I paid a contractor to do work on my house, he took $6000 October 08 and never did anything.?

sue!!!!!!! i am an electrician and am offended that assholes like this represent the rest of us hard working tradesmen. i feel your pain, i wish you nothing but success in retrieving all of your money plus some. however, i cannot imagine paying anything upfront or asking for anything upfront for services not yet rendered without a solid written contract. if you have a written contract, push legal action now!!!! screw him and his personal situation, as he has no concern for yours. infact, if his business ethics reflects his personal ethics its no wonder shes divorcing him. if she is held accountable for 1/2 this debt through a judgment against him, so be it. she married the ******* and she probably saw attleast a dollar of your money at some point since you originally paid him anyway. you are number 1, worry about yourself, as he did himself. if you have no written contract, get some sort of evidence to submit in court prior to serving papers for suit. checking acount info will help but doesnt secure a judgment, get some audio of him acknowledging the debt, or an email. anything. in the end, if you dont get your money back, wait a year or so, and hunt him down, this guy is a piece of **** and deserves everything coming. if you live in az, ill hunt him down for you

infact, i just got a call oking my proposal on a $1000 job, "when can i start?". i am showing up monday with all $250 in material and havent recieved 1 penny yet, the job was a referal, and i can always return the supplies. i put myself in the clients shoes, if i have to ask for anything upfront, prior to doing 1 hour of work, i feel i started off on a untrusting first bad step. if this were a total stranger, id do the same thing, but ask for 50% upon my arrival, do the job and collect the remaining 50%. keep this inmind next time, in this economy and even in a perfect economy, the serviceman needs to earn your business, you have many options and ultimately you have to both trust eachother, like any relationship. you both have something to lose. its your investment, and his time. you should both always feel good about the deal! always!

DONT BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF EITHER. ITS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND THE FACT THAT YOU ARE ASKING WHAT TO DO WITH A SUM THIS HIGH AND HAVENT ACTED YET, TELLS ME THAT YOU ARE SURVIVING JUST FINE. JUST GET BACK WHAT IS YOURS AND LEARN YOUR LESSON. THEN MOVE ON

You probably should have checked him out before you paid him any money. Was he bonded and insured to do business in that field? Did he have a contractors license? Do you know this person? Are you a friend? Do you have a legally binding contract with him? If you don't know these people you might consult a lawyer to see which direction you should go. Most lawyers will do 1 free consultation. $6000 is an extreme amount to pay upfront depending on what you wanted done.

You can take him to small claims court.

If you win, and he fails to return your money you can then have his personal possessions repossessed by a county sheriff, as a way to try to recoup the money.

The courts are very empathetic with homeowners who have been duped by independent contractors who work on their home.

If you have a contract or an estimate, bring that with you to the court. If you do not have those items, bring the canceled check.

You should also file a police report, as this may be theft by deception.

If the police determine it is theft by deception, charges may be filed. If charges are not filed you will still get a copy of the police report to bring to court.

If you are a senior citizen, let the police know, because there may be stricter rules that apply to hoodwinking senior citizens, in your state.

Most judges have had similar experiences when having home repairs or renovations done.

In addition, your complaint is a very common homeowner complaint. And, the number of complaints is growing so rapidly that many states are leveling criminal charges against such contractors.

It appears that many of the people who become independent handyman or home repairmen or construction workers are the type of people who are NOT able to be employed by a larger legitimate employer.

Hence they start a small business to try to earn a living, but they are not good workmen in general, and their poor work habits and inability to complete tasks soon become obvious.

If you win the in small claims court, the contractor will likely be ordered to pay you your court fees, too.

I am not sure about the lien on his home.

Typically it is the contractor who can put a lien on a home he has done work in, but has not been paid for by the homeowner. You might want to contact an attorney about this.

Lastly do not threaten him and do not continue to call him at home because then it is possible he may ask the police to file charges against you for harassment.

Send him one letter detailing your complaint. Mail it certified mail.

If you're named the General Contractor for this job and anyone, anyone, else works at your home, no matter if they're working and being paid through a subcontractor, you must have Worker's Compensation Insurance filed through the State in case anyone is injured on the job. You can really get yourself in a hugh mess of trouble, legally and financially, without this. Technically, this applies even when hiring a babysitter or house cleaner to work in your home, but it's more important with this kind of job because of the exposure to risk. You may not know the ethics of the people coming and going who work on your job or god forbid, someone truly gets really hurt or dies, better safe and protected, than sorry. Talk to your insurance people about this and contact the State for the specifics.

Sue:

You already get the point of your mistake, so

how best to recover?

HIs wife and kids are not responsible for his

irresponsibility, but neither can they escape

the consequences of his actions.

Contact the police and file a police report

against him, and then do a google search

on commercial liens. It is a little known tool

that goes outside the court system, yet is

much more effective.

Properly used, you can go after his house

with a lien that does not go away. You will

find that once his wife see the risk and exposure

she and the kids are under, you will have an

unwitting ally that will do her best to get him to

make this real threat go away.

You can take him to court, if you can find him

to serve process, but even if you win a

judgment, how are you going to enforce it,

to make him pay? You can't, if he still refuses

to pay.

You will also incur lawyer fees, who are just as

bad as the electrician who charged you for

no results. You will pay, maybe as much as you

stand to lose, to an attorney, and get similar

results.

Not an easy situation, and no easy answer.

Sue both him and his wife because it's a marital debt. That is the original idea I had. This man is already in the legal system and you are going to end up spending a lot of time and money trying to get money that way.

Now that I rethink it small claims court would probably be the easiest and after figuring in the time that you would spend in court and the costs of taking off work for as long as it takes as well as the lawyer's standard cut, which is about 40%. You probably won't be able to get all of your money returned to you, although you can take a risk.

I have no right to tell you to risk either way. This is just my suggestion. Both gives pros and cons. For all I know you could sue them and and get the money you deserve. Both options contain risks.

I don't understand how you gave someone so much money and never got any work out of him! I would do everything I could to get my money back, small claims, lien, attorney what ever. I hope you learned how to find someone with a better reputation than that scumbag. There are way too many crooks out there.

You got scammed, lady. This so-called "contractor" was only fundraising for his upcoming divorce. If he does have a real license- immediately report it. Then, go about attaching liens to ALL his property ASAP. Good luck!

Well I would never pay before a job! I would file a lawsuit for fraud. You need proof the transaction happened or else your skrewed because he could just say you never gave you money. If you can't get a receipt get a good recording of him admitting he owes you money!

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