the stress

[Scott Tyner]

If you think about it, you could probably make the amount of the bad check or more in the time it takes to go to the courthouse and file. And I'm sure it won't be an in and out thing.

I agree with Glasstarz. The aggrevation and stress just isn't worth it. And if someone is getting a tremendous amount of checks back, I'd just quit taking checks.

I got into windshield repair to leave the stress behind. As long as you're doing good work and promoting your business, it'll all work out in the end.

[Coitster]

Personaly in 12 years I have been doing repairs I have only had like 1 or 2 checks bounced to me. I always followed it up with a phone call and they give some kind of excuse why its their banks fault and not theirs and they offer to pay me cash. So I don't think its a real big deal myself.
David
Coitster

[scratchy]

I am walking through this more as a learning experience than wanting to kick someone in the pants. I went to the bank today and the customer is overdrawn and hasn't put any money in, in a while. I see it as a deliberate act to get a free repair and run away. I called the county DA's office and they said to bring the check on down and they will take care of it. They have someone who does nothing else but work on bad checks. I am going to notify the customer of impending action by DA's office if not paid by a certain date. After that date, they will be in the hands of the law. There are people (a small percentage) who make a career out of ripping other people off. They need to be confronted by responsible retailers or more people will do it. I even had a sneaky guy who figured out how to stick it to A.C.T. and get a free repair and not charge their insurance. I will not post the technique but I am watching for it from here on out.

[paintlessplus]

scratchy -I appreciate your tenacity with this guy- I agree, there should be some accountability from this person. I was in a similar situation years ago when I ran a body shop. Not only did a guy write me a bad check for $600.00, I had over $200.00 of my own money invested in parts and materials for his car. It took me over a month to get all my money and luckily when I finally blew my top, he was able to pay me. Moral of the story...Try not to piss -em off unless they got money in their pocket. Good Luck, Bob

[Tomm]

Well,
Another way to handle is to resubmit the bounced check back again to your bank. The trick is timing when you should submit the check so that by the time your customer deposits his check in the bank then there'll be enough funds so you won't get a bounced check again. As we all know, we get paid on the 1st or 15th of the month..so you can figure when to resubmit the bounced check again. I learned this trick from a friend. Hope that you won't have the hassles of chasing after the customer.
Tomm
Keep me posted of the results.

[gold star wsr]

There are companies that will process the colletion for you. And many of them dont make you pay anything. They add their fee on to the other end, so that the person who wrote the bad check pays the fee. In addition, if you had to pay any bank fee for the check being returned, they collect that also, so you get all your money back.

In my small community, where we all know each other, it just seems unfriendly to use professional collections except as a last resort. When someone asks me if I take checks, I tell them "sure, no problem. I know where you live, so if it bounces, I'll just come back and put another star in your windshield." Then we both laugh.

[scratchy]

As Coitster said before, Texas doesn't mess around with bad check writers. FWIW, at the DA's office you fill out a form, hand over the check and they mail you the funds when they get it. The sheriff's office does the leg work.

[terryalex29]

I have had this happen before. I will call the bank to verify funds and if they tell me that there are funds I take it down and cash it. Then I deposite cash for the service. I think that all banks will verify funds over the phone, they will not give you information but with the information on the check they can tell you if it will clear. If you stamped the check for deposit only, you can explain to the bank what the problem is and they should cash it for you. Good Luck
IN HIM