OT: Need advise....Can't deliver this hay!

Last year was a great hay sales year!
I had a lady speak for 750 second cutting bales in Sept,2007. I told her fine I will deliver them, but I would need full payment if she wanted me to hold them until her new barn was completed. She thought it would be finished in 2 weeks.
Sept. came and went and a few phone calls later and barn still not done, I reminded her I needed payment to continue holding the hay.
Novemeber came and went and i am getting impatient.........but did get the check for all of the hay.
Finally in Dec I told her I needed it out before January and the winter senting in.
Bottom line i still have the hay and meantime this spring she had another mutual friend/customer pickup all but 375 bales. Her barn is still not completed.
I sent her an e-mail and told her June 30th is deadline after that I am keeping the hay and money.
Now she wants her money back and I keep the hay!!
I told her no way and offered again to deliver if she would only name time and place.
I finaly got that in writing in a mail for today, weather providing. Its supposed to rain and she is not answering her cell phone.......after i told her I would call her last night.
What do I do now? Delivery is 80 miles away.....with a chance of thunderstorms and only one nice day coming up on Tuesday.....all the rest of the week is forecast rain....

275 bales setting on my trailer in the pole barn and another 100 to load before I leave.

In 15 years of selling hay I have never had a situation like this.
Thanks for listening.

Get yer hat on and go deliver the hay.

If she's not home, stack it on the ground and it is then up to her where she wants to put it.

You've got to wash your hands of this "old business", free your trailer and be done with it. :>)

Allan

I'm with Allen. You've been more than fair.

I would do as the others have suggested deliver the hay and stack it. Get a picture of it too. Hal

you have two choices that I see. Deliver the hay be done with it or send back her money for what she did not get, then you don't need to worry about delivery period. No biggy either way. Me I would refund her money on what she didn't get and be done with it. You can get higher price for it now anyway probably. Nothing unusall when you deal with public everyday

Keep the money and the hay and tell here that the hay you still have left doesn't even cover the storage bill on all the hay.She has horses right?

Deliver it and stack it and leave. Then you completed your end of the deal.

Deliver it to her place and stack it right on her front lawn. You've just washed your hands of the business and now it's her problem on where it gets stored.

Had a similar situation last year, except this guy was supposed to pick it up. He was buying some off me, and paid me extra for some he wanted to pick "up later". Even after I told him I did not want paid in advance - take it as you buy it as I will not store it. Too many things can happen - fire, flood, barn roof blow off, etc. By the time I was ready to begin baling the hay was still in the barn, and I needed the room to store. I decided to load it and deliver it to him as I had called several times telling him I wanted it out of my barn. Perhaps this was his way of getting it delivered free, and if so it worked. Fortunately he was only about 5 miles away from me and only one small load. Most everyone I deal with are good to deal with, but you always have one problem child that expects way too much.

Good morning JD
I am very much with the idea of delivering the
hay and completing your end of the deal.In the past I have sold hay and found out very fast that I no longer take CHECKS. The situation that you discribe, I'm amazed the check was good.

Jim WJ

The one option I did not see is sell it to someone else who will come and get it then send her money back.

Sell the hay (if you can), send her a refund check less a dollar a bale for storage. You free up your trailer (without having to burn $5 diesel to deliver), and she gets her money minus a little lesson. There's not a small claims court in the land that would rule against you.

Sounds to me like one of the kind who want you to feed it to them as well. Just like giving away free firewood, but you have to cut it, split it, stack it and come over and stoke the fire for someone to get rid of it. Id just sell it to someone else, and if she takes you to court, just tell the judge what has transpired, and Im sure youll still come out ahead.

Well, you guys are the best. Now I wish I had asked this question 3 months ago.
I just got back from delivering the hay. She was there with her "boys" to help unload. She soon seen my attitude and left to mow the lawn while we unloaded and stacked inside her "machinery shed". You all should have seen the barn she is having built......wow, and for horses!
Allen, I was glad to see your post as I was about to go do just what you said and she called after we finished loading the last 100 bales.
First thing this morning I had to go get rid of the bumble bees that had moved in on the hay in the last 2 weeks. Got stung 3 times yesterday loading that first load, so I was pi$$ed!
2 trucks and 2 trailers and 160 miles round trip and I am done for the day.
Just another wild horse story.......and there are more I could tell, but darn glad its finally over, I hope!
Sure as heck leaves a sour taste in my mouth, dealing with the horse nuts!