Having a day in court is not always the pursuers primary goal, particularly if like me you are required to travel hundreds of miles to attend the hearing (I did not purchase my car locally). Settling out of court is sometimes the most pragmatic solution for people who want to simply be reimbursed and walk away from the stress. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from settling out of court because of a sense of obligation to expose cowboy traders. Every case is different.

I took Evans Halshaw to a small claims court and they settled out of court before it reached our court date. They have subjected me to a confidentiality clause so I can't discuss it, but I would advise you to stick to your guns and open a case. They use a firm of solicitors called Geldards who are based in Derbyshire, and they are kept very busy by Evans Halshaw customers! Geldards automatically defend any EH claim that comes in to them, and they are fairly bullish in their dealings. Get the car inspected by a firm called Deckra. Courts will only accept mechanical reports from approved inspectors and Deckra seem to be the most favoured. You can add this cost onto your claim at court. The Court will also be looking for evidence that you tried to resolve this dispute amicably so keep all correspondence and notes of conversations. EH have SO many claims against them every year. They only ever pay out on the ones who take it all the way. Lizzie

Well....Evans Halshaw have finally started to ignore me. They still haven't sent me evidence of repair as they promised and the engine management light is a permanent feature of the dash now. They won't reply to my letter asking them to look at the car again and the nice mechanic (Craig Thomas) who told me "just send an email and I'll call immediately" has gone to ground. I can't afford to reject the car so I'll take it to my local Citroen dealer and see if they can diagnose and repair. If they won't give me the paperwork for repairs, can I report them to trading standards?

Took the car out today. After just a few miles, the engine management light came on and I noticed a "hot" smell in the car. Looks like overheating but the coolant level is ok. Called Evans Halshaw and they have asked me to take it to my local mechanic for diagnostics and they will reimburse me for any costs incurred. I'm 70 miles from the dealer so I can't take it there. They have suddenly started to be really nice. Even though the car is a pain in the @rse, I am liking the sudden change in attitude from them

Got a call (finally) from evans halshaw. They tell me the car is fully repaired and the coolant drop is because the car is "finding its level". They are sending me paperwork for the work carried out (not sure why it wasn't available on the day itself). Would I now have a case to pursue them for the towing cost and initial diagnostic report I had to get when they refused to accept liability? It's £288 in total so it's not cheap. Plus, I had to spend £211 on car hire while this was resolved. Could I claim this from them? Does the law allow for expenses like this when sold a car that is not fit for purpose? Liz

In May, I bought a car from Evans Halshaw for £2400. I was told it had been serviced before sale by them (although the service stamp in the log book was missing - I assumed it was an oversight) 2 months after purchase, I broke down. I was towed by a local mechanic who ran some diagnostics on it and found that the thermostat housing was leaking coolant, resulting in the head gasket overheating. He tested the coolant mixture and found that it was less than 5% antifreeze. I hadn't checked the coolant because I assumed a fully serviced car would be fine - the mechanic said the coolant had been leaking for months judging by the stains on the housing casing, and someone had been topping up with water to compensate. I contacted Evans Halshaw and they told me I only had a one month warranty and they would do nothing. I asked the local mechanic to write a report on the problem and I sent it to them with a formal request for repair under the "Sale of Goods Act". They then came to collect the car from me and took it away to repair it. After 8 days, they called me to say it was ready. I collected it yesterday from their garage. They gave me the car key and walked away. No-one talked me through the repair job, nor did they give me paperwork detailing what they'd done. This morning, I checked the coolant level and the header tank was completely empty. It appears to still be leaking coolant. I telephoned the dealership at 8am and left an urgent message for someone to call me and clarify whether they've replaced / repaired the head gasket. No-one called me back. I rang again at 3pm and stressed how vital it is I know whether my car is fully repaired and safe to drive. No-one was available to speak to me nor did they call me back - the receptionist was sympathetic but useless. What do I now do? Am I legally covered to go ahead and arrange a local mechanic to look at it again and carry out repairs if necessary (and then take them to a small claims court to recover the money)? Or am I obliged to write formally to them again giving them another chance to repair it properly. It's killing me financially to hire a replacement car (I've already paid for 2 weeks whilst the car was off the road). If this drags on and on, it'll cost me a fortune to keep renting a car. I just want the car fixed properly and I don't trust them to do that. Plus, they won't even talk to me! I'm too scared to drive the car until I know it's roadworthy but they won't tell me what they did to it. Liz

It looks like our Contractors have some financial difficulties and have entered into an IVA. IT looks like the bank have siezed the money from the closed account and used it against the debt that the contractor has run up with them. Hence, Barclays won't give it back to us and our contractor doesn't have the money to give us either. We're witholding our £50 per month to them until the debt to us is paid as it's the only thing we can do really.

My husband and I run a business. We employ some outside contractors and pay them on a monthly standing order of £50. Back in March 2011, our contractors told us they had changed their bank details so we began paying them into their new account. However, there was some confusion between the hubby and I and we didn't stop the standing order to their old account. We've realised the mistake and have been paying them twice every month since March. We've made sure the old Standing order has now been cancelled and asked Barclays to refund the money that has gone into the old and closed account. Barclays have "lost" the money and have claimed it's up to our contractors to pay us back. Our contractors say that they cannot access their old account and say that Barclays must pay it back. We're out of pocket to the tune of £300 and no-one will help us. We've got bank statements cleary showing the £50 payments being made into a bank account but this doesn't seem to count for anything with Barclays. They just don't seem bothered enough to give it the time of day. What should we do?

Sorry - I ought to clarify that when I say "The business was awarded £1200", I mean OUR business. It was automatically decided in our favour as BT never turned up. They have 14 days to pay before we can apply for an enforcement order (which we will probably have to do because BT seem incapable of running a professional business)

Just a quick update for you all on our progres with our dispute with BT. We had our hearing this morning at Small claims Court. BT filed their paperwork with the Court and told us they would be bringing an "expert witness", who we assumed would be the engineer who supposedly did the work. We received a telephone call from BT this morning at the office from a representative who said "Why are you disputing these charges"? They said that an engineer visited the office, demonstrated the fault to our director and repaired it. Upon checking the diary, it showed that he was in Spain on that day. They had no reply to this other than "Oh er...um...we'll check our facts". We told them it was a bit late in the day for negotiations as we were due in Court in an hour. They never even bothered to turn up. The business was awarded £1,200 plus costs. I am staggered at the ineptitude of BT. Not only that, they are deliberately dishonest and bullish. I wish we had an alternative but, due to our location, BT is the only choice.

My huband is taking BT to Court for billing him for an engineers visit to the exchange. They charged us a lot of money to fix a problem on their equipment and when we queried the charge and made an official complaint, they cut us off without warning. We initiated Court proceedings and BT Legal are preparing their defence. They had the cheek to ask us for a delay so they would have more time to prepare. We refused. I don't want to divulge too many details because of the legal proceedings but I'll post an update once we've had our day in court.

WE HAVE SUCCESS. 1st Credit replied to me today stating that they have removed the default against my husbands name. But (and this is the sticking point) they say that they have "opened an investigation" into the origin of the debt and they reserve the right to reinstate the default should it be necessary. I have now opened a case with the Ombudsman as this is totally out of order to leave it hanging over us like this. They said the debt refers to a Bank Account but can't tell us when it was opened or anything else about it. On some letters, they've spelt my husbands name wrong so they could easily have the wrong man. I'll not be happy until they send us written confirmation that they will go away and never bother us again. The woman at the FOS was very positive that we have a good case for that. I also notice that the CSA (who i'm complaining to about 1st Credit) calls CAG their "nemesis" - how cool is that? You annoy them that much. Every time I use CAG I will donate money to it so I can do my bit to make sure you carry on getting on the nerves of the entire credit industry.

Thanks for the advice guys. We have sent a letter to 1st Credit today via recorded delivery. We've asked them to remove the default within 10 days and we won't take further action. We've told them they must reply, inofrming us of their decision and, if they won't remove the default, we want details as to why. As a footnote to my letter, I wrote:- "I notice that the OFT issued 1st Credit with a severe reprimand in February 2009 for improper practices. 1st Credit, in response to this, vowed to improve their business practices and respond to customer complaints. I do hope that this was not just an empty gesture. I look forward to receiving your response in timely fashion". Fingers crossed that this will do the trick. Otherwise, we'll not let it rest until we sort it out. Will post an update.

My husband has had a torrid time with 1st Credit over many years after they chased him for a debt they say he owes with the Halifax. He's never had any dealings with the Halifax and has told them he thinks they've got the wrong man. Didn't matter to them - they bullied him relentless until he got the Ombudsmand involved and they suddenly admitted "Hey, we got no paperwork so we're dropping the matter". Recently, my husband applied for an overdraft and was refused, the bank say it's because of a default against his name issued by 1st Credit. It says 2006 on his current report but he got a copy of his credit report in 2008 and it didn't show up then so can it be applied with a date in the past? Anyway, this has the capacity to financially ruin us. We probably won't get the mortgage we need or a business loan. Can I get it removed? It seems like extortion to me. 1st Credit basically say "we don't care if we've got the wrong person, pay us £1500 or we'll financially ruin you". I want it gone - quick. Would we have a case for damages if we took it to Court? If anyone knows what to do, it's you lot.

just thought i'd post an update. We received a letter from Connaught Collections recently saying that they intended to issue a statutory demand and make us bankrupt. I sent an official letter of complaint to 1st credit, quoting our Ombudsman case number (as we've already opened a case with them about this). This morning we got a letter from 1st credit. It goes like this:- "Thank you for your letter. Our cllient, Halifax, Bank of Scotland has been unable to furnish us with the original credit agreement pursuant to your request. We have closed our files in relation to this debt but reserve the right to reopen our files should our client, in the future, provide the original agreement" We have written back saying that this is unacceptable and we want confirmation that no further action will ever be taken again. They've been threatening us for almost 3 years to recover this debt so we just want them to go away and never come back. If they won't write it off, we'll refer to the Ombudsman. I am almost positive that the Ombudsman would find in our favour. 1st Credit have treated us appalingly. I'll let you know what happens. Liz

I realise that I am one of many many people being harrassed by First Credit. My husband has been hassled by them for the last couple of years for a debt they say relates to the Bank of Scotland. He doesn't know what it is but says that he took out a number of credit cards when he was 17 so it may be one of those. He's now 32 so it was a long time ago. We keep asking for some supporting evidence and they keep ignoring us. They call all the time - lots of silent hang ups. We get about 2 letters a week - some from 1st Credit, some from LCS Solicitors and some from Bank of Scotland (they are all 1st Credit but they try and pretend they're all different organisations). The debt is £1300. We were chased a few years ago by a company called Logic for the same debt but it was only £617 then - we refused to pay and they said they wouldn't be taking it any further. We are so very fed up. First Credit have owned this debt for almost 2years. They take a little break from contact and then bombard us again probably hoping to wear us down. We've contacted the Ombudsman who has allocated a case number to us and written to First Credit telling them thay they must address our query within 2 weeks. Do they care? Seems not as we got a phone call yesterday. Someone asked my husband if they were speaking to the right person, he said yes and they hung up. How on earth do they manage to flout the Law with impunity? We've written to them one last time giving them one last chance to drop the matter but we're so mad that we want to pursue a Civil Action. Is there any leeway here? Is it worth it? We won't speak to them on the phone - we just hang up. What they do is tantamount to extortion. Scumbags. Will post an update asap.

Certainly will do. First Credit are the absolute **** of the earth. Words fail me as to how low they would sink to con people out of money. Thank God for this forum where people can find out that they've got support and help to tackle these bullies head on.

I am in the same position. My husband has been pestered for 4 years for a debt that he thinks relates to a credit card he applied for 10 years ago. He keeps refusing to pay, the debt gets "sold" to another cowboy company and the threats continue. currently, we are being harrassed by First credit for almost £1500. We're so fed up, we've complained to the financial Ombudsman, who has intervened on our behalf and ordered First Credit to prove we owe them money or to cease contact. Unsurprisingly, they are still phoning and sending letters so it looks like we'll have to go back to the Ombudsman to ask him to intervene again. These people seem to operate above the law with impunity. They threaten, bully and lie to try and force you to hand over cash. I regard their tactics as extortion. It makes me so mad that we're now considering taking them to court. They think that, by making your life a misery, you'll pay up just to make them go away.