Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Texas
Office furniture store stops payment on a refund
I ordered office furniture for my business from a local office furniture store. One of the stores owners suggested that I buy all of my custom tables and booths from him rather than order from a vendor out of state. I supplied him with the specs on the products and agreed to his price. When the 15 items were delivered to my business, immediately (during the delivery process)the legs broke off of 4 out of 5 tables. The remaining 10 booths had chips and patched spots on them. I immediately notified the dealer and he said he would take care of it. Months passed and the booths started falling apart. I finally told the dealer that I was competely dissatisfied and wanted him to pick up the poor quality furniture and refund my money. After arguing for several months he finally agreed to pick up the furniture on a Wednesday along with a check for the $4,500. that I paid. (At this point over 50% of the merchandise was unusable). He sent his delivery truck out and they picked up the furniture and gave me a check. However, when I deposited the check, I found out a stop payment was issued on it! So..he took my $4500. furniture and tricked me. Is this civil or criminal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Office furniture store stops payment on a refund
It's civil. You could go after the seller in Small Claims. If you have pictures of the shoddy merchandise, or could prove that the goods delivered weren't the goods purportedly sold, you also have a good Deceptive Trade Practice case.