Turned 2 cheques down now, got my court date for early April and not heard from Cobbetts since my last letter dated end of January turning down the second cheque again. Time is running out for one or both of us !. Nerves of steel. Looking forward to my day in court.

After sending my letter I have today received my notice of allocation to the small claims track (hearing) in April. Does this mean that Cobbets will now do nothing until the week before ?. Quite funny though as my name is correct on all documentation except for the Order from the courts where they spelt my name wrong !. Is it just a case of sitting and waiting further now, or do Cobbets start to pay out when we get to this stage ?. Rgds Alex * I also have two friends on the trail of Natwest following my adventures, and between them they have over £5k of charges to claim back. Snowball effect continues !

Letter sent ! Keep the faith.

Hi Michael, Thanks for your feedback. Yep that is what I believe, and therefore I would be a hypocrit to take the money and run. I am in for the long haul and will stick to my guns. Cheers Alex;)

Hi Anyone, Would really appreciate some consumer support here ?. I am doing the right thing yes in turning this latest offer down given my circumstances of the 15 x claims that are in year 7 ?. Cheers Alex

Can you believe my parents tried to sign up to BT Broadband but were put through to an Indian call centre. Having been with BT since the yeard dot, and assuming as they are the brand name they must be best they wouldn't consider my recommendation of Utility Warehouse who I was using. When speaking with India about this, my mother was asked if she was sure she was with BT as they couldn't find her !!. After 10 or more minutes of pain staking conversation, she told them where to put broadband if they could not even see she had been with BT for over 25 years !. Finally glad she took my advice and I signed her up to UW, for which she has now been extremely happy. I also had massive headaches with NTL, and only because I had a friend in the office could I get my account resolved !. Not what you want really.

Hi Westy, They must read this thread because low and behold a letter through this weekend with a cheque for £273.98 as long as I withdraw my claim !. That barely covers the court fee of £120. Given my claim has been made on 15 entries that were in the 7th year, am I right to reply that this is unacceptable and hold out for my £711 ?. They have even put on the cheque my name payable into account (then my old natwest account no) which I no longer have and cancelled about 8 months ago !. Hopefully light at the end of the tunnel. Alex

Hi All, Well christmas has come and gone, and still nothing from the courts ! The last I heard was from Cobblers when they stated they had filed the defence. Do I still sit and wait to hear from the courts ?. When are Natwest likely to make an improved offer ?. Getting impatient now with the waiting nut hopefully I shall hear something soon. Alex

Great thanks Deller, I will look forward to some good news in the New Year then all being well !. Have a great xmas too.

Hi Alan, Many thanks for this that is brilliant, and I promise to stick to this thread !. Have a great xmas too. Just received my latest letter from Cobbetts this morning in the post and it states the following:- 'We refer to the above matter and enclose a copy of our clients Allocation Questionnaire which has today been filed at court'. Ok what to I do now ?. The last thing I did was turn down the offer of £160 from Natwest but say I would accept that as an interim payment, and then they have come back with this. This is literally there copy of the form that was filed to court on 20th Dec. I welcome your advices out there on how I need to proceed from this, bearing in mind my issue with the first 15 entries as detailed a little earlier in this thread. Rgds Alex

Hi Deller, Sorry I did try to reply to my last post thinking it would go to the top of the threads again, but it didn't seem to hence my latest post. My claim was for £720 plus £300 of interest charges, so I had to pay a £120 court fee. In hindsight 15 of my claims which were in 2000 totalled approx. £500 of my £720 !. I then got this advice from Westy, which I followed up with a letter to Cobblers stating I would accept £160 as an interim payment. No, don't worry about the 15 entries. Write back to them rejecting the offer and accepting the £160 as an interim settlement only. They will withdraw the offer. Include in your letter something along the lines of the following. "You have stated in your letter that NatWest will not consider any claim over six years old, alleging that it is time barred under the Limitations Act 1980. I shall be claiming, under S.32 (1) (b) and © LA 1980 that NatWest has knowingly concealed the unlawful nature of its charges from its customers, and I was not aware of this fact until the last few months - nor could I, as a layperson, be expected to be so aware. I am therefore giving you this opportunity to reconsider your decision not to refund charges extending back beyond 30 October 2000." FYI - S.32(1)(b) relates to concealment of facts leading to the cause of action rather than concealment that the charges were unlawful. So you would need to establish that they concealed the the true cost of the services they were providing in relation to your breaches - and their standard 'our charges are fair, clear and transparent' sentence is probably an enormous help in doing so. Hope that helps. If it does, click the scales! Westy I sent this letter on 8th Dec. and have heard nothing further. Do I wait ? Contact the courts ?. Cheers Alex

I received a letter on 8th Dec. stating that they would offer me just £160 and saying that as my first 15 entries were older than 6 years these would not stand up. Somebody kindly sent me advice on how to respond which I have done claiming that I am not a layman etc and stating that I would accept the £160 as partial payment. I have not heard anything further from Cobblers. Can I contact the courts now to progress ?. Even without my first 15 entries I am owed £200 plus my £120 court fees. Cheers Alex

Ok I followed up with my letter on 8th Dec. but have not heard further from Natwest yet. How long is it likely before they reply to me ?. Should I contact the courst again to set the wheels in motion ?. I want my money...................

Brilliant I guessed not but thought I should check. Thanks, letter on the way !!. Alex

Westy, Do I need to include 'Withour Prejudice' on my reply letter ? Cheers Alex

Thanks Westy for the speedy response and this is indeed a great help. Rgds Alex

I submitted my claim for charges made between 13th April 2000 and 4th November 2005, however my MCOL did not start until 30th October 2006. I have had a letter from Natwest today offering me £160 and stating that I can only claim for the period of the last 6 years which would exclude 15 of my entries. The remaining total is therefore only approx. £150 of exceeded charges, and yet I have paid my £120 court fee also. What should I do ? Accept the offer or do I have any other form of recourse for these 15 charges from 13th April 00 to 29th Sept 00 ?. Some help would be appreciated. Thanks Alex

I can expect an offer of 50% then can I !! Looks like it may be Jan before I get my money now, but I can sit and wait. :)

Thanks lively lad, That feedback is excellent. Everyone who knows what I am doing think I am mad, but I tell you what they are all watching closely and if and when I get my money, I can see a lot of them also jumping onboard !. Thanks again. Regards Alex

Hi All, I received my letter from Cobblers dead on the deadline date as expected and the usual CPR Part 18 letter, which I did not complete as my claim is for just £1,200 in total. I sent the template letter back from this excellent site on Monday, but received a letter from the courts yesterday confirming that my case has been transferred to a local court to me. Also enclosed was an additional questionnaire form (small claims track). Do I need to complete this and send back to the courts ?. I am guessing so. Have come so far now I don't want to make any mistakes, as I can smell the money coming back to me. If somebody could give me a brief summary of what is likely to happen now, once I complete and return the AQ and having sent a response to Cobblers refusing the CPR Part 18. Thanks as ever for all of the help, and I hope to contribute my 5% on winning !. Rgds Alex

I filed my claim against Natwest on 30th Oct, and I noticed on MCOL that it was showing as date processed 4th November. This then gave Natwest 14 days to 18th November to respond/file I think. Presumably they now have a further 14 days from 18th Nov, ie. 2nd December to defend ?. Not heard anything from Coblers yet apart from a letter from courts confirming they filed to defend. Alex

Hi, Not sure if another part of this forum addresses this, however I guess lots of other people have had problems with there Gas/Electric/Phone company etc, so wondered if these were issues you faced ? 1. Have been with British Gas, Powergen and Atlantic in recent years, and all have been an absolute mere to deal with. Went with Atlantic for first month, then second bill got one from Powergen again. Apparently they wrote to Atlantic saying I was coming back , and Atlantic just accepted it ! 2. Every bill was ESTIMATED so paying much more than I should have been, despite a guy taking regular readings. 3. Quarteryly bills that made it much more difficult to budget. 4. NTL wound me up majorly with my broadband falling over, and also my home phone being down for days on about 3 occassions. What did I do ? I phoned several other companies and was recommended to both Scottish Power and a company called Utility Warehouse who I had never heard of. Spoke with Scottish Power about UW and they confirmed they were very competitive and they could not beat, but had heard one bad thing about them. If you phone TV show lines then they can be expensive....lol WHAT ?. So I gave them a try and I must say they have been brilliant. Now have my broadband, phone, gas and electric with them. I pay monthly on one easy to read A5 bill. I can email my readings at the end of each month, so I pay for what I use. My grandparents were paying £220 per quarter with B.Gas for Gas/Elec, and I recommended UW to them and they pay less per month than with BG and just received a credit for £105 despite paying less for the first quarter !!. You can also try the services they have to offer if you are unhappy where you are. This is my site and I get a small commission for anyone signing up. Others could also sign up if interested but will leave that with you. Please note I am in no way using this forum to plug myself, but just sharing my experience of this great company and if others can benefit too then great. [Commercial link removed] Anyway on with claiming my moneys back from Natwest and Capital One now !!. Rgds Alex

Had my notice of acknowledgment of service filed today from the courts. It shows Cobblers have ticked box 1 'I intend to defend all of this claim'. Presumably as the 28 days runs from 4th Nov. when my claim was filed, that I will get the delaying tactics, or part offer letters now ?. I am going all the way, so if they are reading this then save the postage, paperwork and general admin. and pay up, as I am not going to be scared away whatsoever. Hopefully should get my dues in time for xmas !.

After filing my first claim to Natwest, I have just received my statements from Capital One. I have been looking through my statements and have a number of late payment fees of £18 and £20. Can I claim for all of these back ?. Also I get two finance charges levied each month, shown as Special purchases interest and purchase interest charges. Purchase interest is shown as 0.873% and special rate as 0.638%. Which level of interest can I claim ?. Sorry if I am a little vague on my Cap one statements, but quite different from my Natwest fees and statements. Thanks Alex

Yes will do Deller. I can see from your dates that it was about 3 dates from the claim being filed to being acknowledged. Will be glad to get the first one out of the way so that it makes it much easier to understand the protocol for getting after Capital One. Thanks for your advice. Rgds Alex