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View Full Version : Lesson learned: NEVER loan out yard tools! (long)


dendawg
09-28-2006, 05:01 AM
My wife and I were going through some hard times recently, and after a little delibiration (sp?) decided to have someone mow our lawn for us. My brother-in-law knew someone in our mobile home community, (trailer park, for those of you who absolutely must pigeon-hole.:p ) also a casual friend of his, whom he thought might help.

Boy, was he ever wrong!:rolleyes:

So we arranged for him to use our mower and weed whacker, so long as he mowed our lawn as well. He also agreed to keep them at his house. (can you guys see where this is going, or what?) Well, after keeping our mower and weed whacker since about april, he has mowed our lawn a grand total of three times, one when the park threatened to mow our lawn for us and charge us $41.00. Well, the park again made that threat to us just last week, after our lawn had gone about a month and a half without being mowed.

We decided enough was enough. We went to his trailer and asked him if he was going to mow our lawn or pay the fee the park was going to asess us. He basically said neither and slammed the door in my wife's face after she said we want our mower back. So what did the asshat do?! He left the mower in his driveway, and left it for us to come and get it!

To our regret, we had forgotten to ask for the weed whacker back, and were almost willing to forget the whole thing, when he called while both of us were away, and left a message with my sister-in-law, saying he was billing us $20.00 for mowing her mother's yard.:eek: That pissed me off to the point that I fired off this little letter to him:

Hello, (name deleted to protect the asshat)

It is our understanding that you called our house Monday evening, with the intention of extorting money out of us that you are not entitled to. Before we address this issue further, let us set the record straight on a few matters:

1. YOU borrowed the mower and weed whacker from US…actually not us, but from, (brother-in-law) but the mower and weed whacker was still ours.
2. The mower and weed whacker was lent with the understanding that you could use it, so long as you mowed our lawn as well.
3. When asked to mow before (trailer park) did the job for us and charged us, you flat out refused to live up to your obligation.
4. To date, you have failed to return the weed whacker.

Now that that matter has been settled, let us lay it down on the line, so to speak. You have until noon, Friday, September 29 2006, to return our weed whacker, or we will call the police to discuss filing theft charges. If you persist in attempting to bill us for your “services,” extortion may be considered as well. If you are smart, you will return the weed whacker without complaint, and we will forget that you ever tried to extort us. The next move is yours.

Dendawg and Wife

Let me tell you, you have to have me pretty pissed off to write a letter like that.(My grammar and spelling are usually a little sloppier when I write a normal letter.)

So far, the weed whacker has not been returned. We shall see what happens come Friday.:devil:

Crosshair
09-28-2006, 08:27 AM
Mr. Middle finger wants to get up and read the letter.:rolleyes: If he does not return it I say throw the book at him. It may require you go to court, but damm is it entertaining to watch them when you know you have them by the balls.:devil:

dendawg
09-29-2006, 05:11 AM
Welp, Thursday night has come and gone and still no weed whacker. Can't say I'm surprised. Anyway, I left him a last-chance note on his door tonight:

Hello, Asshat,

This is a friendly reminder from Dendawg & Wife. You know, the ones whose weed whacker you are holding hostage.

We just thought to remind you, as a courtesy, that the deadline we set for your returning our weed whacker, Friday, September 29 at noon, is right around the corner. To this date, (Thursday, Sept. 28) it still has not been returned.

We do not know what kind of a game you think it is you are playing, but let us reassure you: the game is over.

It’s still not too late to return our weed whacker to our porch. Leaving it out on your driveway, like you did our mower, will be considered unacceptable.

Remember, Friday at noon. If our weed whacker is not returned by then, we hope you are prepared to take the consequences for your actions.

Dendawg & Wife

I don't expect him to come through, not after all the waffling around he's done so far. Sucks to be him...he's gonna find out this dawg has teeth.:devil: Say hi to bubba for me, asshat!:runaway:

One-Fang
09-30-2006, 12:33 AM
Never lend nuthin'.

Your letters are good. They will be useful in any suit against Asshat in small claims court.

Presumably he must use the garage in which the equipment is stored at some point. Perhaps it would be worth simply watching and waiting, and going over to get it when he opens the door? No breaking and entering, just removal of your own (stolen) property back to it's rightful place. But take a friend. A big friend.

hawkchick11
09-30-2006, 04:10 AM
So did you get your weed whacker back?

dendawg
09-30-2006, 04:29 AM
So did you get your weed whacker back?

Nope, me and the wife are going down to file a report tomorrow.

dendawg
10-01-2006, 06:03 PM
Update: my wife happened to see him outside of his house yacking it up with one of his buddies. He said that it burned out and that regular gas was used in it (rather than gas mixed with 2-cycle oil) and basically said I did that!:jawdrop: No way in hell would I do something stupid like that!:pissed:

So, I've decided to fire off this little missive:

Hello Asshat,

Since you have seen fit to destroy equipment that does not belong to you, and fail to report it, we are sending you a bill:

Usage of lawnmower & Weed Whacker
est. 20 hrs. usage @ $5.00/hr: = $100.00

Replacement cost of Weed Whacker:
$89.99 + Michigan Sales Tax @ 6%: $5.40 = $95.39
for reference re: equivalent replacement please reference the below URL: (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=16810-65481-TB20CS&lpage=none)

Administrative Costs (Composure of Letters)
2 hrs. @ $10.00/hr: = $20.00

Administrative Costs (Delivery of Letters):
3 Letters @ 39¢/delivery = $1.17

Final Total:
$216.56

This total is payable immediately.
If this bill is not paid in a timely manner, appropriate legal remedies will be undertaken.

Thank you for your time,
Dendawg & Wife

One way or another, this fucker is going to get what he has coming!:pissed:
(Legally, of course :devil: )

One-Fang
10-01-2006, 11:25 PM
Good luck, but I do think if you're charging him for the time to write him the demanding letters, might as well have demanded a pony too.

Take him to court for the replacement cost of the machine.

Crosshair
10-02-2006, 05:00 AM
Sounds like things are getting interesting.:devil:

Der Cute
10-02-2006, 05:32 AM
Den,

remember: KISS.

Keep it Simple, Silly.

Dont charge him for petty crap like writing letters and postage and time.
Just the machine that he has in his posession.

And you cant get the full price for a new machine back; IIRC you get depreciated value of the machine that you own. So if you have a 20 year old beat to hell weed wacker, you might get half of what you paid for it.

Personally, I'd figure its about $75 dollars of machinery he's got, and write it off, and not talk to dingelbutt again.

I've lost money to people before, it's my own fault. Once I figure they're leeching from me and its more them taking, I cut them off.

AKA tell him to get bent.

Cutenoob

Kiwi
10-02-2006, 06:11 AM
Seriously, I wouldnt waste my time and money trying to get this sorted out.

Cut your losses and move on, lifes to short to deal with crappy people like mr weedwhackerstealer. Id pay to keep people like that out of my life. Take this as a lesson in never lending things out.... and be happy your not that kind of person.

whats worth more, $100 maybe.... or a peaceful life?

If you go ahead with it though, good luck.