I never take cheques off unknowns or questionable characters for this very reason, for a £300 transaction, the time effort and hassle just makes it such a pain when you get one bounced on you. Cheques to me are an out dated method of payment, I can't see how there is any advantages to use such in these days of online banking and the fast transfer of bank credit. Even customers where they have a good history of payment I always make sure its cleared before releasing/delivering goods. If you take lots of cheques then you can use payment processing services that garentee you the payment, not sure of the costs of such a service though... Transax is one such service. As for getting your money/goods back its going to be difficult if you can't even get in touch with the builder, do you know where abouts the goods are? Is the builder still trading? or are they a sole trader? For the time its going to take, the hassle, the costs of a slim chance of getting £300 or the goods back, you have to question is it worth the effort?

for clarification, I hopefully have found a solution that does not involve the use of a HCEO.

I was about to instruct bailiffs, however due to not being able to know exactly where the debtor was residing I used all the avenues possible to research and collate as much information as possible. It was then I stubled across a piece of evidence in the case file which I must of overlooked and looks to of made the whole process of enforcement much easier. As much as a judgement debtor can worm their way out of paying time and time again, it appears this one had not been all that smart! Unfortuanatley it appears the country court system is under pressure at the moment and things are a little slower that usual, so hope to update soon.

I know you can find the ower of a car through DVLA requests, but is there a way to do it the other way round?

How do I get the fees for "Application for order that debtor attend court for questioning" and serving it added to my judgement? or does the court admin do it automatically?

But if you have won you claim, then they have counter claimed, they owe you and you owe them. Sounds like on paper you have ended up out of pocket because of your legal expenses. Main thing to learn is its pretty pointless paying for representation in the county court as its made as simple as it can be and is not that strict on the procedures. If what you say is true i'd be asking you solictor what they are playing at.

yes thats the best bit they give you the item also, so find everything in the store that charges wrong and not only do they pay you the money back twice, you get free stuff also.

i'm sure they stand to make a few quid on getting your money but it must be the case that they follow the law and most likely very busy also.

If it came to someone owing me tens of thousands then I would find somone who would enforce the dept i'm sure. who are you using?

they can be prosecuted, but when does that actually happen if ever!

Fees are not a problem, I can get exemption based on income.

exactly, so being CSO make it worse as they have no targets?

Well there was first a default, then set aside, then they defended, then they claimed not to of recieved documents, then they failed to show in court, then hearing got set for another date... etc. all fairly standard, but I can't see the judge accepting a reason now. I'm fully aware of the options, but if I a statement of means and they dont turn up, nothing will be done. All the other ways require me to know their bank accounts, employer etc Is there a way you can find out if a individual owns a car?

Well there was first a default, then set aside, then they defended, then they claimed not to of recieved documents, then they failed to show in court, then hearing got set for another date... etc. all fairly standard, but I can't see the judge accepting a reason now. I'm fully aware of the options, but if I a statement of means and they dont turn up, nothing will be done. All the other ways require me to know their bank accounts, employer etc Is there a way you can find out if a individual owns a car?

Sounds ridiculous to me, police round here stopped me for cycling on the pavement the other evening, its turns out they where looking for trouble makes and where stopping people just to check what they where up to, I thought it was going to be for not having lights as well as being on the pavement. I queried this and the officers told me its not fo their concern for people cycling on the footpath at such a time in the evening and as I was not on the road they was not worried that I didn't have lights. Sounds like you have been done over by CSOs who don't really know the law or applied it incorrectly, any sensible officer would of used discretion. To be issued with a fine you must of accepted it, if not you should of just walked off where the options then are to arrest or leave you to be on your way.

I'd like to of thought the judge would not allow a case to be consistently set aside! Variation Order? well i'd like to think they dunno how to worm into that one. I'm all for individuals protecting themselves when they are not liable for money that is trying to be recovered. But when it is the case that the money is owed, the legal route has been exhausted to this point, I would just like a bailiff that will go to the debtors property and do what is nessersary. As for bailiff that act unlawfully, it must happen, yet these must have a lot higher success rate. If the debt doubles due to fees and become £1000s, whose fault is it? So if I go down the statement of means route, what happens if they just don't turn up?

Surely thats not going to be successful if they have already failed to pay, threats have not worked prior to litigation, during or now after. So they get called if for a explanation, don't turn up, then what, more time wasted and I still don't have any sign of getting paid. Up till now every judgement I have had has been paid during or very shortly after a CCJ, this is the first time I have needed to enforce.

To enforce the judgement!

I've been told not to waste my time using the county court bailiffs, i've looked at several companies, the claim 90% plus success rates. What I don't want is to instruct, say to me they visited 3 times unsuccessfully, then pay a fee. I want a bailiff that quite frankly will go in there giving the debtor so much hassle they don't have a choice. I'm not to bothered what fees they charge the debtor, so long as I get my money i'm not bothered. At the end of the day its set in stone i'm owed the money, lot of the posters on this forum are on the otherside and often not in a posistion where the bailiffs should be called in.

assuming there are those that are better than others, but any reccomendations on those that are successful in recovery and do the best they can to get the debtor to pay up.

after chasing the fee refund today it appears the reason it has not been processed is because the admin staff did not see the refund box was ticked and thought it was just a concession.

Ah I see never had to do a concession after paying, normally its sorted before the fee is due... I assumed they would pay it back by the means I paid them, money laundering regs and all that. Its what most payment processors quote when it comes t these sort of things. Yeah I will be chasing it up tomorrow, a complaint is a complaint, however I wondered what it would achieve? assume nothing other than they have no one to answer to so it does not really matter and it will be logged.

Couldn't find a forum heading for issues with the courts service, so i've put it here. Firstly I wondered what the timescale was for fee refunds under the concession scheme? being they can process a concession quickley, I would of though a refund would be just as quick. So far it appears not. Secondly, I had a hearing the other day, the defendant failed to show. However I was not informed the defendant was not availible on the date of the hearing so because there was a admin error with the case I wasted half a day because they didn't inform me, also they didn't process the notice of hearing forms properly or they would of not set the hearing for the date they did. Is there anything I can do, apart from just waiit for a new hearing date?

Sounds like a clear breach of health and safety to me, 25kg is the maximum recommended load per individual to manual handle, anything greater is only if you feel comfortable doing so(though you could be breaching company policy, you would have to check).

Agree, be very careful of any communication between unknown operations, especially outside 9-5 mon-fri office hours.