Ran away with my deposit, to sue or forget it ?

[Sysame]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

I have zero knowledge about law so please excuse me if this is a dumb question. How do I sue someone who took my money and ran away? Is it worth suing? Will I end up paying more to sue than to get the $575 back?

This company/person got my deposit $575 to replace two new garage doors. The job was suppose to be done on Jan 5th (yes 2 months overdue) and when I call them, they provided me with stupid excuses that 1) they're processing the refund/ or 2) they'll return my money next week then never call back, etc .. I do not have these guys' address except the phone numbers and license plate (I copied that down when I gave them the deposit)

Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[goddessoflubboc]

I imagine $575 is a good piece of change to most people. In that case I would recommend trying to go to small claims court. Now if it happens to be spare change for you (lucky you) then it's probably not worth your time, literally.

If you do sue, you need an address. If the phone number is a landline you may be able to locate them on the internet (start by plugging all 10 digits into the Google search box). You can also check the BBB, who probably have complaints and possibly an address.

 

[Sysame]

Thank you for your suggestion. They do have an address on BBB however I don't know if that's fake or real as I also found other address on yellowpage, google, etc that link to the same business. What happen if I file a case in small claim court with his fake address then he won't get notified and not show up?

 

[jgombos]

What happen if I file a case in small claim court with his fake address then he won't get notified and not show up?

When you file a small claim, the address you supply for the defendant is not even necessarily their real address. You use the address of their registered agent, which may or may not be the same. You can get the correct address to sue from Resident Agent / Registered Agent Information.

Also, you might consider getting the BBB complaint filed immediately, as the first thing you do. If you file the lawsuit first, or even complain to some other agency first, BBB will close your case immediately stating that it's being resolved outside their system. So get the BBB complaint through, and recorded, and closed with a black mark on their record, and then take other actions. Also consider reporting them to www.ripoffreport.com.

 

[Sysame]

Thank you for the website ...Resident Agent / Registered Agent Information

Interesting found ... the street number appears to be different in BBB record from Residentagentinfo.com (2957 vs 2795) with same street name ... so which record will be more accurate ? Thanks.

 

[jgombos]

Thank you for the website ...Resident Agent / Registered Agent Information

Interesting found ... the street number appears to be different in BBB record from Residentagentinfo.com (2957 vs 2795) with same street name ... so which record will be more accurate ? Thanks.

The BBB is not an official record. It's almost meaningless. The resident agent is someone who is officially registered in state records as the only person who can receive a court summons for a company. And it's often not the company you are suing, but someone that a company simply hires to process their legal papers. Eg., if you search for the resident agent of Citibank, you get some other company name or person as the resident agent, not Citibank.

The address difference might mean that your defendant has some law office a block away accepting their court papers.

 

[Sysame]

Great. Thank you so much jgombos.