I am assisting my step daughter who has battled in vain to obtain a refund from a company called Recruitment Development Solutions (RDS)

She signed up to do a teaching course at a cost of £295, but decided that she did not want to do the course after all as she had the possibility of a job offer so emailed them the next day after enrolling to cancel and she alos called them several times.

She was told that she needed to fill in a cancellation form and a refund would be put back into her bank account within 5 to 7 days. This was also stated in their terms and conditions that she had 7 days to cancel for any reason and they would keep £50 as an "admin Fee" but would refund the rest of the course fee - £295.00

That was well over 2 months ago and despite numerous emails and phone calls they have still not refunded the money. They have emailed her several times (we have the proof in emails that they will refund) that a refund is on the way, but so is a white christmas and that's got more chance of happening than this refund!!!

I sent a letter before action to them - please see below, it was sent to 4 seperate email addresses and posted via 1st class recorded delievery

Recruitment & Development Solutions Ltd

Office 2E

Paul Reynolds Centre

Foregate Street

Stafford

Staffordshire

ST16 2PJ

DearSir/Madam

I write to give youformal notice that I intend to commence legal proceedings against Recruitment & DevelopmentSolutions Ltd in order to recover the monies owed to me in respect of a refundfor the cancelled course.

As you will be well aware from the countless emails andphone calls I have made to your company I have tried to resolve this matteramicably, but you have been both uncooperative and dismissive of my request fora refund. I quote from your owncancellation policy

“If you do cancel your purchase within the 7 day coolingoff period then we will refund your payment. The refund will be paid via the card details on which the initialpayment was made and will reach your account with 3 to 5 working days of itsissue.”

As you are well aware, I purchased a place on the courseon Thursday 21st June 2012 and promptly cancelled the place onFriday 22nd June 2012. Asrequested I filled in the questionnaire and complied with all your otherrequests in order to gain a refund of the monies I paid to you.

I find it incredible to believe that a company of yoursize has been unable to organise this refund and after almost 2 months I amstill waiting for this refund.

You have left with me no option but to proceed to makinga small claim in my local county court to recover the monies you owe me.

I believe that due to the time it has taken you toorganise this refund and that I have had to make continual telephone calls andemails to you, but have still not received a refund you should now agree torefund the full cost of the course £295.00 to cover the expenses and the time Ihave invested into obtaining this refund.

If the full refund of £295.00 is paid into my accountwithin the next 7 working days then I will cease all further legal action. If I have not received a full refund of£295.00 in my account by the 4pm on 31 August 2012 then I will proceed withlegal action without giving you any further notice.

Yours faithfully

Plantive

I guess my only option now is to go ahead with a court claim - can anybody offer advice of what we can and can't claim for?

I've done a chronology, please take a look and offer any advice.I just need to do a POC now. Can anybody give me anhy pointers please?

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENT anon version.doc

I have posted on another area of the forums, but I'm not sure it was the correct place to post as nobody has responded.

Perhaps anybody could let me know whether it would be best to post my query here - or advise where the best place would be to post.

I am assisting my step daughter who has battled in vain to obtain a refund from a company called Recruitment Development Solutions (RDS)

She signed up to do a teaching course at a cost of £295, but decided that she did not want to do the course after all as she had the possibility of a job offer so emailed them the next day after enrolling to cancel and she alos called them several times.

Their terms and conditions state that she has 7 days to cancel and will be given a refund if done so in that time,

but despite a countles ampunt of requests this has not happened.

She was told that she needed to fill in a cancellation form and a refund would be put back into her bank account within 5 to 7 days. This was also stated in their terms and conditions that she had 7 days to cancel for any reason and they would keep £50 as an admin Fee; but would refund the rest of the course fee - £245.00

I have tried to put this into paragraghs but it won't save when I do :So I have had to break it down into several posts - I hope this is causing confusion

That was well over 2 months ago and despite numerous emails and phone calls they have still not refunded the money. They have emailed her several times (we have the proof in emails that they will refund) that a refund is on the way, but so is a white christmas and that's got more chance of happening than this refund!!!A letter before action was sent to them over 2 weeks ago giving them to the 31 August to respond and they didn't It was sent to 4 seperate email addresses and posted via 1st class recorded delievery

LBA sent to company and Choronology of events

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENT anon version.doc

Letter_before_legal_Action_-Anon.doc

I guess my only option now is to go ahead with a court claim - can anybody offer advice of what we can and can't claim for?I've done a chronology, please take a look and offer any advice.I just need to do a POC now. Who do i need to name as the defendant? Can anybody give me any pointers please? Thank you so much for any help and advice offered and all suggestions are deeply valued and appreciated

Anybody??? I really need help on how to present a POC and what is relevant and what to put in and what to leave out?

Please help me

Please could somebody help me with what needs to go into the POC and what I can leave out?

Hi Your turn to pay

if you have no joy on the forum

click the black triangle, this will alert the site team.

Sorry I can not offer advise

Leakie

Hi there YTTP

Having had to something like this myself, I'll help where I can.

I'll have a look at your link and help with a POC.

I'm at work right now but I'll be online after 7pm tonight.

Lex

A quick thought, do make sure you have all the emails, print them off asap just incase they get deleted

Lex

OK YTTP,

I have had a look at you chronology, with a little tidy up it will make a good part of your court bundle.

We can talk about you POC next.

Here is a blank N1 form for you to look over.

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338

Lex

I have saved all the emails on 2 different computers and have also printed them out 4 times - i'm a kind of belt and braces kinda a gal!!!

I'll try drafting a POC tomorrow night on the N1 form tomorrow, unfortunately I have my mid year appraisal at work tomorrow so i have to complete my mid year personal development plan for work tonight and its one of those hair pulling, through the dummy out of the pram kinda of documents!!!!

Thank you for the help and advice - its really appreciated and i'm very vey grateful indeed

No problems YTTP,

Your POC can be quite brief. If you draft something up we can go though it and put a bit of polish on it !!!

Good luck with the appraisal, I hate them as their a great waste of time...........

Lex

Hi Mr Lex

Sorry i've taken my time in getting back to you , life has been somewhat crazy! Apprasial went well

Anyhow have attached a draft of the POC, I haven't included the appendix stuff as there is so much of it and i haven't anomous.

I also didn't mention the £50 admin fee in the POC. I thought it might be best to and wait and see if they bring it up - considering they have completely ignored their own T&C's in regards to the refund they surely can't argue it should be deducted because its in their T&C - i'll have a field day in court with them if they try that one!!

The court have now also sent out notification of the online claim and the POC that was entered online. They have till the 29 September to respond.

We haven't heard a peep out of them, so the calender is set to midnight on 29 September to enter an automatic judgement against them!!

Thank you very much indeed for all your amazing and fabulous support and for taking the time to offer advice, it is deeply appreciated

If anybody would kindly take a look at the POC and offer advice i would be extremely grateful.

I would also really appreciate any feedback on whether I have laid the document out correctly. As mentioned before I entered a very brief POC outlining the reason for the claim but stated i would send in a more detailed version to the court within 14 days. Is this the correct format for doing this and should i submit the updated POC to the court and send the defendant's a version too (I will fax, email and send via recorded post - just to make sure the little darlings (not the word i wanted use!) receive it and can't use that as an excuse for not responding.

If it goes to a hearing and we are sucessful in our claim what do i do about costs? n the POC we have asked the court to consider making a cost award but how are the costs calculated? Should I be keeping a log of any expenses and time spent on the claim as a guide for the court or willl the judge decide the amount.

As I will be accompanying my step daughter in court and hoping to speak for her, do we have to write to the court and ask the court's permission for this? If this allowed and we win the case and a cost order is made in our favour, would any of my costs be taken into account (such as travel expenses, taking the day off work etc)

Hi YTTP,

The POC is very detailed, and in fact is more like the front page of your Court Bundle !!! You might just change part of the last section to read apply to the court for a Wasted costs Order. It's a very good POC. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?581-Wasted-Costs-order

Yes, you would need to ask the court for the right to speak for your daughter. To do this you will have to apply after you have a court date.

After you submit your N1, you may recieve a Court form. N151, AQ, Allocation Questionnaire. http://hmctscourtfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=2215

We can deal with that should one turn up. Some Courts don't bother any more .

Hope this helps,

Lex

Thank you very much indeed Lex for your help.

I have made the suggested changes.

So I guess the next step is to tie up all the appendix stuff with the POC and then send a copy to the courts and defendants and wait to see if the defendant's respond and see if they defend.

In regards to the wasted costs order, what is reasonable to claim for time etc, so far it has taken me 10 hours to print off all the emails, sort everything out, prepare the Letter before action, submit the court claim and do the revised POC - would the court consider this reasonable.

Do I need to keep a spreadsheet with a running total of costs etc and then send it to the court along with the letter and draft order request for wasted costs, or if they defend take it all with me to the hearing and present it to the court if the claim is awared in our favour?

What you need to do now is fill out the N1 small claims form which is here :- http://hmctscourtfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338 You will need to send to the central court office three copies of the N1, one for the other party, one for the court and one that the court will send back to you with your case number on. You type your POC onto that. If you need a hand with the N1, do give me a shout

On the N1 form, don't forget to add the court costs too !!! and 9% interest from the time you first asked for your refund.

You dont need to do any of the appendix's yet, that will be part of your court bundle when you get a date. You normally have to exchange this info 14 days before the court date.

Wasted costs are allowed at £9.50 an hour for your time, you can claim for your travel and your pay (£90) for the day you may have to take off work. You can send that with your bundle, or send it to the court if the other side settles first.

Lex

When you fill in the N1`print at least 9 copies. you will need 3 more for the court bundle. It pays to have more as I will go into nearer the time.

You don't put wasted costs on the N1 as that is up to the court to award on the day.

I'll work out the interest for you if you like, but you can do it on the spread sheet on the main forum.

Lex

I've now sent the amended POC, along with the appendix extra's off, via registered first class to the court and the company.

The company has till 29th Sept to respond and show their hand. At least they can see we are serious about the refund and are willing to pursue it to the end. Guess its now a awaiting game....

YTTP,

Have you sent the complete form N1 to the courts ??

Lex

Yes I submitted it online and then sent the amended POC and documents via registered post to the court and to the defendant.

I've just checked MCOL and RDS have deceived to defend the claim. They defended it on 20th Sept. When do we get a copy of their defence?

I can't see what possible defence they have consider it is in the T&C that a refund would be given if a person changed their mind for any reason within 7 days of enrolling. My step daughter cancelled within 24 hours and they never refunded her - how can they defend against that???

This is going to be very interesting and possibly entertaining!!!