Need legal advice on contractor that took our money.. HELP (credit report, how much)

[MrsMSG]

Good Morning,
I wanted to see if there was anyone out there that could help me and my husband with an issue we are going through. In November of 2010 we hired a contractor to do siding, gutters and soffit and fascia on our home. He was an awesome guy - did wonderful work and we were very pleased. In December he came to us and said that he was one day away from finishing up our gutters and we would be finished. We foolishly gave him the last payment for our job. Needless to say this man disappeared and we have no gutters to show for it. Shame on us for being so trusting.

Anyway - we are at the point that three weeks ago we caught him in a lie regarding the gutters and the money and needless to say he fessed up. He spent our money on other things besides the materials. He is broke and has no money. After a very lengthy and angry conversation my husband and I agreed to give him three additional weeks to make up the money so that we did not have to go to great lengths to sue someone that doesnt have a dime to his name anyway. Now we are finishing up that third week and we will definitely be pressing charges - simply bc no one should get away with stealing thousands of dollars. He is not communicating with us and is obviously lying about the situation again.

We spoke with the Chief of Police and the Magistrate. They advised us that we need to send a certified letter demanding full repayment for the services that were not complete (we are well aware that we will not be awarded that full amount in the end since most of the work is done) OR for him to get us our materials within TEN days or we would be filing a civil suit. The Chief of police will also be filing theft charges at that time.

Does anyone have ANY advice for us on how we can word this letter properly to this man. I do not want ANY room for error on this. Unfortunately, the money that was stolen from us was money that we got from our November 2010 wedding and it has been such a crazy experience. Can anyone advise us?

Thank you in advance for your time!

[WILWRadio]

Honestly, it would be best if you found a qualified attorney to craft this document. Surely if anyone on this message board has a legal degree they will chime in. If that letter comes from an attorney it hold more weight than if you send it yourself. The more names in the legal office's name the more intimidating the letter will appear. :-)

[ditchdigger]

I'm curious--Does this guy have a PA Home Improvement Contractor Registration number?

[onepoint]

Some ideas to get you started:
Demand Letters: The Basics - Free Legal Information - Nolo (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-30105.html - broken link)

[robrobrob]

Not sure how much luck the will have filing criminal charges. Usually, once they do some work it becomes a civil matter. Occasionally, the magistrate will help you scare the contractor into paying.

[MrsMSG]

Thank you all so much for your insight. We actually crafted a letter with an attorney. It was really perfect and gave all of the details. We did not hear from the contractor in the 10 day deadline so we will be filing a civil suit against him.

We are just beside ourselves that our garage is FULL of his tools. We can't park in our two car garage or anything - it is very very difficult to deal with this right now but we will manage.

I appreciate everyones help!

[Benzman66]

Use the tools as collateral. He can have them back when he repays you or finishes the work. If he don't, sell them off on Craigslist or Ebay for some money. Being he left them there is his own problem, you didn't steal them.

My dad did that MANY years back to a contractor that did the same thing to us

[Sideblinded]

Can you file a report with BBB, or Angie's list to warn others?

Best of luck to you.

[ditchdigger]

He's a contractor, and his tools have been in your garage since December? That would explain why he doesn't have any money...

How about that registration number I asked about earlier?

[Pruzhany]

.... so we will be filing a civil suit against him.

Do it. They will find him guilty and order him to pay. But there is nothing forcing him to pay. Then you will place a lien against him. But if he owns nothing free and clear then the lien will never get paid but will show up on his credit report. As to his tools start charging a daily storage fee. You're looking at numerous months of aggravation. In the end you will hire someone else and chalk it up to experience. Never pay a contractor up front and always have a contract.

Alternative is to buy gutters from his distributor and pay the distributor directly and have him install them. At the end of the job, sue him for the cost second set of gutters or have him sign over his tools and other personal property to cover the additional loss which you will sell for the cost of the gutters. It all depends on your pride and how much you are willing to lose.