Hi, Wondering if someone could help me? I hit the back of a car 4 months ago, for which I accepted liability. My insurance company has so far paid £800 and are offering £700 for vehicle hire, the claimants however want £1,600. I today received a letter from their insurance company saying the next step was to take a case against the negligent party (me) to the small claims court, unless it was paid, or I paid it myself. I rang my insurance company and they said that they have provided insufficient evidence and that their solicitors would handle the case. can I be held personally liable for the value of the claim, if so what is the point in paying for my insurance?

I have checked my credit report and there is a default on there from 21/07/2009 from lowell portfolio for £34 I don't acknowledge this debt and cant think what it might relate to. Any ideas on what to do and if i can remove the default from my file?

Hi I am hoping for some advice regarding proceeding to court, I will try and outline what has gone on so far! I was contacted by Lowell Portfolio some time last year regarding an old Vodafone debt. I was not aware what this was as I had previously had a Vodafone contract but terminated the contracted and as far as I was aware settled the account. I do remember querying the account with Vodafone at the time but to my knowledge this had been sorted. I have repeatedly asked Lowell and later Bryan Carter to send me a copy of the contract and information relating to the debt this was never sent. I then received a claim form and filed a defence of having no knowledge of the debt and despite repeated requests been given no paperwork. they then sent me a TOMLIN order and told me that I could sign this and pay or they would take me to court. I again asked for paperwork and told them whilst I did not wish to go to court I would not be bullied or harassed into paying a debt I had no knowledge of. The court mediator called and (sounding very cross) told me there was no point in mediation as I had no paperwork relating to the debt so there was no way a settlement could be reached (I quite agree). She said she would refer onto the small claims court. After this I contacted Vodafone myself to get to the bottom of it, they have said it is in relation to a contract that was terminated in January 2009, which is when the last DD was received on the account and apparently they then added an early termination fee. Money owing on the account was then paid between July 2009 - June 2010. I asked if they could send me a copy of the contract and they said they would no longer have it but would send me a breakdown of what was owed - not that helpful as I do not believe I was in a contract a the point I left them. I have received a General Form of Judgement It is ordered that: or Order today and it states: 1. Claimant do file and serve by 4.00pm on 16th February 2015 a copy of the agreement in accordance with CPR PD 16 paragraph 7.3 together with a schedule of payments to the account. There after file to be referred to the judge. 2.This order having been made by the court pursuant either to rule 3.3 or rule 23.8 of the civil procedure rules 1998, any party affected by this order has a right to apply to set it aside, vary or stay it by application made not more than 7 days after this order was served on the party making the application. Sorry for the very long post but having got this far I am not a bit confused if I need to do anything in relation to this letter?

Basic background is a claim for around £600 against a large retailer. Mediation has failed, a hearing seems to be on the cards. Which, if any, of the following costs can be claimed from the defendant, assuming the claim succeeds of course. witness' loss of earnings for attending the hearing witness' travel costs claimant's loss of earnings for attending the hearing (There are two witnesses who will have to attend because the defendant will not accept witness statements from them instead and is persisting in disputing basic facts on principle) accountant's fees for providing proof of loss of earnings (claimant is self-employed, defendant is insisting on strict proof of the loss of £200ish, 16+ hours, even though the accountants fees will be more than the claim, fees were not included in the original claim)

Hi, I am looking for some advice regarding taking to DFS to the small claims court. I will briefly go over my story, so as not to bore you all with the details! Feb 14, Ordered a 'Guild' leather sofa from DFS which was 'supposed' to be pocket sprung, 3 seater and 2 single seaters - 3 months later the lovely sofa arrived (mid May). However, within 3 months we noticed that one of the seats on the 3 seater was 'sunken' - We reported this and an 'engineer' arrived within 2 or 3 weeks. His solution was to add more foam. Sound familiar? it was at this point that we realised it was not pocket sprung either. However, later that day, the seat was worse than ever and you felt like you were rolling into the middle. Reported it to DFS again at which point we had to arrange a visit with the store manager. Eventually he came to inspect the sofa and agreed that it wasn't right and that he would arrange for all new interiors to be replaced at the 'workshop'. Fast forward 2 months or so and the sofa was taken away and returned a week later. Immediately after sitting on it, it had sunk again and I would like to stress at this point my wife is a size 10 and weighs very little! Reported it to DFS again, at which point we had to arrange for another engineer to come and inspect it before they would take any further action....Another few weeks passes and the engineer comes out to confirm that it is faulty. We waited for the 'report' to go to the manager and eventually got offered a replacement sofa, but we would have to pay a 'usage fee' for our old sofa By now, I was somewhat annoyed and refused point blank to pay any usage fee! I just want this suite away and my money back. This was relayed to the area manager who then said that I could choose another sofa without any usage fee. Sorry, but I have had enough of DFS and just want my money back. The 'area manager' now responded by saying I can have my money back, but I would need to pay a usage fee of £300 for the use of the sofa for a year! - Errm, we have had the sofa 8 months, NOT 12 and it has been faulty since 3 months old! Do they have the right to charge a usage fee? Should I go down the small claims route? or should I try and do a chargeback via Barclays as I went with the interest free option? Personally I would like to go via the small claims and claim back loss of earnings and stress that these clowns have caused me! Any suggestions or advice appreciated.

Hi, I hope someone can offer some advice since direct communication and court mediation have failed to resolve the small claim I have initiated against ebuyer and so the next/final step is court with an additional £170 in fees I would be required to pay, which i am hesitant to do without some clarity on my position. Sorry if it’s long winded but hopefully it’s all relevant. I bought a 3TB external hard drive from them a couple of years ago. This was my complete archive of everything, every sentimental photo and video I owned, all of my purchased music mp3's used for my DJing career/hobby, my archive of mixes and rare promo tracks which can't be bought/got again. The data on this drive was priceless basically. In April 2014 it developed a fault, so I rang Ebuyer to see what to do and they advised I needed to speak to the manufacturer, which I later found out was a lie - I then rang Consumer Direct for guidance who advised it is in fact the supplier not the manufacturer, and that under the Sales of Goods Act, the supplier is liable for any costs incurred as a result of the device, which in this case would be the recovery of the data. So, knowing nothing about data recovery/which companies to use, I then spent a long time navigating the minefield of data recovery companies to try and find a reputable one I could entrust my drive to and settled on a company in Sheffield who have been immensely helpful throughout this whole ordeal. I sent them the drive and they provided a report which concluded they could see no evidence of mishandling or mistreatment and there is no evidence of damage within the drive that would be indicative of an impact event and the electronics of the drive were not found to have been subject to an over-voltage or other event that may have led to the drive failing. They also said that while they couldn’t guarantee they could restore the data, their diagnostics indicated the data should still be retrievable. They provided a quote and I then wrote to Ebuyer asking them, as per their obligations under the Sales of Goods Act, to fund the cost of the recovery, provide a replacement drive, and provide a drive with equivalent parts of the defective one, at the request of the recovery company so the recovery could be performed. Ebuyer then wrote back requesting the report from the recovery company which they accepted, and I thought that was the end of it (and they would pay up). Ebuyer then requested I send the drive to them. Instinctively I was weary, not wanting my drive to be posted from one place to another but I spoke with the recovery company about my concerns and they suggested that Ebuyer perhaps wanted to try attempt the recovery in-house (to avoid paying out for the recovery). They also said that there was no way Ebuyer would have the capability to do it. Regardless, I felt obliged to send it to them if I wanted them to pay out for the recovery so I could get my data back. So I sent it to them and after chasing for updates, was advised that after ‘extensive testing’, the drive was found to be at fault and that a partial refund of £73 (the drive cost £99.99) had been applied to my account. Then, assuming they were still procrastinating about funding the data recovery, I asked them to return the drive in the meantime so that at least the contents were safe with me. They then dropped the bombshell that the drive had been wiped. It’s hard to articulate how I felt at that moment, but to compound it, I was in Asia at the time on what should have been the holiday of a lifetime, which, needless to say, was tarnished somewhat. I spoke with the recovery company upon my return who advised it seems like Ebuyer had treated this as a standard return/replacement when this was clearly never the case. I had been perfectly clear right from the start and in pretty much every email to Ebuyer before and since, how important this data was and that my wish was to have it restored. TRC Data Recovery suggested I ask Ebuyer for their report on the drive, which Ebuyer refused to provide then and since. A clear hole in Ebuyers story is that they stated 'Following extensive tests by our Returns staff, this item was found to be faulty.’ When previously they had said ‘when a hard drive is returned to us any data is automatically wiped from the drive for data protection reasons. This is something that is done for all hard drives so the data on yours would have been removed when it arrived here before it was tested.’. The recovery company advised that it would not be possible for them to have tested the drive after the data has been destroyed, as the 2 physical methods that could be employed for the task of removing the data, degaussing and physical destruction, would render the drive destroyed and so it couldn’t be tested afterwards, and the other way of removing data, via software, wasn’t possible in this case as the drive had a fault. This contradiction as yet remains unanswered by Ebuyer. Presumably because it can’t be explained and is why they are unwilling to provide their report. They seem to have something to hide? What they were hoping to test for is also a mystery, as the recovery company had already established that the drive had a fault, and Ebuyer had accepted their report to that effect, prior to requesting the drive back, so that the drive had a fault so that is not in any question. Ebuyer have recently said ‘As per the TRC fault report they have stated that they cannot guarantee that your data could be recovered, therefore we do not feel this claim is justifiable. In any case our defence remains the same, that it is common for electrical goods to fail due to the complexity of their nature, therefore any data that is of significant importance should be backed up and stored in more than one place.’ As mentioned earlier, the recovery company didn’t say they could guarantee the recovery, but most people would infer from the language TRC used, that it was highly probable and, given the importance of the data, pursuing the route of recovery was the only appropriate course of action (as per the legal guidance I have received thus far from a free drop-in clinic). I had court mediation today and Ebuyer’s defence is basically that drives should be backed up prior to it been sent to them (how) they the recovery company didn’t explicitly say they can guarantee the recovery would be a success and that I have no case and the data should have been backed up elsewhere if it was important (they asked me where the original copy of the data was if the drive was used as a backup to which I had to explain, to a technical team leader no less, that internal drives on a laptop are unlikely to be comparable in size to a 3TB external hard drive). They haven’t answered any of the questions regarding the report they refuse to provide, how they intended to test the drive after the data had been wiped or what they hoped to test for since a fault with the drive had already been established. They lied initially by saying I need to speak to the manufacturer and when requesting the drive back they initially were adamant that they needed the outer casing for the drive but suddenly did a u turn and accepted it without. Just lots of things which don’t add up really, and I've never got my head around how they can think they have acted appropriately. I know I can’t really claim for the huge sentimental loss incurred due to their actions but I’ve managed to find receipts for £417 worth of music purchased, which is only a fraction of what there was but it’s all I can prove. I asked for £700 to settle today (£417 plus £70 court fees plus bit extra) but Ebuyer offered £50. So I just need some advice on whether their defence holds any water so I know if I should pay the £170 fee to take it to court? There is obviously something fishy about their conduct, but whether I can prove that in a court of law is the bit I need help clarifying. It is crazy to me that I am in this position after simply asking Ebuyer to fulfil their duty under the Sales of Goods Act and pay for the recovery of the data. If they had just said they weren’t willing to pay it I’d have done it myself and then put a claim in against them retrospectively. Clearly in hindsight I was naïve to send it to them, but as mentioned I felt obliged to at the time to do as they said if I had any hope of getting some money out of them for the recovery and it never crossed my mind that it was a possibility they would destroy the data after I had made it clear at every stage how important it was and that my intention was to have it restored. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm wanting to bring a claim against a former employer for wages which were not paid - this relates to a very brief period of employment (1 month) between April and May 2014. As I am now a full time student with a limited income, I believe I would qualify for fee remission if I file the claim on a paper form at my local CC. However, I also understand that if I file the claim using MCOL and pay the court fee, I can claim this back from the defendant as part of the claim (assuming, of course, I'm successful). Just wondering really which is the best option? Part of me really wants to make the former employer cover this cost on top of what they owe me, however at the same time it is a gamble in case the claim isn't successful, or as I suspect may be the case the director does some jiggery pokery and winds up the company to avoid payment - and being honest I could do without being £105 out of pocket whilst I wait for it to be heard etc. Cheers,

I was really hoping someone could please help me with some advice? In Summary (*** for privacy): My car was damaged due to a large pothole in the early half of 2014, I immediately informed the borough council that was responsible for maintaining the road. To cut a long story short, their insurance decided to not accept liability for the damages to my vehicle due to section 58 of The Highways Act 1988. They did however repair the road once I had informed them. I felt that under section 41 of The Highways Act 1988, they were liable to pay for the damages that had been caused. The pothole was repaired to 75mm!!! I followed all of the small claims procedures correctly and we have no been given a small claims hearing date next month. However at the same time I have suffered from some personal health issues and feel I am no longer able to continue with the case as it has caused stress. I have therefore informed the councils legal representatives of discontinuing the case. They had responded by immediately asking for me to pay their legal expenses of over £2000. Thanks to this forum I was able to avoid this as I now know that in a small claims court you are not liable for the other parties legal costs. I then informed them that I had no liability over their legal costs and for them to accept that the discontinuation so I can provide and N297 to the county court. They have now asked me to instead pay "wasted costs" of £500. I have searched this forum but have had no luck regarding this. So would like to kindly ask if someone could provide some information on this, am I liable for these wasted costs? can I simply go ahead and discontinue the case regardless of them accepting or not accepting? I appreciate your time for reading this. Thank you.

I was requested (signed order form) to design and implement a website for a Flower shop. The order form was signed by the daughter (assumed partner) in front of the mother (owner), and the mother signed the deposit cheque. Initially the owners daughter took responsibility for requirements and a website was duly constructed in line with those requirements. However, the daughter then left the business and the mother said she didn't like the website and wanted a different design, which I duly did and virtually completed. Everything seemed fine and emails prove this. Then suddenly I had an email saying the business was closed and that she no longer needed a website. My view is that I had completed not just the one website but TWO (without additional charge) and that I should be paid the balance owing of £250.00 I have been told she will not pay me. Is this a valid case to take to small claims court??

Parcel Hero is generally a very decent company. However, when they get it wrong they get it wrong big time. I'm still waiting for a parcel containing various items which I ordered from a company in London. Because of the Christmas rush I paid extra for the courier service. In fact instead of paying about £16, I paid over £40. It should have been delivered next day. Starting off in the UK, my goods were sent to Germany - then to France then back to Germany then back to France. Now they are in France - with no tracking information as to when they might eventually get to me. I have been hanging around for three days - and looks like a 4th is coming up. My queries were being handled by a very nice sounding guy called Richard Mileham - Then I got this reply from a guy called Tej Thanjal ________________________________________ Then when it still didn't arrive and I said that I would want my money back, Tej wrote back:- What a small minded quibbling little reply. Does this seriously represent the customer-facing attitude of Parcel Hero? I replied:- and I'm now waiting for a response

Hi all, I've been referred by my friend to this forum to get some advice. I have been taken to court over a property dispute with a neighbour. Despite repeated evidence that we are not liable and potential fraud committed by the claimant submitting a modified copy of the land registry documents to court and us to make it appear we are liable she is still going ahead with the case This has been going on since Feb this year and the final hearing is tomorrow. I'm a bit annoyed for spending this year thinking about this case, hunting for evidence, drafting letters, speaking with various people for advice etc even though it was blatantly obvious she is out to make a quick buck on someone elses expense. The reason for my post and apologies for this lateness but my friend mentioned that I could potentially claim costs for wasted time etc. I haven't incurred much cost as I only mailed one letter and dropped off the others by hand (as the claimaint had done to keep costs low). My biggest annoyance was the stress and time I've wasted thinking about this case. So can I claim back any costs? If so and if any one can point me to some guidelines for claiming I would be ever so grateful.

I had a very bad experience recently. The car I had taken on rent suffered scratches on the doors. Over the weekend while the car was with me, I went to some garages and they told me that they could fix the dent and the fresh paint for 150 quid. I decided that it was best to report to Enterprise since you would prefer to get it done from your approved garages. The branch charged me £ 1000 excess and said that would take 3 weeks to settle invoices and refund the amount after deducting repair cost and other charges. Also, I was told that I would be shown the estimates for the cost of repair and that it would be a transparent process. The branch also gave me the number of the garage where it was to be sent for repair. I contacted the garage and they told me that the estimates were sent to Enterprise. While the garage told me that they can't disclose the amount, the Enterprise branch and Enterprise accidents claims department said that they havn't received the invoice. After 3 weeks when I again up their accident claims cell, they told me that the cost of repairs was over £900 and accounting for handling and other charges I was liable to pay about £ 1050 quid. That's a RIP-OFF. By my estimates and allowing enough margin to get it done from a enterprise class garage, all put together should not have crossed £ 250- 300. Extremely disappointed with the whole process. The lady on the phone told me that I could get a competitive quote and contest the claim. Now with the car repaired, how on earth can I get a competitive quote from other garages. A month after the overcharge, I am still awaiting repair charge details.

Hi, i am new here so please bear with me, i received 2 PCN's from UKPC back in April / May of this year at the time i was now aware of i received several letters from UKPC & then i found out that my brother in law who lives in Spain was staying with us & he used my car at the weekend while he was here & he visited a friend twice in a private apartment block where he must have received the tickets but did not give them to me at the time. I ignored UKPC's letters as at first i thought it was a mistake until we researched the dates & my wife asked her brother who admitted getting the tickets but he said it was private land where he was a visitor & that they were not enforceable. The fines are now in the hands of a company called "SCS" Small Claims Solicitors & i have posted their letter in this post, they have given me a duplicate ticket on one of the PCN's adding an extra £160 to the bill, i have not contacted UKPC or SCS up until now but SCS are threatening court action & bailiffs & i need some guidance on what i should do.

My wife received Small Claims Summons recently and whilst debt is ours I have no way of knowing if the debt amount claimed for is correct or not.. .I have left this a little last minute as return date is 4th December however I wanted to run my intended actions by some of you guys for comment to ensure I am going about this the correct way. Santander is where the original debt lies but looks like they sold debt to Arrow Global.. .do I write to Santander or Arrow Global to get copy of agreement and statements OR Arrow Global OR their representing solicitors in Edinburgh ? Also want to know if there is any PPI on this as this too could affect the total debt sum. Whist writing to (whoever above will give me said info) my plan is to return the court small claims summons completed and on time stating I am disputing the amount claimed. My other questions are Do I submit a defence with the return paperwork to court stating I have requested the account info and finally when case does call am I allowed to attend as my wifes representative as she is way too scared to do do herself ! As always any help/views/comments you can provide will be very much welcomed. .thanks all.

Hi there. Hoping someone can help! I recently won a small claim against an individual for money they owed me for freelance work they received a court order to pay me the full amount. They then filled in an application to vary, I refused their offer on the grounds that they were lying about their income, and it went back to court. The defendant didn't turn up, and I've now received a "General Form of Judgement or Order" saying the following: "IT IS ORDERED THAT The Defendant's application to vary be struck out." I thought the defendant was going to attempt to argue that they could only afford to pay a small amount per month, this week the attendant also received an "Order to attend court for questioning" from me, which is now scheduled for next month. My question is what should I do now? Should I just go through with the order to attend court for questioning, or is that not necessary now that the order to vary has been struck out? I'm pretty sure the defendant won't pay me by themselves since they've been quite belligerent throughout the whole process despite admitting they owe the money and having no proof to the contrary. Thanks in advance

Hi and thanks for taking the time to read. I have just received a small claims form pack (N9) which was issued on 17-Nov-2014 from Northampton county court business centre, for an old debt from Capital One which Arrow Global have purchased. I have looked up on my credit profile and can see a default was registered on 11/02/2009, the last payment for this debt was some months before that so it may possibly be statute barred if I'm correct? I have never acknowledged any letters or had any contact with Arrow Global, nor have I ever had any contact with Capital One since the default, I have just buried my head in the sand as I have never really been in a position to do anything about the debt. I'm a little unsure how to proceed or what to do and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

June 2013 we were quoted for the cleaning of our offices by a company called GCC. We agreed a scope and a price. The contractor who took the job was rubbish and we complained to the head office. They got worse and we complained again and told them we no longer wanted to work with them in December 2013. They wrote back saying that because we had signed a 2 year contract we had to go through their official complaints channels and we could not leave them. They made lots of empty promises and promised better cleaning. This did not happen and in fact the cleaning got even worse. We had a couple of incident of the cleaners using toilets without closing doors when clients were in the office (yep that professional) and no shows. It reached a head and we finally just told them they had to go as we were paying them almost £200 per month and our staff were having to do the cleaning as they were doing nothing. They have now sent us a final bill saying we owe them until June 2015 as want to end the contract early. Surely we dont have to pay this do we?? We gave them plenty of chances to provide the service we agreed on!! Surely the T&Cs of their contact cant keep us bound to them for 2 years when they are not providing a service. Let me know if you have ever dealt with the same. thanks

I hope someone can offer any advice re a current problem concerning my son in law and his business. He quoted for a 'gardening' job, it was accepted, now the customer states she is not happy with the completed job. She is demanding a refund and says he has '...broke the law.' The job involved the laying of artificial turf. The customer had her 'front' lawn covered by artificial turf but wanted something thicker for the rear garden. This was achieved and she was happy with the job on completion,however, she then called my son in law and left a voice mail message admitting it was her own fault but she thought she had chosen the wrong product. She complained she wasn't given a sample of the product despite the 'turf' having been in her garage for a month before the job had begun. She states he has 'broke the law' because he did not provide a receipt, she was offered one and at the time declined. She is now threatening legal action if my son in law does not refund her the price of the job plus agree to redo the job at his own expense! His business is a very small landscaping/gardening job. He has never had a complaint before and this is causing him stress. Surely her admitting it was her own fault she chose a product which she later didn't like is no fault of the business owner? Any ideas where he might proceed from here? I understand this a family member and some may believe I am 'protecting' him but he is a genuine,hard working bloke, I would not help him if I didn't think this case was someone attempting to receive something for nothing. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I received a penalty notice from APCOA back in July (2014). The offence was shown as '05-Parked over two bays'. (My car is the Kia Soul in the photo) Having parked in they spot and in the same way for 12 months and never received a ticket, I was surprised to see one on my screen one evening. I did write to APCOA and attached photos to show that the second 'bay' that they referred to was not a bay, but an old bay that now housed the CCTV camera pole and bollards, and therefore the penalty was invalid. They responded and said they upheld the penalty charge. I called APCOA and spoke to someone, who located my letter and actually agreed that I shouldn't have been fined as it wasn't a parking space. I also looked around online and saw that a lot of other people were having issues with APCOA and their 'fines'. I ignored their letters for more money, and was disgusted when they increased the fee from £60 to £155 because I hadn't paid them. Their letters stopped towards the end of August. This morning however I received a letter from a company called SCS (Small Claims Solicitors) based in Martin lane, London, stating that if I don't pay then their client will consider issuing legal proceedings. Also on the letter, it now states that I had two tickets issued, consecutive reference numbers, both on the same day, for the same car, in the same car park for the same offence - I must be good to be able to do this! They now claim I owe them £310!!! Has anyone else ever encountered SCS before, and should I be concerned? The letter threatens CCJ and attachment of earnings - I didn't think that a parking fine can result in such things? Any advice or assistance would be really appreciated, Thanks - Kaygee

Hello I'm just wondering if anyone could give me a bit of a heads up/advice. background info first...sorry it is really long. My sister had her child attend a nursery. The nursery said that parents were allowed to put a sign in their cars to pick up/drop off children from the nursery (the only parking nearby was on double yellow lines/council enforced parking regulations). They said they had an agreement with the council. Sis had a parking ticket come through the post. Took it into nursery who assured her they would deal with it, not to worry, it shouldn't have been issued as there was this agreement in place. (Sis had parked car and put the sign in front as requested) Sister moved a month later, although did not leave a forwarding address for the nursery (no reason to as child obviously not staying) the nursery were aware she was moving out of area. A year later, she gets a hand delivered bailiff notice come (court bailiffs not private) through saying you need to pay now or we will take the car. Total bill was for 366.44. Paid the bailiffs because could not afford to lose car or anything else. Spoke to council who say that the nursery never contacted them, although nursery have provided evidence to say they had (evidence being an email to the council regarding another parking matter with a query about sis's ticket tacked onto the end). Council wrote back to nursery saying they would put the matter on hold to investigate. They obviously then went to court when the ticket remained unpaid. Obviously sis never had anything in the post - council say NTO was sent before she moved but this was not received. Nursery did not inform the council she had moved, so council were unaware of this. She spoke to council, who say that no agreement was in force with the nursery, and that normal parking regulations were in place. she can no longer appeal it - as the time limit has passed, plus as it has been paid, it cannot be appealed anyway. Nursery say that it is nothing to do with them, even though they had assured her they would deal with the ticket. They advised her to go to the parking tribunal as they had had a successful case based on the councils procedural impropriety. She spoke to the parking tribunal who said she wouldnt have been able to go through them as the correct procedure wasn't followed between nursery and the council. The nursery did not formally appeal the ticket except to complain via email, and consequently the council did not send a notice of rejection. As the council are saying they followed the correct procedure in ensuring the ticket was paid, and can no longer be appealed, and the parking tribunal have also said that a case cannot be bought via them, she has (wednesday morning) started a small claim against the nursery to cover the costs of what she paid to the bailiffs plus the court fee so total of 401.44. (had previously sent LBA) Thursday afternoon she gets an email from nursery (after not hearing anything since July and them refusing to answer her calls) which was a copy of a strongly worded email sent to the council about the whole mess and asking them for £500 to cover their costs. She gets another on Friday afternoon saying the have had the claim and will be defending it. Said they had emailed the council 3 times since July to complain about the mess although nothing was ever communicated to sis. I have my doubts on this. I have asked sis to call council and find out if this is the case, but she was unable to do this then so will call Monday. They sent a copy of the adjudicators decision for the successful claim at the parking tribunal. Interestingly he notes that there was no evidence of a parking agreement in place between nursery and the coucnil, and so rejected the nurserys claim for this, but found the council had acted too soon in issuing. ..whatever it is they issue so upheld the nurserys claim based on this. In my opinion, they had the claim Thursday, and sent the email to the council as part of damage control. But perhaps thats me being cynical! Should she continue to ask the nursery for the money back? Should she withdraw from the claim and just forget everything? She feels nursery are liable as they did not appeal the ticket in the way that they should, but she is getting so confused. Now I have sis worrying, which is the last thing she needs right now. All she wants is to get her money back that she paid out for a ticket which she shouldn't have had to pay for. If you made it this far....thank you

Hi, I'm hoping someone could give me a sense check here: I bought a fairly expensive toy on line, when we received it the finish and paintwork was really poor. I contacted the seller who acknowledged the quality issues and offered a partial refund which wouldn't really cover the problem. I've asked for a refund to be told i have to fund return postage (I'm well aware this is wrong under the sake of goods act) and that the retailer will inspect the item and decide how much of a refund they feel like paying as the item as been taken out of the box and therefore according to them isn't in the same condition and worth the same amount. This has gone on for a period of time and ultimately left me unfortunately having to refer the matter to the small claims court. The retailers defence is that I haven't incurred a loss as I haven't sent the gods back for them to inspect. Given they expect me to fund postage and have stated they want to value how much the item is now worth, I've not returned it and am happy for the court to decide What do you think, should I send it back or hold on to it?

Hi I would like some advice please. I owed the freeholders of my lease some service charges that were a total of 436.62. In mid Aug I telephoned them and they demanded I pay in full immediately. I tried to discuss with them some payment plan but they would not accept anything just a demand to pay it all or they will instruct their solicitors. I paid 250.00 by direct debit at the end of Aug. 10 days later in early Sept I receive a letter demanding 436.62 be paid. I called them and told them that their figures were wrong Both they and the freeholders had to check their accounts, they demand I pay the remaining balance of 186.62 or they will ask for interest per day and take me to court. I then receive a credit note in mid Sept for 124.00 balancing for the year. this meant I owed 62.62 in sept In addition around the early part of Sept they sent me another service invoice in advance for 105.00 for sept 29 to Dec 24th. now I ow 167.62 I was unwell for the later part of Sept and early Oct. and under the doctor. I didn't pay it with my Sept salary. I am 1700 overdrawn and living in debt that leaves me with no income for food. I am having bowls of cereal for meals. This is just to give you a snap shot Well I was paying the money at the end of this month Oct and paid it under duress today on my account again when I don't get paid till Friday this week The reason is this Saturday I get a money claims letter. They are asking me to pay interest back to March and costs of the court application at 35.00 and for writing a solicitors letter at 50.00 all this on top of their costs. I want to ask you this A. I did not receive any demand letter from the freeholders, only the solicitor in early Sept when their figures and understanding of what I paid was wrong. The company have not liaised with me, only sending me a statement in mid Oct, they have also allocated money I paid of 250.00 on what invoices they wanted leaving the furthest one back as the ones that still need paying for which I believe is so they can gain more interest, but it stands to reason that the money was for the earliest invoices. I don't believe they have given me any chance to negotiate, they write from a solicitor after a payment was made and they are not willing to have any arrangement. The recent invoice in advance and 62.00 was the only thing outstanding and that was only given in Sept. Are there any way behaving correctly I feel like I am being intimidated, I have had a good 6 years with this freeholder and have never missed payments until this year I dont know what to do. I was frightened into this payment but I knew I had to pay it this month anyway. Will I have to pay the court, letter they wrote me when I had paid most of the bills that was wrong and court costs. I can't afford them . I did try to speak to the accounts dept but the person was either not at her desk or I was working, I can't use my phone at work unlike some because I am on a ward and breaks are not heard of where I am it's so busy. Where I say 10 days later I recieve a letter, this was from the freeholders solicitors. Just to clarify now that I have paid the 167.62. Do I contest the charges on the money claims form for the 50.00 they are asking for the solicitors letter that came after payment, the first mention of it was on the money claim form, the interest they are seeking and the court costs of 35.00. I really don't have any money at all. Phew sorry for lengthy text. Thank you Caron

To cut a long story short (this is in an old thread I started around 18 months ago), we have a judgement for just over £6000, which we are currently attempting to enforce. We had an Examination done which gives all income/expenditure details, looking like we won't get much per month (£150 offered), but it we accept the £150 in a varied order, can it be changed afterwards (as declared in the Record of Examination is a large loan due to be paid off in around 2 months which frees up just over an extra £200)? Therefore after 2 months could we request £350 per month as this will be the amount surplus after this time. Other than that are there any other items I could discount (ie non-essential items/bills) which I could refuse to take into account? Many thanks.

Hi I've been working hard for the past year trying to set myself up in business as a sole trader, and finally I think I might have got my foot in the door with a very important client that could secure me maybe even a minimum liveable income for potentially life. I have some questions. From the perspective of the benefits I currently am in receipt of, ie. working tax credits and housing benefit, can I take some of the money from what I'm paid and put it back into my company? What do I keep aside for the tax thieves, 20%? Or should I save 30% to cover myself? Is there any where on the internet or elsewhere i can find out a rough idea of how much money I should negotiate? I don't want to over or under, just a little over the going rate and not too much that I turn them away. Do these things tend to work like they do on the telly?

In brief - We went to a local independent flooring company, wishing to purchase a wood floor. The owner talked us through the various products, came to our house to look at the area it was for, measured up, checked the subfloor etc. He then recommended a product for us, ordered it and arranged for "his team" to come out and fit. He arranged the day and time they were to come out and told us that we should pay them cash on the day. In the meantime, he took moisture readings, spoke to the manufacturer and also the manufacturer of the underfloor heating we'd had put down, to check what underlay might be needed. The floor was fitted by "his team" - his brother and another man. It subsequently failed 4 times in the course of a year. The first 2 attempts to remedy the problems were made by the fitters. After it went wrong the 3rd time, it came to light that the fitters and the company owner had parted company, so the company owner/supplier came out and attempted to repair it. The same thing happened again, and he came out again. At this point, the supplier offered us a replacement stair carpet for our trouble. We said that this was not necessary, but if the floor failed again, we would be seeking a refund. When it failed again, we requested our money back. The supplier agreed, minus fitting costs. When we argued, he withdrew his offer and offered us a replacement floor instead. We expressed our concern that we had no confidence he had the neccesary skills and knowledge to fit a floor, given our experience thus far. We then took advice from the CAB and wrote a letter before action, inviting the supplier to comment on what he believed to be the issue with the floor, and offering to go to mediation. He responded, trying to lay the blame on us with various spurious claims, including that the contracting of the fitters had nothing to do with him - since the receipt he issued clearly stated "supply only." We then wrote again, offering to have an expert inspection and report done on the floor, and asking that both parties share the cost in order to confirm what had caused the problems with the floor. He refused, saying the cost was too great in relation to the value of the floor. We once again gave him the opportunity to refund us, while warning him that he may be asked to pay the cost of the report, should we take our case to the small claims court and win. In order to ascertain whether we had a case, we had the expert inspection done. It found that the fitting was to blame for the issues, including inadequate moisture and humidity readings taken by the supplier. The expert contacted the supplier to find out exactly what prep he had carried out and the supplier told him. The report also queried the suitability of the product for the conditions of our property. Once again, we wrote to the supplier with details of the report's findings and requested a refund of both the flooring, fitting and cost of the report or we would have no choice but to take our case to the small claims. The supplier has not responded. We feel we have a strong case. However, our concern is that it may be thrown out on the basis that the receipt we were issued was for supply only. In the letters from the supplier, he does state that he tried to repair the floor on 2 occasions, hut says it was purely a good will gesture. However, he also states that he did the pre-fitting site visits and prep. So, what is our legal position regarding his responsibility for the fitting of the floor?