James33 Taking On Abbey

[JAMES33]

Quick update - filed my Allocation Questionnaire at Worcester Court this afternoon. Tried to find out when I might expect to get a court date but unfortunately, the very friendly lady in the office didn't know - hope its not too long! She did ask me if Abbey had tried to contact me after the Lloyds Bank case though as she said that apparently a number of banks (especially barclays) had been contacting customers to try to put them off claiming charges back and quoting this case. She said they thought these banks were being very naughty and said that she was asking most people about this and trying to reassure them that the Lloyds case had no bearing at all on their own cases as each case is treated individually! Perhaps we should get her on here:D sounds like she could do a great job! Really hoping to get my money back soon as I am really skint after paying the AQ fee and am really fed up of having no money - hope I don't blow all my money on a mega shopping spree when it finally comes - hubby would go mad!!! (very tempting though!)

[JAMES33]

Received a copy of Abbey's Allocation Questionnaire this morning - was surprised to get this as I thought they didn't usually bother sending a copy to the claimant. Seems pretty straightforward, they have asked for a stay, have asked for small claims track but under Section G for costs they have entered a figure of £2000 even though it clearly states not to do so if you have requested small claims!!(couldn't find a smiley for "stupid" or I'd have put it here!) They have attached a draft order for directions which I have typed out below - I presume it is standard but I haven't seen another one posted on here:-

 

Draft Order for Directions

1. The Claimant shall within 28 days of service of this order send to the Defendent and the Court:

 

a) A schedule setting out each charge repayment of which is sought, showing the date, amount and reason given (if any) for that charge being made;

 

b) Copies of any statement or other document relied upon as showing that each and every charge had been made;

 

c) If the Claimant fails to comply with his order, the claim will be struck out without further order.

 

2. The Claim be allocated to the small claims track for hearing not before 30 July 2007.

 

3. 14 days prior to the allocated hearing date, the Claimant and the Defendant shall file and serve:

 

a) Copies of all documents (including expert's reports) on which he/it intends to rely at the hearing;

 

b) Any witness statements must be included in the documents filed and served; and;

 

c) Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.

 

Any comments?!?

[JAMES33]

Could someone please let me know if my draft Order for Directions I received from Abbey is a standard one. Also, how likely is the judge to grant them a stay considering the fact that I requested no stay. Also (last one!) does anyone have any idea if the Court is likely to take notice of Abbey's request not to have a hearing before 30th July?

[Guest eloisemarkham]

Hi James, this is exactly word for word on my AQ the only difference being that I'm a few weeks ahead of you and therefore they have requested a stay until 30th June 07.

[JAMES33]

Thanks Eloise for the quick reply!! Have you heard anything from the Court on your claim yet?

[Guest eloisemarkham]

Hi James, no I have not heard from them but I called yesterday and was told that the judge should be looking at it this week. So I should receive the directions hopefully by next week. I have emailed Inga to see if she wants to settle before it goes any further but no response! I imagine she is only just coping with the the cases that are just about to go to court hearing!

[JAMES33]

I emailed her too last week, I was hoping she might consider starting negotiations as she had requested a stay to settle in her AQ but I haven't heard a thing either. I have subscribed to your thread though as I think it would really help me to see what to expect as your case seems to be running along a very similar vein to mine - hope that is okay!

[JAMES33]

Just received the following reply to my email from Inga

"

Dear Ms James

 

"Without Prejudice"

Thank you for your email.

I am instructed to reject your offer and make a counter offer to you in the sum of £6257.30. Payment would be made without admission of liability by Abbey. Payment would be in full and final settlement of your claim. Payment would be made into your account (if open) or posted to you. Upon receipt of the settlement monies we would ask you to please write to the Court withdrawing your claim and provide to us a copy of your letter. Should you wish to accept this offer, please advise by return in order that payment can be processed.

Kind regards,

Inga Kirkman

In my email to her, I calculated my total claim to date as £7821.63 including costs of approx £500. I said that if she settled within 7 days, I would be prepared to accept £7,700. I obviously don't want to accept this offer, has anyone got a good reply I could send to her, I am sure she would pay in full eventually if I hold out.

[ICY]

exactly same email i received apart from the figures, and she got a similar reply too lol

[JAMES33]

What reply did you sent ICY? (thanks for quick reply! - feeling a bit shaky as I wasn't expecting a reply)

[ICY]

basically saying i would go no lower than 2000 final offer ect... see you in court.....pay me

[JAMES33]

Well, I've just sent the following reply to Inga:

 

Dear Ms Kirkman

 

Whilst I am mindful of my need to mitigate my costs and to try and settle without recourse to court action, I respectfully decline your offer.

 

As stated in my previous email, I would be prepared to accept £7700 in full and final settlement of my claim.

 

I would also waive my right to ask for Preparation Costs for a court bundle.

 

I believe that this is a sincere and genuine attempt to settle amicably and I feel sure that the courts would look on it at such.

 

A condition of this offer is that a cheque is sent to me by 15th June 2007, I would then inform the court that the matter is now settled.

 

Please be aware that should you refuse this offer, I will be presenting this as part of my evidence.

 

I look forward to your early reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Will keep my fingers crossed that I get a reply soon!!!

[jules1973]

Good Luck

 

Hope she responds with your offer of £7700.00

[JAMES33]

Just been reading a few threads and notice that Inga has been busy emailing again today - unfortunately, not to me yet! Keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't blown it by insisting she pays my 8% interest too - hopefully I'll hear from her soon:confused:

[JAMES33]

I emailed Inga earlier today to remind her that my 7 day deadline for accepting £7700 expires at close of business today and asking her if she is willing to revise her original offer. Just had the following reply:-

 

My apologies, I have either dealt with your email of 4 June 2007, or I have not received it.

Kind regards,

Inga Kirkman

I have just responded to that email with:-

 

No, I would respectfully point out that you offered a considerably lower settlement figure, not including any statutory interest at 8% to which I am entitled. If you could just agree to pay this on top of your original offer, this would be acceptable to me. As I am sure you would agree, it would be mutually beneficial to settle this matter without any further delay or costs to either party and to comply with the directions of the District Judge presiding over this claim.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Doesn't look like she is going to play ball does it? I did say that if she did not agree to settle, I would begin work on my court bundle and add these costs to my claim so I suppose I shall just have to wait and see - has anyone else heard anything from her recently?

[kev2b3]

to be honest james 33 i think you have been pretty fair with the abbey and i am sure a judge will see it this way.

[JAMES33]

Thanks Kev, glad to hear someone's on my side today! How's your claim going?

[bungleboy]

Hiya folks!

 

Can any of you guys help me out?

I'm too trying to claim back my £3,000 bank charges from abbey. It took more than 60days to get my bank statements!!

 

I then requested my money back from them, they then said that they would look into my claim and let me know a decisiion within 8-weeks, but keep me updated in 4 weeks.

 

I then told them that this was not acceptable, I would only allow 14days otherwise I shall take this to a small claims court.

 

I heard nothing, so I did start court proceedings on the 6th June (15th day).

 

Again I have heard nothing, I faxed the abbey telling them that i am willing to negotiate, but again nothing...........

 

The thing is , i'm off to Sweden for 9 months with work, ill only be coming back for the courts if neccessary....

 

I want to email abbey to be honest, to see if we can start to negotiate...any chance you guys could give me any good approaches to them along with a good contact e-mail address.???.

 

Thanks folks, and good luck to you all!!!

[charleyfarley]

Hi J,

 

I had an e-mail from her last week, but nothing since. A few of us have tried to settle early with her, but as far as I am aware, no-one has succeeded............................start getting that cb ready mehtinks

[bungleboy]

Charley.....

 

Don't suppose you have the e-mail to hand do you?

[jules1973]

J.

 

Have you received an response back from abbey regarding your settlement offer?

[JAMES33]

PLEASE CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE ASAP!!

Just had the following email from Louise Jacobs from Abbey:-

 

Dear Ms James,

Without Prejudice

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately I cannot get authority on the figure that you have requested and must therefore respectfully decline your counter-offer. A settlement at £7700.00 may take into account a minimal recovery of Preparation Costs but it does not represent the fact that you should have been charged something on each and every one of the defaults levied against your account and therefore a reasonable amount must be deducted from your total claim to account for this fact.

Abbey National are however prepared to offer, without any admission of liability, an out-of court settlement in the sum of £7200.00 and we hope that you can recognise this as a reasonable compromise.

This offer will stand open until Tuesday 19 June, please let me know how you wish to proceed.

Many thanks,

Louise

I am sure I have read on here similar emails and there have been some good replies detailing exactly why we are asking for the whole of the charges back because they will not disclose their actual costs. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[jules1973]

Jamess33

 

Looking back on your previous thread your claim was £7821.63, it looks like they have offered you your charges and court fees back and not the interest. You can look at it two ways, (and it does depend on the individuals circumstances/needs/requirement)

a) continue with negoiations until they cave in and hopefully you will avoid going in front of the Judge even if they dont turn up, people seem to be still having to attend court.

b) Take the money offered of £7200.00 and dont look at the loss of the remainder of your claim as money lost, look at it as gaining £7200.00 that you thought you would never see again.

Thats only my opinion and others will have different ones. Personally if the Abbey offer me back all my charges and court fees, I would be more than happy and would accept it, as to me the interest is only a nice bonus. I would still walk away with over £2300.00 of my money that I didnt every expect to see again, and that would go along way with 2 kids.

Again, listen to everyones advice then make your own decision, go with whatever your gut is telling you to do.

Hope I have helped in some little way.

Good Luck

Julie x:)

[petcat]

hi personally i agree with the above, its roughly 90%upwards, id take it. well done for getting this far its been interesting following your story.all the best whatever you decide to do.

[JAMES33]

Just had an email back from Louise Jacobs after my rejection of their latest offer this morning (many thanks to Charleyfarley!!) and she is asking me for my contact details so we can discuss this ' particularly in light of my claim for costs'. Does anyone think I ought to do this, or should I just stick to email. Not sure if I should speak over telephone as no record of conversation etc.