At this point, the gloves would come off.... even if he reimbursed today, I would still pursue it till the end. It might be only $50, but that is money that YOU need now to replace the stuff that is broken. I have ZERO tolerance for ignorant people like that. The worst part of it all, is that he is basically a criminal and thief ( IMO ), and yet he puts himself in a position that he is a good businessman.

I say go for it, hit him where it hurts, kick him while he is down, run him out of business... go after him like a pitbull.... bite and don't let go.

I guarantee you, for a guy who can't spell "you're" and refuses to part with less than $100 to make the problem *he caused* go away, that there'* absolutely NO WAY he'* willing to proceed legally without regard to what it costs him. No attorney would take his case, any responsible attorney would advise him to shut up and pay you.

Incidentally, your plan to wait and see what he'll do is going to just waste time, because he isn't going to do anything. It costs him nothing to do nothing. I think the best shot you have at making him pay is to take him to small claims court. You'll win. You have so much evidence and he has what? -Nothing. Just turn around and sue him.

He says the assistant attorney general is his customer? While obviously a lie, I suppose it'* just too bad for him that the assistant attorney general doesn't preside over small claims court, and that it would be an obvious conflict of interest for a customer to somehow represent the dealership, and since he just tipped his hat by telling you (presuming it were true, which it isn't), all you'd have to do is show a judge the email to have an assistant attorney general removed from any involvement in the case, were there any case for an assistant attorney general to press a case by a business against a customer, -and last time I checked, they actually operate the other way `round.

This guy is SUCH an idiot. Just sue him in small claims and get it over with? Make him pay!

I have not heard back from the Attorney General yet. :? While I'm sure he is busy I was hoping to get a response by now. I would love to have the AG on my side, but I don't want to wait forever. I'll probably be looking into small claims court sometime in the near future. I just have a lot of things going on right now...which is why I'd like the AG to take over.

I e-mailed the owner last week saying, "Sorry, the story will not be removed. I don't have the ability to remove it anyhow."

Odd...he said he was filing court papers over a week ago....I guess I should be waiting 4 months to see those. (I know he'* not going to sue me)

You take him to court, you win, you still get nothing. All winning does is say yep, he owes you the money, it still can't force him to pay. Your best bet is to find your local collection agency. Up the damages because the agancy will charge a fee. I belive it'* 33%, and 50% if it goes to court. Trust me, they know how to make it hurt. I used them a lot when I had a business. They can go so far as preventing him from registering a car, or even putting a lean on his property. You can do this as well, but it'* a lot of work. It'* well worth the fee. Trust me, don't even mess with the courts.

I still like the idea of small claims court, just because it makes the guy actually have to show up and prove what an idiot he is in front of a judge. It will be humiliating and priceless, and all something he could avoid for under 100 bucks if he'd just pay.

More than likely he'd probably just not show up, and the court would issue a summary judgment against him, at which time by all means, go for a collection agency.

I totally agree, incidentally, on a collection agency. A friend of mine who is a chiropractor occasionally used one to collect from an insurance company, and it was priceless fun and well worth it.

As for hearing from your AG, they get thousands of complaints just like yours every day. The most I've ever gotten is a form letter six months later saying "Than you for your report, we will keep it on file if we investigate this company."

I think the AG very seldomly brings a case against a company unless that company is involved in serious repeated cases of high-dollar fraud. And there'* enough of those to keep them busy permanently. I could be wrong, but I've never gotten anything other than the satisfaction of being able to tell a company that I've filed a complaint about them to the state attorney general'* office.

Hmmm, good thoughts. After some thinking, I'm almost positive if I filed with a small claims court, he would not show up. He avoids issues, he doesn't face them. The only reason the news got him on camera/mic is because they showed up unannounced. And if he did show up I doubt he'd pay when I won. I really would love to see him get humiliated in front of a judge.

I'm also very positive he will never try and sue me either.

So I guess now I should find a local collection agency. I have NFC about them, but I guess I'll start with google. So what you are saying is that a collection agency'* fee would be 33% of what I'm trying to collect from the dealer? IOW, I don't pay them up front, they just take a portion of my "winnings."

You should totally go to small claims court. You know he won't show up, so you're nearly guaranteed to get a summary judgment in your favor. Once you have a judgment, it'* a simple matter to place a lein on his house, presuming he has a house, or on his other property. Depending on where you live, a lein on a home can also legally force the sale of the home to collect on the lein. (Does not apply in Texas.)

Can you just IMAGINE the look on this guy'* face when a real-estate agent pounds a "FOR SALE" sign in his front yard and you show up with a policeman and a court order for him to vacate the property? Over $100?

I would SO do it just for the fun of it.

As for collection agencies, yes, my understanding is that they take a percentage of the debt as their fee. This can vary from agency to agency and may also vary by the amount of the debt. Many agencies might refuse to take a case for such a small amount, but you never know!

Update: I just searched my local area and located a company that collects on judgments. While you're not in this area, they have a good FAQ page that answers a lot of questions. For example, once you have a judgment, you can hire a company like this and assign them the judgment, which gives them legal permission to investigate and seize assets. They can typically add to the judgment their costs to recover money, plus interest. This company only works with judgments of $1000 or more, but it is a good example of what is out there.

They do point out in their FAQ that there is a difference between a judgment recovery company and a collection agency. A collection agency can harass someone until or unless they are told to cease all contact. So it looks like the *best* way to go is to first get a judgment.

Small claims court is the way to go there, as you just KNOW this guy won't show up, making a summary judgment in your favor almost a slam-dunk.

http://www.enforcing-judgments.com/

This guy is so full of it. I it is incredible how foolish this man is!

I'm all for that. So, if I get a judgement as a result of him not showing up to court, under what circumstances would/could a lein be placed on his house? It would be pretty funny if that happened.

I have nothing to lose, so I suppose small claims should be on my priority list. No sense waiting for the Attorney General. At the very least this will give the AG/whoever time to respond while I pursue this on my own.