THE rates consultancy company Oldfields appears to have abandoned its Dublin offices. Oldfields, which claimed it could reduce rates bills for Irish companies, is known to have had at least 5,000 clients.

Oldfields, based at Eden Quay in Dublin, conducted a national tele sales operation and persuaded thousands of companies to pay £296 in advance for appeals seeking a reduction in rates.

If all the clients had advanced the full amount, Oldfields may have taken in £1.5 million.

However, many of the companies on Oldfields' books were critical of the service provided. Some complained that the promised rates surveys have not taken place, while, in a small number of cases, the clients' rates actually increased after the Oldfields' appeal.

In some cases, Oldfields secured rates reductions.

A spokesman for the Valuation Office in Dublin said yesterday that it had received "a few hundred" appeals from Oldfields on behalf of clients.

When The Irish Times visited Oldfields' Eden Quay premises yesterday, there was no answer from the company's buzzer at the main entrance.

The doors to Oldfields' secondfloor offices were locked and black bin liners had been taped over the glass panels on each door.

Phones rang unanswered, and large black rubbish sacks littered the floor.

No one from the company could be contacted for comment yesterday.

A spokesman for the estate agents which manages the office block said that he had learned of Oldfields' departure yesterday afternoon.

I got a phone call from one of the other tenants in the building saying that Oldfields were leaving, and they were leaving in a hurry, he said.

The director of consumer affairs, Mr William Fagan, said officials from his office had been "suspicious that they [Oldfields] were about to pull up stumps".

Mr Fagan, who has received about two dozen complaints relating to Oldfields, said he was particularly concerned that people who had signed up with the company may not get their money back.

Representatives from the Office of Consumer Affairs had visited Oldfields on several occasions but found no laws were being broken.

Mr Fagan said: "The real problem was that people paid them up front."

Many of Oldfields' clients are small retail and commercial companies paying between £2,000 and £12,000 a year in rates.

Both the Small Firms Association (SFA), and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) have received complaints from members about the consultancy firm.

RGDATA, which represents grocers, received several dozen complaints about Oldfields from its members, while the Irish Retail Newsagents' Association also received a number of complaints.

Oldfields' tele sales staff called companies and offered to act as a rating consultant on their behalf for a fee of £245 plus VAT.

These tele sales staff claimed that if Oldfields decided not to proceed with an appeal the company would only have to pay £50 as the rest of the fee would be refunded.

SFA director Mr Brendan Butler, said he had "extensive communication" with Oldfields in relation to complaints from members but had "failed to receive any satisfaction".