Hi guys!
I was just wandering around the interwebs and I found this thread so amusing I had to register to throw in my 2 cents!
Now I'm not a satellite guy, but I was talking to one today when my service got installed who vaguely familiarized me with the concept of charge backs and some of the silly rules, like how if he doesn't have a certain percentage of phone lines installed he gets charged etc. So I can understand a retailer wanting to recoup his losses. But this has to be about the stupidest thing somebody can do.
For the people defending the company, I understand you sympathize with the retailer losing money but have some common sense instead of blindly defending someone based on the "dead beats have no rights" philosophy.
As for the guys saying you would have shot him... overkill? I'm all for defending your property with deadly force, but taking possibly someones life is a serious measure. Even rocksalt can kill somebody at close range. Its entirely possible you'd be shooting some poor sap that was just doing what his boss told him to do and didn't know any better / wanted to keep his job. I would have pulled a gun on him, threatened him, maybe fired a warning shot and laughed as he ran away with brown pants, but don't kill people unless you need to please.
What this company/uninstaller did is criminally illegal. Not paying your bill is a civil matter. Having your car repossessed is a civil matter. Stealing someones property is criminal. If you were an ex con in California caught stealing a dish that would be life in prison (
Three strike law).
To correct the OP, it was no longer his dish once he installed it on her house.
The dish was definitely real property. For those of you who don't know what that means; its a permanent or semi-permanent improvement to your property and becomes incorporated into the value of the real estate as a whole. For example, a table lamp would not be real property, but a lamp screwed to the wall and hard wired would be. You could compare the dish to an exterior lamp or a solar panel. This concept applies to any number of things including examples previously given like shingles, plumbing, and gutters, but also to your dish washer, kitchen cabinets, and landscaping etc.
Now before anybody starts crying about how is anybody going to get their money back on an unpaid debt, there is a lawful remedy available to people who are owed money on real property. Its called a Lien.
A lien is a legal remedy to recover debts that essentially prohibits the owner from selling or refinancing their property without first paying the lien holder. Depending on the state sometimes you can file a lien directly after a notice of intent, sometimes you have to file a suit, but normally your allowed a clause in your contract that entitles you to fully recoup any legal expenses. A lien will catch up with somebody eventually, with interest. That and they become commodities you can assign, sell, or trade if you want to get money back right away. Normally the notice to file a lien is enough to scare someone to pay up.
An interesting note for all you contracted installers is in some states you can get a lien against the property even if the customer was renting if you can reasonably prove the lessee was acting as an agent for the owner in ordering the improvement (ie having the owners permission in writing). There are ways for these people to get whatever money dead beats owe them, stealing the dish is just stupid AND illegal.
I think this practice might just be a scam by the installer. When the customer wants to reconnect their service or finally pay their bill they have to have the installer come out again to install the dish and the installer gets paid again.
To the OP: The victim did the right thing filing a police report. She should try to get the retailer on tape saying they took it, or maybe three way call them with the detective on the line.
