Im in trouble!

[DammitJanet]

I have put off posting this because I was so embarrassed but now I am so worried that I cant help it.

The other day a sheriffs deputy pulled up to the house. I wouldnt have heard him but the dog started barking. I was sound asleep because I was sick. I went to let the dog out figuring he was barking at another dog and there was the cop! At the time I figured he was there for Cory...lol.

Imagine my horror when he got out of the car and addressed me with "good morning Miss Janet, sorry to wake you. I have this summons here for you."

OMG. It seems that last year when my evil neighbor shot my dogs (killed one and maimed the other for life leaving her paralyzed from the waist down) somehow a check I wrote to the vet bounced. I have no recollection of this. I dont remember being notified of this by the bank but its possible I was but was so traumatized by everything that went on during that time that I didnt pay any attention to things. I was really a basket case during that time and was in a deep depression plus they were messing with my medications.

Why on earth the vets didnt tell me about this until now is beyond me. They waited almost a year! In february it will be a year that the dogs were shot. Oh...by the way...they have never served the criminal papers on my neighbor but they managed to serve me for the check!

Now I have to go to court on this check on the 31st of this month. Its for 200 bucks plus the bad check fee. I dont have the money. Then they will add on court costs. If I could pay it off before court I could pay the 200 plus fee I think. But I would also carry the conviction. I will be convicted too when I go to court unless they take pity on me for why it happened. This neighbor was supposed to pay the vet bills. But my most pressing concern is what they will do when I get there and cant pay. husband is out of work because his boss is slow right now. The guy he normally worked with when this boss was slow died over the New Years Holiday. So we are stuck. We have cut everything out. Cell phones are cut off. We dont even have heat in the house because our furnace died and we cant afford to fix it. We are using the fireplace and two little ceramic heaters. Thankfully we live on wooded land so we can cut trees.

Ugh...

 

[SRL]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Janet.

I think you should call your vet's office or better yet go in and talk to them first thing Monday morning. Maybe they will let you set up a payment plan if you pay something right up front.

Some offices let unpaid charges go until a certain time (sounds like the end of the year in your case) and then go after them all at once. It happened to me with a medical bill only in that case they neglected to bill my insurance company and then a year and a half later tried to bill me and when I didn't pay started threatening collection. They *insisted* it was my problem but I got a BCBS rep on the phone and she did in five minutes what I couldn't get done on my own.

 

[KFld]

How rediculous. I think a phone call letting you know the check bounced would have been a little nicer way to inform you. I've never heard of such a thing. I would go straight down there on Monday morning and explain what happened and ask if they can drop the charges and let you make payments. I can't imagine a business being so mean to not allow you to do that.

 

[hearthope]

Janet~ sometimes once the check is handed over to the da, it is out of the hands of the vet office.
I would drive to the vet office, I would ask to speak with the vet in person.
If he is busy~make an appointment to see him the same day.
the office manager is just a go between you and him and I wouldn't talk to the manager.
Explain your situation, if he cannot get the check back from the da's office,
ask him for a letter for the court, explaining your willingness to work out a payment plan.
Most vets are willing to work with you when they have an understanding of your situation.
They get hit with tons of unpaid bills and just send stacks at a time to the da.
hopefully, he will work with you

Good Luck,
HH

 

[Sue C]

Jaent, Melissa cannot pay her disorderly conduct ticket. I called the courthouse and they said if she calls, she can make a payment plan. I had told them she did not have a job. She said sometimes the court will go as low as $10-20/month. So, call your courthouse and explain your situation and ask about a payment plan.

Sorry this is happening to you. And sorry about your dogs. What a MEAN neighbor!!

Sue

 

[timer lady]

Janet,

Hope you can come to a reasonable plan for this situation. How annoying to no be made aware of the check. Not good business practice.

 

[donna723]

I too would call the court house and see if you can work out some sort of repayment plan. This might save you some of the court costs too but I'm not sure. I would explain everything ... that you were never notified that the check was returned, that your neighbor was to pay the vet bills and didn't, that the neighbor was never held accountable for what he did to your dogs. We have a little column in our weekly paper that gives the results of court cases like this and they seem to be very liberal with repayment plans, as long as you make some kind of arrangements.

Have you talked with your vets office yet? It's probably out of his hands now, but he may have had nothing to do with it. They may have some sort of outside bookkeeping service handling their financial affairs and they may have done it.

In any case, try not to worry about it ... just do what you have to and get it cleared up. been there done that so I know how you feel! And make sure you bring it to someone's attention that your neighbor got away with what he did to your pets, was never even served, and then left you with the financial burden of his criminal actions against your furry little family members! It still burns my b%typical teen that nothing was ever done to him!

 

[Lothlorien]

Way back when I handled this type of stuff, they had to, by law, notify by certified mail that the check had bounced and that you had a certain amount of time to get in contact with us or the matter would be taken to court.

Call the vets office and ask them if you can make payment arrangements if they will drop the complaint. If it does end up going to court, ask for proof that you were notified that the check even bounced. Although technically, you are still responsible for knowing that it bounced, since you are supposed to be balancing your checkbook.

If you still end up in court, go to the prosecutor and speak to him. If you have the money in your hand and you simply explain that you were in a stressful situation during that time and you were not aware that the check had bounced and the vet never notified you, perhaps the prosecutor will let it drop and you can just pay the fee and be done with it.

Your best bet is to call the vets office Monday and see if you can sweet talk them into letting you pay it and drop the complaint.

 

[mom_in_training]

You have gotten some good advice, I would think that the court would waive the fees considering that this would be a hardship financially for you. Just a thought but years ago I experienced a problem with a check that bounced. I found out about it when I was at another establishment about a week or two later and used a check to pay for whatever and my check was denied. I was already put into the check system as a bad risk. Not cool..... I am not sure if the spelling is chex system or whatever but its definitely not a good thing to be on their list. If you have had no denials with other checks since then then Its safe to say that you have not been reported to the system. The vet office should have made contact with you about this a long time ago by mail or phone, I would too go and speak to the person that manages the vet office and find out exactly what happened. Another thing, You should take these morons that were responsible for shooting and maming your dogs to small claims to recoup every bit of the money including court fees, Late fees, NSF fees and maybe even a little bit more for you having to waste your time if you can. Good luck with everything.

 

[Sunlight]

once they file it with the district atty you cannot usually pay the vet. you should immediately make pyt arrangements with the judge's office before the hearing.

 

[OTE]

And when you do all the above then go to the small claims office and sue the neighbor for the same amount.

 

[Liahona]

I like OTE's idea, but then I can be a bit vindictive. I'm sorry for what a pain this is and all the heart ach your going through.

 

[givnmegryhr]

I was going to suggest OTE's idea also,but I would first go to the vet , let him know the situation, especially that in this case the neighbor was to pay this bill. Why are they not after him? I would be on their case to get on their backs. Inform your lawyer of this, and if the vet doesn't drop the charges, this should make all the difference in your case. I would think the judge would drop the charges and go after your neighbor. Good Luck, and for what its worth, I don't think you have a thing to be embarrassed about. You didn't do anything wrong!

 

[Janna]

Janet,

I've had a similar situation here. Now, it didn't go to the county court, it was at a magistrate level, however, they filed charges and I had to go in and plead guilty or not on it.

I set up a payment plan for $20 a month, and paid it off that way. I understand you probably have no money, but if you can scrape $10 or $20 together, they have to set up some type of plan with you.

Sorry, Janet.

Janna

 

[witzend]

Well, I'd start with the bank and get a history of how many times the check was deposited and why it wasn't eventually made good. It should have shown up on a bank statement. All you can do is throw yourself on your sword on this, and make arrangements to repay. If it's through the vet, great, but if not it will have to be through the court.

I doubt the vet will want to make an appointment, it's billable hours. You'll probably have to do it through the assistant.

by the way, whatever happened to the neighbor in this? I would sue the neighbor in small claims court for return of the funds + any court costs and fees.

 

[ctmom05]

Janet sweetie,

Sometimes I am brave enough to speak my mind, but then find I have erred in the areas of tact and diplomacy. Hopefully I get it all together here.

I sense that you have been struggling more than usual,as of late. Is it possible that one of your medical conditions needs to be evaluation'd? Things like that can definately influence one's ability to cope and plan.