Small Claims Court - Any experience?
Discussion
Evening all,
Several months ago I bought a propshaft from a UK car parts supply company. They seem to be a large business with 160,000 parts sold just on Ebay alone, and they also have a very extensive website and phone sales service as well.
They advert clearly stated it was a high quality German manufactured part, and I quote:
"This is NOT a cheap PROPSHAFT, it is built to LAST! We are so CONFIDENT they will last, we offer a 2 YEAR WARRANTY! We have sold many of these to our customers across EUROPE including GERMANY, FRANCE and AUSTRIA. Once fitted, you won't have to worry about them again! MANUFACTURED BY ISO/TS 16949:2002 ISO 9001:2000'
Long story short:
The propshaft arrived and was fitted to the vehicle by a garage who are specialists in this particular make of car. 1500 miles and 3 months later, the centre carrier bearing failed in the propshaft and it began vibrating at speed.
The car went back to the garage and the mechanic confirmed the bearing had failed, visibly flung out all its 'sealed' oil/grease and quickly deteriorated. Mechanic took photos and videos of this, and wrote a report on the problem.
I have now spent nearly 3 months not using the vehicle, while I exchange emails on a weekly basis with this car parts supplier. He is basically giving me the run around for so long that he hopes I simply go away.
He keeps asking for different things to 'Meet the 2 year warranty requirements' such as photos of the problem, a video of the problem, proof and invoices that the part was fitted by a qualified mechanic, a written report on the problem, etc, all of which I have provided, much to his annoyance.
I lost my rag a couple of weeks ago and said 'Send me a replacement part right now or I will simply take you to court because you have annoyed me' or words to that effect.
He is now totally ignoring me and refusing to reply.
The part was £260.
Really, for the price of dinner with friends, I should just order another one from elsewhere and totally forget about it all, but this guy has really pissed me off, and like many things, it is now the principle of the matter.
I think I'll just pay the £80 to take him to the small claims court just to irritate him. But having never done this before, I have no idea what it entails.
He is at the other end of the country to me, and if he requests that the matter actually goes to a court, it wouldn't be worth doing if the court end up being down where he is, and so on.
Any advice appreciated.
Several months ago I bought a propshaft from a UK car parts supply company. They seem to be a large business with 160,000 parts sold just on Ebay alone, and they also have a very extensive website and phone sales service as well.
They advert clearly stated it was a high quality German manufactured part, and I quote:
"This is NOT a cheap PROPSHAFT, it is built to LAST! We are so CONFIDENT they will last, we offer a 2 YEAR WARRANTY! We have sold many of these to our customers across EUROPE including GERMANY, FRANCE and AUSTRIA. Once fitted, you won't have to worry about them again! MANUFACTURED BY ISO/TS 16949:2002 ISO 9001:2000'
Long story short:
The propshaft arrived and was fitted to the vehicle by a garage who are specialists in this particular make of car. 1500 miles and 3 months later, the centre carrier bearing failed in the propshaft and it began vibrating at speed.
The car went back to the garage and the mechanic confirmed the bearing had failed, visibly flung out all its 'sealed' oil/grease and quickly deteriorated. Mechanic took photos and videos of this, and wrote a report on the problem.
I have now spent nearly 3 months not using the vehicle, while I exchange emails on a weekly basis with this car parts supplier. He is basically giving me the run around for so long that he hopes I simply go away.
He keeps asking for different things to 'Meet the 2 year warranty requirements' such as photos of the problem, a video of the problem, proof and invoices that the part was fitted by a qualified mechanic, a written report on the problem, etc, all of which I have provided, much to his annoyance.
I lost my rag a couple of weeks ago and said 'Send me a replacement part right now or I will simply take you to court because you have annoyed me' or words to that effect.
He is now totally ignoring me and refusing to reply.
The part was £260.
Really, for the price of dinner with friends, I should just order another one from elsewhere and totally forget about it all, but this guy has really pissed me off, and like many things, it is now the principle of the matter.
I think I'll just pay the £80 to take him to the small claims court just to irritate him. But having never done this before, I have no idea what it entails.
He is at the other end of the country to me, and if he requests that the matter actually goes to a court, it wouldn't be worth doing if the court end up being down where he is, and so on.
Any advice appreciated.
I haven't actually done one myself, but it is designed to be straight forward.
https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim
I am not totally au fait with the rules, but I think that as a trader he cannot have the claim moved to his local court. It is to be in the local court of the consumer. One to check.
I'd be claiming for a new part, plus costs of fitting, and any other losses suffered. He can always negotiate you down or have less realistic parts of your claim knocked off later.
I suspect a claim form will spur him into settlement.
https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim
I am not totally au fait with the rules, but I think that as a trader he cannot have the claim moved to his local court. It is to be in the local court of the consumer. One to check.
I'd be claiming for a new part, plus costs of fitting, and any other losses suffered. He can always negotiate you down or have less realistic parts of your claim knocked off later.
I suspect a claim form will spur him into settlement.
Integroo said:
I haven't actually done one myself, but it is designed to be straight forward.
https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim
I am not totally au fait with the rules, but I think that as a trader he cannot have the claim moved to his local court. It is to be in the local court of the consumer. One to check.
I'd be claiming for a new part, plus costs of fitting, and any other losses suffered. He can always negotiate you down or have less realistic parts of your claim knocked off later.
I suspect a claim form will spur him into settlement.
Location or 'venue' is tricky as choosing somewhere distant from the defendant can be deemed prejudicial given innocent until proven guilty. However, the 'contract', such as it was, could only be expedited once the part was fitted and proven to be satisfactory?https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim
I am not totally au fait with the rules, but I think that as a trader he cannot have the claim moved to his local court. It is to be in the local court of the consumer. One to check.
I'd be claiming for a new part, plus costs of fitting, and any other losses suffered. He can always negotiate you down or have less realistic parts of your claim knocked off later.
I suspect a claim form will spur him into settlement.
Does the part have any CE markings and provenance from Germany? That's the crux. Misrepresentation will win the day. Bearing in mind (excuse the pun), that even the best of things fail! Good luck.
Send recorded letter stating in very simple terms:
You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?
You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?
I took a former friend to Small Claims Court, he had borrowed £10000, repaid £2000 made many promises to pay back but didnt. Took him to Court, he admitted to the Court that he owed the money, judgement was awarded he still didnt pay. He continued in business as a director of a company and didnt disclose the award, he was barred from being a director of a company for 10 years.
The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
CoolHands said:
If he sells loads of stuff he will have assets, so you’d be able to enforce a judgement, so I say go for it, and string him up for being a 
He claims to have '5000 different parts in stock for next day delivery' at any one time, and multiples of all those items, so I would say he probably has a couple of million pounds worth of parts.Should hopefully be enough to reimburse me my £260.
Trophy Husband said:
Location or 'venue' is tricky as choosing somewhere distant from the defendant can be deemed prejudicial given innocent until proven guilty. However, the 'contract', such as it was, could only be expedited once the part was fitted and proven to be satisfactory?
Does the part have any CE markings and provenance from Germany? That's the crux. Misrepresentation will win the day. Bearing in mind (excuse the pun), that even the best of things fail! Good luck.
Oh absolutely, the best of things fail.Does the part have any CE markings and provenance from Germany? That's the crux. Misrepresentation will win the day. Bearing in mind (excuse the pun), that even the best of things fail! Good luck.
But when they do, I expect to be dealt with fairly and reimbursed. Not given the run around in a clear attempt to fob me off.
My complaint is how I have been treated, not the failure of the item.
red_slr said:
Send recorded letter stating in very simple terms:
You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
[b]Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?[b/]
I paid via PayPal via my Debit card as I often do when buying from websites.You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
[b]Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?[b/]
But sadly, I have learned to my cost that whilst Paypal offers protection against being blatantly scammed or robbed at the point of sale, it is of absolutely no use whatsoever if you try to get them to act on someone who refuses to acknowledge any kind of a warranty claim or faulty product.
Lord Marylebone said:
I paid via PayPal via my Debit card as I often do when buying from websites.
But sadly, I have learned to my cost that whilst Paypal offers protection against being blatantly scammed or robbed at the point of sale, it is of absolutely no use whatsoever if you try to get them to act on someone who refuses to acknowledge any kind of a warranty claim or faulty product.
Get an AmEx, pay for absolutely anything of value with it!But sadly, I have learned to my cost that whilst Paypal offers protection against being blatantly scammed or robbed at the point of sale, it is of absolutely no use whatsoever if you try to get them to act on someone who refuses to acknowledge any kind of a warranty claim or faulty product.
From your description I think it would be an easy win in court.
To be 100% sure, take said mechanic to court as an expert witness.
Defo do it.
I had a similar experience with a window regulator from Ebay. (For my run around car)
Never worked properly and customer service worse than useless.
For 40 quid I just left it.
To be 100% sure, take said mechanic to court as an expert witness.
Defo do it.
I had a similar experience with a window regulator from Ebay. (For my run around car)
Never worked properly and customer service worse than useless.
For 40 quid I just left it.
Integroo said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I paid via PayPal via my Debit card as I often do when buying from websites.
But sadly, I have learned to my cost that whilst Paypal offers protection against being blatantly scammed or robbed at the point of sale, it is of absolutely no use whatsoever if you try to get them to act on someone who refuses to acknowledge any kind of a warranty claim or faulty product.
Get an AmEx, pay for absolutely anything of value with it!But sadly, I have learned to my cost that whilst Paypal offers protection against being blatantly scammed or robbed at the point of sale, it is of absolutely no use whatsoever if you try to get them to act on someone who refuses to acknowledge any kind of a warranty claim or faulty product.
I lost my rag a couple of weeks ago and said 'Send me a replacement part right now or I will simply take you to court because you have annoyed me' or words to that effect.
Any verbal abuse missing out of that words to that effect cover all ?
Regardless you’ve hardly gone about this complaint in the right manner have you ?
Quite frankly if you’d uttered those words to me I’d switch off and let you crack on with your threat , if I could prove that you’d been potentially abusive and not given the supplier a reasonable chance to sort the complaint it will not look very good in court will it ?
The law is all about facts , not emotional thoughts of taking someone to court because you’re annoyed.
Reap what you sow.
Robbo 27 said:
I took a former friend to Small Claims Court, he had borrowed £10000, repaid £2000 made many promises to pay back but didnt. Took him to Court, he admitted to the Court that he owed the money, judgement was awarded he still didnt pay. He continued in business as a director of a company and didnt disclose the award, he was barred from being a director of a company for 10 years.
The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
The next step is to enforce the judgement (I may be using the wrong term here but you can google it). If he fails to comply with that you can instruct a debt collector to go and get your money/good to be sold. or Something to that effect.The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
Robbo 27 said:
I took a former friend to Small Claims Court, he had borrowed £10000, repaid £2000 made many promises to pay back but didnt. Took him to Court, he admitted to the Court that he owed the money, judgement was awarded he still didnt pay. He continued in business as a director of a company and didnt disclose the award, he was barred from being a director of a company for 10 years.
The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
For that kind of money you can refer the matter up. Or bankrupt him....The actual process of the is very easy and straight forward, obtaining the money of the awared, not so much.
red_slr said:
Send recorded letter stating in very simple terms:
You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?
Do this first.You have complied with warranty requirements and despite best efforts to resolve on best possible terms you feel the matter is not being dealt with.
They now have 14 days to either, arrange a replacement or provide a full refund.
After 14 days you will be taking the matter further which may involve county court action, in the event of court there will be costs which they will need to cover.
Send that first to get the ball rolling.
Then, another question did you pay debit card or credit card?
If no success, after 14 days file a claim at HM Money Claim Online. The filing process is easy, and it's all online. Once the claim is filed, HMCO calls you, and the supplier, to ask if you are both willing to go through mediation. It is not mandatory but it simply may prevent having to go to court. Chances are the supplier is willing. If you are too, the mediator will spend up to an hour on the phone, alternatingly between you and the supplier, on an agreed date and time. Chances are you can come to an agreement, and the court order will be issued.
I went through this process a few years ago where on a second-hand car the clutch started slipping within a week of buying it. It was an easy win. It will certainly help to have the opinion of an independent expert.
Buster73 said:
I lost my rag a couple of weeks ago and said 'Send me a replacement part right now or I will simply take you to court because you have annoyed me' or words to that effect.
Any verbal abuse missing out of that words to that effect cover all ?
Regardless you’ve hardly gone about this complaint in the right manner have you ?
Quite frankly if you’d uttered those words to me I’d switch off and let you crack on with your threat , if I could prove that you’d been potentially abusive and not given the supplier a reasonable chance to sort the complaint it will not look very good in court will it ?
The law is all about facts , not emotional thoughts of taking someone to court because you’re annoyed.
Reap what you sow.
No abuse or swear words. I would never use that kind of language in an exchange of this kind.Any verbal abuse missing out of that words to that effect cover all ?
Regardless you’ve hardly gone about this complaint in the right manner have you ?
Quite frankly if you’d uttered those words to me I’d switch off and let you crack on with your threat , if I could prove that you’d been potentially abusive and not given the supplier a reasonable chance to sort the complaint it will not look very good in court will it ?
The law is all about facts , not emotional thoughts of taking someone to court because you’re annoyed.
Reap what you sow.
My exact message, copied and pasted, said:
"Hi, can you advise what is happening with this matter please. I’m not trying to be difficult but if this goes on any longer I will simply go straight to the small claims court for my £260. The item has a 2 year warranty. The item has failed in 3 months and only 1500 miles, send me a new one. case open and closed. You are testing my patience and annoying me now."
You might be happy to let someone take the piss out of you for 3 months, but I'm not.
How on earth have I not gone about this in the right manner? I have provided everything he has asked for to 'process my claim' and it has been going on for weeks with him blatantly trying to fob me off.
Feel free to point to where I have been unreasonable.
A couple of quick pointers.
Yes it will move to your local court, not his, at your request
Send the final demand letter. You can find pro-formas on the web
Don't rush things. Take your time and get it right. Get your ducks lined up. Then make sure you comply with the procedural time limits.
Most importantly, sue the correct legal entity. Be sure who your contract was with. If you paid VAT there should be a VAT invoice with the details.
Select the optional mediation. That's probably where it will settle.
Yes it will move to your local court, not his, at your request
Send the final demand letter. You can find pro-formas on the web
Don't rush things. Take your time and get it right. Get your ducks lined up. Then make sure you comply with the procedural time limits.
Most importantly, sue the correct legal entity. Be sure who your contract was with. If you paid VAT there should be a VAT invoice with the details.
Select the optional mediation. That's probably where it will settle.
hutchst said:
A couple of quick pointers.
Yes it will move to your local court, not his, at your request
Send the final demand letter. You can find pro-formas on the web
Don't rush things. Take your time and get it right. Get your ducks lined up. Then make sure you comply with the procedural time limits.
Most importantly, sue the correct legal entity. Be sure who your contract was with. If you paid VAT there should be a VAT invoice with the details.
Select the optional mediation. That's probably where it will settle.
Thanks for those tips.Yes it will move to your local court, not his, at your request
Send the final demand letter. You can find pro-formas on the web
Don't rush things. Take your time and get it right. Get your ducks lined up. Then make sure you comply with the procedural time limits.
Most importantly, sue the correct legal entity. Be sure who your contract was with. If you paid VAT there should be a VAT invoice with the details.
Select the optional mediation. That's probably where it will settle.
Much appreciated.
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