Small Claims Court
Discussion
Good Afternoon
We are currently pursuing a supplier who has owed us £800 from last December - not exactly a fortune I know however it is still owed.
The supplier makes no excuses for owing the money ( she is a one man band working from home ), and several calls, letters and even a visit to her house have not made any difference.
Quick question - pursue through the Small Claims Court or have a letter sent from a solicitor ?
Your thoughts / advice / experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Anthony
We are currently pursuing a supplier who has owed us £800 from last December - not exactly a fortune I know however it is still owed.
The supplier makes no excuses for owing the money ( she is a one man band working from home ), and several calls, letters and even a visit to her house have not made any difference.
Quick question - pursue through the Small Claims Court or have a letter sent from a solicitor ?
Your thoughts / advice / experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Anthony
Can't pay or won't pay? Is there any dispute between you as regards the work you've done?
Cheaper to go through the court, which is what your solicitor would wind up having to do anyway if he got the same response from her as you.
Have you written to her and threatened legal action? If not, that would be my next step, then off to the court for the paperwork if she still won't cough up.
Cheaper to go through the court, which is what your solicitor would wind up having to do anyway if he got the same response from her as you.
Have you written to her and threatened legal action? If not, that would be my next step, then off to the court for the paperwork if she still won't cough up.
Check out this link:
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
jazzybee said:
Check out this link:
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
agree.
You have done the preaction letters. Just send the summons. Might be worth doing a land registry search to confirms she owns the house with a view to securing the debt as a charge on it. on line search. about £2-£4 also to see if she has a mortgage/other debts on it.
Before you go through the court you must make sure you have given enough warning of going to court, this means a 7 days letter, otherwise i believe you cant get your costs, and the court does appreciate a long warning.
sign up free here www.debtcollectoronline.com
and they will write up a letter first two are free for you.
other companies do the same, but cost varies between 2.50 and 7.00.
try a company called thomas higgins, they also do cheap letters.
better coming from a solicitor as then they know its serious, you may not have to go to court,save yourself the fee.
sign up free here www.debtcollectoronline.com
and they will write up a letter first two are free for you.
other companies do the same, but cost varies between 2.50 and 7.00.
try a company called thomas higgins, they also do cheap letters.
better coming from a solicitor as then they know its serious, you may not have to go to court,save yourself the fee.
superlightr said:
jazzybee said:
Check out this link:
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
agree.
You have done the preaction letters. Just send the summons. Might be worth doing a land registry search to confirms she owns the house with a view to securing the debt as a charge on it. on line search. about £2-£4 also to see if she has a mortgage/other debts on it.
You will find it hard to place a charging order for £800, it can be done though with grief. You need a judgement first anyway, and then pay £500 ish to a solicitor to place the charge.
If you want any free advice give us a call www.debtrecovery.tv however the posts on here are spot on.
jazzybee said:
Check out this link:
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
I've used this very successfully in the past. It is most applicable where the case is pretty much 'cut & dried', ie. a clear contractual obligation for them to pay. In this case you pay the court fees (up to £250 last time I looked) up front but can add them onto the debt owed so that if a judgement is found against the defendent then they end up paying those fees. www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
Pay the court fee, and usually when the documents land on the defendents doorstep, about 80% of them end up settling the debt.
Of course, even if you win and the defendent ends up with a CCJ to pay, it doesn't actually force them to pay you but as others have already pointed out, many people will settle before the judgement rather than risk a CCJ against their name.
Thanks for the input, I'll certainly go the route mentioned.
To answer the question, we have paid our supplier up front ( I know )for work that was subsequently not carried out. This is a long standing supplier, and from time to time we would have a " settle up " for extra work she has done, or conversely that she hadn't. This was always a friendly, flexible arrangement between our two companies, with hindsight, not ideal.
She fully admits that she owes us this money, has given us payment dates and amounts to pay us back, which are never honoured - she is not denying that she owes it, I think she is hoping that she can get away with it.
Thanks again
Anthony
To answer the question, we have paid our supplier up front ( I know )for work that was subsequently not carried out. This is a long standing supplier, and from time to time we would have a " settle up " for extra work she has done, or conversely that she hadn't. This was always a friendly, flexible arrangement between our two companies, with hindsight, not ideal.
She fully admits that she owes us this money, has given us payment dates and amounts to pay us back, which are never honoured - she is not denying that she owes it, I think she is hoping that she can get away with it.
Thanks again
Anthony
Sounds pretty clear-cut to me.
1) Send a letter cancelling the order and demanding your money back.
2) follow this up with a Final Demand giving them a deadline to return the money or else you will start legal action against them. Do not make this less than 7 days. If you are feeling magnanimous then you can make it longer.
3) Use moneyclaimonline.gov.uk to start proceedings against them when they don't pay after the deadline in (2)
4) After the CCJ is awarded (assuming they don't pay) then contact a Debt Collection Agency who will almost certainly take it on as there will be a CCJ against the debtor.
They are likely to pay at (2) or (3), or just before the judgement is handed down.
1) Send a letter cancelling the order and demanding your money back.
2) follow this up with a Final Demand giving them a deadline to return the money or else you will start legal action against them. Do not make this less than 7 days. If you are feeling magnanimous then you can make it longer.
3) Use moneyclaimonline.gov.uk to start proceedings against them when they don't pay after the deadline in (2)
4) After the CCJ is awarded (assuming they don't pay) then contact a Debt Collection Agency who will almost certainly take it on as there will be a CCJ against the debtor.
They are likely to pay at (2) or (3), or just before the judgement is handed down.
moneyclaimonline is now the standard anyway. The court service no longer accepts manual claim submissions, so they all have to come through here.
If a supplier has been paid and failed to deliver you are covered under the sales of goods and services act.
Go get them tiger!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rahhhhhhhhhh
If a supplier has been paid and failed to deliver you are covered under the sales of goods and services act.
Go get them tiger!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rahhhhhhhhhh
percy flage said:
Can't pay or won't pay?
Might be worth finding this out.
If she's having money problems, then it may be best to come to some agreement with her to pay it in installments or get her to "trade" off the debt - do work to value of it without charging.
If she's up the creek financially and you go through the SCC, then you may find yourself with more expense and nothing more than a bit of paper that agrees with your cliam but still no money.
You could also continue to use her and when she chases for her money, just deduct what she owes you.
I was advised by our laywers that each party bears its own costs in the small claims court irrespective of the verdict - This can quickly make £800 not worthy of pursuit. I don't know the circumstances but might it be better to agree they pay half and put the rest down the experience.
In the abscence of compelling evidence one way or the other this is what can often happen in SCC anyway
In the abscence of compelling evidence one way or the other this is what can often happen in SCC anyway
The amount of enquiries we get saying "oh Ill claim through the small claims court" Why ? unless its a very small sum and then I would not even bother.
Thats were a proper debt recovery solution like ours comes into its own. Yes we charge for our work (sorry we are not a charity) but our advice and know how can save claimants a lot of money and grief.
As our unofficial moto [ we dont f*ck about] suggests, we go for the jugular everytime. Give us our clients f*cking money or we will crucify you, and we will.
Thats were a proper debt recovery solution like ours comes into its own. Yes we charge for our work (sorry we are not a charity) but our advice and know how can save claimants a lot of money and grief.
As our unofficial moto [ we dont f*ck about] suggests, we go for the jugular everytime. Give us our clients f*cking money or we will crucify you, and we will.
Edited by jamesuk28 on Friday 4th August 21:21
jamesuk28 said:
The amount of enquiries we get saying "oh Ill claim through the small claims court" Why ? unless its a very small sum and then I would not even bother.
Thats were a proper debt recovery solution like ours comes into its own. Yes we charge for our work (sorry we are not a charity) but our advice and know how can save claimants a lot of money and grief.
I've successfully recovered 5 figure sums though the Money Claim online service - so I'd counter that with asking why one would bother with a Debt Recovery firm (even a "proper" one, whatever that is) until you had already gone though the low cost, low risk step of gaining a CCJ through Money Claim on-line. What's the worst you're going to be out of pocket by? £250 max, and for an £800 claim it would be £80 (I just checked) which seems not a lot to pay for a good chance of success. Thats were a proper debt recovery solution like ours comes into its own. Yes we charge for our work (sorry we are not a charity) but our advice and know how can save claimants a lot of money and grief.
Edited by JonRB on Friday 4th August 22:45
Granted if all county court claims are successfull then no need for debt recovery firms. However:
1. we collect most of our debts before having to go to court, and our fee is usually less than the court fee anyway. We can trace 99% of UK based debtors, something which the public may not have the resources to do. This software costs around £5000.
2. Even if the claimant gets judgement there is no guarantee the debtor will pay up. Court bailiffs are on the whole not very effective at enforcing warrants.
3. Most companies do not have the time to chase debtors, its more cost effective to have a specialist on the case.
4. We provide a host of solutions to enforce judgement and recover the creditors money, should after judgement they vanish or refuse to pay.
1. we collect most of our debts before having to go to court, and our fee is usually less than the court fee anyway. We can trace 99% of UK based debtors, something which the public may not have the resources to do. This software costs around £5000.
2. Even if the claimant gets judgement there is no guarantee the debtor will pay up. Court bailiffs are on the whole not very effective at enforcing warrants.
3. Most companies do not have the time to chase debtors, its more cost effective to have a specialist on the case.
4. We provide a host of solutions to enforce judgement and recover the creditors money, should after judgement they vanish or refuse to pay.
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