A little over a year ago, a man came to my house and installed a central vacuum cleaner unit (I had one already but it died). Then after using it a few times, it broke. The man came back and took it away, saying that he would replace the part that failed and put it back. This was in August 2007. Just before the holidays (around Halloween of 2007) I called his cell phone and left a message. Lather, rinse, repeat. Around Thanksgiving he left me a voicemail that said "Sorry, I was on vacation in Florida, but I'm back now. Call me and I'll come over and install the vacuum... blah blah, etc." And ever since then, he does not answer my calls and does not return my messages. So, I order the cancelled check from the bank, and oh look! He cashed it at a check-cash place! So all I have is his name and cell phone number to go on. I talked to a PI, who wanted $400 up-front for $40 x 10 hours, and you get reimbursed if it takes less than 10 hours. But that is almost half my take-home pay for one pay period.
I tried one of the reverse cell-phone look-up websites. I joined and found that a search on that number brought up the guy's name! Sometimes it doesn't, such as when the phone is pre-paid or issued through a corporate or group plan. Then I requested the Licensed Investigator Report, which brought back a name, street address, and home phone number. All this cost about $120, and of course I plan to sue for that in small-claims as part of my court costs. The only thing I need to do now is verify that I do indeed have the right person, because his name is a common one along the lines of "Dave Johnson". In order to do this, I will first call the house phone from a number he won't recognize and see if he answers or if an outgoing message with his voice answers. If that proves inconclusive, I will have to drive to his neighborhood in the early morning hours and park a few doors down from his house and see if I can ID him leaving for work in the morning. I'm pretty sure it's him because the thing searched by cell phone only, and turned up the right name. But I want to be REALLY sure when I go to court.
This guy thinks he is SO slick, cashing the check at the check-cash place. Watch him try to say that he never came and took the broken vacuum cleaner back. I'm going to take a picture of the empty space and a current copy of the local newspaper (with the date showing). I can't believe how easy it is to look up information about someone, as long as you pay for it.
I tried one of the reverse cell-phone look-up websites. I joined and found that a search on that number brought up the guy's name! Sometimes it doesn't, such as when the phone is pre-paid or issued through a corporate or group plan. Then I requested the Licensed Investigator Report, which brought back a name, street address, and home phone number. All this cost about $120, and of course I plan to sue for that in small-claims as part of my court costs. The only thing I need to do now is verify that I do indeed have the right person, because his name is a common one along the lines of "Dave Johnson". In order to do this, I will first call the house phone from a number he won't recognize and see if he answers or if an outgoing message with his voice answers. If that proves inconclusive, I will have to drive to his neighborhood in the early morning hours and park a few doors down from his house and see if I can ID him leaving for work in the morning. I'm pretty sure it's him because the thing searched by cell phone only, and turned up the right name. But I want to be REALLY sure when I go to court.
This guy thinks he is SO slick, cashing the check at the check-cash place. Watch him try to say that he never came and took the broken vacuum cleaner back. I'm going to take a picture of the empty space and a current copy of the local newspaper (with the date showing). I can't believe how easy it is to look up information about someone, as long as you pay for it.
wugglyump:
good luck.