small-claims-court

You Can Get $500 If An Autodialer Calls Your Cellphone
Your cellphone rings from a number you don't recognize. You pick it up. At first there's silence. Then the sound of a call center kicks in and a person asks, "Hello, can I speak to Karen?" It's a telemarketer, or a debt collector, using an autodialer. And they just broke the law. And just for funsies, you can collect $500 or $1500 with just a few hours of work if you go after them. More »

Sears Repair Stands Customer Up 4 Times, Delays Repair 7 Weeks
It seemed to a California woman that spending a few hundred extra bucks on an extended warranty for her Sears washing machine was a good investment. And with a newborn in the house, the ability to summon a repairman with a phone call for no out-of-pocket cost. That's true: assuming they show up and actually repair the appliance. Local Sears employees instead dismantled the machine, ordered parts, and then proceeded to stand her up four times, leaving the family without a working washer for seven weeks. More »

Mother Wins $7,500 After Suing Debt Collector
Mayling, mother of two, says she was inspired by Consumerist stories and when a harassing debt collector wouldn't stop calling her family, she took matters into her own hands. With a 6 month-old and a toddler in tow, she sued them in small claims court and won $7,500. This is her story. More »

College Kid Is Pro At Taking Companies To Small Claims Court
Most of us have trouble scratching a simple customer service call off our to-do list, but The Red Tape Chronicles profiles a college kid who has turned taking companies to small claims court into a bit of a hobby. And he's won 10 out of 12 times. More »

Where Are They Now? Adam And The Nonexistent Home Warranty
Back in November 2009, we featured the story of Adam and his wife, who bought a house and were under the impression that this house included a one-year warranty. You can't blame them for having this impression, since it was included in the purchase and was supposed to be paid for by the listing agent. When the house's heat pump broke and they actually needed the warranty, they learned that the paperwork was never filed, and the promised warranty didn't exist. He asked the Consumerist Hive Mind for advice, and the Hive Mind delivered. But how did things turn out? More »

Man Wins $5,000 Suing Debt Collectors, Thanks To Google Voice
Reader PJ sued a bunch of harassing debt collectors and won $5,000, and Google Voice made doing it really easy. Someone had put down his work cellphone number on their credit applications and ran up a bunch of debts and collectors started calling him multiple times per day. He told them he wasn't the guy and asked them nicely to stop, but that only made it worse. More »

This Is How I "Foreclosed" On Wells Fargo
by Patrick Rodgers More »

Wells Fargo Negotiates With Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Their Branch
Wells Fargo had a nice phone call this afternoon with the Goth homeowner who "foreclosed" on one of their local branches. "The sheriff's sale will not be happening," the Wells Fargo spokesperson told me with a laugh. "We are working with him towards a resolution that works for everyone." She acknowledged that it should have never gotten to this point. "We should have called him before this." UPDATE: Here's what homeowner Patrick said of the conversation: More »

Wells Fargo Meeting Today With Philly Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Them (Here's How He Did It)
Wells Fargo is meeting today at noon with the Philadelphia homeowner who "foreclosed" on them, The Consumerist has exclusively learned. Patrick says he "received a call from upon high" late yesterday and that he now has an appointment, "with a very senior Wells Fargo person." It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But how did Patrick go from embattled and ignored homeowner to seated across the negotiating table with leverage? I spoke with him to find out more about both how and why he did what he did. His story is an inspiration to anyone who's dreamed of going toe-to-toe with the big banks and winning. Turns out that armed with persistence, and a little legal know-how, Davids can take down Goliaths. More »

HP Happy To Fix My Computer For Free After I Took Them To Small Claims Court
Do you have a defective computer that the manufacturer refuses to repair? Emmanuel has some advice for you: take 'em to court. Facing a constantly rebooting laptop, he tells Consumerist that HP was only willing to fix it if he paid a $225 fee. Unsatisfied with this solution, he filed in small claims court, and the company offered to fix it for free. As long as he drops the case. More »

Before Suing A Company In Small Claims, Look Up The "Registered Agent"
Suing a company in small claims court is fun and easy and oftentimes the company won't even try to fight back. One thing you want to make sure to remember though is to look up the company's "registered agent" in the state where you are filing. If you don't serve this person with notice of the case, it could result in a dismissal. More »

Judge Forces Comcast To Pay Customer $5,087
"I have researched his issues and based on our records the case is without merit," wrote a Comcast spokesperson to local news investigator Amy Davis. She was looking into the case of Wayne, whose credit was damaged by Comcast just before he was going to refinance his house. This meant that on top of what he had already paid to lock in a lower interest rate, he had to pay several thousand dollars more. More »

Family With Shattered TV Takes Best Buy To Court, Wins
Remember the Florida family whose sad story of a smashed TV we shared on Super Bowl Sunday? When they unboxed their 50-inch plasma screen HDTV, they found a cracked screen and a world of sadness. They took a page from the Consumerist playbook and sued Best Buy in small claims court. When the mega-retailer failed to send a representative, they won a default judgment. More »

Best Buy Sells Shattered TV In Time For Super Bowl Party
On this, the holiest of all American TV-watching days, we'd like to share with you the horrific story of a Florida family whose Super Bowl viewing party will be a lot less intense than they had planned. The new, expensive HDTV they purchased from Best Buy was somehow shattered inside its box, and the retailer claims that it's the family's fault. More »

Reader Receives $900 For Broken Laptop In Small Claims Court

—>Ryan in North Dakota bought a very nice HP laptop in 2007. This particular model, he DV6000, has a certain flaw, and HP extended the warranty to cover inevitable repairs. But when the computer broke down for the second time at the tender age of two and a half years, and HP wouldn't repair it for free, he was angry. He had expected to get at least four years' use out of the laptop.  More »

So You Want To Sue The Company That's Screwing You Over

—>Jon wants us to recommend a good lawyer to sue HP for screwing him over on laptop repairs. We do not offer legal advice like that. We do, however, believe strongly in the power of small claims court.  More »

Emailfinder.com Sells Wrong Info, Now Woman Has To Show Up In Small Claims Court

—>Some guy in London fell for an online iPhone scam in January, so he paid $150 to emailfinder.com to track down the identity behind the Hotmail account of the person who scammed him. Now he's suing Kim, who is completely unrelated to this story (or was, at least), for $4,368 to cover the $1200 he lost on the iPhone scam plus travel expenses for him to show up in small claims court here in the U.S.  More »

Customer Sues Sears Over Bogus Black Friday Deal... And Wins

—>Once upon a time, way back in November, a St. Louis MBA student named Cheri was the one of the first inside her local Sears store on Black Friday morning. She rushed to get the best deal they were offering — a washer and dryer for $599. To her dismay, she found out that the heavily advertised deal was not available — customers were being asked to pay now and get the washer and dryer in 30 days. Even with this disappointment, the deal was too good to pass up, so she agreed. Months later there was no sign of her washer and dryer, so she took Sears to court. And won.  More »

How To File A Lawsuit

—>Consumerist empowers consumers to take on bad companies, but sometimes even the negative PR that Consumerist can bring to bear is not enough to persuade companies to behave. When that happens, you might have to sue in order to get what you want. Here is a brief guide to your options when you decide you need to escalate your complaint to the courts.  More »

Customer Sues Delta For Bogus Weather Cancellation, Wins

—>Meet Mitchell Berns. Delta slapped him with a bogus weather cancellation and, rather than sit down and take it, he booked himself and his family on another flight — then sued Delta in small claims court and won a default judgment. Berns is a lawyer, but he didn't do anything that you couldn't do.  More »