We had a customer owe us approximately $900 in repairs/parts/etc. from 2000. He came into our shop on 01/09/2003, asked for copies of his bill and acknowledged the debt as being his. He never paid the bill, so we added up all of the interest and sent it to a collection agency at the end of 2007. He came into our business again on 01/17/2008, again asked for copies of his bills, and again acknowledged the debt as being his.

The problem is that SOL in Wisconsin is only 6 years. I was previously told by an attorney that his verbal acknowledgement would reset the SOL to the date the acknowledgement was made. However, the collection agency is saying that "acknowledgement of debt" is only if he makes a payment, thereby releasing him from this debt even though he admits to this day that it's his!!

My question is this: does or does not his verbal acknowledgement renew the SOL? Like I said, an attorney told me it does, but I'm now being told that it does not.

Get a letter from this attorney saying the verbal agreement is good enough to collect legally and he will gladly take the case if it ends up in court. Give that letter to the collection agency, this should be good enough for them.

If not... there is more than 1 collection agency out there...

I just don't see how they can say he's off the hook when he admitted to them that the debt is his... I am so frustrated with deadbeats!! We're not some big corporation; we can't afford to take a hit for hundreds of dollars and then just shake it off; it affects our whole business. But people like him just wait it out and then wash their hands of it... it gets me so upset!

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Originally Posted by this8384

We had a customer owe us approximately $900 in repairs/parts/etc. from 2000. He came into our shop on 01/09/2003, asked for copies of his bill and acknowledged the debt as being his. He never paid the bill, so we added up all of the interest and sent it to a collection agency at the end of 2007. He came into our business again on 01/17/2008, again asked for copies of his bills, and again acknowledged the debt as being his.

The problem is that SOL in Wisconsin is only 6 years. I was previously told by an attorney that his verbal acknowledgement would reset the SOL to the date the acknowledgement was made. However, the collection agency is saying that "acknowledgement of debt" is only if he makes a payment, thereby releasing him from this debt even though he admits to this day that it's his!!!

My question is this: does or does not his verbal acknowledgement renew the SOL? Like I said, an attorney told me it does, but I'm now being told that it does not.

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It's my understanding that activity in the account reups the SOL - payment, using the account, something of that nature. If he merely acknowledged the debt I don't see that as extending the Statute.

Ask the Attorney to refer you to a collection agency. He must work with one that has run into this before.

Part of it is that it is also verbal, if you owed me, I could lie and merely sy you told me it was a valid debt, very hard to prove in court unless your office is under video and audio recording.

So if the attorney says it is still valid, sue in small claims court for a judgement

His own statement, dated 01/09/08, is

"...it has been over 6 years since I did any business with them and I never heard a word about this matter since. I contacted the owner...to see what this was about. He told me I owed $400 in previous parts orders and another almost $500 for a engine that had been tipped over on a stand and damaged when I was employed there."

Obviously, he knows about the SOL since he made a point of saying that it has been "over 6 years." He never disputed that he owed the $400, he caused the $500 of damage to the engine, and it's a lie that he "never heard about this matter since" because he asked us for copies of the invoices.

He also contacted the collections agency and requested proof of debt, which led to him stopping in and personally requesting proof of debt, which both the agency and our business provided to him. We made him a settlement offer for $700 which would cover his $400 and the collection agency's commission; he let the offer expire and then sent another letter saying he disputed the entire amount but would still settle for $250. Load of crap...

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Originally Posted by this8384

His own statement, dated 01/09/08, is

"...it has been over 6 years since I did any business with them and I never heard a word about this matter since. I contacted the owner...to see what this was about. He told me I owed $400 in previous parts orders and another almost $500 for a engine that had been tipped over on a stand and damaged when I was employed there."

Obviously, he knows about the SOL since he made a point of saying that it has been "over 6 years." He never disputed that he owed the $400, he caused the $500 of damage to the engine, and it's a lie that he "never heard about this matter since" because he asked us for copies of the invoices.

He also contacted the collections agency and requested proof of debt, which led to him stopping in and personally requesting proof of debt, which both the agency and our business provided to him. We made him a settlement offer for $700 which would cover his $400 and the collection agency's commission; he let the offer expire and then sent another letter saying he disputed the entire amount but would still settle for $250. Load of crap...

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I'm sure he DOES know the statute - that's why he has both the parts and the money and never paid for the damage.

How did the debt get out of statute - bookkeeping error, attorney, collection agency - ?

(Have you posted the "damage to the engine" question before? That sounds familiar to me.)

And I'm sure you know an offer of settlement is not an admission of anything.

It got out of SOL because we tried too hard to be too nice to too many people. We didn't realize about SOL until it was already too late.

Yes, the damage to engine question was mine and it's about the same guy.

I know a settlement offer isn't an admission; he actually said, "I know the rest of the parts are mine, but I don't think I should pay for the engine work." Then he's got the hair on his backside to dispute the entire bill because he simply doesn't want to pay for it.

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Originally Posted by this8384

It got out of SOL because we tried too hard to be too nice to too many people. We didn't realize about SOL until it was already too late.

Yes, the damage to engine question was mine and it's about the same guy.

I know a settlement offer isn't an admission; he actually said, "I know the rest of the parts are mine, but I don't think I should pay for the engine work." Then he's got the hair on his backside to dispute the entire bill because he simply doesn't want to pay for it.

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Okay, now I'm really confused. I thought the other question was about who is/was responsible if one employee knocked over an engine belonging to another employee - was your place of business responsible, should a report be filed with your insurance company?

Now I'm reading that the same customer, not employee, owes on two bills.

Am I reading this wrong or not understanding the situation?

He was an employee and a customer; he purchased parts through our business. We allowed him to put it on account and pay it off when he got to it. Now, he's just disputing any and all collection attempts. He admits to charging $400+ dollars to his account, he admits the he damaged the motor, but he doesn't want to pay for anything.