Abandoned Repairs and recouping costs from customers

lots of places like restaurants and hairdressers at taking a deposit over the phone for 'bookings' in the case of no shows. it will make the likelihood of no shows less frequent & provide some compensation for your efforts.

25 quid for an assessment paid up front, and the 25 comes off the price of the repair, when authorized would probably be a good middle ground for you. It means zero increase in the cost of having an item repaired - but some recompense for your time if its wasted.

Why does everything require a law?

Did you know that there is no law saying that you have to give customers change if they hand you a €50 note for a €20 purchase? Yet people get their change all the time.

If your knowledge of basic business procedure is this bad, you need to do a course urgently.

If you have a sign up and also stated on the docket that goods are sold/disposed of after 7, 30, 90, 180 days or whatever you choose, then that is part of the contract the customer enters into and you are covered.

So point me out the law that says a retailer must give change?

There is none.

I'll guess you know very little about contracts?

In a way there is a law. It states that if you enter a contract that has the terms outlined to you, then you have accepted those terms and are legally obligated to adhere to those conditions.

The exception is if there is a statutory right that says otherwise - eg, you have a statutory right to remedy if goods become faulty within a certain timeframe. So a store cannot ignore that.

There is no statutory right to leave goods in a repair shop and the shop has to keep them for you forever and ever.

And a garage can keep a car if a repair has not been paid for if they had that policy in writing and the customer agrees to it. (a garage would not be in business if they had such policy)

You seem not to understand the very very basic idea of a contract between 2 people or a person and a business.

You give the terms of the contract, the customer agrees or disagrees. If they agree they have LEGALLY entered into a BINDING LEGAL contract. - So if you want the "law" that backs this, I suggest you study contract law.

No, the cuttings can be offered, they don't have to be. And they can be refused. Pretty sure it is not theft!

Re the OP, are you saying that a lien is not legal in Ireland?

A solicitor will.

I can assure you that if you have a clear notice and customers are fully aware of a policy that goods will be disposed of after a reasonable period (I'd say 90 days and allow 120 days) and you make efforts to contact them, then you are fully covered.

You can contact a solicitor to get this confirmed.

You have no idea how the law works. I had a proposed contract checked out by a solicitor and their main comment was most of it was unenforceable because you can't sign away rights that you have in law.

Yes, that is correct.

But there is no specific law stating it. And that shows del2005 that not everything needs to be specifically written as a law.

For the op, here is the legal aspect allowing you to put a notice up regarding uncollected repairs

Where the buyer wrongfully neglects or refuses to accept and pay for the goods, the seller can bring an action for the price against the buyer (section 49, Sale of Goods Act 1893) and/or an action again the buyer for damages for non-acceptance (section 50, Sale of Goods Act 1893).

Where the buyer defaults on its obligation to accept and pay for the goods in accordance with the contract of sale, the unpaid seller may also have the following remedies available:

• Lien. A seller that is in possession of the goods has a right to retain possession of the goods until the price has been paid.
• Stoppage in transit. The seller may have the right to stop the goods in transit, that is, to resume and retain possession until payment has been discharged. This is a weaker remedy than a lien, as there are three conditions to meet to use this remedy.
• Re-sale. A seller may have a right to re-sell the goods.

(Sections 38 and 39 and 41 to 48, Sale of Goods Act 1893.)

Additionally, a term is implied into every commercial contract that the supplier is entitled to late payment interest under the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012 (SI 580/2012) (Late Payment Regulations). These give effect to the Late Payments Directive (2011/7/EU).

Where the buyer does not pay for goods or services by the relevant payment date, the supplier is entitled to interest on the amount outstanding under the contract (regulation 4(1), Late Payment Regulations). The supplier is entitled to statutory late payment interest on the outstanding amount for the period from the day after the relevant payment date to the date on which the payment of the amount due is made (regulation 4(2), Late Payment Regulations). A supplier is entitled to statutory late payment interest to the extent that they have:

• Fulfilled their contractual and legal obligations.
• Not received the payment due by the relevant payment date, unless the buyer is not responsible for the late payment.

(Regulation 4(3), Late Payment Regulations.)

Unless otherwise specified in the contract, the statutory late payment interest payable is the interest rate applied by the European Central Bank to its most recent main refinancing operation carried out before 1 January and 1 July each year (reference rate) and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities plus 8 percentage points (regulation 5(1), Late Payment Regulations). This rate should be checked for every individual case.

They could be dead.