Hi anyone and all who who reads this,

I was hoping for advice in Claims made against the consumer... heres the story.

My Girfriend and i were staying at a Travelodge earlier in the month. She only recieved a letter through the door yesterday which was a 'Notice of Claim' from a third party company called CRS (Civil recovery solutions) of £150 for allegedly smoking in one of their rooms.

First off me and my gf are smokers but were certainly not smoking in the room. Travelodge have not been in touch full stop. only the third party. so there is no claims of evidence or anything, just details of how to pay this Claim value of 150 pounds for specialist cleaning and the loss of rental opportunity etc etc.

Having recieved the letter late i find myself not much time to deal with this. The letter states that ' If this claim is not settled within 14 days of this notice we will have no alternative but to refer this matter back to our client with a recommendation to consider issuing court proceedings' And we are on day 8 now. should i worry, what will happen when the 14 days expire?

Any help or advice would be more than appreciated,

Gary

Have seen similar reports of this on other forums recently. This very poor behaviour by Travelodge.

The company should have sent a letter directly to you with the claim that you smoked in the room and not handed it straight to CRS to pursue in this aggressive way. I suspect that Travelodge have probably given CRS the wrong room number as seems to be the case on the other complaints.

I would contact travelodge and demand to know why they have passed this to CRS without first contacting you about the alleged offence.

Let them refer this matter back to our client if their is no case to answer.

sounds like another type of RLP spoofers

dx

First things first this is not criminal action. They are trying to undertake a civil claim. Your options are

a) ignore

b) write demanding evidence

Thanks i intend to phone them in the morning i will definately keep you posted as to what their response is.

Yeah i read other responses on this matter with travelodge taking the fine directly off of a credit card which the consumer then has to claim back. Could not find anything relating to third party threats or intentions of pursuing a fine so just making sure i take this on from the right angle.

will update...

sounds like another type of RLP spoofers

 

dx

CRS is the new name for RLP as far as I can see

The new company is being chaired by Prof. Joshua Bamfield, who was the founder of Civil Recovery in the UK back in the 90's and the chap who started RLP Ltd in the first place.

They claim they are going to be more aggresive in pursuing claims through the courts and offer a more bespoke service than RLP.

Thanks sequenci, So if i were to ignore the 'notice', it's not like they can come chasing for money, there would be more letters etc until i replied?

i know its naive of me to think after the 14th day i'm screwed but i really have no experience in matters such as this regarding the law and rights etc

Thanks i intend to phone them in the morning i will definately keep you posted as to what their response is.

 

Yeah i read other responses on this matter with travelodge taking the fine directly off of a credit card which the consumer then has to claim back. Could not find anything relating to third party threats or intentions of pursuing a fine so just making sure i take this on from the right angle.

 

will update...

Just be clear this is not a FINE

its a speculative invoice

with no legal status

a fine is a crimial matter as has been pointed out.

dx

just to add a little more information – even if it was taken to court (which is most unlikely) they would have to prove that you had been smoking in the room. They would also have to prove that the money that they want from you represents the expenses to which they have been put as a result of the breach of the rules.

I would strenuously recommend that you do not telephone them under any circumstances. If you want to reply to them then do it in writing.

As you have not been contacted by the hotel, I would suggest that you don't contact anybody. If the contact from the civil recovery people is the first contact you have then this amounts to bullying as far as I'm concerned at it and you should ignore it. You have no legal relationship with the recovery people. Travel lodge know where you are and they can contact you if they want.

Do not get worried or het up about this. It is all pretty meaningless. There is a so-called "civil recovery" industry which is trying to emerge and which intends to make its money by putting the frighteners on ordinary people who either have made some simple mistake in their lives or maybe have not even made any mistake at all. This "industry" relies on the fact that most people are decent, don't want any trouble, don't know the law, don't know their rights and don't have the confidence to fight their corner in an effective way.

DO NOT TELEPHONE THEM. - it is the same as showing them the whites of your eyes.

Ahh, wish i noticed that post before i called them. But it was very informal i only asked details about the claim and the manager for the specific hotel seemed rather clueless. The basis of the claim was ash on the windowsill and a smell of smoke in the room. that was practically all that was said and hopefully there will be no record taken that i was in contact. I think ignoring it will be the answer and see what correspondance they come with next.Hopefully will give me a chance to get clue'd up on the situation so i have an answer if/wehn they persue the claim.

From what I've read about this problem with Travelodge their evidence nearly always seems to be ash on a windowsill and a smell of smoke within a room.

Stick with the advice given here and ignore these letters until such time as you receive genuine papers from a court - and, if that were to happen, you will get plenty of help from the knowledgeable people round here!!

Feebee_71

Hi all,

Hopefully you will notice this reply. i have had further correspondance from CRS regarding their initial claim.

The basics of the letter, what i read from it were this.

1. Because i did not reply to the initial letter, therefor i do NOT intend to deny liability.

2. if i do not respond to discuss this case then then our client will have no option but to issue proceedings. seek to recover court fees etc etc.

3. And unless they here from me with my proposals for settlement they are instructed to refer it back to their client to commence with proceedings WITHOUT further notice to me.

So.... where do i go from here? i am tempted to ignore it again and see if any court papers turn up. Either that or to send a simple letter saying i did not recieve the initial letter of claim to drag it out?

Any more help would be greatly appreciated guys.

Gary

do not respond

its a speculative invoice

it is not a legal fine

dx

Thanks dx

i appreciate its not a fine. But i have read cases of them taking people to court, and ones where they have backed down once the person the claim is against denies liability.

If it makes any difference it does say its a 'Letter before action'

its standard practice

letter before 'what' action

then it will be littered with if,might, maybe, might, could, instructed

you might find it to your advantage to look at some thread in the rlp forum.

i cant find any evidence of any hotel winning in court

dx

I have to agree with all the above, it appear to be another RLP-type money making scheme, shame on Travelodge for getting involved in such tactis.

If it were me, I'd assumethat it is a valid NBA and that the next step isnt lots of threatening letters (although there prob will be), but the next step should be court action, of course it is highly unlekley that there would be court action as there would have to be very good proof of smoking and I'm sure you two could provide lots of excellent witness statement proving that you do not smoke !

Of course just like RLp claims this is very unlikely to go anywhere near a court room but i would reply anyway, denying the claim, pointing out you do not smoke, and pointing out that you would seek to recover the maximum costs should legal action be taken, also copy these letters to Travelodge saying how disgusted you are and that you will never stay in one of their premises again

Nothing will hapopen, people that are genunine will issue a NBA with no ifs, buts and maybes, people who use such terms have no intention of going to court.

Andy

Thanks andy,

Well my girlfriend and I do smoke, which may run against our favour. But the claim is still rediculous, we've stayed at the particular hotel around 15 or 20 nights this year, so its kick i8n the teeth.

Yeah im unsure as of the next move. I think both ignoring it and Replying with Denial are the right things to do.lol at the end of the day like the good people on here say, if i havnt done it i have nothing to worry about. But yet the doubt creeps in, as im terrible at defending myself, sheer accusations of things i havent done make me nervous which makes me look guilty.

Thanks andy,

 

Well my girlfriend and I do smoke, which may run against our favour. But the claim is still rediculous, we've stayed at the particular hotel around 15 or 20 nights this year, so its kick i8n the teeth.

 

Yeah im unsure as of the next move. I think both ignoring it and Replying with Denial are the right things to do.lol at the end of the day like the good people on here say, if i havnt done it i have nothing to worry about. But yet the doubt creeps in, as im terrible at defending myself, sheer accusations of things i havent done make me nervous which makes me look guilty.

Whoops I mis-rerad your original post.

Well ultimately they can send all the various threats they want, the onl;y thing that matters is will they take legal action, I think not, as it just woulkdnt be worhwhile in a small claims court, they are limited to costs and they would had to travel to your local court so almost certainly isnt worth the hassle...proving someone had smoked in their is pretty impossible too apart from staff saying it smelt.

Dont worry, courts require you to put everything out in writing so you have time to prepare, of coutrse, it is highly unlikely it would get that far.

Andy

Hi, did anything ever happen to your civil claim Gazzaboy? I've just received a similar letter, but this claims I've done damage to a wall totalling £400, which is just crazy! I've also stayed at this hotel numerous times, and I've stayed there since the alleged damage happened, and not a single person from Travelodge has mentioned it!! Did you just ignore it and they went away? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Hi, did anything ever happen to your civil claim Gazzaboy? I've just received a similar letter, but this claims I've done damage to a wall totalling £400, which is just crazy! I've also stayed at this hotel numerous times, and I've stayed there since the alleged damage happened, and not a single person from Travelodge has mentioned it!! Did you just ignore it and they went away? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Kind regards

i'd start your own thread

this is +6mts old

see below

dx

Thanks dx, I have now done this.

Kind regards