Is it illegal for a sales rep to modify a contract by changing the amount collected from the customer? What law if any is broken? How do I prosecute?
Asked on Jul 20th, 2012 on Business Law - Tennessee
More details to this question:
I am the owner of a security alarm company. One of my sales reps has been charging customers one price for the equipment and turning in a different copy to me of that part of the 4 page contract which shows the amount collected.
Example: Salesman charges customer $100 for a smoke detector and leaves customer a copy of showing he collected the $100. Then salesman turns in a different copy of the page showing the charges for equipment and lists the smoke detector as 0 (zero). The salesman then pockets the $100, and I deduct $25 for the cost of equipment from his check. Normally if he charged the customer $100 he would only be entitled to 50% of the profit, $37.50. ($100 collected -$25 cost = $75 x 50% = $37.50)
It is both a criminal offense and a civil wrong for an employee to do this. The question for you is what outcome you want. If your interest is primarily in obtaining payment of the monies wrongfully taken from you, then you may wish to pursue this as a civil matter. If you don't really care about recovering the money, you can turn the matter over to the police. Only the government, not individuals, prosecutes crimes. You should discuss this choice with your own attorney.
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