Just a little update, there is a hearing during January 2011 now - problem is... I am in Japan for my year abroad studies. I can not turn up but its in my best interest to do so. The lady from the court told me to write a letter in stating that I can not attend, etc. What are my chances of winning now that I can't show up? :/

thanks for the advice - as always, you are very helpful no matter how small the advice is! I'll send the letter and see what happens. I'll update when I get any news.

@labrat, even though its a hearing, they requested a telephone hearing. Roughly 15 mins. The letter also states that the hearing of the defendant's application for judgement to be set aside will take place on XXXXXX. Does that mean I don't have to stay home to listen in etc? :S

oh, could I add that I am leaving the country soon for my year abroad studies in japan without a laptop as I cannot afford to buy one until the case is settled? :S

This is the letter which I am writing, would this be ok? :S - I am not very good at writing these kinds of letters so please help me out! I am writing to you to oppose the Set Aside filed by the defendant on 18 August 2010. My reasoning for opposing is as followed: - The defendant had ample time to respond and file a defence. - I filed the request for judgment after the 28 days in which they had to respond, giving more than the original 28 days to respond. - If there was no answer when faxing over the defence then why did the defendant not contact the court to notify of the situation. - When using a professional service such as DX, wouldn’t it be delivered by the 28 days deadline and have proof of delivery? - It seems that the defendant is blaming the court for not receiving the documents/processing the claim correctly. Thank you for your time.

Judgement served: 7 August Set Aside: 18 August ----- @Labrat I was thinking of sending the court a letter stating that they were aware of the situation, had sufficient time to reply/submit their claim form, did not bother to contact the court when the fax did not go through. Now they claim they sent their defence but a month later was slapped the judgement to pay me - so what they are saying indirectly is that it is the court's fault for not receiving the documents, fax not working and that because the court did not receive it, it is unjust under CPR 1.1 to not permit the defendant from defending the claim. :/ seems like to me that they are just trying to blame the court for not receiving any documents. Argh... just when I thought this had come to an end

oh, they also stated that the judgemment is irregular because Currys does not exist in a Legal Capacity. Not too sure what this means but the overall 'set aside' thingy is scary as these are actual solicitors I am dealing with whereas I am just me with no experience

@labrat Seems like you were right, they have filed for a set-aside. I just received the documents from the court about why they should get the set-aside. Firstly, the hearing (telephone) will be held on 17th September. On the form asking for the set-aside, they have stated that: - when they had 28 days to respond to my claim, they faxed the documents over to the court but there was no answer. (I don't understand why if there was no answer, why couldn't they have just mailed them, at the end of the day, it is a very important matter which you don't put off if it doesn't send via fax. Also, how come they never rung the court to ask if there was a problem?) - Now they want to defend the claim under CPR 13.3 as they believe they can win. I am not sure what am i suppose to do... wait until the hearing? write to the court stating the fact that they had there chance and why did they not get in touch about the fax not being able to get through? I just find it so convenient that they couldn't send it :S Thanks

Just wrote a letter to ask for it in the form of a cheque. BTW, does anyone know how long I should expect payment from Currys? The judgement day was issued on the 7th August. Its now 20th August :S

Hi guys, just a nice update to my case: Currys responded yo my case and had 28 days to file their evidence against me, however after 28 days nothing was filed so I made a request to the court to make judgement. Received a letter from the court a few days ago saying that Currys is ordered to pay me the amount I seek plus an extra £200 worth of interest! Now I am just awaiting for Currys to send me the money owed. I do have a question though, if Currys decide to send me vouchers, could I call Currys and ask for it to be a cheque as I do not want to deal with them again? Or does it have to be vouchers? My experience of this is that they can make their own judgements on your case but without hard evidence they cannot win. Even though they have done 'tests' before, not all accidents are the same and its difficult to replicate the same accident. Fight your case against Currys or any company that you feel that has made a wrong decision and won't pay out! - Its a long process but it will be worth it! I would like to thank this forum and Labrat for all the help I have received! Without you I wouldn't have known what to do!

UPDATE: After my final letter, still no luck. I would have filed the N1 earlier but thought it would be better to get a 3rd party engineer report first. Received the report on Friday and I filed the N1 today. Will be a looong process but the camera shop I went to seemed very determined to help me fight the case. They were willing to provide more letters, reports if needed. The best about it is that they were willing to give me the report for free as they thought Currys was being very unfair! I think it takes 5 working days to process, then 14 days for Currys to respond. If they do not respond within 14 days, I automatically win the first half (which I highly doubt they wont respond). If they do respond then they can either just forget about it and offer me a replacement product or they can proceed and we will battle it out. Will let you know what happens next!

In the letter, I have asked for the evidence. Just waiting for the 14 days for a response now. Thanks for your input as always guys. I think the key to it is to stand up for yourself before they try to accuse you and break you down. - by making it sound like a lost cause before I even take them to court is trying to get me to back down. I agree that how the hell can they make these assumptions even before they have taken a look at the area, etc... And I am sure, all accidents are similar but not the same. So they can not just go assuming things from their testing...

UPDATE: Today I got a call from the same investigator. It was just a call to tell me that my laptop has been refused. - This is like a month or so late? :S But any ways, I asked him why my laptop and DSLR was refused and he went on about how Currys gives him laptops to 'test' and that he deemed it to be non-accidental. So I asked him - Why is it that one engineer says it is accidental and another not? Why is there conflict?... He refused to answer my question. I then proceeded to tell him that I have already written to the litigations department regarding my case and his reply was that Gary Perryment is the top guy, he has lots of evidence, etc etc... I think he was just trying to scare me for wanting to take Currys to court.

Any updates with your case?

I sent a letter to Gary Perryment and after 14 working days I heard no reply so I called up WEH and the guy on the phone ask Gary Perryment if he received the letter, he said no... I just find how it is sooo conveniently lost. It is partially my fault that it wasn't sent via recorded delivery but seriously, Royal Mail generally doesn't lose letters... Instead, I have sent the letter straight to the litigation department via Royal mail Signed for. I am giving them 14 working days to reply (end of the month), hopefully I will hear a response soon. FYI, during the training video on WEH, they guy leaves his laptop on top of his car in a bag but forgets to zip it and it falls down and breaks etc. If this is the type of service they are trying to sell, surely they should honour my claim! I am also alarmed at the fact that there are conflicting results. My laptop was deemed accidental and my DSLR wasn't? There is something wrong with the company if that is the case. When my case does finally come to an end, I will be making sure I write to my local newspaper and watchdog about my experience.