With Work Friends Like This - Who Needs Enemies? (conversation, meeting, husband)
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Moral of the story, never give out a personal loan UNLESS it's in writing, detailing how much was loaned and when payment/payments are expected. Otherwise, she could claim it was a gift and not meant to be paid back.
Never pay back a personal loan without getting a receipt, electronic check, or carbon copy of a check, as proof of payment. Otherwise, someone could claim that they never received a red cent.
wait - anybody else find it odd that you got scammed by sombody from Nigera?
First off, yes you can buy 2 children's winter coats for that. Nigeria is getting a bad rap from spammers who are probably in the US but using Nigeria as the front.
Anyway, I am so happy you brought up this situation because it DOES happen.. In my heart, I hope this lady really has little girls who received coats and the money wasn't spent on drugs or something frivolous but regardless YOU have a heart of gold so please don't let this sour you. Like someone already said, what goes around comes around. Bless you.
sad to say ...live and learn, it's all water under the bridge now..but you did the right thing in helping someone so you don't have to feel like you were wrong. You are the one who was scammed. I doubt there's anything you can do to get your money back but personally I would warn others about what she did to you. A loan is a loan and you should have been paid back, even if she paid in installments. Next time you feel like helping someone in that manner, do what has been suggested here in this thread already, go to the store with the person and make sure you buy the items.
And yes, the thrift store has some great things that are cheap. Also, there are agencies who help those in need, especially when it comes to kids needing coats.
It's an extremely easy process, don't be intimidated. You can do it, step by step. Tell the judge your story, get your judgment, do a wage garnishment. You can do it! Find your jurisdiction, file, and if you need any guidance, please PM me. I've done it. (I'm not an attorney, just someone who's unwilling to be taken advantage of).
I would have gone down to the second hand store and got her two very nice warm coats for her kids...10$ for both of them...consider it a rather expensive lesson Praline...but perhaps worth it...as it'll be a reminder when someone else trys conning you...sorry...you know the old saying...no good deed goes undone.
I thought the same thing. You can get very good winter jackets for around 10 bucks each. The op would of been out only 20 bucks instead of $225.00.
Thats one costly lesson learned.
It's an extremely easy process, don't be intimidated. You can do it, step by step. Tell the judge your story, get your judgment, do a wage garnishment. You can do it! Find your jurisdiction, file, and if you need any guidance, please PM me. I've done it. (I'm not an attorney, just someone who's unwilling to be taken advantage of).
Exactly, Small Claims Court. File the papers and pay the initial fee. Hope you wrote a check
if not maybe a witness who saw you give her the money and bring any messages that
this con artist may have sent you about the $200+. Maybe she'll learn not to try
this scam again.
Um, I got a winter coat that has seen me through a few winters (including the last two in Denver, where we have below-zero cold-snaps) for $40 at Old Navy. It's WARM!
But I agree with BigD - never loan any amount you're not willing to write off entirely. I've found this has served me well.
I'd give your HR department a heads up about the matter and then let it go. You did a nice thing with good intentions, so YOU can hold your head high. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.
I would have let everyone in the office know, especially with how she just bluntly told you she was never going to pay you back. There's no telling how many other people in your office paid for the same "jackets" or some other "family need" for the woman.
Yep, I would too. We had a guy here at work who was owed a sum of money from another coworker. After many attempts to collect, he started putting up reminders to this guy, for all to see, on the message board, on the lunch room fridge, on the printers, etc. It worked.
I never would have loaned money to her in the first place.
At my job now, there is this spendthrift who hit me up for money one day. I simply told him "no." If you informally loan money to anyone, meaning there is nothing in writing that the loan took place, you better think of it more as a gift than a loan because you probably won't get your money back and there is nothing you can do about it.
As a side note, a good rule of thumb is not to trust anybody at work. Be polite, do your job, but don't think of any of your coworkers as friends. They aren't your friends. They are strangers who are working a job so they can support their families, just as you are. People will take advantage of each other in the blink of an eye in the workplace. Don't delude yourself into thinking people at work really care about each other.
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