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The roofer took the money and ran

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letstalk

Member
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

I'm in the process of filing a claim against our roofer, whom I gave $1000 to and who gave me a signed contract back, but did nothing since (7 1/2 months ago). I am waiting for a court date.

My question relates to one asked here about recourse in NJ.

I assume my roofer will ignore this small claims nuisance, meaning he probably won't show up in court, as he has also been ignoring my calls. Even when the judge rules that he must pay, I doubt this roofer will. Would it be wise to get any of the information that is not available to the public, per a private investigaor before the court date. Would that help anything. What if this roofer doesn't even show up for the court?

I know the small claims procedure in my state, but what about the recourse?

Thanks
 


JETX

Senior Member
I would not suggest incurring the cost of a private investigator at this point, considering you have already filed. In my experience, most of these deadbeat scam contractors have nothing anyway, so it is likely that your judgment will be a 'challenge' trying to collect it.

The best piece of information you have may be on the check that you wrote to him. Once you get the judgment, contact the bank and see if they will tell you if the account is still open. If they won't tell you, then call them back and tell them that you want to verify a check as good (called 'merchant verification'). They will ask you for the account number and the amount. Give them something like $500. They will tell you if that 'check' is good or not. Once you know that information, your next step AFTER the judgment is made final is to garnish his bank account.

Good luck..... this is likely NOT going to be easy to collect.
 

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