Has anyone gone through small claims court before?
 

There is this guy who owes me $70 for product/service that I sold him.
It has been two years since he has promised to pay me back.

He isn't a friend, more of an acquaintance (friend of a friend). I've been messaging him and he always says he'll pay me. Never does.
I even made life easy for him by sending him a paypal invoice (last week) where he can just pay with his visa (no account sign up needed). So he even earns fcuking points for paying me back, plus I eat the $3 in fee's for using this service.

Now, I understand that it is only $70 and going through all this trouble is definitely not worth it from a financial/time stand point, but this guy just rubs me the wrong way and I could care less if I spend 10 hours of my time in court to get this money back. Just knowing that it would be a huge inconvenience for him to come to court as he works way out of the city.

Can someone point me in the right direction in regards to setting this up? I assume there will be fee's to book a court room. Does anyone know the process?

Even if it costs more than $70 I would still want to pursue this.
And I would be representing myself.

edit
Guy ended up paying me today via paypal.
In a last ditch effort, I messaged him two days ago and said that I was going to go to his grandma's house and ask her for the money and see if she wouldn't mind helping me out.

I guess that did the trick. He finally sent me payment today.
I was surprised. No message or text. Just the payment.
Nice, now it seems like my Avicii ticket was free.

I'm not too sure exactly but like you said, just filing the claim with the court will cost you more than the $70, i believe it's around $130. Plus do you have any records of you selling the product? And lastly, I think even if you win, it'll cost you quite a bit to enforce the court's order if he still refuses to pay.

Making a Claim Small Claims Procedure Guide - Procedures Guides - Small Claims - Court Services - Ministry of Justice
you should find everything you need here...

For $70 it is definitely not worth it, but like it you said, sometimes it has more to do with principles (or screwing the assholes) than just about money

the filing fees alone will cost you more than $70, but you can claim it back if you won.
The bright side is, he has to pay $40 just to file a defence too.

How old is he? If he still lives at home, then tell his mom he owes you money. That'll get your money quick.

What if his mom is a jerk like him?

He's around 26. And as far as I know he lives with his grandma.
I have thought about just going to his house and telling his grandma on him though..
Maybe i'll try that and see what happens.

Honestly you are bitching about $70 fuck man write that shit off and move on. You have already wasted more then $70 of you time and I'm very surprised you actually thought of taking him to small claims court for that little bit of cash.....

Fuck I should charge you $100 for giving you that advice and saving you more time.

Yes and no here...

We've taken tenants through arbitration(tenancy equivalent of small claims if you've been a good tenant and don't know) and its only once been about the money, and that was because it was our townhouse.

We don't get a cut of the winnings from an arbitration, but it is part of our job to do so. One owner gave us a bonus for the effort involved.

I will tell you it is always about wiping that smirk off their face. It takes us a lot of effort to put together a case, usually in the area of hours by the time you write statements, print and organize pictures and whatever else.

Honestly, we let some people slide just purely based on the fact that although we could go after them, its not worth it. Others we've gone after for a couple of 100 dollars just because they were a pain in the ass on every occasion we had to deal with them, and its payback time.

So is it worth it for the money? Absolutely not. Is it worth it to be that guy that doesn't just bend over and show him one more person willing to take it, re-inforcing that his techniques work? Fuck yes.

And actually, there was this one chick that I think we sued to keep $150 of her security deposit. Could have been $5 for all I care...The entertainment value of listening to her talk shit and lose it during her part of the case was better than Judge Judy any day of the week.

I wouldn't piss on that bitch to put the fire out.

That's why I am (hopefully) going to law school.

How about contacting a collection agency? They are worse than court! But I never had any dealings with them, just thinking out loud.

Collection agencies?

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...illy-wonka.jpg

I would write off the $70, cut him out of my life entirely, and move on.

Think about what you are trying to achieve. You are taking a 26 year old who lives with his grandmother and has no intentions or means to pay you $70 worth of services - for 2 years. And even if you get the $70, what kind of satisfaction will it really bring you? And what will your friends and family think of you? How are you going to feel about it 5 years from now? You're holding on to something so petty from 2 years ago. Be the bigger man and just let it go.

OP: Same thing happened to me but it was more like $140.. Told myself fuck it. He's not going to pay it back and just cut him out of my life. Best decision ever.

Having people like this in your life hold you back. This is a $70 life lesson (Mine was twice this) that lets you know whos going to be bad for you in the long term.

I cut 60% of the "friends" I had in my early 20s because they were unreliable, going nowhere in life, and were always in my pockets looking for cash.


Move on, brother. Move on.

cut your loses and move on with your life brah... we have all dealt with people like this you will never get your money back... just learn your lesson from now on money first.

2yrs and still no dice? forget about it...if it really bugs you, work overtime and earn that $70 back or something.

NOT worth your time. Especially since it's been 2 years, and only $70. I'd rather key his car.. kidding, but seriously man I've been in this situation before, trust me.. just move on.

If you really want to pursue this, public humiliation would do. Remember the Toronto insurance fraud? And btw, did you say he lives with his grandma? Lol.. and not able to pay $70 he owes :failed:

file as per the link $100 to file the papers.
serve the papers $15 registered mail.
if he shows up, the judge will rule. If he don't show up you get judgement.

Now to collect: judgement doesn't guarantee collection BUT you can order him in front of a judge again to disclose assets if he does not settle with the judgement. If he doesn't show up he is subject to arrest(fat chance)

The judgement is good for 10 years so if you find out where he works BOOM garnish wages. If you find out where he banks(must know branch location) you can garnish his account as well.

have you tried going through your mutual friend?

Thanks everyone for their responses.
I pretty much posted this after I talked with the guy and he assured me he was going to pay me and then bailed again.
So I guess my emotions got the better of me.

Thinking about it now. It honestly isn't worth it.
After all, it's just $70.

I guess it is what it is.

Good decision. He wasted enough of your time. Karma is a bitch anyway, he'll see what that means :fuckyea:

I always say it when it comes to money always make it clear even to your best friends. Some people might not like it but in the end it saves so much headache.

Just a little update.
He ended up paying me today.

I messaged him a few days ago and said I would go to his grandma and talk to her about the situation.
I received no response to that message and I assumed that was done. I wasn't even going to go to his grandmas as that would just be too awkward.

Low and behold, he just paid me.

Thanks for all the advice/comments. I guess I lucked out.