Scope of a Contract

[djjdnap]

• We will retain a pre-authorized credit card imprint in the amount of $1,000 per piece of equipment as a damage deposit.
  Renter is responsible for any and all losses and damages to our equipment while in your care, up to and including replacement cost.
• Renter is solely responsible for ensuring the safety of the vessel during the rental period.
• All damages in excess of $100 must be reported to Company A and to local law enforcement immediately.
• Renter will get his/her damage deposit back if the equipment is returned unharmed.
• A employee of Company A will inspect the vessel at pickup an drop off for damages.
• company A NO insurance coverage for equipment damages incurred during your rental period.
  Please check your homeowner, auto, or credit card policy to see if there is an endorsement available to you.

So you return the vessel they check it.
Start it and move it to put gas back into it.
You get your deposit back.
Get home and a couple hours later you receive threatening calls about how you damaged the vessel and would be prosecuted for not reporting 1000$'s of dollars worth of damage and are liable to pay for them.

I called my lawyer already and we cant take these people seriously.
however my lawyer isn't licensed in the state the event took place.

However if the case does go sour, the place claims we owe their court cost, lawyer cost and down time of the vessel.

All which i believe are part of a contract that was over once we paid the hourly rate for rental, got the deposit back and went home.
Hopefully some type of arbitration can be made after his lawyer talks to mine.

your take?

 

[dross]

So you return the vessel they check it.
Start it and move it to put gas back into it.
You get your deposit back.
Get home and a couple hours later you receive threatening calls about how you damaged the vessel and would be prosecuted for not reporting 1000$'s of dollars worth of damage and are liable to pay for them.

I called my lawyer already and we cant take these people seriously.
however my lawyer isn't licensed in the state the event took place.

However if the case does go sour, the place claims we owe their court cost, lawyer cost and down time of the vessel.

All which i believe are part of a contract that was over once we paid the hourly rate for rental, got the deposit back and went home.
Hopefully some type of arbitration can be made after his lawyer talks to mine.

your take?

I'm not a lawyer, but in my very limited experience, judges don't look at contract law as being completely defined by the letter of the contract, they try to look at the whole picture.

I believe that what it's going to come down to is whether or not you damaged the boat. If you damaged the boat and they just didn't catch it and they can demonstrate that, you'll end up paying, I think.

Example:

I worked for a small company and we started work for a company before the contract was signed. This was a headhunting firm. We presented a candidate, they hired him and never signed the contract. They thought they were slick. We took them to court and they admitted they hired the guy and got him from us. Their argument was that we had no contract.

The judge looked at the guy like he was stupid and said, "So you thought they were providing this service for free?"
Case over, we won, and I think the judge was pissed he couldn't give us more.

I'm not saying you did or didn't do it. You didn't say yourself. But if you did, you should have to pay, even if they didn't catch it.

 

[CampingJosh]

Their contract states that the renter "will get his/her damage deposit back if the equipment is returned unharmed."
When they returned the damage deposit, they admitted that you had returned it unharmed.

I'd tell them to screw off.
And they may have committed extortion. Threatening criminal prosecution to collect money owed is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Section 807).

 

[dross]

Their contract states that the renter "will get his/her damage deposit back if the equipment is returned unharmed."
When they returned the damage deposit, they admitted that you had returned it unharmed.

I'd tell them to screw off.
And they may have committed extortion. Threatening criminal prosecution to collect money owed is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Section 807).

How do you know he returned it unharmed? He never said he did.

 

[eatsnopaste]

They examined it and returned his deposit. If they found something later that wasn't easily seen, who's to say it was done by the last renter? If they damaged the boat then they need to stand up and pay. Depending on what was found to be wrong with the rental unit, I think it may be pretty hard for the company to prove it was done by the poster.

 

[CampingJosh]

How do you know he returned it unharmed? He never said he did.

I don't. But the contract indicates that the company considered it returned unharmed because they returned the damage deposit.

 

[CarmelHP]

You have a lawyer. Listen to him.

IAALBNYL

 

[djjdnap]

"If" there was any damage done by me i would it consider it normal wear and tear.
It was actually a snowmobile not a boat.

The company sent an estimate of over 1500$
If it was that much damage done the company would have seen it and not returned my deposit.

Also as i reviewed the contract there was a line where they were supposed to write down the vessel # which they did not.

My lawyer is supposed to call them Monday.

 

[dross]

You have a lawyer. Listen to him.

IAALBNYL

How conventional.

Who needs a lawyer when you've got the internets?

Next you'll be advising against diy surgery.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Once upon a time, my brother had bought some furniture and financed it through a regional furnature store chain in western Tennessee. According to the receipts and everything, he finished paying the furniture off but the store claimed he still owed some money.

We had an uncle whose real first name was "Judge"...we called him Uncle Robert. Anyway, he wrote the store a sternly written letter and signed it with his real name..."Judge Robert Smith". Apparently, that's all it took--no more threatening collection letters.

Moral of the story--If you have proof that you did no damage and feel they're jerking you around, maybe, a letter from a lawyer (or "judge" uncle) may be all it takes to get them off your case.