If A Kid Is Having A Really Cranky Day, What Do You Do?

[SilverSabre25]

So I sent the certified letter and they weren't home when the mailman tried to deliver it, so a note was left (so says the website anyway!). Now if they don't get it picked up by the due date of the payment (I gave them until the 30th), do I still file in small claims because they haven't paid, even though I know they haven't even gotten the letter?

Argh this is so frustrating! It's the principle of the thing, gosh darn it! I am getting so tired of having to deal with this. I'm freaking 7.5 months pregnant; this is NOT something I need to be dealing with. I just want the money that I'm fairly owed. I don't care what crap they try to pull; they are the ones in the wrong here and I am 100% in the right.

So why doesn't that make this feel any better?

[missnikki]

So I sent the certified letter and they weren't home when the mailman tried to deliver it, so a note was left (so says the website anyway!). Now if they don't get it picked up by the due date of the payment (I gave them until the 30th), do I still file in small claims because they haven't paid, even though I know they haven't even gotten the letter?

Argh this is so frustrating! It's the principle of the thing, gosh darn it! I am getting so tired of having to deal with this. I'm freaking 7.5 months pregnant; this is NOT something I need to be dealing with. I just want the money that I'm fairly owed. I don't care what crap they try to pull; they are the ones in the wrong here and I am 100% in the right.

So why doesn't that make this feel any better?

Well if you are gearing up to sue, you are on the right course. All you can do is try to give fair notice of their debt to you and a reasonable collection attempt. Once they ignore that, you can pursue it down the road (like you have nothing better to do, right?) and if they claim they never saw the letter, the court will say tough noogies.

IF you are going to sue:
Serving them a summons might require a process server if they pull the 'I never got that letter' stunt again, or you may need to publish your intent in a local paper for *** days...either way, if they do not respond or come to court on the court date, you win by default.

IF you aren't:
They know you are pregnant. I'll bet dollars to donuts they are counting on you having too much else going on to worry about collecting from them. They know they have you by the short and curlies.

[Unregistered]

If your Certified mailpiece is not deliverable on the first attempt (the business may have been closed for lunch or the addressee wasn't home), the USPS will send a second notice after five days. If the article is not picked up after 15 days from the first attempt, it will be returned to you marked, "Unclaimed".



You can still take them to court and you will have PROOF you tried to send a Certified letter and they had 15 days to go pick up the letter, it shows they were avoiding picking it up!

[MyAngels]

I think I would go ahead and send a regular letter as well. They could be avoiding picking up the certified letter. That would not stop me from pursing this in court on your original deadline, though.

I used to work for an attorney who did some collection work, and if we had a debtor who was particularly obnoxious we would specify to the process server that they should attempt to serve them at work, as it's much more difficult to dodge a process server when you're at work.