HELP...Small claims court for compensation OR take the money that's being offered??? ADVICE NEEDED!!

[Twosides]

I have a clear cut situation....

 

My original phone contract was on orange but after the merge of orange/T-Mobile which is now known as EE.....I was upgraded onto EE. Due to an internal error on their end (which they have admitted to the ombudsman) the original orange account did not get closed which resulted in the company automatically billing me twice (no money was ever attempted to be taken for the original account after upgrade) which resulted in missed payment/default put on my credit file.

 

The kicker......

How I came to find out that this error occurred was when I was speaking with a mortgage adviser who recommended I check my reports before going ahead with application. To keep it short, the company ignored my "recorded delivery" letter and by the time the ombudsman was able to get involved (2 months after letter) I had to sign a years tenancy agreement wasting another year as I could not apply for a mortgage with a default, not to mention paying more for a house next year.

 

I was constantly being hassled by dept collectors throughout this whole ordeal and taking into fact what this error has cost me....should I take this to court to get some form of compensation or take very small fee being offered by the company? Company has confirmed it was their error.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[dx100uk]

Have a read of the Durkin case??

[steampowered]

If you can prove that EE wrongly entered a default against you, and that this resulted in you suffering quantifiable financial loss, then I think you should consider at bringing a county court claim against them.

 

It is difficult to say exactly how much you lost by being unable to purchase a house. But you can hopefully come up with a reasonable estimate.

[honeybee13]

Thread moved to telecoms.

 

HB

[silverfox1961]

Can I also add that if you accept the Ombudsmans decision, this rules out the possibility of court action. If you start court action before an Ombudsman has made a decision, the Ombudsman must stop investigating. You can also reject an Ombudsmans decision and begin court action. The Ombudsman only deals with what is fair, not always what is legally required.

 

If you feel the amount of compensation is too low, you can negotiate or go to court. Telecoms companies tend to settle but if your demand is too high, they may just fight.

 

Work out what losses you have incurred, have some idea of an amount in compensation for the breach and see where that gets you.

[ericsbrother]

calculate the difference between mortgage repayment and rent for the year, also claculate difference between interest of mortgage with damanged files and clean files. Bill them for the 2

Ie difference between rent and mortgage for year say £6000 rent and £5000 mortgage= £1000 + mortgage interest for 6 years (time taken to clean up credit file) say £4500x6-£4400x6= £600 so using these figures you demand £1600 as that it waht it will have cost you.

You coud argue that as the mortgage then runs for a year more than you would otherwise have expected you can claim for the whole year's rent of the illustrated £6000 Courts can only put you back to the position you would have been in if the company hadnt trashed your file so make sure that whichever line you take you have done your sums properly and can justify them. a witness statement from your mortgage advisor will be very helpful in this regard. expect to pay for this but claim that back as well.

[Durkin]

This should be an easy £10K in the small claims court but either way I hope you managed to buy a house.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard