The Fish Tank Man Aquarium Discounts tried to deny $500 in returned goods, refuse to pay salary owed Haledon New Jersey

After I returned $500 in defective merchandise, he tried to say I waited too long and the returns didn't go through. He was paid for the returned items and tried to steal my money.

Working with him for 5 years, first he said I worked "for" him and began giving me paychecks. When he discovered this costed him a few dollars, he decided that I was an independent contractor but still gave me sporadic paychecks. To solve problems associated with providing service to customers, I spent over $60,000 over 5 years just to keep the accounts.

He absorbed no expenses for the aquarium maintenance side of the business but collected half of the revenue produced. He did nothing to gain or retain the clients except providing products which he kept the profits. I did sales, billing, the actual service, handled client problems and complaints, scheduled and managed the jobs, replaced defective parts and equipment(at my expense) and had to maintain my vehicle, cell phone and set up a whole production system for getting the jobs done.

For the last 3 of 5 years, he kept a running balance of $400 to $1200 of which he never paid me my money. When I brought the issue up with him for the last time, he exploded;cursing me out of his store.

Now I filed my own business and retained almost all of the customers from his business. I am servicing some clients for the third time without pay;because he owes me a balance of $747;of which caused a hardship for me. I filed a small claims lawsuit; but the documentation is my own hand written receipts and is not much proof.

He left me a msg on my cell, saying he is not paying me. On top of all of this abuse, he is telling people that he fired me and that I am mentally ill.

Working with him for years, I have seen him cheat customers on new aquarium setups by taking some rock out of a box, replace a larger pump with a small one, etc.

Mario
Lodi, New Jersey
U.S.A.