jellybabe vs Vertbaudet **WON**

[jellybabe]

Ok then,started this one aswell now.

DPA sent on the 29th June............Statements rcvd 14th July.

Prelim sent 17th July.........had an email reply to it:

Thank you for your letter.

I am writing in response to your recent enquiry regarding the administration

charge on your account.

Details of the charges are printed in the company policy on the back of our

current catalogue.

Copies of your statements are being sent and will show the charges added if

your payment has not arrived by the due date or if a payment has not been

homoured.

Kind regards

Therefore i answered by email,just to remind you of the timescale:

Thank you for your email regarding my letter dated 15/07/2006.Request for repayment of charges.

May i just take this opportunity to remind you that you only have 14 days

from receipt (21/07/2006)of my original letter to you,

to respond positively to my request of repayment of £71.44,which you have

been applying to my account in relation

of late payments and so forth.Those 14 days run out on the 04/08/2006.

Therefore if i haven't heard positively from you by the 04/08/2006, i will

be issuing my letter before action.

And today i got this message:

[

Thank you for your email.

I am writing in response to your recent enquiry regarding the administration

charge on your account.

Details of the charges are printed in the company policy on the back of our

current catalogue.

While I appreciate your comments, I am sorry but on this occasion, our charges

will stand.

As previously advised if the monthly payment is not

received by ourselves on or before the date shown on your

statement of account, further chrges will be incurred.

/QUOTE]

 

Well,looks like my LBA is going out on the 4th August.

[jellybabe]

After another email to them letting them know that i will file my claim next week and to avoid further costs being added to the claim (court costs,etc.), i've had following message today:

Thank you for your email.

As stated in the terms and conditions of the catalogue on page 222 you will be

charged for any late payments or unhonoured payments. We do advise all customer

to read the small print/ terms and conditions when joining the catalogue.

As previously advise the charges will not be removed from your account and to

ensure you do not incurr anymore please make sure your payments are received on

time each month.

Kind regards

They're being very stubborn.

I might just send another lba out stating that i will claim the contractual interest rate at 29%.

Do i have to wait another 2 weeks then until filing??

[jellybabe]

claim issued 06/09/2006

claim no. 6QZ61070

[jellybabe]

Today i received following defence of Vertbaudet:

 

1.The defendant admits that the claimant opened a mail order catalogue account with the defendant on or about 16th March 2005 under ref. number *********.

2. The Claimant ran her account and placed orders amounting to £260 for which payment of £111 was received. She returned goods amounting in value to £117.

3. Th eClaimant was regularly late in her payments to which interest was applied in accordance with the terms of her credit agreement and was applied together with statement charges where she failed to make the minimum required payment.

4. Charges inlcuding interest of £177.32p were added over statements no. 1 to 17 inclusive giving a total indebtness at 171.64 as particularised below. The Claimant has been in persistent breach of her agreement in failing to make payments on a timely basis in accordance with her agreement with the Defendants.

5. The state of the account was as follows:

(here is the statement of account listed)

6. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to any refund or declaration that the charges levied for failure to make payments on due dates are, of their nature, punitive in nature and not a genuine pre-estimate of costs and charges incurred by the Defendants in pursuing their claim or monitoring the defaults and account of the Claimant.

7.The Office of Fair Trading issued statements and guidelines in April 2006, as regards credit card default charges. The arrangement between the Defendants and the Claimant is not that of a credit card but a running account arrangement for the supply of goods on credit terms with an inherent right to return goods with 14 days of delivery should teh claimant decide not to have the goods. Statements are issued every 28 days and reflect the various transactions conducted between the parties. The minimum requirement of payment representing a % of the outstanding balance if made would prevent any statement charge being applied.

8. The OFT does not consider charges of £12 or below to be automatically unfair but that there is still a requirement for such charges to:

---reflect a reasonable pre-estimate of the net limited additional administrative costs which occur as a result o fthe specific breaches of contract and which can be identified with reasonable precision.

---reflect a fair attribution of those costs between defaulting customers.

---be based on a genuine estimate of teh total numbers of expected instances of default in teh relevant period, and

---treat costs other than those net limited additional administrative costs as a general overhead of teh credit card business and disregard them for them purpose of calculating a default fee.

9. The Defendants maintain that the charge is a reasonable pre-estimate of the additional costs incurred by them in handling the default to the claimant.

Anybody has any advice if this is normal??And, they talk about defaults??I never ever received a default and i have none showing on my credit file.And....have they ever heard about grammar and spelling??lol.

Anyway, am a bit worried, until someone tells me that this is completely normal or what i have to do next??

Please??

[jellybabe]

hi, i really need some help or advice here please.

Today i received my "Notice of Transfer of Proceedings" letter with my Allocation Questionaire.I just can't understand why they do this?I only claimed back £89.72. It's getting more and more now for them (court costs, interest).

Well, at least, as far as i understand, the allocation questionaire is free as it's under £1500?

I know they want me to think that i gonna lose anyway, and i must admit, i start worrying now.Is it worth it?

[jellybabe]

anyone?

[jellybabe]

Ok, so is there really no one out there that could tell me if this is a normal defence?????

[jellybabe]

ok, no reply at all. Filled the AQ out and sent it off hoping that their defence really was a standard one.

[jellybabe]

8 days passed and no message whatsoever of Vertbaudet or the courts yet. I was hoping that once they receive my AQ, and they know i'm serious, pay up.

[Movingon]

I have never seen this thread before hon, sorry it took someone so long to reply. Yes, their defence is standard (if badly worded).

 

"Transfer of Proceedings" simply means that the hearing will be held in YOUR local court, and not the court in Northampton where MCOL raises the claim.

 

Yes, the AQ is free.

 

They will probably allow this to go quite late by the look of it; they will probably wait until the date of the hearing has been set. Download the Court Bundle from the forum, and get printing, and more importantly reading! If they do let this go to the court room you will need to fully understand what it is you're doing in the court room BEFORE you go. That might mean asking lots of questions here, so get reading LOL.

 

Barclays allowed Mahala's to go to a week before the court date before paying up... but pay up they did, and got into quite a panic about it!! We wrote them a letter advising them to just pay up as we knew they would not defend... but they ignored it until VERY late. Can post a copy of the letter if you like?

 

Anyway - best of luck, and keep us informed!

[jellybabe]

yay, someone found me at last. Thanks for replying and all the advice. I will get working then to prepare for my court appearance.I have to admit, i am panicking a little bit:o

[jellybabe]

oh sorry, forgot to say.......yes please, i would like to see a copy of that letter if you don't mind.x

[Movingon]

Litigation and Disputes

Level 29

1 Churchill Place

London

E14 5HP

 

 

Your Ref: 6XX NNNNNN

My Ref :

Date : 12th September 2006

 

For Attention: Keith Jeremiah

 

Dear Mr Jeremiah

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

I would like to draw your attention to the subject claim brought by myself against your client, Barclays Bank. I am sure that you are aware of the commercial burden such a claim places upon your client in the way of costs and so on, especially if the claim is lost. Further, you will be aware that I have requested that the court order Standard Disclosure in this case which, if ordered, will place a further administrative as well as financial burden upon yourselves and your client.

With these facts in mind I am writing to offer you the opportunity to settle this matter in full prior to the necessity for a court appearance. I am willing accept a cheque or Banker’s Draft, made payable to Ms. XXXXXXXX, in the sum of £nnn.nn, offered unconditionally in full and final settlement of my claim.

I would be grateful if you could make me aware of your client’s inclination regarding this matter with the utmost urgency; you will be aware that the hearing is scheduled for 2nd October 2006. I look forward to your prompt response,

Yours sincerely,

[jellybabe]

Thanks, that looks like a great letter to me. Will prepare that and send it off.

[jellybabe]

Today i received my Hearing date: 18th January 2007.

Will send the above letter off today and hopefully hear from them soon.

Downloaded the Court Bundle and am in the process of preparing for that hearing.

I think now i really start to panic a little bit.

[jellybabe]

quick question, In the defence copy they gave an email adress for the solicitor as well as the normal Redcats adress.

F.W: Oakes (Solicitor & Company Secretary)

email: william.oakes@redcats.co.uk

Would it be possible to just send the above letetr by email to him, or would it be better to just send it through post?

[Movingon]

quick question, In the defence copy they gave an email adress for the solicitor as well as the normal Redcats adress.

F.W: Oakes (Solicitor & Company Secretary)

email: william.oakes@redcats.co.uk

Would it be possible to just send the above letetr by email to him, or would it be better to just send it through post?

 

You can send it via email but I would be tempted to back it up via post as well... let him know in the email that you're doing this.

[jellybabe]

thanks, yes, i think you're right there. Just to be on the safe side.

[jellybabe]

ok, no reply to the letter i sent.What a surprise,lol.

Just preparing my court bundle now and a quick question popped up.When i include my statements.....do i just send the ones with the charges on, or all of them??And do i just print the whole thing out and add my bits to it?

Thanks for all the help so far

[Movingon]

ok, no reply to the letter i sent.What a surprise,lol.

Just preparing my court bundle now and a quick question popped up.When i include my statements.....do i just send the ones with the charges on, or all of them??And do i just print the whole thing out and add my bits to it?

Thanks for all the help so far

 

1. Only the ones with charges

 

2. Yes

[jellybabe]

thanks, you are a STAR!

[jellybabe]

ooh, StoneLaughter, while i have your attention.....i do not include the letter above, because it is "without Prejudice"...am i right??

[Movingon]

ooh, StoneLaughter, while i have your attention.....i do not include the letter above, because it is "without Prejudice"...am i right??

 

Correct but take it with you in case of emergencies. If they try to make out that you did not try to mitigate, ask the Judge if you can bring it forward despite the caveat.

[Movingon]

By the way; before you go to court, make sure that you go through your copy of the court bundle and highlight/page mark the relevant bits. I'm sure you'll not need it but it's as well to be prepared for difficult questions!

[jellybabe]

oh my god, i am really getting scared now!!

I will have a good read through it. Started already, but it all sounds so complicated!Too complicated for a woman's mind,LOL!

One more question if you don't mind:

I have to include the correspondence (of course!Doh), but do i include the MCOL letters, defence copies of vertbaudet and the notice of small claims hearing letters aswell??