Stopping Payment on a Check

[cosine]

Unless you have a reason to believe the check itself was entirely made in error or fraud, such as being stolen, or it written under duress or misinformation where it would otherwise have never been written (or the payment made at all), then a stop payment on it would be wrong, and may even be illegal. In this case, the problem is that SOME of the amount is legitimate. In order for you to defend your stop payment, you would have to show that the check never would have been paid nor any other form of payment made. If he never performed ANY work, that would be such a case. But he did do SOME. Stopping payment on that part is what would be wrong and get you in trouble, even if you have an open and shut case against him on the extra amount.

Your mistake here was combining the undisputed and disputed amounts. Your only safe course is to take him to small claims court, after doing what DC suggests and giving him a chance to fix it (write a letter and demand a return of the disputed amount and explain why). If he fixes it, all is well.

 

[JustAPal00]

OP, you need to hope that he contacts you and you can hash it out between the two of you. You are most likely on the losing end of this and it will probably cost you much more than the $150 if he decides to pursue it. The question that was asked earlier was "had he finished what you contracted only" come to you for payment and told you that it still wasn't fixed, what would you have done? At that point you would have owed him $250 and still not had a fixed hot tub. Would you have authorized $150 more or just taken your $250 loss and junked the tub?

 

[JenniSam]

He has been paid the $250 that we agreed upon. I can't stress enough that the pump and motor were working! Although he said they would have gone out in two days, who would have known that for sure and I would not have paid him to fix something that was working. Again, if I had been presented with the choice, NO I would not have opted to fix the pump and/or motor. I would have paid the $250 and the tub would have been junked. When an appliance is starting to go, maybe its time to get rid of it. I would question when the repairs would end. Its not worth it to throw money into this tub. I knew it was a gamble with fixing the cracked pipe and anything could have gone out a day later, a week later or a month later. The fact still remains that we decided not to make any more repairs past the $250 to fix the crack. He gets his $250 but he does not get to come back to work on anything. I am done repairing this tub and I will not work with him again.

Feel free to correct me (with details) if I am wrong but as far as collections go, I thought there is a 30 day period for validation of debt. I can certainly pay or dispute the account before the 30 days is up and before it appears on my credit report. If he files a lawsuit, I have the option to pay what he is requesting before the court hearing, correct? I called the prosecutors office and as long as I know that criminal charges are not likely, I can deal with the rest.

Cosine -I am not saying mistakes weren't made on my part. But I most certainly believe I was pressured to write the check based on misinformation and fraud. After reviewing the receipts, I was definitely misled, double charged and charged for things I did not want. I thought maybe I missed something somewhere so I have gone over these reciepts several times. Like I said, I never saw him working on anything other than the cracked pipe and I have no confirmation that he even worked on the motor or that the motor would have gone out.

 

[justalayman]

Your argument that you didn't see him working on anything other than the manifold is a poor argument. Unless you watched him 100% of the time and know what each part in the tub is, there is no way you could say he didn't work on the motor. You can state you didn't see him working on the motor but all that means is you didn't see him work on the motor. It doesn't mean he didn't work on the motor.

then, your argument about disputing the debt is right but the fact is, it can be reported before contact with you is ever made. You can then dispute it but since this is a valid debt on its face, disputing it will result in a net effect of nothing. It will then remain on your credit report for 7 years.

Your argument of paying after he files suit: he doesn't have to drop the case at that point. If he would win in court, he would be due his court fees so he can maintain the suit simply to get those. If he was charged any fees in connection with the stopped check, he can also seek those. So, if he sues, to avoid court, plan on paying the balance of the check plus any fees he has incurred if you want to keep it out of court.

So far, you don't have any proof he didn't do what he claimed. For all anybody knows, the current leak could be from something other than what was repaired.

 

[TigerD]

Feel free to correct me (with details) if I am wrong but as far as collections go, I thought there is a 30 day period for validation of debt. I can certainly pay or dispute the account before the 30 days is up and before it appears on my credit report. If he files a lawsuit, I have the option to pay what he is requesting before the court hearing, correct? I called the prosecutors office and as long as I know that criminal charges are not likely, I can deal with the rest.

You are wrong. I can't prove there isn't a 30 day waiting period. It is logically impossible to prove a negative.

I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't care what you do. But I can tell you collections is not a debtor-friendly industry. There is no waiting period. When an account is placed in collections, it is included in our update to the credit bureaus. Different agencies have different reporting cycles.

But you may be assured that collections will not wait to report until you have refused to pay them too.

DC

 

[JustAPal00]

JenniSam, I hope this works out in your favor, I know I to have been on your end feeling like I had been taken by a repairman. That does not change the fact that I still believe you handled this the wrong way and may end up costing yourself more in the long run. Unfortunately it will be very easy for him to take you to small claims court where he will most likely win. If so this will cost you the $150 and his expenses in collecting at least. My advice is if he calls and threatens to sue, offer to split the difference. Maybe he'll say OK just to save time. He doesn't have to do that. He already presented you with a bill which you paid. He can go straight to court if he wants to. You keep mentioning the "prosecuter", no one is saying this is a criminal matter.

 

[cosine]

Cosine -I am not saying mistakes weren't made on my part. But I most certainly believe I was pressured to write the check based on misinformation and fraud. After reviewing the receipts, I was definitely misled, double charged and charged for things I did not want. I thought maybe I missed something somewhere so I have gone over these reciepts several times. Like I said, I never saw him working on anything other than the cracked pipe and I have no confirmation that he even worked on the motor or that the motor would have gone out.

How much was the work that was done actually worth, in terms of agreed amounts? If the work you agreed to was done, then amount you agreed to was owed. If only half the work you agreed to was done, then maybe half the agreed amount was owed.

The point is, unless that amount was ZERO, you have no cause to put a stop payment on the legitimate portion of the check. Because you also added in the amounts you dispute, that does not give you a new right to put a stop payment on any of the agreed amount.

Because both agreed and disagreed amounts were in the same check, stopping payment on it is not the right way to deal with it. Suing him in small claims court is.

I do know that people have put stop payments on checks with partially disputed amounts and have gotten away with it. And some have gotten in trouble, too. My advice is to try to keep you out of trouble.