Advice Sought - Debtor Evading Paying Up
Discussion
I may have placed this post in the wrong category however I'm after some advice on how to proceed regarding a debtor who is proving evasive......
Almost two years ago, I bought two project vehicles privately from the same local vendor. On closer inspection, both were really too far gone to be rescued using my skills so I contacted a marque/model "specialist" to see if they would be interested in taking them on. Now, I had heard mixed views on the "specialist" ranging from "excellent to deal with" to "goods not delivered, no refund" however I am very much of a mind to take people as we find them and I made an arrangement with the person concerned.
The arrangement was that I would release both vehicles to the "specialist" and, as he was a couple of hundred miles away from me, a gentleman's agreement was made (via phone & e-mail) that he would pay me what he thought them to be worth. The two vehicles were really for breaking up in all honestly . As an alternative we agreed that the supply of some parts that I was searching for to complete a similar marque project that I had (and still have) would be good as no money would then need to change hands. Sounds fair enough?
The vehicles were duly collected and the "specialist" reported back that although both vehicles were breakers, several decent parts could be harvested from both vehicles so they had some value. I re-iterated my parts request and was told that he was "on the case".
Several prompts later and no parts were forthcoming. In the interests of getting some recompense, I offered to change my request to a lesser value set of parts which are also more common to come by. Nothing doing.
Time was wearing on and in an attempt to get something back, I tried to speak with the "specialist" - two months later, he has not returned any of my calls despite promising to do so, e-mails and texts going unanswered. Frustrating and a waste of time.
There's not much cash involved at all and maybe I should just write it off but my disappointment in how the whole thing has panned out makes me keep trying to sort something out.
Thanks for reading, any advice welcome.
Almost two years ago, I bought two project vehicles privately from the same local vendor. On closer inspection, both were really too far gone to be rescued using my skills so I contacted a marque/model "specialist" to see if they would be interested in taking them on. Now, I had heard mixed views on the "specialist" ranging from "excellent to deal with" to "goods not delivered, no refund" however I am very much of a mind to take people as we find them and I made an arrangement with the person concerned.
The arrangement was that I would release both vehicles to the "specialist" and, as he was a couple of hundred miles away from me, a gentleman's agreement was made (via phone & e-mail) that he would pay me what he thought them to be worth. The two vehicles were really for breaking up in all honestly . As an alternative we agreed that the supply of some parts that I was searching for to complete a similar marque project that I had (and still have) would be good as no money would then need to change hands. Sounds fair enough?
The vehicles were duly collected and the "specialist" reported back that although both vehicles were breakers, several decent parts could be harvested from both vehicles so they had some value. I re-iterated my parts request and was told that he was "on the case".
Several prompts later and no parts were forthcoming. In the interests of getting some recompense, I offered to change my request to a lesser value set of parts which are also more common to come by. Nothing doing.
Time was wearing on and in an attempt to get something back, I tried to speak with the "specialist" - two months later, he has not returned any of my calls despite promising to do so, e-mails and texts going unanswered. Frustrating and a waste of time.
There's not much cash involved at all and maybe I should just write it off but my disappointment in how the whole thing has panned out makes me keep trying to sort something out.
Thanks for reading, any advice welcome.
As Catman says, Letter Before Action time. The relevant period is 14 days according to the pre-action protocols of the Civil Procedure Rules.
Odds are you will have to issue proceedings, as he may ignore the LBA. You need to be able to put a value on things to use MCOL though, so you should think about what that value is, and offer to settle for that value in the LBA.
Odds are you will have to issue proceedings, as he may ignore the LBA. You need to be able to put a value on things to use MCOL though, so you should think about what that value is, and offer to settle for that value in the LBA.
steviemillar said:
The arrangement was that I would release both vehicles to the "specialist" and, as he was a couple of hundred miles away from me, a gentleman's agreement was made (via phone & e-mail) that he would pay me what he thought them to be worth. The two vehicles were really for breaking up in all honestly .
Perhaps he thought they were worth nothing.Thanks for the feedback and advice on this, some pretty valid points from everyone.
I'm just going to move on and not be so stupid/trusting in future I think.
Thanks again
voyds9 said:
Perhaps he thought they were worth nothing.
This comment regarding (having little or no) value could well be why the specialist has taken the stance he has. I would agree to some extent as he did have some transport costs to pay and breaking cars is a longer term payback rather than instant payday in most cases. I would have just written off any value I had in the vehicles if specialist could have told me that a year ago.I'm just going to move on and not be so stupid/trusting in future I think.
Thanks again
steviemillar said:
a gentleman's agreement was made (via phone & e-mail) that he would pay me what he thought them to be worth.
The vehicles were duly collected and the "specialist" reported back that although both vehicles were breakers, several decent parts could be harvested from both vehicles so they had some value.
If you can't get him to come to some kind of agreement voluntarily, then your only recourse is legal.The vehicles were duly collected and the "specialist" reported back that although both vehicles were breakers, several decent parts could be harvested from both vehicles so they had some value.
So give a ball-park figure.
£10, £100, £1000?
If you can't point to some agreed figure, then you're wasting your time with any kind of legal claim. What do you put on the paperwork when you're submitting the claim?
All he needs to do is put in a defence that says "Yes, it did all happen like that - but he's forgotten to mention the message in which I said that the parts turned out not to be usable, so I suggested calling it quits as my expenses of collection and disposal outweighed any value there was in the cars."
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