Pursuing a debt through the District Court
- Thread starter Frivolous
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The Horseman
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Use personal service option. In a previous role I had similar issues where debtors would not accept legal letter.
I used a retired Garda who provided this service along with surveillance for insurance claims.
This service included attending court swearing on oath that the correspondence was actually delivered and received.
Love that suggestion.
I wrote him a letter (unregistered this time which it looks like he read) threatening him with legal proceedings if the debt was not paid by Friday 17th Jan 2025. On Friday last a Credit appeared on our bank statement for an amount of roughly 90% of the debt. There was no reference on the bank statement and all the bank could tell me when I called them was that it was a Credit Union cheque from a Credit Union in a particular town (which is his local town). I have no other debtors outstanding for a similar amount so I'm 99% sure it's him. I've no intention of chasing the balance as I don't want to deal with him or his kind again. A successful outcome as far as I'm concerned and a big thanks to all who contributed to this thread.
T McGibney
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Well done and thanks for the update.
Wow! Well done (assuming it's from person in question).
The Horseman
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Delighted for you.
Sometimes you just have to chalk it up to experience, cut your losses and move on
Obviously we don't know what money value 10% is but to chase it might cost more both in money and time
Absolutely get that, it's probably the right approach but what ever mechanism runs my thinking I'd be loathe to walk away and let that deadbeat away with a cent.
We do - c. €200 since the debt mentioned in the original post was c. €2K.
The “deadbeat” isn’t out of the woods quite yet. I sent an “enquiry” to his employers “An Post” as to why my registered letter to him was returned “Addressee not known at this address”. An enquiry is the first step before an official complaint is made. If the issue progresses to the Complaint stage then it will be interesting to find out if an employee of An Post had any involvement in deciding that the addressee did not live there given that I’m certain he does live there.
Yes, had forgotten that Frivolous had mentioned the amount in their OP
So I'd hazarded a guess that the loss of 10% was a cheaper option then involving a solicitor to just send out the first letter
I think this is the right thing to do and you should pursue it further if there isn't a satisfactory answer from An Post
But at some stage, if you don't get the result you're looking for, let it go and move on,
Bad debt's are part and parcel of business life, don't let it into your personal life, it's only money, business money
Totally agree. At this stage I have nothing to lose by pursuing the issue of the €9.50 Registered letter which conveniently didn't find it's way to the home of the An Post employee who works in the local sorting office. Very curious to find out why.
T McGibney
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To slightly misquote Captain Beefheart, it's not worth getting into the bull dung to see what the bull had for lunch.
In the absence of compelling evidence akin to a smoking gun linking this guy to the theft of your letter, they'll have no option but to stonewall your complaint.
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It wasn't stolen; it was returned marked "addressee not known at this address".
OP's point is that, by coincidence, the addressee actually works for An Post and therefore they know perfectly well where he lives. Plus, since they deliver post to the property, they have pretty good information on who lives there anyway. Therefore, he would argue, they should not accept at face value a refusal to accept on the "addressee not known" ground. They are or should be aware, from their own knowlegde, that this ground is bogus.
OP, I think we have to be realistic here. I think it will often be the case that, when a letter is refused/returned on the "addressee not known" ground, An Post know that's not strictly true. But what are they to do? Wrestle the housholder to the ground and force the letter into his mouth? They have no practical choice but to accept that delivery has been rejected and to record the stated reason for rejection, even if they suspect it's bogus. I don't see what you expect them to have done differently.
The answer to your query will be something along the lines of "A person apparently in occupation at the premised rejected the letter for the reason given. We have no power, and don't accept any responsiblity, to investigate or validate the statements made by occupiers in these circumstances, and we can't force anybody to accept or sign for a registered letter; our responsiblity is limited to taking it away, returning it to you and telling you what happened when we tried to deliver it."
Accept your points - however the letter wasn't returned to me - I only got the "addressee not at this address" from the on-line tracking. The least I'd expect is that the letter would be returned to me undelivered.
I think you can probably complain about that. But it's a bit of a side-show to your main beef with the guy. If the letter had been returned to you, your situatio would be no different.
You are right - it is a bit of a side-show. However It is a serious issue if you can't trust An Post to deliver a Registered Letter to the home of one of it's employees - it's not a case of he wasn't there to sign for it - stating that he is not known at his address is not an acceptable reason IMHO. You don't need to be a Sherlock Holmes to raise an eyebrow.