Brendan Burgess
Founder
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A friend of mine is commissioning some plant from an Irish company which will cost around €80k. The Irish company wants a deposit of around €20k.
I checked the accounts of the Irish company and I have strongly recommended against paying any deposit to them as they are in a precarious financial position.
The Irish company is importing a piece of plant from Germany which will cost around €20k and the German company will not send it over until they are paid.
I have suggested that the customer pays the German company directly for the plant. So if the Irish company goes bust, at least the customer will own the equipment and be able to get a different contractor to commission it.
I have also suggested that the customer will pay money to a solicitor which would be released on delivery of the equipment.
This problem must arise all the time. If I was the Irish company, I would put some sort of mechanism in place to protect customers' deposits. But the Irish company doesn't seem to have any ideas other than "pay us the deposit - sure it will be grand"
I checked the accounts of the Irish company and I have strongly recommended against paying any deposit to them as they are in a precarious financial position.
The Irish company is importing a piece of plant from Germany which will cost around €20k and the German company will not send it over until they are paid.
I have suggested that the customer pays the German company directly for the plant. So if the Irish company goes bust, at least the customer will own the equipment and be able to get a different contractor to commission it.
I have also suggested that the customer will pay money to a solicitor which would be released on delivery of the equipment.
This problem must arise all the time. If I was the Irish company, I would put some sort of mechanism in place to protect customers' deposits. But the Irish company doesn't seem to have any ideas other than "pay us the deposit - sure it will be grand"