Who were the organisers of the raffle? What cause or organisation was the raffle in aid of? I'm not aware of recent case law but I expect these kinds of questions have come up a lot with the huge increase in online gambling et cetera. Personally I have always thought that the notion of "intention to create legal relations" is a fairly dated idea and although I'm sure it does have relevance nowadays, I'm pretty certain that it is a concept which is easy to overcome. If this raffle was clearly held by some nonprofit organisation for a cause like your local school and it was basically being run by parents and pupils then I think the tenancy would be to say that there might not have been any intention to create legal relations. If this is an organisation where the people who run it are being paid salaries for running the organisation and also running the raffle – and also if the raffle is not directed simply as a pretty small defined groups such as the parents and children at a school, then my tenancy would be to say that it is a binding contract. So a couple more answers please

Probably replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. <<<< follow the link

Don't forget you will have to send them a letter of claim

Well I suppose that you will need to keep it as minimal as possible. Something like How would that be for a starting point?

If you have sent the SAR to the water company by email, it would probably be a good idea to send a copy by letter as well. If you have only just sent them the email then don't forget that it is a bank holiday today. What I don't understand so far is why they should have identified you as the responsible party. If this is clearly an error on their part then they will have to absorb all the costs. If it is an error on your part that I'm afraid that you may be liable. Can you try to explain carefully why it is that they have you down is the responsible party. Also, is the actual water bill – substantive part not the collection costs – has that now been paid?

Please give more details about the collection agency. You say that you are able to get something in writing from your ex-partner that you are not responsible. I suggest that you get that immediately. Is your ex-partner prepared to take responsibility for the debt? The jump from £890-£3200 sounds enormous and it sounds to me as if they must've moved this up to the High Court for enforcement. You will get more specialised help soon – but in the meantime send the water company an SAR and get the statement from your ex-partner.

Also, without wishing too much to wake up this discussion once again, the above quote is quite wrong. It would be correct if it said:- So to summarise, the burden of proof is on the dealer to show that the defect was not there – certainly within the first six months. Furthermore, if there is a defect, than the quality/severity of the defect is not relevant. It entitles you to your right to reject within 30 days or your right to reject after a failed repair during six months. Only after six months do the normal common law rules of contract come in play. But even then, it is not a question of proving or disproving a defect. It is simply a question of showing that you have not had satisfactory service/quality from the item for a reasonably expected period of time. I would certainly agree that these are very heavy burdens/responsibilities for any dealer. But this is what consumer-facing legislation is all about. It's all about consumer protection and the reason for it is that if you place the burden upon the dealer then it creates a huge incentive upon the dealer to be careful or if the dealer has to source his goods from a manufacturer then it puts pressure on the dealer to put pressure on the manufacturer to make sure that goods are of a sufficient quality. As far as I'm concerned, this is good social planning – and we all benefit – including the car dealer when that car dealer goes off to buy other things such as computers, telephones, music systems, televisions, and even their own vehicle. It encourages quality control at source – and this is highly desirable and is only achievable by having this kind of consumer legislation.

In addition to the above question, could you please tell us which water company you are dealing with. You will need to get the judgement set aside. From what you say, you should have actually no difficulty at all. However you will need to pay a fee for the set-aside application and I'm afraid that you will probably have to bear the cost of this in the end or maybe get your ex partner to bear the cost - unless you can show that they were in error in identifying you as the responsible party. You should contact the water company and send them an SAR. You should also contact the court and asked them for a copy of any documents they have got including a copy of the judgement. Ask them to email them to you. The basis for getting a set-aside is that you didn't receive the claim documents and also that you have a reasonable chance of success if you are permitted to defend the claim. From what you say, there should be no problem showing either of these to be true. In particular you say that you can get a letter from your ex partner confirming that you are not the responsible person. Frankly you should be able to contact the water company and put this to them and I can't imagine why they wouldn't be prepared to consent. Water companies are not particularly aggressive and they simply want to get their money and then out to get you as are many debt collection companies. Please answer the questions that have been put to you.

We will have a look at your story and try to give you some advice. However, it is very difficult to read a solid block of text in the way that you have presented it. Please will you present your story spaced and punctuated. It makes it much easier for people to follow and they will be much more likely to give you the advice that you are looking for

Personally I would suggest that we might examine the possibility of you getting your refund and then proceeding arteries to get the outstanding money. There is a principle in law that payment of a lesser sum cannot be satisfaction for a greater debt. There are exceptions to this rule – but the general rule is a very well established principle. I think it might be better not saying anything to the dealer about any outstanding sums - although it may be rather late because I gather that you may already have sent a letter to the dealer. Get your refund and then come back here.

Thanks for updating us. Of course you could claim those other losses – but maybe it's better not to rock the boat. Anyway, well done. It shows that it is worth standing your ground

Yes, I think it's time to move on from this discussion now and take the action that you think is necessary and that you are prepared to go along with.

Okay. I was just wondering whether there had been some repayment plan in place. Apparently not. In that case, it's up to you when to send them a letter of action and how much time to give them.

You are paying what you use – so you aren't paying any of the arrears? So what is the position on the arrears?

Okay. I don't really know what else we can usefully say here. I think you have to make a decision as to are you going to sue them? Do you want to enter into some initial discussions with them about this? If so then how long you want those discussions to last before you give up and send them a letter of claim? Do you simply want to send them a letter of claim now? Are you still receiving regular demands from them at the moment? Are you in some kind of payment plan at the moment? I suppose that you could write to them and say to them that you've been reviewing the situation and that you now realise that the back billing rules should have applied and they haven't applied them and therefore you consider that you have overpaid to the tune of XXX pounds and you want it back. Then if you don't hear from them within 14 days – you can issue your letter of claim. I think it's up to you now to decide how aggressively you want to deal with this and how quickly you want to move it forward