Hi There,

On Friday last week I received a County Court Claim Form, details below and today received a letter off Bryan Carter Solicitors saying they have issued litigation proceedings in the County Court.

Name of the Claimant ?Lowell Portfolio I LTD

Date of issue –. 15.07.15

What is the claim for –

The Claim is for 262.97 the amount due under an agreement between the original creditor

and the defendant to provide finance and / or services and / or goods.

This debt was assigned to /purchased by Lowell Portfolio Ltd on

-15/05/2012 and notice served to the law of property act 1925.

PARTICULARS

RE: Three Mobile

A/C No. 000000000

and the claimant claims 262.97

This claim includes statutory interest pursuant to S.69 of county Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per Annum (A daily rate of 0.09)

from the date of assignment of the agreement to date but limited to a maximum of one year and a miximum of 1000 amounting to 21.02

What is the value of the claim?£358.99

Is the claim for a current account (overdraft) or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Mobile phone

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? After

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor

or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.Assigned and issued by purchaser.

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor?No

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ?No

Why did you cease payments? Returned item due to no signal, unable to use in accordance with the contract.

What was the date of your last payment?In 2010

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? Yes

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor

and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? No

I have never had a County Court claim form before and Am wondering what I should do next, any help much appreciated.

Hi djsimo

If you could expand and provide a little history as to why the claim has come about...back ground history of the debt.

Regards

Andy

Hi,

I took out a contrct with three for a Mobile Internet dongle,

but when I got home I couldn't get any signal at all,

took it back to the shop the next day and told them to cancel as it was only purchased the day before,

however a month later I got letters demanding payment,

I contacted them numerous times to sort it but eventually gave up,

2 years later they passed it onto a debt collection company.

I have moved address several times since then a

nd heard nothing and then got this claim form last week at my address now.

Simple defence in response is all that is required.

In the meantime you have 33 days to deal with the claim (assuming you are to defend all) 19 days to acknowledge service (this can be done online after registering to use the MCOL service) password is already on your claim form.Do not tick content jurisdiction just state your plea then exit.

Once acknowledged you then have a further 14 days to submit a defence ( so 33 days in total)

I wouldn't bother to request information vis a CPR 31.14 and mobile contracts are not covered by the CCA request.

Ok so I register online and state my plea,

how do I go about submitting a defence as I don't know anything about the charges

or if any have been added by other debt collection companies,

I have also just checked my Credit Report and there appears to be 2 defaults around the same period

one for the amount claimed and

one for a smaller amount both from Three,

I know I only had one contract so one I think is incorrect.

You submit it the same way as you acknowledge service......your defence will rely on the Sale of Goods Act.....in particularly with regards to declining the goods as not fit for purpose.

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 says that any goods you buy from a trader must be:

of satisfactory quality

fit for purpose

match any description given.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

I have stated my plea that I wish to dispute the full amount claimed,

now I need to submit a defence,

how would I word my defence,

I am wanting to say I returned all items received when signing the contract as threy were unusable due to no signal

which the local store said there would be.

I have checked and have no records or information on this contract as it was 5 years ago and have moved several times since then.

I have stated my plea that I wish to dispute the full amount claimed, now I need to submit a defence, how would I word my defence, I am wanting to say I returned all items received when signing the contract as threy were unusable due to no signal which the local store said there would be. I have checked and have no records or information on this contract as it was 5 years ago and have moved several times since then.

You are best to state in plain English that you dispute a debt exists. 1) bought internet dongle from x store on x date, on the advice of the sales person that where i lived i would have good internet signal access. 2) following a test of the dongle on the day of purchase found no internet access, so returned the next day to the store who agreed to cancel. Under the Sale of goods act the dongle contract sold was not fit for purpose 3)in consequence, i deny that any liability is owed to the claimant.

It would be up to Lowell to get the proof to counter your defence.

Have amended. I see you were chased for the debt previously but did not resolve using complaints process. Lesson to resolve when you first get chased.

Just an update on this,

I have received this letter from Bryan Carter,

I don't want to contact them by phone due to anything can be said without any evidence, and I still dispute the debt.

should I just wait for the court to contact me?

or do I request more information off them as I need to build a defence

and also see what evidence they are going off,

otherwise at initial court hearing I would ask for time to build a defence to their claim.

Any help gratefully appreciated Thank You.

Do nothing...its a standard template response when anyone defends a claim.

Regards

Andy

Cheers, I will just wait for further correspondence. Thank You

have you filed your defence?

I have put the reasons above as to why I think I don't owe any debt and submitted that online.

so you have filed a defence?

can we see what you filed please?

dx

Just a further Update I have received a Notice of proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track.

I have answered the questions A1 Do you agree to this case being referred to the Small Claims mediation Service? No (no point I think as I dispute I owe anything)

Do you agree that the small claims track is apprpriate for this case? Yes

Hearing Venue. Northampton (as it is local to me)

Expert evidence? No

Witnesses? 1 (Myself)

Hearing dates? Any

Signed by Me

I assume that would be correct responses, not sent yet just incase someone sugest anything different.

You should always offer mediation unless the debt is statute barred

Dx

Thank you, I will amend that to Yes.

Can we see the defence you filed

Dx

Defence

I dispute a debt exists. 1) I bought an internet dongle from

Kettering store in June 2010, on the advice of the sales person

that where i lived i would have good internet signal access. 2)

following a test of the dongle on the day of purchase I found no

internet access, so returned the next day to the store who agreed

to cancel. Under the Sale of goods act the dongle contract sold

was not fit for purpose 3)in consequence, I deny that any

liability is owed to the claimant.

Are there any cooling off periods with these type of services? Did you keep any of the original paperwork for the service agreement you most likely signed?

I don't know and don't have any paperwork as this was 5 years ago, and thought the contract hadn't even been started.

Your defence could have been a bit stronger, by requesting they prove that an agreement existed and also that you used the service. I don't think you'll have too much of a problem defending this anyhow. They may produce the signed paperwork...albeit, I doubt it. If so, they'll say you're lying about the sales person agreeing to cancel the agreement and, unless you have proof to back your claim, you'll then need to show that you didn't use the service. i.e. Why would you sign up to a service and then not use it??

Did you receive any correspondence with regards the alleged debt during the five years since you tried to sign up?

Perhaps a CPR request would be appropriate right now? One of the other guys might be able to answer that for you as they're considerably more clued up on the process then I am.

Apparentely mobile contracts aren't covered by a CCA Request.

CPR and CCA are different things.

You'll want the original signed agreement and statements of account, which would hopefully itemise service usage (data used, etc). A CPR request is the way you'd ask for them. They're not likely to supply anything as this whole exercise is just about them hoping you don't defend or trip yourself up, but you can refer to your request later. There'll also be opportunities to request certain documentation or point out the lack of later.

Did you receive any correspondence with regards the alleged debt during the five years since you tried to sign up? Was the claim the first you'd heard of it since the time you handed the dongle back?

I will try a CPR request, I did hear originally off 3 and argued with them that the contract was cancelled but they sent it to a DCA, I explained to the DCA and thought that was the end of it 3 years ago, until I received the CC claim form.