[PMDRACER]

Without going into the gory details, I had the Sears Auto Center near me do the brakes on my truck. I ended up taking it back to them two more times because of issues. Each time they had to cut the rotors. After that I got fed up and Ford did the work, but now I had to buy new rotors at the cost of another $700.

I want to take Sears to Small Claims court, but not sure how to file it. Do I specifically sue the store and have it served to the store manager? How does this work considering its a larger company?

Thanks in advance.

[The Boss]

No idea, probably wouldn't be easy.

May want to write a few letters to the store manager and then to corporate first letting them know what your experience was and ask for reimbursement. Brakes are a big safety issue, and a huge liability. I would expect you would get enough back to make it worth your while.

[PMDRACER]

Originally Posted by The Boss

No idea, probably wouldn't be easy.

May want to write a few letters to the store manager and then to corporate first letting them know what your experience was and ask for reimbursement. Brakes are a big safety issue, and a huge liability. I would expect you would get enough back to make it worth your while.

I've done that. Letters, calls to the store manager, regional manager, and to the corp office. Got nowhere. Guess they think I'll eventually drop it. NOT!

[Txbobcat]

Sears will pay you off as soon as it hits because they dont want bad publicity. Just use sears and managers name when you file. They will also owe you court cost and or filling fees.

[tripower]

I think you might be SOL. In most states, you can only file a suit against a company in the location of that companies headquarters and in the county the headquarters is located. In your case, you would have to file here in Cook County Illinois (Sears Headquartes). You might be better off escalating your issue with Sears itself. Tell the store manager you want to talk to the regional manager (his boss) or even Sears corporate. Good luck.

[BOB VIDAN]

Get a newspaper involved and don't be afraid to use names and facts.

[The Boss]

Consumer affairs reporter for the local TV station? They are hot for anything auto related recently.

[ChupaCabras]

call National Customer Relations. open a case number and escalate. demand to talk to the regional manager. if the region fails to resolve continue talking to NCR, it will continue to escalate. if it doesnt resolve quickly it will reach the vp office...once and if it gets there an email goes out to the region manager from the vp office and things happen pretty quickly at that point. ncr (800) 549-4505

[fiedlerh]

I think you might be SOL. In most states, you can only file a suit against a company in the location of that companies headquarters and in the county the headquarters is located. In your case, you would have to file here in Cook County Illinois (Sears Headquartes). You might be better off escalating your issue with Sears itself. Tell the store manager you want to talk to the regional manager (his boss) or even Sears corporate. Good luck.

Unless the law has changed, I don't think that's true. You can usually sue anyone from your home county, which is to your advantage. I once sued my employer over a pay dispute in Kane County, IL small claims court and had it served at their HQ in WI. No problem. They paid up the day before it was to go before the judge. The secretary from the IL branch went to court to inform the judge the matter had been settled. She said the dregs of society in the court building.

[poison heart]

I'm more interested why you spent $700 on rotors? The last set of rotors I did was $40 each on my brothers 02 Dodge.

[tigergto]

I would not only sue sears but also the Ford dealership that charged you $700.00 for rotors and labor.

[guccieng]

i'm not surprised at all that a dealership would charge that much. what are they, $110 an hour now?

[SRR]

I can't believe the rotors were machined twice and were still within the legal limit. Rotors are heat sinks, cutting them reduces their effectiveness and doesn't solve the problem if they were warped to begin with. Shops would rather machine rotors than replace them because they make more on the labor. It sounds like the dealership FIXED the problem so why would he want to sue them? I'm sure he knew the cost up front.

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by tripower

I think you might be SOL. In most states, you can only file a suit against a company in the location of that companies headquarters and in the county the headquarters is located. In your case, you would have to file here in Cook County Illinois (Sears Headquartes). You might be better off escalating your issue with Sears itself. Tell the store manager you want to talk to the regional manager (his boss) or even Sears corporate. Good luck.

you have to sue a person or company in their home state...no problem...I served the owner of my then apartments here in Houston ,he lived in Boston....only problem was that after I won ,he didnt pay ,and I had no recourse except filing a lien on the property, but 6 yrs later he needed to re finance the units....THEN I got paid...plus some ,as I told his lawyer when he called me to pay me off...for another $500 I let you find me...LOL

[Greg Reid]

Call the county courthouse and they'll tell you exactly what you can do and exactly how to do it and send you the paperwork to explain exactly how to go about bringing a suit against an individual, a corporation, etc.
My wife is in the middle of a similar case right now. She's suing a lady's LLC business for breach of contract...I know Sears is not an LLC but just as an example, this LLC we're suing is owned by the actual lady that broke the contract.
It was explained to us exactly how to fill out the form.... In the box for the defendent, we typed;
XYZ Widgets
c/o Jane Doe: Legal Representative
123 Elm Street
etc...
You can sue anybody....Winning might be another thing but you can definitely bring the suit..

[Rocky Racoon]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

You can sue anybody....Winning might be another thing but you can definitely bring the suit..

Then after you win you need to collect the money. The judge issues a judgment, but can't force the other party to pay. But a company as large as Sears would probably pay, it's not very much money to them.

[tigergto]

Originally Posted by SRR

I can't believe the rotors were machined twice and were still within the legal limit. Rotors are heat sinks, cutting them reduces their effectiveness and doesn't solve the problem if they were warped to begin with. Shops would rather machine rotors than replace them because they make more on the labor. It sounds like the dealership FIXED the problem so why would he want to sue them? I'm sure he knew the cost up front.

I was only joking when I said sue the dealer ship, although $ 700.00 is a complete rip off. Any mechanic should be able to change both rotors in 1 -1/12 hrs. Flat rate should not call for any more than 2 hrs. He didn't specify model of truck or if they were front or back rotors but I say the dealer ship didn't pay more than $30.00 per rotor. And most shops would rather replace the rotor for several reasons. One being profit.

[68gtoMN]

When you win a judgment, you are "entitled" by law to collect on the debt owed to you. However, it is up to you to find the appropriate liquid assets to go after. For me, it involved going to the Sheriff in the county in which my person resided, paying a collection fee up front (returned later as part of the pay off) for their department to "serve" the person. In this case, his employer was severed a Writ of Execution and his wages were garnished. After 6 months, the amount garnished was given to me, including fees. Since my judgment was larger, i had to repeat the process again with the Sheriff.

There is recourse...

[Ron]

It is a Ford F-350, crew cab long bed.

[Bob Dillon]

Originally Posted by Rocky Racoon

Then after you win you need to collect the money. The judge issues a judgment, but can't force the other party to pay. But a company as large as Sears would probably pay, it's not very much money to them.

If he wins and they don't t pay, you just pay the sheriff to do either a till tap or an 8-hour keeper on the till. They'll pay.

And generally, in any state, a business can be sued anywhere it does business. Ask the court clerk what your state requires for service of process. Most states require a corporation to name an "agent of service" for service of process. The secretary of state's website probably has this information. Hire the sheriff or a private process server to serve the papers. You can't serve them yourself, and if you win, the cost of service will be added on to your judgment amount.