I lost my business and decided to sublease my rental unit. I was on the verge of being evicted from the commercial unit. Iran into an older lady (78) that was interested in renting it. She asked if I would rent her my business computer along with the unit. I did.
About a week into her moving in I got the eviction notice because i was so far behind. She really wanted to stay there so instead of taking her money back she offered to pay the back rent (1500) and in return hold onto the computer as collateral. I agreed.
By the time I had paid 900 she asked if i could do work on her website and put my hours towards the money i owed. I said fine and told her i charge 40 an hour. she sent me TONS of emails. I did the work. She continued to ask for changes and I went ahead and did the work. it started to get anoying because she obviously wasnt aware of the amount of work involved in her site, but i went ahead out of the friendly relationship we developed. It hit a point where she informed me that a previous web designer had hacked her computer and was causing issues for her online business. She told me to just fix that last issue and i would get my computer back. I found no issue. What she said made no sense. I tried to explain that there was nothing wrong with the site and she would not understand. I sort of moved on with other work and it eventually turned into a whole year of no communication. I just recently contacted her asking for the computer and she said no. Her website is damaged and i need to fix it. I have written LONG emails to her explaining the work i did and how i have gone above and beyond and its time to return my computer. She simply return one line emails that say stuff like, :my website is ruined. She doesnt answer me on how to get my computer back. I have had it and want to know whats the best way to get it back. I have with me:
the receipts in forms of emails that i paid up to 900.00
the email in which i told her i charge 40.00 an hour
and over 300 emails worth of changes she has sent me along with return emails saying I completed them
I want to avoid court but I honestly put in over 80 hours into her site I didnt charge her a dime. All i want is my computer back. It was 3 months old when she took it and i still have the receipt. it has legal copies of adobe software and microsoft office on it which was purchased for over 3,000 also with receipts. I really need help. Will the police go to her house and get it for me? will they take my emails as proof? is court better? and if so since i am already going throgh the agrivation of hving to file court docs, should i also sue for wages? HELP!