Legal Question in Consumer Law in Florida

Failure to Provide Service and Refund Payment

We are a small business that paid for advertising with a telephone directory with a regional telephone company. The Advertisement was printed incorrectly including business name, address and phone number. Additionally. Company agreed to refund prepayment and re-route phone calls.

Company has not responded to numerous phone calls, is now billing us for the rerouting services, will not refuned prepayment and overall has provided the worst service of any vendor ever worked with.

Have files of supporting document and phone records.

Can we take company to small claims court? If so on what grounds and what damages in excess of the charges billed can we ask for?


Asked on 12/24/00, 9:26 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott R. Jay Law Offices of Scott R. Jay

Re: Failure to Provide Service and Refund Payment

You can certainly file a suit for damages with the appropriate court. You did not state the amounts in controversy so I can not say if it falls within the jurisdiction of the summary procedure (commonly referred to incorrectly as "small claims") court which is a branch of the County Court. This is dependent on whether or not your damages are limited to a sum of $5,000.00 or less. If the amount is greater than $5,000.00 but less $15,000.00, the case can still be filed in the County Court. All suits involving an amount of $15,000.00 or greater must be filed in the Circuit Court. The filing fees are dependent upon the amount you are suing for and vary by county.

There are a variety of possible ground for a suit including a breach of contract. This is a serious legal matter and you should consult an attorney with the specifics of your situation.

Scott R. Jay, Esq. (305) 249-8000

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Answered on 12/29/00, 1:02 pm


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