Long story short:

I did a side job for a local homeowner. I had a helper along with me as well. Price was agreed on, and was about half the price of the next nearest bid (the job was very labor intensive and unpleasant). Guy told me his brother-in-law owed him for doing some work at his place, so his Bro-in-law would be picking up the tab via PayPal.

Completed the job, and even went back and redid it gratis because the guy's plumber had messed up and rendered our work useless. (The homeowner was a nice guy. Family man.)

Guy very pleased with us. Sent invoice via PayPal. Guy's bro-in-law paid through PayPal. I paid my helper. Guy's bro-in-law contacts his credit card company and cancels transaction. I call homeowner, he calls bro-in-law and calls me back. Apparently bro-in-law saw a charge to an email address (mine) and thought it was unauthorized and cancelled it. Homeowner said sorry and that he would get it squared away.

My regular work got very busy (14-16 hour days, 3 months straight with one day off the whole 3 months), and I manged to text the homeowner once that entire period. He said he was getting right on it.

Regular work being manageable now, I sent him a text on Tuesday (no response) and left a voicemail on Friday stating my intent to collect the money owed to me (no response).

My original thought was to go to his residence this Monday and hopefully catch him at home and see what's going on. I also thought it might be a good idea to record our in-person conversation in case later on he tries to get squirrely and claim that I didn't do any work or some other bullshit like that.

But, as I was looking up local laws, I came upon this:


Many states have privacy laws that forbid the surreptitious recording of private conversations. California requires unanimous consent for the recording of certain conversations. The California Penal Code criminalizes the unauthorized recording of such conversations. Residents attempting to get information for lawsuits or other personal reasons may run afoul of the law if they secretly tape either a phone call or face-to-face discussion. California residents should determine the special conditions that allow for recordings. Residents can then safely record conversations without violating the criminal eavesdropping laws of California.


1
Determine whether any party to the conversation you want to record has a reasonable expectation of privacy. According to the California Penal Code, you may not secretly record any "confidential communication" in California. A confidential communication consists of a conversation where you have reason to believe that any party to the conversation expects privacy, including both face-to-face conversations and those using a phone or other device. The determination of whether you have the reason to believe a party expects privacy depends on the particular circumstances under which the conversation takes place. Only a judge or jury could ultimately decide whether the circumstances indicated a reasonable expectation of privacy.

2
Obtain the consent of all parties to a conversation having a reasonable expectation of privacy. You may still record confidential communications under California privacy laws. However, you must obtain the consent of all parties to the communication. In cases where you are not sure whether a person reasonably expects privacy, you should seek consent to avoid violating the California criminal laws.

3
Record the conversation only when you have unanimous consent or no expectation of privacy exists, such as a meeting in a park or other public place. A party may sometimes give consent and suddenly withdraw consent in the middle of a conversation. Stop recording a conversation if any party withdraws consent.


California law specifically forbids tapping of telephone wires. Of course, the phone company may do this to test its equipment. Additionally, the police may still wiretap phone lines when authorized by a court or other laws.

Restraining orders generally forbid any attempts by an accused abuser to initiate a conversation with a victim. A victim who has received a restraining order may record conversations that violate the restraining order without obtaining consent from an accused abuser.

California requires unanimous consent to record conversations between cellular phones. This law also includes conversations between a cell phone and land-line phone. Conversations involving one or more cordless telephone also require unanimous consent for recording.

Many people try to record private conversations to spy on others or get information for legal charges or a lawsuit. California forbids the use of illegal recordings as evidence in a trial or other proceeding.

First-time violations of California eavesdropping laws generally carry a fine of up to $2,500 and imprisonment of up to a year. Repeat violations can increase the punishment to a $10,000 fine and imprisonment of up to one year.


http://www.ehow.com/how_6547450_record-conversations-under-california-law.html

So is this basically saying I can't record our conversation? If so, any suggestions on how to protect myself if this guy gets all shady and tries to spread some manure?

If the person who arranged for you to do the work was also the OWNER of the property that you worked on, then you may be able to file a mechanic's lien on the property for the amount owed. However, there are usually statutory time limits within which your paperwork must be filed. If you've use up all your time, then you just may be out of luck.

If the money is worth it, you should see an attorney immediately if you don't get satisfaction at your meeting with the "owner". If you do decide to record your conversation surreptitiously, you'd be well advised to keep quiet about it. Some states allow for recording as long as one party to the conversation knows about the recording and consents. (That would be you.) Other states - it sounds like California is one of them - go the other way. Not a good idea, itz, to go public with unconsented recordings. Jail-time threats, there often are...

Other possibilities include kicking his ass and burning his house down.

Other possibilities include kicking his ass and burning his house down.

A friend of mine was faced with a similar situation with a homeowner, a shifty attorney, that simply was not going to pay. So my friend loaded up his dump truck with gravel and dumped it in front of the attorney's garage, preventing him from getting to work one morning. :D

I don't know how much money was involved, but the property owner is definitely libel for payment, I don't care who owes who what ...

I would see my attorney ASAP. Get a certified letter to the man stating if payment is not rendered in CASH in 10 days you will see him in court.

No more talking. Done.

I hate it when you try to help folks and be nice only to get shit on!

Thanks guys, I've contacted a lawyer. Although, I'd prefer it if these were the olden days where I could demand satisfaction through other means like fisticuffs or something.

I always have a clause that states their aknowledgement of my right to reposess my work if payment is overdue.

How do you repo work completed? :D Use your imagination. Would be a bitch if a person stiffed a tattoo artist.

The lawyer route is the way to go.

I always have a clause that states their aknowledgement of my right to reposess my work if payment is overdue.


That's a good idea. This being a relatively small side job, and going with my gut feeling that the homeowner was an alright guy, I didn't even bother with a written contract.

That's a good idea. This being a relatively small side job, and going with my gut feeling that the homeowner was an alright guy, I didn't even bother with a written contract.

No.

Get a signed contract describing the scope of work to be done and file a preliminary lien notification. Send a weekly invoice for work completed (no more than $5k) If you do not get your money, you can then sue in small claims court without an attorney and file a lien against the property.

I've never lost a case or any money.

I suspect that you are not a licensed contractor.

Gil

Man up. Grow a set, grab him by the scruff of the neck and if he has no cash on him, take his car until the debt is paid. Whining on an internet forum like a bitch is pathetic.

Man up. Grow a set, grab him by the scruff of the neck and if he has no cash on him, take his car until the debt is paid. Whining on an internet forum like a bitch is pathetic.

Yeah, that's a great idea, don't know why I didn't think of that before! Thanks for the awesome advice!!1!!!

I suspect that you are not a licensed contractor.

Gil

I dropped the ball on this. I wasn't aware of the $500 limit on jobs until after the fact. Didn't even cross my mind, as we weren't touching any structure.

I dropped the ball on this.

I just retired as a City of Los Angeles deputy building inspector. I was a welding contractor for 15 years before that.

We were busy days, nights and weekends after the Northridge quake, red-tagging hundreds of apartment buildings. I'll never forget the concrete parking structures that collapsed. The one at CSUN was an amazing sight.

Gil

Case in point.

I was doing some work on a 73 Corvette yesterday. One of the things the owner wanted me to do for him was remove some flame stickers that were on the car. No problem, I hate stickers. I heated the driver's side sticker off, no problem. When I removed the passenger side sticker, it was covering a patch of paint that was missing, about 1/3 the size of a dollar bill.

This is a customer that I've done thousands of dollars of work for over the years. I was able to show him that I didn't create the damage by removing the stickers. In fact, it's completely apparent that somebody else had tried removing the passenger side sticker, pulled the paint from the car, went to a store, and bought a replacement sticker, and replaced it over the damaged paint. Side by side comparison of the stickers showed they were in fact, not a matching set (he put the stickers on himself about 10 years ago, a matching set he bought).

However, I took pictures of the damage, the outter adhesion lines that don't match up with the damage, side by side comparisions of the stickers that show they are of a different make, the lack of paint on the back of the sticker in question, etc, to cover my ass in case he later decides that he wants me to pay for the damage.

The one at CSUN was an amazing sight.


It was. I lived off Nordhoff and Louise at the time. Huge aftershocks every few seconds for days. Our foundation was cracked and pretty much everything in the house was trashed. The CSUN parking structure was insane. What were the codes like when those were built? In 2000, we were putting separation joints, steel reinforcement and proto rods in friggin' block walls. I always wondered what it was like before.

Yeah, Mr.Anderson, I always take plenty of pics. It's a good habit to get into, and has saved my ass more than once.