Originally Posted by PJO
My husband and I had a contract with a couple who rented our restaurant. When they defaulted several months on rent and utilities an attorney told us that a contract is "only worth the paper it is written on." We ended up losing quite a bit of money. Another time we took a customer to small claims court. We paid the filing fee, and never got anything from the consumer.
I think you're very wise to ask for a deposit up front.
Our local TV station had a segment about this- you can take them to small claims court and WIN, but the odd are in the long run that you still won't get your money. They said 90% of the award winners never get the money from those that owed it to them- the most you can do is ding their credit score for defaulting on a contract. Be careful out there, and I fully agree with adding in a clause specifying the time that you will hold the quilt until you have the right to resell it without a refund.