Hi Everyone, I am a Software Engineer from India. I maintain quite a few blogs/forum on topics related to my area of expertise. Well, while I was looking for private advertisers for my blogs, I got in touch with this guy who runs a small online training co. (from Concord, CA.) which is directly related to my area of expertise. (As for now, I would refrain from disclosing his name or his site.) While we were discussing about advertising, he came up with a proposal if I can do a small project for him. (He was to do this project for a client but due to paucity of time he was unable to do and hence requested me.) After some negotiation we agreed for the timeline and rate. To cut a long story short, I gave the deliverables 1 day in advance, he was quite happy with my project. He instantly transferred 1/3rd of the amt then and said he will transfer the rest when he will get the full payment from the client but latest by Wed, 11/June. He contacted me on Wed, apologizing for the delay and said he is still awaiting payment from the client. I wonder what transpired in his mind after 11/Jun, but now he is not replying to any of my emails or chat initiation on Gtalk. As soon as I try to initiate a chat, he goes offline. He runs his training site on Microsoft small business plan. He claims he is in US for last 7-8 years. I would like to know what best I can do to recover money from him. Is there any online system in CA, where I can report a complaint against this guy?. As far as the proof goes -- if a law enforcement agency asks -- I can show the chat conversation that happened between him and myself. (Though I am not sure whether that will be admissible in a law enforcement agency.) Thanks in advance for all your valuable inputs.
Short of spending thousands and thousands of dollars to retain an attorney in the US, there isn't much you can do. If you lived here, you could file a small claims court action - but even if you win, it doesn't mean you would collect. Law enforcement isn't going to get involved in a civil dispute. You can register a complain with the California Better Business Bureau (there may also be a local one for Concord) but all it really does is put your complaint on file and they can't do anything in the way of collecting for you. In the future, you could try going through a service like elance which will set up an escrow, but they do charge a fee. You could also require payment in stages and not deliver the final product until you have been paid.
Thanks mjewel. well, if I get the money back it's fine...if I don't get it back that is also not a problem....I just want that this person should be taught a lesson and he should understand that he can't get off so easily just because it was a distant deal. Could you please help me in getting a contact email for such system you described above for Concord, CA? I tried searching and got this http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/General/Home.aspx . I am not sure whether this would be applicable for Concord.
I think you can file an online complaint with the national office. http://us.bbb.org/ I think the link you have is for Southern California, and you would want the one for Northern California. Concord is closer to San Francisco and not Los Angeles.
thanks again...I will write a strongly worded letter to him the 3rd and last time. if he replies then fine, otherwise after 24hrs I "ll file a complaint on the two links above. You guys were of a great help. + rep added. I will keep you posted on the development.