question about business law, i got ripped off by a lawyer?

Question

my fiance' and i run a computer tech. business, he went on a call, did the work, and the client (a lawyer) is ripping us off, she claimed that a loose wire caused her to have to call a different tech after we preformed the job, and has only sent half the amount as the invoice that i billed to her, i know the law requires her to offer the original tech a chance to fix the problem before refusing to pay the invoive, i am looking for the statute # or some good sounding lawyerish stuff to include in my response letter to her check, if anything about what she is doing to us is legal she would have never paid any of the invoice, but she knows what she is doing is illegal....please help.....10 points to the most knowledgable answerer...thanx oh our business is located in rutherford county Tennessee

is it truley amazing how many people answer questions so rudely.RE: John B. i think some people get on answers just to try and make others feel like crap....in john b's answer he obviously doesnt know much about business and the ethics that come with it, boy if he's a business owner i sure like to now what the name of his business is so i can avoid idiots like that. this has been happening alot lately, if you check my profile and some of my latest questions you will see what i'm refering to. when i first signed on to yahoo answers people used to answer our questions with answers and not put downs. some people are very spiritualy sick....so lets all pray for them, they really need it.....good luck to john b, i hope your life gets better, you sound pretty miserable to me...thats sad!!!! it's just really sad when i have to ask a question and prepare for a somewhat kind of mental abuse....what are we all coming to? what has happened to man helping man? are we truely that lost?

Answer 1

Just because someone has "Attorney" in front of their name doesn't mean they're a pillar of civic virtue. (Ever hear of Mike Nifong?) Anyway, I don't think that you are going to get any results by writing a nice letter, legalese or not. You will have to go to court to get your full bill paid - you can do it yourself in Small Claims Court. You are right that the ethical (and sometimes legal) thing to do is to give the original tech an opportunity to correct an error. (Who's perfect?) And if it isn't corrected, the amount of the second tech's bill is the appropriate deduction, not an arbitrary 50%. Lastly, you don't know that there really was a "loose wire". In your letter (don't waste time with more than one) ask who the second tech was, and the amount of his bill. If this info is not forth coming, you can be pretty sure you are being bilked. Hope this helps. Good luck. (P.S. We're not all like that!)

Answer 2

Don't bother trading rhetoric with a lawyer in a letter. I'm sure she's seen it all and you as a neophyte will not intimidate a trained attorney. And what law requires her to offer the original tech a chance to fix the problem before refusing to pay the invoice. If you have a written warranty then she is bound by contract but that will have to be interpreted by a court if she contests it. Which it sounds like she is. Her being legal has nothing to do with it. She is either civilly liable to pay you or she is not. That's what we have small claims court for. Don't threaten. Just have her served to appear. If she's successful at all she makes two or three hundred smackers an hour. I don't know how much you claim she owes you but do you think she'll give up a morning or afternoon to argue her side in court? In fact, is it worth your time to bother with it?

Answer 3

Oh, please. You determined a horse you loved, obviously you proven the pony for temperament and skillability (you probably did do this, correct?), and paid a fee for the instructor. And now, you be trained that there have been different core guys and determined it wasn't a great deal any further. If you purchased a vehicle and found out later that the dealership, the salesperson, the finance supervisor, the delivery motive force, the promoting company, the enterprise, the union steward, the dealership cleanup man, the regional gasoline station and all that made a few benefit at the sale, might you think cheated? You can sue for healing, however I no longer simplest believe you would not win, I desire you do not win. - Stuart

Answer 4

I have my own business too, and this happened to me also by a lawyer....I know this is not want you want to here but, after it was all said and done I would have been better off to eat the loss, I know it's probably the principle of the thing,that pisses us off so bad, but anyway you equate principle it always comes back to a money thing. These so called lawyers are very good at this, they love to take advantage of us folks who don't know all the loop holes . I'm sorry I wasn't any help......There is a huge part of me that hopes you will win for us hard working "little people".....good luck Babygurl!

Answer 5

I suggest you file a complaint about her business practices with the Tennessee Bar Association. What she is doing is NOT guided by a statute, but instead by common law, and yes she's being unethical. She is not necessarily acting illegally, but she is behaving unethically.

Answer 6

What state do you run the business in?
What state is the Attorney (& computer) in?
What was the total bill not paid?
How much were you paid?
Did she present you with any bill(s) from the other technician to prove the problem existed?