Sir, – An article referring to the work of the Small Claims Court (“Consumer redress routes blocked by outdated rules”, News, August 14th) highlights a particular problem arising from the financial ceiling applied to claims. My own experience illustrates another one.
In mid-2022, we had home improvement work done by a central heating contractor. Soon after the completion of the job, we found an omission in the installation, which the contractor refused to rectify, that reduced our guarantee by three years. We hired a different contractor to fix the missing part at our own expense and lodged a claim via the Small Claims Court. This was dealt with efficiently by the court, which ruled in our favour, and we were awarded our full claim. And then the trouble started.
The contractor refused to pay and responsibility for collection was passed to the Dublin City Sheriff’s office.
For most of 2023, that office pursued collection until, toward the end of the year, we were advised by the sheriff’s office that no money could be collected because the contractor had no assets that could be seized and there was nothing further could be done.
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We were advised then that our only recourse was to personally initiate court proceedings, for which we had neither the resources to hire a solicitor nor the energy or expertise to conduct the case ourselves.
During all this time the contractor continued to trade and, to rub salt in the wound, launched a brand new website which actively solicited new business.
So we gave up. – Yours, etc,
JOHN CASEY,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.