Company ceased trading but now requesting payment 17 months later?

[RichInSpirit]

How did you decide to get this man to do the work for you in the first place?

Did you check his credentials when you engaged him initially?

Did he do a bad job?

He may not have traded as a company, he could have been a sole trader.

He might have ceased trading without a liquidator being appointed, especially if he was a sole trader.

 

[T McGibney]

There is no defence to a bounced cheque. It's proof of the debt.

Proof of a debt is worthless to any tradesman or small business owner as going to court to enforce a debt is utterly pointless from their perspective.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I did some digging after 4 months and found company had ceased trading.

Hi Nordkapp

You specify that it is a company. I assume that this is an official company with registered with the Companies Office and that he is not a sole trader?

If you are using the term "company" loosely, then he is a sole trader and you should ask for an invoice from him. There does not need to be VAT on it. And you should pay him either by cheque or by transfer to his bank account.

You should not pay him cash.

Brendan

 

[T McGibney]

A tradesman client of my own shut down after the 2008 crash, leaving me owed a few grand. I heard nothing from him for years.

Then in 2013 he phoned me out of the blue, apologising profusely for the delay, and explaining that he had spent a number of years working in Aldi to feed his family and pay the mortgage while also painstakingly collecting old amounts owing to him in order to pay off his creditors. He was now offering to drop in with the money he owed me.

The following week, he arrived with my money and we settled up. He couldn't have done that unless his old customers had honoured their commitments to him.

His business was long gone at this stage and he would have been in a position to give receipts to nobody, although he got one from me.

 

[Mapara]

Can the OP not verify if this guy is above and board connected to the service provider, from his original contact to employ the guy.
I think the service was supplied so now it needs to be paid for.

 

[T McGibney]

This is on the verge of becoming harrassment. Keep a written record of every occasion he calls to the door.

Not even the second cousin of harassment. If anything the tradesman should pressurise the OP even further. He will probably in any event quietly tip off his competitors to steer clear of doing work for him and getting similarly stiffed.

If the OP really wants to pay this bill while ensuring that all is above board, they can offer to pay the tradesman through their solicitor although this will entail a fee to be paid to the solicitor.

 

[NoRegretsCoyote]

Not even the second cousin of harassment.

The details are scant but if weekly calls to the door persist then OP's peace and privacy are being disturbed by persistent, unreasonable actions by the tradesman.

This is the legal definition of harrassment:

10.—(1) Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by any means including by use of the telephone, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) For the purposes of this section a person harasses another where—

(a) he or she, by his or her acts intentionally or recklessly, seriously interferes with the other's peace and privacy or causes alarm, distress or harm to the other, and

(b) his or her acts are such that a reasonable person would realise that the acts would seriously interfere with the other's peace and privacy or cause alarm, distress or harm to the other.

 

[Nordkapp]

Hi Nordkapp

You specify that it is a company. I assume that this is an official company with registered with the Companies Office and that he is not a sole trader?

Yes it is now dissolved

If you are using the term "company" loosely, then he is a sole trader and you should ask for an invoice from him. There does not need to be VAT on it. And you should pay him either by cheque or by transfer to his bank account.

Agreed, he was asked for the invoice in May 2022 but has failed to provide it. My suspicion is he cut corners on the job and won’t do itemised paperwork, so if the system breaks down, I have no warranty or comeback

You should not pay him cash.

Brendan

Most definitely will not be paying cash

 

[Brendan Burgess]

It's a tough one.

Write to the company at the Registered Office and request an invoice and tell them that you will forward a cheque as soon as you receive it.

Brendan

 

[Nordkapp]

Not even the second cousin of harassment. If anything the tradesman should pressurise the OP even further.

I think it’s harassment. My next step is to report him to the Gardai.

He will probably in any event quietly tip off his competitors to steer clear of doing work for him and getting similarly stiffed.

If the OP really wants to pay this bill while ensuring that all is above board, they can offer to pay the tradesman through their solicitor although this will entail a fee to be paid to the solicitor.

You forget, I pay my bills. If he produces an itemised invoice, installation certification and bank details he will get paid, providing my independent engineers report validates the system as correct and the system is new, not using second hand parts

 

[Johnno75]

I also firmly believe the company is dissolved and this guy is picking up what the liquidators didn’t get.

It’s not a matter of belief. Either the company was put into liquidation and wound up/dissolved or it wasn’t. Look up CRO.ie and establish the position.

 

[David_Dublin]

First it was a tax thing. Then it was a fear of paying it twice. Then it's a warranty. And now he's being harassed? You would feel for the poor fella who got a job done for free and worry about what might come next.

 

[mathepac]

All the OP wants is an invoice and proof that the guy harassing him for money is officially a representative of the outfit that did the work. If OP pays the chancer harassing him, I'll be over next week for my money!

OP doesn't need to lift a finger to verify or disprove the standing of the company concerned or even if there's a company backing his harasser up, quite the reverse. Call the Guards the next time he shows up on your doorstep. They can ask him to establish his bona fides.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

It's clear that the guy who did the work is the guy asking for the money. Not "some chancer" appearing out of the blue.

Brendan

 

[ClubMan]

So, as far as I understand it, the key issue boils down to the original poster needing to get a valid invoice before paying in some way other than cash (I presume that a bank transfer would be acceptable)? And everything else discussed is largely irrelevant?