Thread: ripped off for £5200 in total, SOLICITORS needed or not needed?

I HAVE JUST LEFT A THREAD REGARDING A PROBLEM WITH Abbey, IN IT I MENTIONED ABOUT THE GUY RIPING ME OFF FOR £5300.
oops sorry for caps..

well anyway.
over 18months ago i purchased a car fronm japan. the car arrived and i got my car happy days after waiting 6 weeks. then as i knew there could be a possible profit i decided to go again through the guy who helped with the 1st one.
anyway to try and keep it short.
i purchased another car actually from ebay and as it was in the same town as him he collected the car, i sent him the money and so far have never seen the car or the money.
in the meantime i had also sent him payment for another 2 cars. these were all to be collected by me and him or himself within 2-3 days. so therefore there was nothing dodgy.
anyway now it is at the stage where the car i bought off ebay he sold on, i have never seen the money so therefore you would think that was heft never mind the fraud on the other money. as i got nothing in return from that either.

so after contacting him by telephone and getting promised the world i have never received a penny, so i went to my local police, they deferred me to Durham police who went asked if he received the money, he answered yes but there were agreements made so they therefore have said that the matter is a civil matter.
hence this thread, i have been in contact with the law society to get a solicitor in the durham area who will take on my civil case buy i am wanting to know do i need him or can i challange this myself. if i can do it myself i have his full contact details to send any correspondance to.
what would you advise and any help on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

ps. i have forwarded the matter to the police complaints in durham and am awaiting an outcome but still not getting paid.

please advise on what i should do. thaks.

Similar Threads:

• Help Needed Please Hsbc/dg Solicitors
• total confusion over Court Orders - help needed
• BT Total Broadband advice needed.
• Fed up with being ripped off
• "TOTAL CHARGES SINCE [DATE]" - Help needed please!!

I think you will need a solicitor. If he has no intention of repaying you or delivering the cars then I doubt you will get anywhere on your own against him. It will be a case of tracing the money to get it back. I presume you paid him by bank transfer and not in cash.

believe it or not i sent cash,
although i rspecial delivery posted it with a guaranteed value of ££2500 each time. in total there was 4 cash amounts sent. all with tracking numbers and signatures.
many thanks though.

Who was the seller on ebay? Did you pay them or was he the seller?

i have all the details of the original seller on my email account but to answer your questions,
1, i went direct to the CID here they put me onto CID Durham, after looking into it they said it was a civil matter,
2,nd the money although was address to an individual say joe bloggs, address was M****** Cars
Durham
so the money was signed for at a ligitimate business where he does a litle part time work,

i phoned his boss the other day and told him i would be taking his company to court as thats who signed for the money and he said it was nothing to do with him and he never signed it was the employee, now as far as the employee go's i have all his contact details and i know his mum works in a court in admin or something but i therefore think if i was to address the letter in court style form to his address the matter would be sorted, but i dont know wether to do this or leave to solicitor incase it gets messy.

all i want is my money and in my last email correspondance i actually took a settlement figure of £4000 knocking £1200 off the total to forget the whole thing, again he agreed and said will have the money to me by the end of the month but again no money,
i am at my wits end here.
please advise if you can.

You need a solicitor if the claim is for over £5000.00 but my advice is to seek a solicitor even if local as they may give you free advice for like 30 mins.

I would also check out this site.

Her Majesty's Courts Service - Home

You will need to got to county courts in the drop down list for which courts service you need. That will then give you a list of forms and guidence notes which you can get the info off. You can even fill out forms and print them off and send them to the courts from that site i am using it to sue ppl who owe me money and i am not using a solicitor.

Good luck and my advice is dont accept a reduced pay offer.

Teli, where do you live? I live 12 miles from Durham

Sorry to hear that the police took the path of least resistance.

I'd like to see the boss explain to Trading Standards how a deal involving the supply of cars was carried out on his premises, by his employee, but is nothing to do with the business.

A solicitor will be able to advise you on the best route to take.

I would certainly stop phoning either the individual or his boss; get everything in writing.

I know of an excellent debt collecting firm!!!!! who have a 100% success rate, nothing naughty, let me know if you wany their details, they are based in co durham..Gc

Originally Posted by Goldlady

Teli, where do you live? I live 12 miles from Durham

wanna earn some money.. lol

Originally Posted by groovycaz

I know of an excellent debt collecting firm!!!!! who have a 100% success rate, nothing naughty, let me know if you wany their details, they are based in co durham..Gc

but when you say excellent firm do you mean genuine and what sort of rates?

Originally Posted by ScarletPimpernel

Sorry to hear that the police took the path of least resistance.

I'd like to see the boss explain to Trading Standards how a deal involving the supply of cars was carried out on his premises, by his employee, but is nothing to do with the business.

A solicitor will be able to advise you on the best route to take.

I would certainly stop phoning either the individual or his boss; get everything in writing.

i have everything in writing, from the start, even the msn conversations we had along with email proof and postage proof.
i hope i have enough to go on, but a civil solicitor i need then you would all recommend or should i actually send a last threatning 1 to his address, and if so does anyone have a good template?

thx for the help.

Originally Posted by The GodMother

You need a solicitor if the claim is for over £5000.00 but my advice is to seek a solicitor even if local as they may give you free advice for like 30 mins.

I would also check out this site.

Her Majesty's Courts Service - Home

You will need to got to county courts in the drop down list for which courts service you need. That will then give you a list of forms and guidence notes which you can get the info off. You can even fill out forms and print them off and send them to the courts from that site i am using it to sue ppl who owe me money and i am not using a solicitor.

Good luck and my advice is dont accept a reduced pay offer.

the claims are actually 3 seperate claims though, all for less than £2000 per claim. so therefore i think it can be done myself. but thanks for the links above.

Haha we are on this site fighting DCA's and here we are collecting debts If you can get the guy to agree to let you have the money back I could get it for you (or send someone a bit bigger than me - 5'2" but I have got a German Shepherd if any DCA's are reading this) but if there is likely to be a problem maybe you should talk to Groovycaz!

It all boils down to whether we are talking about the law of the jungle or whether he would react to a solicitors letter. I work for two firms of solicitors in Sunderland and could probably get one of them to send him a letter if it is likely to help.

if i could get a solicitors letter drawn to him this might work as it has only come from myself and not officially.
this is why the thread should i pay or try this 1st?
thx.

Originally Posted by teli

but when you say excellent firm do you mean genuine and what sort of rates?

They are a security firm (legit) but people in the north east know who they are and they always (legaly) (without hurting anyone) have a 100% success rate, they charge a percentage (not sure how much but can find out) get you your money back, good God, this does'nt sound good, but honestly they are legit, they just look like BIG gangsters, but they are'nt, they run a successfull business...Gc

Do you think he has still got the money? If you sent him a letter saying your 'cousin' or someone was coming to collect it then you might not have to pay anything. Having said that a solicitors letter will probably only cost you £25-£50. Have you got any idea why he didn't come through with the cars? Has he given you any reason or has he just basically stolen your money?

sounds like a con man to me, theres loads of them on ebay, one of them ripped my sons birthday money off him for a pair of sunglasses he never recieved, hes no longer registered with ebay, if this guy was legit, wheres your cars, wheres your money, he broke his promise when you agreed to take a loss, whys he still got your money, it must have been easy pickings for him.. I have a deep dislike for this sort of individual, they prey on the honest people who part with their cash putting their trust in something they believe to be an honest dealer,,,Gc