Any Ideas.... :(

About two weeks before Hannah was born my lovely husband lent his best mate $3000 for equipment to set himself up as a DJ, was meant to be paid back the next week. Well its been almost six months now and they still owe $2100 I told him it was a BAD idea at the time, but theres no point in me saying I told you so (even tho I really want to!) cos that doesnt achieve anything. Anyway, I am now feeling like this couple are playing us for fools. Dannevirke is a small town and it doesnt take much to find out what other people are up to, so I know that they havent reined in their spending at all even tho they owe us so much - she has got a new engagement ring, they've been up to Auckland a couple of times and I hear they are getting a new car..... They keep saying that her mum is meant to be putting the $$ into our account but it never turns up, so Daniel rings them and they say they'll sort it but it never turns up.... You see what I'm getting at! THey were staying with her mum on the weekend and apparently 'forgot' to ask her about it - my bet is she has no idea about it all. Just to make it a little more interesting, the 'she' is Roxy's sister! lol. Anyways, any ideas on how to get it back? The friendship is long gone so not worried about that, but am sick of feeling trodden on, used and played for a fool. Daniel has so far taken the nice but persistent approach, ringing every couple of days but its not working. They already think I'm a b*#@h (when in fact I have done absolutely nothing) so its not going to make anything worse. ARgh, it just makes me so mad Any ideas will be considered. (Sorry this is so long)

well, not sure if you want to go this way - but you can always take them to small claims court. We took our ex-flatmate. They have an arbitrer (not sure about that spelling at all) and basically help you talk through things and come to an official agreement, which is written down. It also has penalty clauses. If the payments aren't adhered to, the court steps in and repossesses stuff. It is not pleasant at all, but in our sitation, the fact that we weer legally getting on it was enough incentive for our ex-flatmate to make the payments.

Besides checking out arbitration and small claims court, I would try and come up with as much paperwork as possible - I'm guessing there was only a verbal agreement over the cash that was lent, but if you had bank statements or something to show the transfer out it might help. I would definitely take things down the legal alley, I know it might seem horrible, but it's your money and they're being slackarses and you deserve it back in FULL !! Best of luck hun and let us know how it goes

Or if you still want to be a little bit nice... perhaps you could set up an automatic payment with them for $100 or something a week. Bring them round the form with all the details written out so they don't have the chance to "forget about it". And make sure the money comes out on the day they get paid, before they can spend it.

That way perhaps they can still keep up their stupid spending and be paying you back steadily.

Good luck!!!

Yeah I had been thinking about going down the legal track. I had a look at the disputes tribunal website but it says you cant use it for debt collection, only disputes...

That is so frustrating! Wouldn't it be a dispute if they keep saying they will pay and don't?

I like Nikkis AP idea. If they prefer to spend their dish rather than paying back debts it seems more likely they'll give you $100 a week rather than a lump sum?

I don't have much advice, apart from make sure you write down everything. Every time you have spoken to them about it, every time they have told you the money will come thru. Make sure you have super specific notes so that you have really detailed records of what has been happening!

Wow that is terrible!

I would also suggest giving the mother a call first as they have told you she should be depositing the money so its not weird that you call her and then perhaps the mother can get on their backs?

Other than that, definately get legal advice. Because $2100 is ALOT of money, I wouldn't hesitate taking them to small claims court, or atleast getting some info on it. You have a child of your own, you can't afford to give away $3000 and not get it back.

Okay Aimee, I have just talked with my partner who is a lawyer, and we then looked on the internet and he suggests that you go to the website www.justice.govt.nz, which is the Ministry of Justice website. From there you can click on courts and then on dispute tribunal, there is heaps of info there. Other than that he suggests you go and see public Law services who can give you advice on what to do.

Im not sure where you are but if you look up your local courts they will have a number for you to contact small claims. I dont think they will actually take action to collect the costs (debt collection part of it) but the decision is a legal contract so you have that on your side if you need to take it further. If you have a lawyer they may also write a letter on your behalf to the ex friend threatening legal action, this is often enough to scare people into action and depending on your lawyer depends one how much this will costs but they charge in units and I would think this may costs between 100-200 at the most.

We had $1000 put into our account by her mum today. Only $1100 to go.....