Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

I gave a check to someone who came round our neighborhood offering a service. He asked for this before he would do the job. After the work was 50%-60% complete he said he had to finish another job nearby but would be back to finish the job at my home later that same day. He did not come back and I stopped the check the same day. The vendor came back one week later and asked me why I stopped the check and I told him it was because he had not finished the job, as he new, failing to come back as promised. He then completed the job and I gave him another check in full payment. Now I have received an order to pay from a company called Ace Express who say that they paid the vendor cashing the original check which I had stopped and are now demanding that I pay them the $260. The vendor gave me a business card but it appears to have nothing to do with him since the number has no area code and is in a different name to that to whom I wrote the check.


Asked on 11/08/12, 6:06 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rachel Hunter

And your question is what? You should never have stopped payment on the check. As between you and the check cashing place, you owe the funds. Its up to you to get the excess funds back from the guy offering the service, which may be unlikely since his information does not match up.

In the future, don't deal with someone driving around the neighborhood with a truck. Only accept services from licensed vendors (if required) and after you have checked them out at the BBB or some other consumer source (like Angie's List or something). And never give a contractor more than 10% in advance. If the contractor or vendor does not perform, there are ways to deal with that besides stopping payment on the check. Now you have created an even larger more costly problem to resolve.

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Answered on 11/08/12, 4:43 pm


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