Small Claims Court and "For Sale Board" sale

worst name ever

I didnt know where to put this so please move it if you feel that its inappropriate here

I reached an agreement to buy an item off someone on the for sale section of boards.ie and I've been fcuked around with by the seller since ...
The Story goes like this:
I agreed to pay a largish amount of money for the item and sent a postal order by registered post immediately after I got postal details. The postal order arrived next day. After a week I still had not received the item and after a few PM's to the person I got an answer at about day 10, saying that the person was having problems and the item in question was damaged and my money was on its way back. 6 hours after this PM was sent to me the person had posted a thread asking for help with the item, i.e. basically it was still working, just not the way the person wanted. After a few more days I started sending PM's again and was getting no answer. I eventually got an answer saying that "the money was sent, but to the wrong address and sorry about that I just got it back and I'll send it to you again" .... Shortly after this the person put the item up for sale again. After another 7 days I asked where is my money and was told ..."well I sent it last friday" .. I asked for proof it had been posted and have been ignored since ...

I was talking to a friend of mine who has in the course of the last few years been through the courts (as a plaintiff) a few times ... I suggested that I might go up to the address in question and ask for my money back, my friend however was of the opinion that I had asked enough already and because I had received answers to my emails I had proof that he had read them .. so going up to get my money might possibly jeopardise my legal position in future if it had to go through the courts system

Total time to get to this point from when the person got my money... just nearly a month .. and no, I dont think waiting and waiting and hoping for the best will improve the matter. (As for the postal delivery taking a long time, it was coming from the midlands to Cork, if it didn't arrive in a week it will never arrive ... and also the track record of the persons dealings with me so far has inclined me to disbelieve any claims by that person)

Can I bring this person to the small claims court when all of my evidence is PM's and emails and a reciept for the postal order and the registered post? I really doubt that I'll get my money back any other way ... If it isnt the small claims court then it will have to be the district court..

Gordon

Go to the doctor! ...erm lawyer... erm actually I don't know.

I'll put this in Business/Economy for now, maybe the mods there may want to put it somewhere more appropriate after..

spongebob

small claims court sounds ideal unless the item was worth more that €3500 or so (I think that is the limit)

get the mod for the board to supply an affadavit as to the sequence of events and the accuracy of the PM's, mail him your sequence and get hi to print/sign and post it to you.

M

nahdoic

That is just lousy.

I'm assuming you posted under a new username so that we couldn't search to find out what sale it was for.

But have you threatened to name and shame the user on boards? Does the user post often? Or is it a fly-by-the-night user ...

Wolf

I would for one name this person. At the very least to the mods. I would also suggest that you do take this person to court. The fact that you have proof of purchase should in itself be enough.

worst name ever

First of all, the amount of cash was between €250 and €1000 (not naming the exact amount because the amount of searching would probably bring boards.ie to its knees) ...

Second, I would think that naming and shaming would be premature before any court case (even the small claims court) .. but after a finding in my favour I would definitely do it ... (heh .. wouldn't it be nice to put up an advertisement for the day with username and real name/address of the offender) ....

I was at the Oasis website looking into this and I noticed that if the individual did not pay back, I could get the court to send out the County Sheriff after the person ... Would they end up in stubbs gazette if this happened?

WhiteWashMan

i for one as a user of the sales forum would like to know who this person is.
if someone is not up to scratch, then i think it is only fair that the community knows about it.
pm me with details.

worst name ever

While I would love to tell everyone about it I dont think that it would be prudent to do so if there is a court case in the offing (even the small claims court) ...
I will however update this thread with proceedings as they happen, and if I win my court case then I will post a thread with the timeline/sordid details/username - real name of the offender.

spongebob

You're right.

Once a matter goes legal the Mods would rather you not comment until it is sorted one way or another, it becomes sub judice.

the Small claims court (SCC) charges you about €10 or so to make the claim (fill out a form).

You then arrive into an office where you sit down and make your own case in plain english, the defendant makes their case too if they show up. It is very informal and non-bureaucratic. You need not bring any lawyer with you at all. It is not done in 'open' court.

Breach of contract is all about Offer/Acceptance/Consideration and non performance.

You offered x for item, they accepted the offer, you sent a PO. Once the PO is cashed (the Consideration) the contract is binding. Can you verifty thru the Post Office that the PO has been cashed ? From what you said you have no problem proving offer and acceptance.

Sometimes it is settled there and then on the day, otherwise the court makes a finding.

After the finding you may comment all you want in here.

M

worst name ever

Hmmm ... I do have the reciept for the postal order, can I just go into the Post Office where I got it and find out if it was cashed?

Our man in Havana

Yes, bring the receipt into the post office. I think there may be a small fee to search for the PO. Make sure you go to a large post office as a small one might try to fob you off.

RainyDay

Small Claims Court only accepts claims from consumers against businesses - see Small Claims Court guide for more details.

spongebob

can the biffo prove he wasnt a sole trader when he agreed to sell? thats a business, does it have to be limited liability?

M

damnyanks

I think yuo have to register as a sole trader.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by damnyanks
I think yuo have to register as a sole trader.

Only if you trade under a name other than your own name.

Eg. If I trade under the name James Bond I dont need to register.
If I use speedy sales when I need to register the name with the cro.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by RainyDay
Small Claims Court only accepts claims from consumers against businesses - see Small Claims Court guide for more details.

If thats the case he will have to take out a civil summons and try the case in the district court. He will need a solictor to prepare the papers but the costs will be awarded against the defendant.

If he refuses to pay you can register the judgement with stubbs gazette and it will be in the local papers. You can then get the sherriff to collect the cash or goods to the amount.

If he still doesnt pay or the sherriff does not seize any goods, you could get an installment order which forces him to tell the court how much he earns and forces him to pay the debt over a number of months depending on his means.

If he defaults on the installment order you can apply to the court for a commital to prison for 7 days.

The costs of all these proceedings and interest is added to the judgement amount.

DeVore

Mail me.

A pm from me seems to have wonderful effects on people who are fncking others around. Spotlights have a habit of scaring roaches.

DeV.

worst name ever

I completely forgot to update this, one of my mates reminded me today .....

For people too lazy to read the whole thread or forgot the story:
A muppet agreed to sell me an item for €300 and so I sent off a postal order for the amount and he didnt send me the item.

The story is as follows ... I pointed the miscreant at this thread and it obviously gave him the willies because I had my postal order back in my hands the next day ... yes you read that right, the muppet had held on to the postal order for just over 30 days. Why had he done it?, no answer forthcoming ...... I was just happy to have the €300 back in my hands....

That leads to the next question ... should I name and shame? ... I think that one of the admins should comment on this because the very same muppet is selling the very same item again.... at the very least I think the muppet should be banned from the for sale forum ... quick decision needed, the sale may (appear to) go through and somebody else will be f*cked over by the muppet

nahdoic

Ah the indiscriminate power of boards invoked again ...

Glad to hear it got sorted out. Of course we'd all like to know who the user was [frantically searching the sale board for an item that costs about E300, was put up for sale twice and posted again recently].

At any rate you should definitely pm the mods Blade and Keeks of the sale forum now with who the user.

sceptre

Originally posted by worst name ever
I think that one of the admins should comment on this because the very same muppet is selling the very same item again

They did - DeVore asked you to mail him (it's the last post above yours)

DeV's away on holliers at the mo until the end of next week I think.

Send Vexorg or someone a PM for a start (given that the guy is selling the same item again ). Vexorg's also taken For Sale somewhat under his wing. Or Keeks or Blade (FS mods). They might as well be aware in advance.

Probably pointless naming and shaming in public given that you got your money back. Other people won't agree with this though (forewarned is forearmed and all that)

worst name ever

I did actually thank Devore for the threat ... and mentioned that the muppet should be banned from the for sale board ... maybe he didnt agree ... or maybe he just forgot about it ... I'll let the for sale mods know ..

spongebob

post your story in the thread that the muppet started in the For Sale board.

l3rian

Please, name and shame him. He attempted to rip you off €300

Vexorg

Im closing this thread for the moment....

We do not have a proper facility to name and shame on the for sale board and the individual in question could come back with a new user name anyway.

This situtation while unpleasent was sorted out in the end, so there is no need to carry it on any further.

Vex.