Small debts to tradesmen

Discodog

I was chatting with a couple of friends, both tradesmen & it turns out that we all have had customers who won't pay. It each case it's small amounts under €100. I looked at the small claims procedure & it appears that we can't claim.

Is there any way that one can pursue small debts like this or can customers just refuse to pay knowing that the tradesman can't do anything ?

tipptom

Viper debt collections

Discodog

I can't see The Lads coming out for €100. My favourite was the old guy in London who made a fortune debt collecting. He would go into a corporate reception in an overcoat covered in fish guts. He was always really polite & would offer to wait until the person came out of their meeting.

Stanford

I don't understand why you can't use the Small Claims Court, you can make a complaint online

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Pro Hoc Vice

Stanford wrote: »

I don't understand why you can't use the Small Claims Court, you can make a complaint online

It is a procedure of the District Court and certain matter can not use the process.

billy few mates

I know someone who rented an apartment to a high flying senior manager in a large multinational organisation. He was almost always late with the rent, and the letting letting agent she used found the apartment like a pigsty when they carried out a mid term inspection. She got nowhere trying to sort it out with the letting agent as they said they could never get hold of him because he was always away on business or busy in meetings so she tried to get hold of him and found it impossible to get hold of him and obviously he never returned her calls. She then set about phoning every single person she could get hold of in his company from the lowliest typing clerk to he loftiest senior executive and asked them to pass on the message that his landlady was urgently trying to get hold of him to discuss his imminent eviction for non payment of rent and the neighbour nuisance issues caused by his lack of basic hygiene standards etc. Some of his minions were only too glad to pass on the message and to hear the full juicy details of their boss's living habits. Needless to say it was all sorted double quick after that.

Another former colleague of mine had an issue with a car he bought from a main dealer, he argued that it should be fixed under warranty, they didn't agree. After weeks of discussions back and forth someone told him to fcuk off. Unfortunately for them he recorded it, and a couple of days later he turned up at the garage, parked his car right up near the door where you almost had to shimmy past it to get in. He then opened the bonnet and sat there, he then engaged with every customer that tried to enter to tell them the fault he had, the customer service issues trying to get it dealt with, and how they told him to fcuk off in the end. They asked him to move, he told them he was unable to because of the fault in the car. Eventually they agreed to move it for him, straight into the workshop where they would repair the fault under warranty....

RustyNut

Stanford

Thank you, I wasn't aware of that

Stealthfins

I remember a landscaper who used to go in and say he was coming back to check to make sure the plant's were thriving....
He'd tell dodgy customers he'd come back in 3 weeks to check the job is doing OK....
Theyed go along with it.
An easy way to get onto the property.....free consulation and after care .....

He'd go in dig out all the shrubs,then repot them...I remember onetime he sprayed roundup on someone's lawn who didn't and wouldn't pay up....
Told them he was spraying dandelions ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜

Stanford

Stubbs Gazette will send a formal letter to the debtor for you and that should solve the problem, not sure what they charge tho

https://www.stubbsgazette.ie/index.php/demand_letters/order

Stanford

It costs €27.45 for a Stubbs Final Demand Letter

https://www.stubbsgazette.ie/cart/index/b60ed88355ac3f6898fd8a7ab1734d06

Pro Hoc Vice

Stanford wrote: »

It costs €27.45 for a Stubbs Final Demand Letter

https://www.stubbsgazette.ie/cart/index/b60ed88355ac3f6898fd8a7ab1734d06

You are aware that such letter has no legal effect.

daithi7

Tradesmen, or an organisation representing them, could start a simple web site with a debt register showing on it.

So any 'customer' who refused or didn't settle their bills, could be listed, with their debt, who it's owed to, the work done unpaid for and the date it's due since.

As long as the entries were factual I think that would be legal. But they'd need to get advice on that as well as on verifying the outstanding amount I guess.

Stanford

Of course I am but it might just be enough to scare some people into paying what they owe, I'm just trying to be helpful here!!

Stanford

Thats an instant way to get sued for defamation, anybody mentioned on such a site could argue that the debt was disputed

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

K.Flyer

Discodog wrote: »

I can't see The Lads coming out for €100. My favourite was the old guy in London who made a fortune debt collecting. He would go into a corporate reception in an overcoat covered in fish guts. He was always really polite & would offer to wait until the person came out of their meeting.

Yes, that reminds me of a small bar / restaurant that owed us a tidy sum of money many years ago.
The manager was never available to sign the cheque and never there when we called in.
One day, my brother and I, after having spent the morning working on vile stinking grease traps, we had to peel off our overalls, which absolutely stank, and head home to shower (seriously smelly).
On the way we got the notion to call into said restaurant to try get paid.
Getting out of the van we put back on our ransid overalls.
As we went in the few usual smarmy staff who, always gave us the brush off, elbowed, smiled and winked to each other as much to say "..back again".
The place was starting to fill with lunchtime customers so the timing was perfect. We just walked up and sat at the bar nearest to the entrance.
"Sorry lads, boss is not here toda...." one of them began, and then the smell hit them.
My brother said, "pity, cause we are not fu@k!n leaving without payment"
Staff and customers were now getting the smell. (It was really bad)
Within 15 minutes of going into the place, we left, Paid In Full.
True story.

Discodog

When I was in the UK you could get a small claims application form & fill it out. Then send it via recorded delivery to the debtor. A lot would pay up even though it meant nothing.

Pro Hoc Vice

Discodog wrote: »

When I was in the UK you could get a small claims application form & fill it out. Then send it via recorded delivery to the debtor. A lot would pay up even though it meant nothing.

Might be a problem in Ireland

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/26/section/11/enacted/en/html#sec11

11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

Stovepipe

two stories: woman declined to pay for painting work done and began to make any excuse not to pay full amount. So, the painter waited until she was out and painted half the front wall again, diagonally....got an urgent call a day or two later and was paid in full. Finished the front wall and never had a problem again....a friend got grief with a car from a well known dealer near Rathmines. Got ****ed off when he needed a snag fixed under warranty. went home, painted up a sandwich board and marched up and down outside the dealer. Dealer calls the gardai, gardai turn up and have a chat with my mate and then they advice the dealer that he was within the law as he did not stop moving, was not impeding traffic and it would make good sense to simply fix the car...which they eventually did.

topmanamillion

I don't know if anyone here watches "Can't pay, we'll take it away" , but in the majority of cases the county court officers are chasing people who just don't want to pay their bills.
I wouldn't dream of getting someone to do work and not paying., and as long as it was up to standard.
There just seems to be a lot of people out there who think they are entitled to free labour/goods.

Fred Swanson

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bmwguy

I know of a woman who was the owner of a small building business and also credit controller, she was owed money by a local supermarket for a small job done (a few hundred Euro but wasn't looking like being paid) she marched into the supermarket, looked for manager who wouldn't see her, filled up her trolley with goods to the same value then handed the cashier a copy of her outstanding invoice saying 'give that to (bosses name) that should cover payment' and walked out the door.

Anyway cashier got security to stop her as she didn't know what was going on, they got the gards out and then the owner appeared, it was all sorted then but it was a mess of a situation

RustyNut

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Might be a problem in Ireland

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/26/section/11/enacted/en/html#sec11

11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

That puts these lads sailing fairly close to the wind.

A friend got a letter from them and was convinced that she had been already taken to court and they were going to come knocking. She had a disputed bill from a telecoms co.

Fred Swanson

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Discodog

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I was told by my solicitor that it was ok because, if they didn't pay, it would be going to the small claims Court. Out of courtesy we were just sending them their copy.

I am certain that some people make a habit of this. I have a suspicion that one of mine refused to pay another tradesman in the same line of work.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

nuac

Mod

As some of the solutions here could rebound on the creditor, or are actually illegal I think it is safer to close this thread

imho many of the anecdotes are pub-talk

Customers refusing to pay are a problem for most businesses and professions.

I suggest the creditors should discuss any options and/or remedies with his/her solicitor

Hollister11

My dad did a job for the owners of a suit shop. The job was 10K, and he never got a cent.

PaulieBoy

billy few mates wrote: »

She then set about phoning every single person she could get hold of in his company from the lowliest typing clerk to he loftiest senior executive and asked them to pass on the message that his landlady was urgently trying to get hold of him to discuss his imminent eviction for non payment of rent and the neighbour nuisance issues caused by his lack of basic hygiene standards etc. Some of his minions were only too glad to pass on the message and to hear the full juicy details of their boss's living habits. Needless to say it was all sorted double quick after that...

Was she not leaving herself open to a defamation action for doing this?