The owner of a Montreal photo processing shop says she's having a hard time getting more than $2,000 from a client who used her services three years ago, and still hasn't paid in full.
Rita Calabrese, the owner of Laboratoire Numerique MC, contacted CJAD through Your Story to explain how after nearly a year of her client giving her excuses about not paying the money, she wound up getting the run-around from the court system for another two years after that.
And nearly three years after the order, she's still out around $2,300 on a $2,700 job.
Calabrese told CJAD's Aaron Rand that the client in question was a regular client of hers, who would usually pay by sending a cheque after the job was done.
"Basically, he picks up the work, and he says 'I'll be back, and I'll give you a check,'" she says. "Which was normal for him, he would pick up his work, and he would give us a check at a later date," she says.
But for this particular order he made in October of 2013, he only offered up minimal payments — and excuses.
Calabrese says the client would continue to come in with smaller jobs after that, and would pay her in full for those jobs. But after months of trying to get her money, she turned to the courts in September 2014.
"I wrote a mise en demeure (a lawyer's letter), and I sent it out to him, and it was sent back to me with a sticker on it saying 'refusé'. And I'm not quite sure what that meant, so I assumed it meant that he didn't want to accept it. So I called the court, the small claims court, and I said 'what do I do now?' They said 'well, it's refused, so you can come in and file a complaint.' So that's what I did."
Calabrese was told her court date would be on Aug. 28, 2015 — nearly two years after the order was placed. When she arrived in court, the defendant wasn't there. She then made her case to the judge, who ruled in her favor on Oct. 23.
But later on, she found out why the defendant wasn't there — it seems the subpoena was sent to the wrong address.
She finally was able to face the man in court in May of this year, and following the court proceedings, she was told by a judge to try and sort out the issue on their own.
"Well, I don't know what he could possibly say to me, unless it's that he's paying me today, because I've waited three years for my money."
Five months on, nothing's been resolved, and Calabrese is frustrated with the court system.
"I said, 'what do you in a case like this? Who do you appeal when it's the court that — where do you go from here?' I'm at a dead end."