Small Claims court- Ongoing

andrew1977

Hi

- Case submitted to small claims court , approved and paid the 25 euro.
- The company who the claim is against replied to the registrar 3 days after the legal deadline to reply had expired.
- The company offered to replace the faulty workmanship, declined the offer as we had chased this company 2 years to come and replace the work, which they said they would numerous times but didn't and do not want them around the place again and zero faith in them now.
- Company told the court registrar to avoid judgement of default they would refund the price of the work completed to the court who would send it on .
- No funds received, registrar advised to get the judgement of default recorded against the company
- Completed the form witnessed by a peace commissioner and sent back to the registrar.


Registrar now informs me judge has declined to sign the judgement by default against the company as " 3 days late, allowance for COVID and they did respond with an offer "

Court sitting must now go ahead on this for a decision.

I have pushed back on this to the registrar as to why the need to go to court as the company told the registrar they would furnish the funds to settle the case.Surely they should have pointed this out to the judge as they reviewed the file ?

From what is supposed to be a simple quick service to help a consumer, it is now dragging out 4 months and the proposed court sitting date is February.

We have all our facts, but should the registrar have done more to help here ?

Thanks

Sleeper12

andrew1977 wrote:

Registrar now informs me judge has declined to sign the judgement by default against the company as " 3 days late, allowance for COVID and they did respond with an offer "

I totally agree with the judge on this. I have a small online shop. If I post 60 items this week most will be delivered in a day or two BUT some are taking several weeks. I have a parcel posted in Dublin Post office going to Limerick. This An Post overnight (24 hour) delivery service. Posted 27th October and still sitting in the Dublin hub. I have contacted An Post twice & have been told due to the Covid-19 working restrictions & a backlog since the last bank holiday post can be delayed by days or weeks.

I'm not sticking up for the company who seems to have messed you around but judge was definitely correct in allowing the 3 days

L1011

Letter post (flat mail) is not suffering the same delays as parcel post, though.

andrew1977

Just to add , the company did not reply by written post, they sent an email response to the court office 3 days after the legal deadline had elapsed.

My biggest frustration is the company told the registrar " they will issue the refund payment to court " , the registrar told me to wait getting the judgement of debt application signed and sent to them.
3 weeks later no payment received, i worked off the registrars advice then to get the document witnessed by the peace commissioner , which i did.

Then i get told judge has declined to sign the judgement and to set a court hearing.

Surely the registrar would have informed the judge that the company said they would pay and didnt, (registrar did tell me she was doing her best to solve to avoid court ),and just proceed with the consent to judgement for the debt.

So off to court with me, i will hand the judge the written confirmation from the registrar telling me that the company would refund the full amount owed .

Hopefully the judge sees in our favour.

godtabh

L1011 wrote: »

Letter post (flat mail) is not suffering the same delays as parcel post, though.

You sure? I've been expecting a registered letter posted on the 31st of Oct to be delivered but still hasn't. Not event logged online yet!

L1011

If it's not logged online it hasn't been posted...

godtabh

L1011 wrote: »

If it's not logged online it hasn't been posted...

I have the tracking number which isnt logged online and a legal undertaking from the sender that it has been sent

Sleeper12

L1011 wrote:

Letter post (flat mail) is not suffering the same delays as parcel post, though.

I have reviews on my site that says otherwise, even though we post every working day. The vast majority of my shipments are things like carbon brushes that go regular post in the post box. Again usually they are delivered within a few days BUT some are taking weeks rather than days. It gets worse after a holiday weekend

An Post & all delivery companies have stated since March that delays may occur due to Covid-19 working restrictions. With this warning in place the judge had little choice but to allow a few extra days

L1011

godtabh wrote: »

I have the tracking number which isnt logged online and a legal undertaking from the sender that it has been sent

Tracking number is on the label, I have a roll of them upstairs. All valid tracking numbers that will be live when we actually use them; but currently don't exist on the computer system.

If it was sent at a post office it would have been scanned immediately.

If put in a post box with a prepaid label it would have been scanned in at the depot - post from postboxes to depots is not under any pressure.

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I have reviews on my site that says otherwise, even though we post every working day. The vast majority of my shipments are things like carbon brushes that go regular post in the post box. Again usually they are delivered within a few days BUT some are taking weeks rather than days. It gets worse after a holiday weekend

An Post & all delivery companies have stated since March that delays may occur due to Covid-19 working restrictions. With this warning in place the judge had little choice but to allow a few extra days

Its now been confirmed they emailed the reply anyway so its irrelevant.

Sleeper12

L1011 wrote:

Its now been confirmed they emailed the reply anyway so its irrelevant.

I didn't read that. That is different. Judge obviously gave leeway due to Covid-19 for the defending business, in the unlikely situation that Covid-19 restrictions in the business caused the delay, by the looks of it.