Police refused to file a report, can i take this guy to Court

[cprauctions]

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

i rented a retail store back in August, the previous owner has an alram monitoring system installed, an ADT Salesman came to me the very first week and offered his services, apparently he was the same salesman that sold the system and service to the previous owner, anyhow , i denied his services.

just till last week , i used another company as a monitoring service, they reprogammed the installed system, everything was working perfect.

last Wednsday i was not in the store, but that salesman came to the store, claimed that he is from "security company" and he needs to reporgamm the system, , they let him in, he simply ruined the whole system, now the door bell doesnt work at, he loosend soem screws that ws holding the DS, battery felt, and the new alarm monitoring company called to tell me the battery was offline. i , am not sure what other damages he caused, i now have to pay $150 a service call to the new company to send a tecchnician, plus any parts that may be needed.

i went Friday to my local Sheriff's office to file a report, to my surprise they refused saying " your people let him in, it doesnt matter if he lied and ruined your system , call ADT to fix your system, people lie everyday and they go to jail for that"


this is crazy, not only i have to pay another $150 to fix the system, but that ADT guy ran away and i cant think of anything but to call ADT and compain.

is there anything else i can do???


Thanks for helpWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[latigo]

Before explaining your rights and remedies under Florida’s Consumer Protection laws (Title XXXIII Chapter 501 Florida Statutes) a short comment on Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife’s stupid remarks.

If a person enters any enclosure, retail store, business building, automobile, etc., - with the intention of committing a criminal act – whether it be theft, assault and battery, credit card fraud or malicious destruction of property – IT IS AN ACT OF BURGLARY!

And it makes not an iota of difference if the suspect made entry as a business invitee or cut a hole in the roof. It is still felony burglary. And more and more professional shoplifters across the country are being prosecuted for the felony and not petty larceny. Okay?
________________________

But you don’t need to go to the trouble of educating the local sheriff because it appears to me that the ADT agent deliberately sabotaged the competitor’s security system. And if so, it is an issue that falls within the exclusive domain of the state attorney general, the “Enforcement Authority” under Florida consumer protection laws:

“F. S. Section 501.204 Unlawful acts and practices.
(1) Unfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”

(2) "Enforcing authority" means the office of the state attorney . . . ”

What to do? Go to the attorney general’s home page myfloridalegal.com/consumer and follow the links to download and submit a consumer complaint against ADT. Then let the AG’s initiate the investigation.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the quick results. These major companies take no pleasure in receiving consumer complaints under the letter head of the AG’s office.

 

[Zigner]

I would also suggest that you SEVERELY discipline your employees for allowing a random stranger access to your alarm system...

 

[latigo]

I need to correct this misstatement from my earlier response:

“. . . it is an issue that falls within the exclusive domain of the state attorney”

What I intended was that any complaints made under Florida’s consumer protection laws would be the sole province of the AG’s office.

This is not to say that if the conduct is proven to be malicious and that it resulted in the damage that it could not also be grounds for criminal prosecution as well as a civil action.

Yet it may develop that there is no connection between the culprit and ADT. (You provide scarce information as to how the person represented himself.)

Nor is my response intended to imply that a violation of these statutes actually occurred. But by filing the complaint and describing the incident as you have here – which strongly suggests to me that this was a deliberate act of spite - you will at least force ADT to respond to the AG’s office in writing. From which you might learn more than you know now.