Think I've been scammed by Dublin Removal company - looking for help

Christina1976

I think I’ve been scammed and just wondering if this has happened to anyone else, what the outcome was, if anyone can offer advice and also want to warn others.

I’m not going to name and shame just yet as still hoping to get my money.

We relocated to Sydney from Dublin earlier this year and used a Dublin removal company recommended by ‘expertsinmoving.com’.

We met the removalist at the storage unit and he gave us a quote for shipping our items door to door. He confirmed this via text message. We had to pay up front which we did electronically however never received an official receipt, just emails. His sister also works in the family business and we were advised she could provide insurance to cover our items. She took 369euro and provided a vague receipt and no insurance policy. I’ve been emailing for the insurance policy I was told was with John Mason but have got no response. When I rang John Mason directly they informed me they have no policy for us. 

Our items are now in Sydney, and the Australian agent was not paid so we had to pay $1790.90AUD for them to release our things. We desperately tried to get the Irish removalist to pay as we already paid him in full for this service but they do not answer overseas calls. Some friends in Ireland have rang pretending to be customers and they answer these calls and are open to scam new people. We have no idea what condition our items are in, if any are missing and also have no insurance now to cover us.
Apparently a few other people had to pay the Australian agent too for them to release their items. The Australian agent won't share these peoples details with us and won't give my details to them either. They have been very unhelpful and I know they have been in business with the Irish removalists in the past and am wondering if they are involved in this scam too.

I have rang the guards in Ireland and they say it is a civil matter but took some details. I have rang the small claims court and consumer rights who say I need to be in the country to make a claim. I am willing to come home if I have to go to court.

This guy has been ripping people off and is getting away with it for years. I cannot believe his company is still allowed to operate.

Anyone any advice on how to proceed here???

Atlantic Dawn

Do you know if it's a legitimate real company the person is running? If you type the company name in to Solocheck.ie it should tell you if the company name exists, their financial accounts position, when company was formed/folded etc, also searching by the persons name should give you a listing of companies they are directors for. Did you pay the money in to a company account or to a personal account?

Christina1976

Thank you for your reply. It's a real company. They are a family run business and listed in solocheck.ie but seem to have bad debt. Seems they underestimated their income too over the years and owe revenue 75k.
They have vans outside their address with name on them.
Since finding all this out I have discovered bad reviews and know I'm not their first victim and most likely won't be the last either as doesnt seem to be much I can do now I'm not in Ireland.

Atlantic Dawn

Might be time to call Liveline to warn others if nothing else or the Joe fella might be able to sort it by contacting the company for a response?

Christina1976

Was thinking the same. We are still waiting for our things to be delivered so once we get them I'll be ringing and name and shaming. They use a Hotmail email and we paid electronically into their personal bank. They also claim to be members of all these removalist associations that show they are approved but they are not members, just use their logos.

ED E

Christina1976 wrote: »

They use a Hotmail email and we paid electronically into their personal bank.

Alarm bells......

SEPT 23 1989

no names of course but are they based in west dublin?

Christina1976

Yes they are. They have a website and office. Been up and running for years.

DrPhilG

Have they a Facebook or twitter page?

Nothing like a social media blast to get a response from some companies.

SEPT 23 1989

Ring Liveline

Only way you can hurt them is bad publicity

Think they have been on the show before

Christina1976

Thanks. ..will ring them

dev100

Christina1976 wrote:

I have rang the guards in Ireland and they say it is a civil matter but took some details. I have rang the small claims court and consumer rights who say I need to be in the country to make a claim. I am willing to come home if I have to go to court.

Everything seems to be a civil matter with the cops . If they have defrauded you it's should be a criminal matter. Did you have a contract with them stating all the services that they would provide you with ?

Publicly name and shame and if they are on facebook hound them publicly.

listermint

Options include taking them to small claims court.

And or reporting them to revenue for suspicious business practices.

Christina1976

Ive text messages and emails out lining details and the consumer rights group say that is a contract as we paid them.
Thanks. ..will report them to revenue and contact small claims court. Thank we may have to be in Ireland to do that though.
I can't believe the cops can't do much as they stole my insurance money on top of not shipping goods the whole way....

chuckster

This drives me mad... if they have taken money under the false pretence of providing you with a service which never transpired then the guards can most definitely investigate a possible offence under the theft and fraud offences act.... contact the local station to the business location... or put all the details in a letter addressed to the superintendent. Don't be fobbed off

ED E

chuckster wrote: »

This drives me mad... if they have taken money under the false pretence of providing you with a service which never transpired then the guards can most definitely investigate a possible offence under the theft and fraud offences act.... contact the local station to the business location... or put all the details in a letter addressed to the superintendent. Don't be fobbed off

The wonders of "Garda Discretion"....

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Toots

I read it as the 370 was for the insurance?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Christina1976

370e was for insurance to cover up to 10k which they never took out, just stole my money. We paid over 3k to ship our things, which they confirmed was door to door before we shipped. Had to pay another 1.5k here to the sydney agent as irish guy bever paid them. I did check reviews for this company before I used them and turns out they wrote all the good ones themselves. They claim to be members of all these removal associations which they are not...just use the logos. Have a big office , website and trucks with their name on it. And the cops tell me its a bad business man and to look up my consumer rights. I got through to his mobile once and was told I was speaking to someone else and the other guy had a stroke and won't be working again. We are getting our things delivered tomorrow and I hope no breakages.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Christina1976

only extra cost we were told we'd have to pay was for customs, which was approx 400e and we paid. That's not my complaint though....

MentalMario

If you're looking to ring them from an Irish number, you can do so through Skype. It'll appear as an Irish landline.

Christina1976

Hi Fred, it was door to door. Delivery included within 50 mile radius of sydney. I have it in writing. I've also shipped prior to this and been quoted door to door and never had any problem. This is a con artist

dudara

€2k is the limit for the Small Claims Court.

If I were you, I'd engage a solicitor

Christina1976

Thanks all for all suggestions everyone. I rang small claims court and will put in a claim if we have no breakages as it will be just under 2k. If we have a lot of breakages we may need a solicitor. However, I've the feeling we need to be in Ireland for both these options. We would need to fly back for the case which is expensive and difficult when you have children in school. That's why this guy is getting away with this....
I'll be ringing joe☺
At this stage I've resigned to the fact I nay bever see my money again but I will make sure I warn as many others about him

whiterebel

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Specialist removal firms can quote door to door as they have worldwide agreements, but it takes a while to get the rate That's is why the rates quoted look expensive until you realise what goes to get it door to door.

stronglikebull

Christina1976 wrote: »

Thanks all for all suggestions everyone. I rang small claims court and will put in a claim if we have no breakages as it will be just under 2k. If we have a lot of breakages we may need a solicitor. However, I've the feeling we need to be in Ireland for both these options. We would need to fly back for the case which is expensive and difficult when you have children in school. That's why this guy is getting away with this....

You don't attend court in small claims cases, and even if you engage a solicitor, they can represent you up until you'd absolutely be needed here. Even so, it's unlikely they'd let it get to a court case, and more likely they'd offer a settlement. Court is very expensive, and anyone running a dodgy business would do all they can to avoid it.

Small claims can be applied for online, but even if you win it could be hard to enforce the judgement, and you may end up needing a solicitor anyway.

Bottom line, since you're at the other side of the world, this is not going to be easy or cheap to resolve. You've done a lot of research on this company, but unfortunately it was after you'd already paid them and left the country. Try the small claims first, and decide then if it's worth pursuing any further if you get no result. How much more time and effort is it worth to you? Only you can put a value on that.

rafaetha

Christina1976 wrote: »

I think I’ve been scammed and just wondering if this has happened to anyone else, what the outcome was, if anyone can offer advice and also want to warn others.

I’m not going to name and shame just yet as still hoping to get my money.

We relocated to Sydney from Dublin earlier this year and used a Dublin removal company recommended by ‘expertsinmoving.com’.

We met the removalist at the storage unit and he gave us a quote for shipping our items door to door. He confirmed this via text message. We had to pay up front which we did electronically however never received an official receipt, just emails. His sister also works in the family business and we were advised she could provide insurance to cover our items. She took 369euro and provided a vague receipt and no insurance policy. I’ve been emailing for the insurance policy I was told was with John Mason but have got no response. When I rang John Mason directly they informed me they have no policy for us. 

Our items are now in Sydney, and the Australian agent was not paid so we had to pay $1790.90AUD for them to release our things. We desperately tried to get the Irish removalist to pay as we already paid him in full for this service but they do not answer overseas calls. Some friends in Ireland have rang pretending to be customers and they answer these calls and are open to scam new people. We have no idea what condition our items are in, if any are missing and also have no insurance now to cover us.
Apparently a few other people had to pay the Australian agent too for them to release their items. The Australian agent won't share these peoples details with us and won't give my details to them either. They have been very unhelpful and I know they have been in business with the Irish removalists in the past and am wondering if they are involved in this scam too.

I have rang the guards in Ireland and they say it is a civil matter but took some details. I have rang the small claims court and consumer rights who say I need to be in the country to make a claim. I am willing to come home if I have to go to court.

This guy has been ripping people off and is getting away with it for years. I cannot believe his company is still allowed to operate.

Anyone any advice on how to proceed here???

Hi Christina. I am another victim of these scammers. They collected the goods from my house in Gorey last February to ship them to Malta. Same story as you. My stuff arrived at the Maltese agents about 2 weeks ago but they say they haven't received payment from the company in Ireland so they can't release my stuff.

I have been trying to contact them back in Ireland but they don't pick up their phones or reply to emails anymore.

We're on a very unfortunate situation, I am really angry about all this and trying to figure out what to do here. Rang a couple of law firms back in Ireland but none of them showed interest in my case.

Reading what you said about the small claims court makes me even more depressed... you mean if we're not in Ireland they can get away with it? This is absolutely ridiculous.

Feel free to PM me and we can exchange information. Thanks.

rafaetha

stronglikebull wrote: »

it's unlikely they'd let it get to a court case, and more likely they'd offer a settlement. Court is very expensive, and anyone running a dodgy business would do all they can to avoid it.

In theory if you go to court having engaged a solicitor, can you ask the losing part to pay the court fees and solicitor fees? it works like that in some countries, so I wonder if this is money you'd spend initially but then be reimbursed if you win at court?? Thanks.

RoboRat

I have been involved with shipping stuff via ships and containers and I have never ever been quoted door to door prices. It is always door to dockside. There is always a bill from the foreign agent to have the stuff clear customs and be shipped to the final location.

I get stuff shipped every 2 months and pay to door, I have to pay customs and excise charges but I pay to door all the time.