And one more thing I forgot to mention, when you write to your solicitor, don't say or do anything which is leading - basically anything that could be construed to mean anything but what you actually mean - be as clear as possible. This is important if you respond to the solicitor, just keep to short sentences that make clear points, but nothing which is open and can be abused by the defendants legal advisor.

Hi Davishay You need to make sure you get everything in writing. Write a letter to them, or an email, and get a written response back. The company are liable because damage to your clothes is a breach of their duty of care in accordance with Caparro Industries vs Dickman: - Because they provide services by carrying on a business, to you the customer, and there is therefore neighbourhood in your relationship, one in which you place trust in the service provider. - Because damage to your clothes, in the operation of a business which deals in the clothing industry, and frequently ought to avoid such issues in providing reasonable quality of service, means that the service provider could have reasonably taken steps to avoid the damage to your clothes, the damage was therefore foreseeable and was a direct result of the conduct of the business. -It is fair and just to make this assertion, because they provide services to many customers, who receive a satisfactory service, and are in a position of trust, under the promise of payment. It is therefore entirely just to hold them liable for a breach of their duty of care, a civil tort which can be remedied by injunction or monetary damages. BUT, just because you can sue and win doesn't mean it would benefit you. If your clothes are expensive then maybe, but if they're worth a tenner it will cost you more money than you can recover by suing, to hold them accountable.

Hi crapstone I'm actually a public prosecutor, and deal with criminal offences, when I'm not on annual leave like today, and bored ****less. What I would say to you is: 1) You need to report this to the police really, as it involves a crime. If you have proof, make sure that the proof you have proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt or you'll embarrass yourself and the offenders might get wise and walk away. It is a crime because it is Fraud by Abuse of Position, contrary to the Fraud Act 2006 which is imprisonable upon conviction on indictment of not more than 10 years. If the evidence you have isn't good enough to start an investigation, they will likely not investigate it because it would not result in a successful prosecution. Even if they did investigate it, unless it meets the Full Code Test, the Crown Prosecution Service will not prosecute (a lot of cases this happens to be, believe me), this is why a lot of people get away with identity theft and other types of financial fraud like credit card fraud. If you can prove it to the police, then report this as a crime as soon as possible. 2) You should inform the licensing lottery company so that they can also investigate the offence. I think you should do the right thing so that you protect vulnerable persons like your parents, I think the police will prosecute as its probably been going on for a long time. They've probably made thousands from these illegal organised crimes for quite some time, and if they've raised money in excess of £5000, they'll be looking at a hefty prison sentence. Let me know your thoughts.

And that's because the local authority can't owe a duty of care to the world. People do trip up, but there has to be an unreasonable act, failing to properly observe reasonable safeguards that would cause a tortious breach of the local authority's duty of care. That is why they could not pursue it, because there has to be a defined scope where the local authority owe a duty of care, otherwise they would owe a duty of care to everyone in the world, which is unenforceable.

tali I am a public prosecutor, but have some advice which might help, always seek advice from CAB though and don't ever take internet advice as gospel. Essentially, no it isn't illegal, its just unfair. If this has affected you quite badly, you should refer this to the Office for Fair Trade. It is not a matter for litigation because no offences have been committed. As I'm sure your aware, tactics like these are often used by companies, particularly end-user services.

Hi 831badger I am a public prosecutor, so always seek advice from CAB as well when listening to my advice. This is a very serious issue. There are two options for you based on the fact you are getting married 1) you could pay it and put the matter behind you, or 2) dispute it and it could delay your wedding entirely. When a company gives a quotation, usually, unless it explicitly says different in their terms and conditions, they are bound by the quote when they issue a receipt for final settlement. They cannot change the cost once they have settled with the final settlement as it is by its very nature, final. If they made a mistake then that is their liability and not yours. They are not able to charge you extra unless you have waivered some aspects of this right in their Terms and Conditions. Generally though, adding costs would generally be seen as deception and at the least unfair. You would be best placed to advise the hotel chain that the final settlement (if itemised this will go to your advantage) has already been made and therefore no further charges can be added to that agreement unless a new agreement is made for a new service. I would ring them and tell them you dispute this request. It is then for you to decide whether you wish to pursue it further should they outright refuse.

Hi Bigbay21, 1) BT: If you connection to BT has been poor and routinely bad, it probably isn't in breach of your contract as BT will state that they don't guarantee connection quality. However, recently it has been treated differently if internet service providers fail to provide an internet connection (i.e. frequent connection drop or unavailability for unreasonable period such as an hour or more regularly). If this is so, just advise BT that if they wish to claim in the County Court, you will be proving breach of contract (if it is in breach of contract) and therefore you terminated the contract due to frustration of the terms (which is where one of the parties to a contract underperforms on the terms). They would probably not want to spend the money on the case, as it will cost far more to go down this road than what you owe, and cost recovery would be unlikely on their part so they likely won't pursue the debt. 2) The Debt Collectors: will try to get the debt for as long as they can before it becomes to expensive. A very nice trick with debt collections agencies is to advise them that to meet with you, you will be charging a £500 arrangement fee because you've had to change other more important arrangements, and that if they wish for documents, statements, or to have any type of direct discussion, you will further be charging a £300 administration fee for that as well. Tell them that because you have offered to meet with them at their expense to resolve the matter, if they continue to contact you they will be guilty of an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. If it gets to the point where you do get called to court, then get a sick note from your GP due to stress and show how much they have harassed you, causing ill health, when you have offered several options to BT and the Debt Collections Agency. The worst you could do is ignore them all together, as they will keep chasing you until you move house. Even then they could still find you (though recently this has been treated as illegal espionage). Let me know your thoughts.

Hi thehappytent I may have some useful advice for you below, I'm a public prosecutor and I've personally sued PayPal before, so I can probably help you out with some information on that: 1) PayPal is a financial intermediary so your bank would not be able to refund you directly for the missing money at first. Even if they did, you would then have a negative balance with PayPal. 2) Under Section 61 of the Payment Services Regulations 2009, PayPal are required to issue a refund once it has been proved that a fraudulent transaction was made as they are a 'payment services provider'. 3) You must follow PayPal's process, which leaves the seller 28 days or so to resolve the issue with your directly, and then PayPal usually gives them another 28 days after they have started looking at the claim where no response has been given, to see if they respond. If they don't then PayPal then fully assesses the merits of the claim and proceeds with recovery if the seller does not prove the transaction was not fraudulent. 4) If you paid with a card, at any point, then Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 applies and you have to get your card issuer to refund you by disputing the transaction (which requires 30 days to resolve it with PayPal before claiming). 5) PayPal are not in breach of the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme as they collected payment as apparently due, and it has not been proven to be fraudulent yet, so your bank do not have discretion yet. If PayPal refuse to resolve the issue, that does not change as PayPal is itself a registered bank and is therefore a financial intermediary between you, your bank and the seller. Your bank gets taken out of the equation most of the time because of this, unless you use a card to pay. You would therefore need to make your case to PayPal unless it is PayPal itself which has abused the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme (which I sued them for). 6) In essence, PayPal doesn't really have discretion as to refund, you simply need to wait it out. But in terms of your bank, there's not much they can do if it isn't a card payment. Fortunately, because you have contacted them, you have met with the terms of Clause 12 of their user agreement. 7) So don't worry, and keep in good communication with PayPal. Phone them for an update if you have to.

Hi snugs1235, I noticed your message on here this morning. I'm a public prosecutor, so I don't spend much time in the County Court track, but I think I might have some useful advice for you. The solicitor, in a shorter way consideration, is essentially trying to reach an out-of-court settlement with you. The reason, for arguments sake, you don't actually know. County Courts know that the claimant and the defendants are not legal experts, so any legal advice will usually come from the judge if you need it. Essentially, in the County Court, the judge will assess the merits of the facts of the case. If I've read this thread correctly, you took your landlord to court over an issue of disrepair. Generally, if the judge has already been satisfied by your evidence before, its more likely than not that you will win again, as the judge is there in the County Court to assess the merits of the facts and not the legal technicalities. If there are technical problems, that is grounds for appeal, which would actually mean the case would go to High Court or the Court of Appeal. Generally, this isn't an issue that needs to be heard in those courts, which is why the judge had to give your landlord a 'fair shot' at the case when in all likelihood his solicitor found a way to delay the eventual judgement and intimidate you into settlement. There are some things your should be aware of though. You should write to respond to this solicitor, to say that you would like to decline and why (because it doesn't resolve the disrepair, etc), otherwise the landlord could construe that you are simply seeking compensation rather than trying to solve the issue, and that you haven't tried to settle the issue out of court - that could go against you, always keep communications channels open in matters like this, but keep your points dominant. The solicitor can't really argue with the fact that settlement would not resolve the problem, you should be asking for an agreement that the repair will be performed and that no costs will be claimed against you. This will show the judge that what you're really trying to do is sort the problem out. Technically, the solicitor hasn't done anything wrong, in fact in court she would be seen as approaching you for an out-of-court settlement, this is why she has said that the landlord will present it at the costs hearing, because he could reasonably incur the costs against you even if you win if you don't respond. This is why it is important that you don't make yourself look like the ******* (not that you are really in the wrong of course), its just that the judge can only a) interpret law and b) apply it, and in County Court they take into account that there are no solicitors or barristers representing. If you don't give him as many points as your possibly can, then you will lose - the same applies to your landlord. The advantage in this court is that although the law is applied, a lot more moral considerations are made than in higher courts, for example the facts the you and your landlord are in a relationship of mutual trust. These are some points you can make in court (though I haven't reviewed your case, so don't take them as gospel, go to CAB as well): - That you and your landlord are in a relationship of mutual trust. - That you paid your rent as due in accordance with your assured shorthold tenancy, and that rent payments were never late or underpaid. - Again explain the story to the judge as if he's never heard it before about when you notice the disrepair, what problems it posed, health problems etc, and that living conditions were unsatisfactory and to your knowledge, against Health and Safety Regulations, and if related to Electrical or Gas problems, the Regulations for each type of problem. Show pictures, sicknotes, opinions for electricians, gas engineers, health and safety officers from your local authority. - You have tried to resolve the matter out of court (show your communication with the solicitor), but the landlord insists on not performing repairs. You have said you are getting a surveyor, and pictures. - That it has been very expensive to you, and has caused debt and detriment (proof accordingly). - That your landlord has abused his position of trust (this will be the winning point as this is and important law, your landlord is a fiduciary which means he has the highest duty of care towards you, exactly the same as a doctor would to be technically correct). - That you would therefore like to claim the costs of repair yourself (include your existing breakdown with new costs), and would like the landlord to be made aware of his legal responsibilities. With no disrespect to other forum members, I wouldn't waste your time quoting cases as there is a technique to presenting cases to judges and there is a certain accepted way of interpreting binding precedents. In my legal opinion, even if you did apply those cases in court and you were competent to do so, the judge would distinguish the cases because the facts ARE different than your case even though they are very closely similar - this is because they don't make important points of law that the judge wouldn't have already considered. Please don't go up there on the stand trying to be a solicitor, make your points instead and make your points more valid than those of your landlord. He won't win, be confident in your case and the plights you have to make, and simply tell the judge what has happened, let him apply the law. I would appreciate it if you let me know how you got on in court