Small claims court.

What is the time limit for bringing an action in the SCC?

Also is it possible to sue a company that is offshore but trades in Ireland?

Should find details here

If I were you I would ring them - my own experience with them was that they are EXTREMELY helpful and give excellent advice.

Roy

I rang the district court office in Portlaoise, they could not tell me if I could bring a case against a UK company that trades here.

If there is any complication whatsoever in your case (ie the involvement of a UK company as respondent), the SCC will be worse than useless to you. I lost out badly once because the authorities could not enforce a judgement made by the SCC against a UK resident who was trading here. I did not realise this until it was too late and the SCC had given me the runaround for a period of months.

bond-007 said:

Also is it possible to sue a company that is offshore but trades in Ireland?

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A lot of companies that trade in ireland, have registered offices in Ireland, were writ could be served. You can search for registered office details on www.cro.ie

The registered name could be very different from the trading name.

...and there is no guarantee that they will still be there when your writ arrives. This applies in particular to UK registered companies or UK resident individuals who set up in business here with an Irish registered business name.

CCOVICH said:

The registered name could be very different from the trading name.

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it's possibly to search the CRO for business names and company names

Microsoft had a company called 'Round Tower One'-was that identifible as a Microsoft company?

WAs it registered in Ireland?

if you search for microsoft on the CRO website, you get 10 companies with micorsoft in their name and 19 business names containing microsoft, and you can look it up for free, so you have nothing to lose.

The company was called 'Round Island One' (my mistake), it is registered as such on cro.ie, but it is not identifiable as a Microsoft company from the data (freely available) on cro.ie.

The business name registration process in this country is not regulated in any way. If they are willing to pay up to €40 a pop, an individual could have ten or a hundred business names registered in their name at a single address or at multiple addresses. There is no active statutory process in place to ensure that the entries on the register are maintained up to date, or were even correct in the first instance. Hence business name registration data is often of no value where aggrieved consumers are trying to trace the current whereabouts of a business or its promoter.

bond-007 said:

What is the time limit for bringing an action in the SCC?

Also is it possible to sue a company that is offshore but trades in Ireland?

Click to expand...

Hi there,

You give no indication as to the nature of the action you wish to take to the Small Claims Court so it is difficult to advise you.

Under the European Directive on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees (1999/44/EC), which was passed into law in January 2003 in Ireland, all consumers purchasing goods in any EU Member State are entitled to a basic set of consumer rights.

Furthermore, your rights as a consumer are also protected in Irish legislation. If you could give a little more detail as to the nature of your complaint (without naming names, obviously) it would be easier to provide more accurate advice.

CMCR.

CMCR said:

Hi there,

You give no indication as to the nature of the action you wish to take to the Small Claims Court so it is difficult to advise you.

Under the European Directive on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees (1999/44/EC), which was passed into law in January 2003 in Ireland, all consumers purchasing goods in any EU Member State are entitled to a basic set of consumer rights.

Furthermore, your rights as a consumer are also protected in Irish legislation. If you could give a little more detail as to the nature of your complaint (without naming names, obviously) it would be easier to provide more accurate advice.

CMCR.

Click to expand...

Over 1 year ago I asked a certain tv company based in the UK but is available here to provide me with equipment to receive their service. I ordered by calling them and paying. They then set a install date. First time they show up with wrong equipment. A days annual leave lost. New date set this time installer messes wife around and new date is set. take another AL day and no show. Turns out that installer won't install as he is afraid of dogs. This is a sub contractor.

Fed up of this I get an independant to do job, done job end of story. I want to recover the cost of 2 AL days and hassle from the company involved.

It would seem to me that you need to check carefully the small print of the contract you agreed with the UK television company regarding installation. What specifically does the contract say regarding installation and timeframes? What about dispute resolution?

After the first time they showed up with wrong equipment, did you complain then or contact the company? What was the outcome of this complaint (if any). Who was the person who showed up first of all to install the service - a sub-contractor to the UK company, or a representative of the company?

You say you eventually resorted to getting an independent person to do the job but did you have to pay them for this service or did the UK TV company agree to foot the bill?

It's difficult to give a definitive answer without more information. You also haven't indicated whether you have already made a complaint to the Uk company and if so, the outcome of this complaint.

Given this was a service you paid for, you could reasonably expect that the service provider would honour their side of the contract. However, I don't know enough about your case or any of the subsequent dealings you have had with them, to give you any further advice.

(as amended) specifically covers 'simple contracts' and states ....actions shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. I am not an expert on this area but I would presume this means you may take a case to the Courts within 6 years of the date on when the issue happened.

You are of course free to take an action to the Small Claims Court against this company but in my opinion, I think it may be unlikely you will be awarded damages for having to take time off work. Again however, this will depend on the terms of your intallation contract and ultimately it's for the judge to decide.

It may transpire for example that the company may argue that they offered to have someone else call out to finish the job but you disagreed and said you would organise it yourself.

I would recommend you take legal advice on the matter.