Tag Archives: small claims court

I won! wait, is this really a win?

19 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

“How would your life be different if…You stopped validating your victim mentality? Let today be the day…You shake off your self-defeating drama and embrace your innate ability to recover and achieve.” – Steve Maraboli

I am sitting in court waiting for my Small Claims case to be heard.

I am shaking, trembling; I can barely keep my hand steady enough to write. My heart is beating out of my chest. I feel vulnerable and powerless. This is not the way it is supposed to be! I should feel empowered; after all I am on the right side of the law. Instead I want to run away and hide in the safety of my bed.

This is not my first time in a court of law, but it is my first time suing someone. See here why I decided to take that step.  http://atomic-temporary-33385295.wpcomstaging.com/2015/05/29/i-have-been-scammed-and-it-sucks/

I have been in court many times. At one point in my life I was a Portuguese interpreter. I would go to courts mostly representing defendants on criminal cases. Later on I worked at the collections department of a bank. I would go to court and represent the bank on bankrupt accounts. I have been to Labor court representing my current company. I have been a juror.

Still I don’t think I will ever get used to being in a courtroom. There is something about being in a courtroom that makes me feel extremely vulnerable. Yet I love TV shows regarding courtroom dramas and I think of being an attorney in my next life.

It is 2 o’clock and names are being called. If both the plaintiff and the defendant are present then they get sent to a conference room with a mediator. The judge will hear only cases where a settle cannot be reached.

The person I am suing is not here, so I have to sit and wait another hour. At 3 pm they make the last call.

This time if the plaintiff (the person complaining and initiating the lawsuit) is not here the case gets dismissed right away. A case where the defendant doesn’t show up goes to inquest.

My case went to inquest as Mr. Repairman Scam Artist never showed up. If a case goes to inquest one no longer needs to prove liability, only damages. So I proved my $360.00 damage and have been awarded the judgment.

What happens next? Nothing! I will never see a dime. What really happens next is that the courts will send me the judgment letter in the mail. Then it is up to find out if he has any assets and then go after them. Perhaps if it was a larger amount and if he had any real assets I would go to the trouble, but not in this case.

I knew this would be the end result. Still I went through with it. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, to stand up for my rights and to stop feeling victimized.  I normally let things go and just end up feeling victimized by unscrupulous service people that take advantage of the unsuspecting and the too trusting (in this case this very naive female).

I will report him to the Better Business Bureau and update some online review sites. I am not intent on revenge, as I hate that word, but if I can warn at least one person I will be happy.

Will he ever learn and change his ways? who knows? I feel I did my part, and I know that karma will eventually catch up to him.

I would have liked better if he had showed up and were made to answer for his actions, but at the end of the day I am glad I stood up for what I believed was right. I feel empowered by it.

I had people tell me that I was being vengeful.  I had people tell me not to waste my time.  Everyone had an opinion.  I am glad I did what felt right to me.  No regrets!

“Do what you think is right. Don’t let people make the decision of right or wrong for you.” – Steve Maraboli

People’s Court? no, thanks!

12 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by in Daily Life

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

“That’s the thing about being a victim; you start to think it’ll happen to you on a regular basis. It’s living with the reality of your own vulnerability, and it sucks.” – Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

You may remember the issues I had with my fridge and the repairman.  http://atomic-temporary-33385295.wpcomstaging.com/2015/05/29/i-have-been-scammed-and-it-sucks/

After much thought I filed a small claims case against him.  It is scheduled to be heard on November 19.  I am still conflicted about filing the claim.

I want him to be accountable and tell him he cannot walk into someone’s home and take their money and not do the service that he was paid for, but someone mentioned to me that it was vengeful.

I respectfully disagreed. I am not vengeful.  I am tired of feeling vulnerable every time I deal with any kind of repair people.  I am not after the money, I have already decided that I am donating to charity should I win.

Is it vengeance?

“Part of me wants justice for this. Part of me wants to never cause harm to another.” Ken Scholes, Lamentation  (my thoughts exactly)

But here is the funny part.  The other day among my correspondence there was this letter from The People’s Court.

Click here to see the letter: Peoples Court

I have absolute zero interest in appearing on TV, much less fighting in court for laughs.  It is just funny and a bit curious that they would think my case is that interesting for TV.  What are their criteria?

What about you, would you want to appear on TV on a court case?

Stay tuned for the outcome, not on TV, but here 🙂

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx

 

I have been scammed and it sucks!

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

≈ 48 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

“Don’t judge yourself by what others did to you.” ― C. Kennedy, Omorphi

I have been scammed and I feel pretty lousy about it.  Actually lousy is not the right word.  I feel powerless. I feel vulnerable.  I felt betrayed and taken advantage of.  The victim in me is in full bloom.

At times like these I wish I had a protector, a savior, a man.  It is not even about the money as it is a small amount. It is about the fact that somebody looks you straight in the eye and lies to your face.  Somebody thinks you are dumb enough and too weak to do anything about it.

The feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness is tough to deal with.  I am also feeling pretty dumb.  How can this self-made street smart business woman be in such a predicament?  I am no longer this illegal immigrant that spoke no English.  I am an American now, I have it all and I have rights.  Also online I am able to spot scammers a mile away, but face to face this guy just had me.

I am not going to bore anyone with the minute details of the story.  The fact is I have been ripped off by a fridge repairman. I paid for a new part and he gave me an old one.

But this is more than monetary loss, it is about misplaced trust.

I was livid when I found out.  At this point I don’t even know if the part needed to be changed or not.  He was recommended by someone I trust so I had complete confidence in him.

When I found out I called him and asked him about it and he, of course, denied it.  He was supposed to stop by to talk to me about it last night.  He never did.  Today I called him and gave him a piece of my mind.

What am I to do now?  My options are limited.

  • Sue him?  It is $375.00, so it is not worth my time to go to court over that.
  • Find someone to break his legs?  Of course I am kidding about this option, but it shows you how mad I am that I am even dreaming about inflicting bodily harm.
  • Blast the internet with bad reviews?  Hum perhaps that will make me feel better, especially since warning others is a good thing.
  •  Grin, bear it and move on? If I choose this one, does it mean I am just a doormat?

There are the “why me” feelings. I treat everyone with respect, kindness, honesty, why? I will tell you “why me”: because clearly there are lessons here for me to learn!

At this moment I am breathing, putting aside hurt feelings and looking at the bigger picture.  First, I need to stop the drama: No one died!   Second I need to look at the part I played:  I am one of the main characters in this plot so I need to see how I can play it differently next time and have a different outcome.

“That’s the thing about being a victim; you start to think it’ll happen to you on a regular basis. It’s living with the reality of your own vulnerability, and it sucks.” ― Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

I am only a victim if I give the other person or the event/situation the power to make me feel that way.  Here are some of my ideas of what I can do different next time:

  • Fix it myself. Youtube has tutorials on everything. I actually had changed that same part in my old fridge in my old apartment myself (with the help of a friend).  This time I thought it was a different problem, so when he told me it was the same problem I figured I would just throw money at the problem and not have to ask anybody’s help. (I hate asking for help)
  • Never blindly trust a repair person/salesman, etc, /don’t let your guard down even if referred by someone I know. Because he was so well recommended I saw this guy as a friend and let my guard down.
  • Go with my gut. When in doubt I will get a second opinion. My gut was telling me to wait to fix it, but I ignored the little voice inside.
  • I will ask for proof. Whenever getting anything repaired that requires new parts I will ask for the box the new part came in and ask to keep the old part.
  • I will do my research and ask questions. I will let them know that I am not totally clueless (and careless) about the issue.
  • I will treat it as business deal and not as a new friendship. I was my usual self with this person.  I was super friendly and cracking jokes. I treated him how I would like to be treated, and in this case didn’t work.  I think that it sent him the wrong message. It made me seem like an easy gullible prey.
  • I will never pay with cash (had I paid with credit card I could dispute the charge)
  • Whenever possible I will not pay the entire amount at once.

In the end perhaps this $375.00 will be an investment in making sure that I don’t lose thousands in the future.

But, perhaps over-analyzing it, is this hitting me so hard because in some weird way it mirrors the full trust I had in Ex?

Why should I ever trust anyone again?  Should I become this hard, serious, non-trusting person?  Should I change? Why do I need to change?  too many questions, no answers 😦

“The victim mindset dilutes the human potential. By not accepting personal responsibility for our circumstances, we greatly reduce our power to change them.” ― Steve Maraboli