Will disputing a county court claim affect my credit rating?

[HybridAero]

Hi all,


My old gym has submitted a county court claim against me for 'unpaid fees', despite me cancelling due to poorly maintained equipment.

Will disputing the county court claim affect my credit rating?


Thanks

[Lurking Lawyer]

Not just by defending the claim, no.

If the matter proceeds to a final hearing and you lose, you will have a county court judgment registered against you.

If you pay it within 28 days, it will be as if it was never there.

If you pay it after 28 days, it will show on your credit record as "satisfied". It may impact your credit rating - it doesn't with all lenders - but in any event it won't have much impact.

If you don't pay, it will show on your record as an unsatisfied CCJ, which is a very large klaxon-sounding flashing-red-light as far as lenders are concerned.

[HybridAero]

Thanks,

So I may as well pursue it? Or will the costs ramp up?

They are claiming £75 plus £30 admin fee - If I lose will there be another couple of hundred tacked on to that?

Much appreciated.

[Lurking Lawyer]

HybridAero said:

Thanks,

So I may as well pursue it? Or will the costs ramp up?

They are claiming £75 plus £30 admin fee - If I lose will there be another couple of hundred tacked on to that?

Much appreciated.

There will a small amount of additional interest on the sum claimed, and they may well claim in respect of the cost of witnesses having to attend the final hearing (bearing in mind it will be transferred to your home county court, which may be nowhere near them) but, no, over and above the fees already set out on the claim form, the only the fee will be the hearing fee the claimant has to pay (£25 if the claim is less than £300) which it will look to recover from you if successful.

[Andy OH]

Firstly IANAL. For the sake of £105 why not pay it and put it down to experience. If you did receive a CCJ you will end up paying more than £105 in the long term. I know it's a pain but just pay up and move on, it's not worth it for such a small sum of money.

[Funk]

Andy OH said:

Firstly IANAL. For the sake of £105 why not pay it and put it down to experience. If you did receive a CCJ you will end up paying more than £105 in the long term. I know it's a pain but just pay up and move on, it's not worth it for such a small sum of money.

It would stick in my craw if I were the OP but I would then go to town all over social media letting people know the actions they took. How do the gym think they're going to come out ahead on this over a dispute for £100? The bad PR alone will cost them more than that...

Edited by Funk on Monday 17th July 14:10

[KungFuPanda]

Andy OH said:

Firstly IANAL. For the sake of £105 why not pay it and put it down to experience. If you did receive a CCJ you will end up paying more than £105 in the long term. I know it's a pain but just pay up and move on, it's not worth it for such a small sum of money.

If the OP sticks by the rules, there is no risk of him having a CCJ on his record. File and Acknowledgement of Service, Defence and then the allocation from and attend the final hearing. If he loses at the final hearing, he still has 28 days to settle the claim and there will be nothing entered on his credit record.

Why should he just roll over because there is a threat of a CCJ?

[E36GUY]

I wouldn't fight it for £100. No point.

You may be morally right in terms of your cancellation but the legal side might be different.

I guess the basis of your cancellation was that you deemed the gym to be in breach of contract whereby you paid for a service that you didn't receive but can you be arsed for £100?

If you do, and as others have said if you lose, pay it off within 28 days and there will be no record going forward.

[anonymous-user]

A quick question on this, if you start an action and lose, can the other side claim costs and expenses or are the only losses the court fee to start the action?

Thanks.

[Lurking Lawyer]

Generally, the rule in small claims (anything less than £10K) is neither party can recover legal costs.

The court will only award court fees, expert fees if appropriate and expert evidence has been allowed, and witness attendance expenses.

Edited by Lurking Lawyer on Wednesday 19th July 13:06

[Cyberprog]

At this point, you either fight it and pay the £100 + costs (<£100) or pay it and pay the costs to date (£25 or so).

Personally, I'd fight it, out of principle, but also as the costs are not too great.

[7795]

If you are old, rich and don't need cheap credit now or in the future, fight it if you think you are in the right and will win.

If you're young, will need credit and £100 is not going to kill you, pay it and move on. I would suggest many gyms have T&C's that are well practiced and tested so they cannot lose in court in this scenario.

Without know the full reasons why you deemed the gym to be poorly maintained and what the T&C's were when you signed up, it's hard to know if you have a case.

What was so bad that you took these steps?

[teecee]

Could you pay it and then take them to small claims court?

[singlecoil]

HybridAero said:

Hi all,


My old gym has submitted a county court claim against me for 'unpaid fees', despite me cancelling due to poorly maintained equipment.

Will disputing the county court claim affect my credit rating?


Thanks

Do you have proof of having complained about the equipment prior to your cancelling? I ask because if you decide to let it go to court then unless you can prove the above it's going to look to the court as if it's an excuse you made up, and you will almost certainly lose.

[KungFuPanda]

7795 said:

If you are old, rich and don't need cheap credit now or in the future, fight it if you think you are in the right and will win.

If you're young, will need credit and £100 is not going to kill you, pay it and move on. I would suggest many gyms have T&C's that are well practiced and tested so they cannot lose in court in this scenario.

Without know the full reasons why you deemed the gym to be poorly maintained and what the T&C's were when you signed up, it's hard to know if you have a case.

What was so bad that you took these steps?

FIGHTING A CLAIM WON'T AFFECT YOUR CREDIT RATING!!!! How many times does it need to be said?

[KungFuPanda]

teecee said:

Could you pay it and then take them to small claims court?

Why would you want to do that when the matter is already in the small claims court? If he wants to dispute it, this is the time to dispute the claim within his Defence.

[uknick]

HybridAero said:

Hi all,


My old gym has submitted a county court claim against me for 'unpaid fees', despite me cancelling due to poorly maintained equipment.

Will disputing the county court claim affect my credit rating?


Thanks

Gyms are notorious for doing this. I left one, a large international chain, a few years ago.

I gave correct notice as per the contract, then cancelled direct debit just before the last payment was due and paid the last month's membership by cheque. But, I withheld the £10 they had taken as a returnable deposit for the fancy gym card/locker key I was given when I joined.

Of course after 5 years all the original staff had left and nobody knew what i was talking about, so I also gave them a letter detailing what I had paid and why I had retained £10. With the letter I gave proof the £10 had been taken from my bank account in addition to the monthly membership fees. I handed this letter to the gym manager so they couldn't deny receiving it.

A couple of months later I receive the threat of court action from a debt collector company the gym had hired to chase me. As my profession doesn't allow CCJ against a member I couldn't take a risk so I paid the outstanding balance with the proviso it was incorrect and I would be contacting the gym for a full refund.

Despite the clear audit trail of paperwork showing I owed nothing to the gym, it took a couple of months to get my money back, and that was only after I threatened court action against them.

So the moral of this is; if you're sure you're in the right and followed the correct cancellation procedure, fight it. But, if you didn't follow the process/small print to the letter, I think you'll have to take it as one of life's hard experiences.

[KungFuPanda]

"Expect evil has allowed" Lol.