Hello Thank you for your replies. I am at work at the moment so cannot advise you of the particulars at the but will post as soon as I get home. I think that I will acknowledge the claim tonight as well, just in case it is not dropped. I do not see how they can possibly proceed after sending me an email stating my account balance is nil, but the people I have spoken to previously are of very limited intelligence so would not be surprised! A lady from Oli called me at home yesterday whilst I was at work and left a message saying she would write to me, no direct contact details were left. I tried phoning their Cust Servs Dept and got nowhere, the woman I spoke to had no record of me being contacted. I am so angry with them - and with myself because I am even considering paying what they are asking just to ensure I do not end up with a CCJ! MOTA have said they will chase them today for a response to my complaint. I do owe some of the balance they are claiming but I have told them time and time again that I would not make a payment until they provide me with a correct statement. On these grounds I don't think I can file a full defence but perhaps you could advise me? I definitely don't think I should be liable for court fees. The amount that I owe is minimal (approx £130) and I have the funds to pay it in full, I just refused to until they got their act together and charges me correctly. They failed to do this even when assuring me in writing it had been sorted out. Now court fees etc have been added I wish I had just paid. A £12 reminder fee and a few quid interest would have worked out much cheaper. Thanks again. Kate

Hello Firstly can I say just how wonderful this forum is. I quite often come across peoples posts when googling something and think that the support and knowledge that so many people provide here is just amazing. Now it’s my turn to post! I have been sent claim forms, requested by DCA Weightmans on behalf of a company called Oli, who I have recently learned is part of Freemans. Basically I ordered many items from them nearly a year ago now. Most of the items were returned due to their poor quality. My next statement reflected this but showed one of the returned items as outstanding. The item being the most expensive item (a pair of trousers in totally the wrong size). I need to point out that a courier collected the returns and that they were all together in 1 package. I called their Customer Services Dept to query this and they said I would have to provide proof of return and fill in a form which they would send me. No form arrived. After a while I received a call from their collections dept, I advised the caller that the reason I had not paid was that my statement balance was incorrect and that I had been promised a returns form. He said he would arrange for Customer Services to contact me. They didn't. Anyway I called again and advised whoever I spoke to that I still was waiting for a returns form and that no payment would be made until I was sent a statement with a correct balance and that nor would I pay any interest incurred because of their incompetence. He sent me a form which I received! I completed this and returned it and heard nothing at all. I probably should have chased them again sooner than I did but I was pretty poorly and trying to hold my job whilst travelling back and forth to hospital appts. I tried corresponding by email but their email team are even worse than their call centre staff, unbelievably rude and not very bright. They sent me another returns form, which I scanned and returned by post and by email. I also wrote a letter marked FAO Head of Customer Services detailing my complaint. Magically I received a response advising that she had removed all unwarranted charges as well as the balance of the trousers and that my next statement would reflect my correct balance but to contact again if I had any problems. So I waited for my next statement and yes she had removed the balance of the trousers as well as some of the interest charges and reminder fees. However, the statement also advised that I had been charged another default fee and that they had started collection proceedings. I immediately phoned to dispute this but got nowhere with their Cust Serv Dept so wrote another letter. All I got in response was obviously a standard template letter they send in response to people who complain about reminder fees. I sent another letter telling them to read my original letter properly and advising that I expect a proper response but heard nothing. The next thing I received was a letter from Weightmans advising that their client had instructed them to file for a CCJ if immediate payment was not made. I emailed Oli directly and told them that I would defend if they did because as far as I am concerned the balance is incorrect and as the account is in dispute they should not have passed my account to a DCA. No reply after a week except an auto response saying I would be contacted within 48 hours. I forwarded this and CCd their regulator MOTA and got the following response; > Dear Kate > > Thank you for your email. > > Your previous email was passed on to the appropriate department who will respond to you shortly. > > Meanwhile, we can confirm that the current balance on your account is nil. > > Kind Regards > > Karen > Oli Customer Services Sill have not received the response promised, all I have received are court papers! Do you think I have grounds to defend or should I just pay them off? Sorry for the long post - wanted to make sure I gave all info. Any help would be much appreciated. I should add that MOTA have taken over my complaint with Oli but have advised that they allow 6-8 weeks for a company to respond. My court papers are dated 6/08/09 so by then they would have got judgement by default if I do not respond. Kind regards Kate