Wish Me Luck!

[Breakfast Diva]

This morning is the small claims court case against the dog people. Hopefully justice will prevail!

 

[Flower]

I WISH YOU LUCK AND GO GET THEM!!!! Be thinking of you.

 

[Ice]

Go get them tiger!

 

[Penelope]

Good luck~ Thinking of you out here in the Midwest

 

[gillumhouse]

Sic 'em!!!

 

[egoodell]

Got fingers and toes crossed! Go get 'em!
RIki

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

I must have missed this original post. Can someone fill me in??

 

[Generic]

I must have missed this original post. Can someone fill me in??.

Quick version...

1. Guests arrive late (purposely)
2. Bring canine in spite of rules (drives innkeeper's canine nucking futs)
3. Won't agree to anything that makes sense
4. Want to leave and not pay in spite of reservation agreement
5. Get charged as per reservation agreement
6. Leave nasty review which proves that they were disagreeable
7. Innkeeper responds to review from disagreeable people (see synonym)
8. Contest charge while committing perjury
9. Innkeeper rightly takes them to small claims court

Did I miss anything?

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I must have missed this original post. Can someone fill me in??.

Quick version...

1. Guests arrive late (purposely)
2. Bring canine in spite of rules (drives innkeeper's canine nucking futs)
3. Won't agree to anything that makes sense
4. Want to leave and not pay in spite of reservation agreement
5. Get charged as per reservation agreement
6. Leave nasty review which proves that they were disagreeable
7. Innkeeper responds to review from disagreeable people (see synonym)
8. Contest charge while committing perjury
9. Innkeeper rightly takes them to small claims court

Did I miss anything?
.

Quick version...

1. Guests arrive late (purposely)
2. Bring canine in spite of rules (drives innkeeper's canine nucking futs)
3. Won't agree to anything that makes sense
4. Want to leave and not pay in spite of reservation agreement
5. Get charged as per reservation agreement
6. Leave nasty review which proves that they were disagreeable
7. Innkeeper responds to review from disagreeable people (see synonym)
8. Contest charge while committing perjury
9. Innkeeper rightly takes them to small claims court

Did I miss anything?

That sums it up pretty well! Except to add that their credit union debit card sided with them (go figure) and all 3 nights monies went back to the dog people.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract.

 

[Arks]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

Yes, it sounds encouraging about winning the judgment!
Here in Arkansas, though, there are many cases where the small claims court tells party B to pay party A, and B just never pays. They ignore it and nobody does anything about it. The small claims court law doesn't really have teeth in it so it gets very hard to collect on a judgment. I sure hope it's better in your state!

 

[Ice]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

Thank you for standing up for the small businesses. If nothing else I bet your glad you covered your a@@!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

Yes, it sounds encouraging about winning the judgment!
Here in Arkansas, though, there are many cases where the small claims court tells party B to pay party A, and B just never pays. They ignore it and nobody does anything about it. The small claims court law doesn't really have teeth in it so it gets very hard to collect on a judgment. I sure hope it's better in your state!
.

If they won't pay, we have enough information to garnish his wages (we googled them and found where he works from link ed in & FB) and I also found out today that the card they used was a debit card from his credit union, so we could also garnish from their bank account.
Small claims will not help you collect, but if you know where any assets or work is, it's not difficult to garnish.
Ahhhhhhh....don't you just love the info social media provides? LOL

 

[Breakfast Diva]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

Thank you for standing up for the small businesses. If nothing else I bet your glad you covered your a@@!
.

Thank you for standing up for the small businesses. If nothing else I bet your glad you covered your a@@!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Oh! and they even stated that they felt we "stole" their money by charging them! They need to look at themselves in the mirror to see who the thieves are!

 

[Arks]

Oh! and they even stated that they felt we "stole" their money by charging them! They need to look at themselves in the mirror to see who the thieves are!.

I'd like to see Judge Judy tear into them!

 

[Ice]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

Yes, it sounds encouraging about winning the judgment!
Here in Arkansas, though, there are many cases where the small claims court tells party B to pay party A, and B just never pays. They ignore it and nobody does anything about it. The small claims court law doesn't really have teeth in it so it gets very hard to collect on a judgment. I sure hope it's better in your state!
.

If they won't pay, we have enough information to garnish his wages (we googled them and found where he works from link ed in & FB) and I also found out today that the card they used was a debit card from his credit union, so we could also garnish from their bank account.
Small claims will not help you collect, but if you know where any assets or work is, it's not difficult to garnish.
Ahhhhhhh....don't you just love the info social media provides? LOL
.

If they won't pay, we have enough information to garnish his wages (we googled them and found where he works from link ed in & FB) and I also found out today that the card they used was a debit card from his credit union, so we could also garnish from their bank account.
Small claims will not help you collect, but if you know where any assets or work is, it's not difficult to garnish.
Ahhhhhhh....don't you just love the info social media provides? LOL

Your good!

 

[agoodman]

Well done, and I hope you win, but what every B&B has to think about as well as "win or lose" is do you have the time to put into fighting it. I am glad you did, I see your point. In my case as a single Innkeeper with a 2nd job and no money to pay an attorney, the time and effort would not have been worth it for me
Don't get me wrong I AGREE WITH WHAT YOU DID, I am just saying if Inn's DON'T fight every case don't come down on those Inns for backing down, there may be reasons they could not go as far as you have.

 

[Generic]

UPDATE:
I don't know if this happens in all small claims cases, but the first thing we had to do this morning was to agree or disagree to do a mediation hearing. I didn't want to seem unreasonable, so I agreed. We all sat in a room, I told my story to 2 mediators, then the DP (dog people) told their lies. 45 minutes later, the DP offered up a settlement of only the 1 night deposit. I refused. Mediation was a big waste of time.
Next, we all went into the 'real' courtroom with a judge. I plead our case, offered up all the proof of our policies on both the website and confirmation letter the CP claim they didn't get. At one point I started to explain how things turned bad once we realized they had their animals. The judge didn't care about anything that was said between the parties or any details that night except for what our policies were.
The DP got SHUT DOWN BIG TIME by the judge! At one point he said "you broke the contract". When they said they didn't know that they couldn't have their dogs in the car, the judge said "the policies were published. The judge became very irritated at the DP, especially when the male said that there was an innkeeping law that states the innkeeper needs to provide a safe environment (they felt unsafe they claim) and the judge harshly said "where's the statute?" They didn't have it and the judge said again harsly "so you didn't do your research?" When they asked him a question about it he harshly replied "I'm not your lawyer".
When the DP started to tell the judge about emotional or personal info that happened that night, the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard".
When they stated they felt unsafe and threatened by the situation, the judge again harshly asked if they filed a police report or called the police. Of course, the answer was NO.
At the end of it all, we were told that the court would mail the judgment to us in 1-2 weeks.
I am 99.999999999% sure that the case will be judged in our favor! I left very happy and the DP left very upset.
I'll let you know in a week or so what the offical verdict is, but right now, we're doing the happy dance!!!!
As happy as I am about our probable win, I'm still saddened that it took this turn. These were two very unreasonable people and I never imagined that I would ever have to take someone to court. But it's good to know that legally, the phone reservation along with our posted policy with or without the confirmation letter is a legal contract..

...the judge said "this is a contracts case, just the legal facts will be heard"....

What wonderful words to hear from a judge. That's why they are judges. I hope you will see judgement in a few days and they will have to begrudgingly pay you... plus of course, their lost time, etc. I wonder if a copy of the judgement should be sent to Visa/MC? Did they charge you a fee when they processed the chargeback? If the judge finds in your favour, should they not refund the money, since they processed a chargeback when they shouldn't have? Or am I just reading too much into the idea of justice?

 

[swirt]

That is encouraging news BD. I hope it all works out in the way that it sounds like it will.