Small Claims court question

[JonnyCW]

Hello, I need some advice.

I did some freelance work for an individual, who is now refusing to pay me. I foolishly did not send them a formal contract (as I am still new to freelancing), but my understanding is that an agreement via email is still perfectly valid as a contract.

I would like to take this person to small claims court, and I believe I have enough evidence to prove that I am owed money.

However I have a small problem in that I do not have the individual's home address or even her personal phone number. What I do have is the address and phone number of her day job. She works for Virgin Active, although the work I did for her was unrelated to Virgin Active. I only figured out she worked there because of a screenshot she sent me, and I have since rang her up at work (which she was not happy with!).

So my question is, can I still take her to court when I only have her work address? Is there any way I can get her employer to give me her home address?

 

[Comedora]

Do you have her work address?

 

[JonnyCW]

Yes I do have her work address (although the work I did for her was private i.e unconnected to her normal day job).

 

[Comedora]

I doubt the employer will provide any info, but try talking to her on the phone and explain that it is in her best interest to pay you if she wants to escape any embarrassment or potential problems with employer as if she doesn't pay you within (give her a term) you will be starting formal proceedings which will involve written communication to her work address. If she fails, send her a recorded letter outlining how much she owes, for what and a 14 days term (to be fair) to pay. Keep a receipt of postage as a prove. If she fails and you feel that you can prove your case and it is worth a risk proceed with the small claims court. Mind you this can be effective only if she has no complaints about your service or product. Good luck.

 

[JonnyCW]

Thank you for the answer.

She does have complaints about the work, but I feel the judge would agree they are not valid. I have emails from her while the work was in progress saying that she was happy with the work, but then as soon as I asked for payment she did a complete 180 and said she wasn't happy and wouldn't pay. I offered to amend whatever small complaint she had but she ignored my email and changed the password on the web builder.

It is my belief that she never intended to pay for the service in the first place, but hopefully because I have emails from her saying the work was good, the court will be on my side. What do you think?

 

[Comedora]

The judge will have to weigh all facts and decide upon evidence provided. You have mentioned that you had an agreement in form of email, so the judge will have to review what was in the agreement and weather all parts adhered to it. The main points: exact product or service provided, timing, payment terms and how or whether the other part agreed to the terms of this agreement. It's not as straight forward as one would wish it to be. Having said that I would not think about this too much at this stage. I would just try to take first steps as mentioned in a previous post and see what happens.

 

[JonnyCW]

Thanks for your help. Based on a couple of sources of information, I am quite confident I could win the case in court. But as you say, I will worry about the other steps first.

 

[Comedora]

Good luck to you and let me know how it goes.

 

[GRDCredit]

I doubt the employer will provide any info, but try talking to her on the phone and explain that it is in her best interest to pay you if she wants to escape any embarrassment or potential problems with employer as if she doesn't pay you within (give her a term) you will be starting formal proceedings which will involve written communication to her work address..

Be careful with this. Although I have sympathy for your situation what is being suggested here gets very, very close to being harrassment (under the eyes of the law)

 

[Comedora]

I agree with GRD that you have to be careful the way you speak to her and put things across. There is no place for insults or threats here, but what I have suggested is just an attempt to solve things amicably, which would be preferred by any judge. Harassment is systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying actions. So unless the OP can confirm that his past actions will amount to harassment, I do not see how my advice fits definition of it.

 

[The Developer]

I feel for you, I am in a similar situation. I did work for someone who frequents this forum and after endless excuses for non payment he has simply dissapeared / ignores my communication.

It has taught me a good lesson, and I no longer do any work without upfront payment. I simply do not want the hassle and stress that arises from wasting time chasing payment, it has a disproportional effect on life.

I am considering doing some online research to track down this persons home address and heading to the small claims court. I am a little un-sure if I want to waste any more time on this though.

Good luck getting the payment you deserve. If I find any useful methods for tracking down home addresses I will let you know.

 

[paulears]

She changed the web builder password, but how about ftp access? If she hasn't paid, you could remove the pages?

 

[Charlie B ACS]

Also, have you cheked the whois information for the domain, it may well have her address on it.

 

[Big G]

If you know her full name and area that she lives in PM me and I will see what I can find for you.