I am a small independent skincare maker. I purchased the service of MyHermes to collect and deliver 4 parcels of wholesale skincare goods to a stockist, and 3 were lost. * 2 parcels had their last scan at the Hermes depot Jun 1st '18, and haven't been seen since. * 1 parcel made it to the destination OK. * 1 parcel was said to have been delivered but was never received, and at some point I was told the delivery scan happened on the other side of town to where the parcel was supposed to go. MyHermes say they've conducted multiple sweeps of the warehouse and can't find them, and have offered me £50 only as a 'good will gesture', which is insulting. I have taken the case through the small claims procedure and it’s been moved from different courts/online to court / different judges etc, and finally now there is a hearing date. I was hoping to settle this without a hearing as I don’t have a lawyer. Hermes claim as the contents is liquids they don’t cover them in their terms. I labelled the boxes as ‘Skincare’ and they took them anyway. And it’s beside the point what the contents were since the boxes were lost/stolen. I'm claiming for the wholesale price of these goods. The case is for around £4,600 including the court costs. I have to pay another £355 hearing fee now, on top of the few hundred I’ve already paid to make the small claims case. Do I continue? Can I go to a hearing without a lawyer and be successful? Do I have any chance? I’m just so sick of all this. I have only a few days (until the 8th March) to pay the hearing fee so I need to decide ASAP whether this is worth it. I would so so appreciate some help or support from someone who knows much more about this than me!

I am taking a builder to the small claims court who breached an agreement arranged by Trustatrader who were useless. I did the application on line and there was only a small section that allowed me to briefly describe my claim. He has been served and I have received a Notice of issue so he has until 27th March to reply. I have seen there is a N1 claim form that seems to have more space to state the claim and you can send extra pages if necessary, this seems to be a postal application. My question is what happens now? He is claiming he is now out of work because he has been removed from the above advertising site so I am unlikely to get anything out of him anyway but I shall give it ago. I have reams of evidence against him from a week in when he decided to walk away and refuse contact with me. There was also a situation that could have killed or seriously injured someone and I have pictorial evidence. When do I get to state all this as I understand your case in some instances can be strong enough for there to be a judgement without a hearing. He has already admitted liability from emails sent and the fact that he signed an agreement to pay me. I know not to contact the court as they don't give out any advice and have tried getting through to Citizens Advice. I think he will defend his case in order to get a judgement that will allow him to pay over several years at least that's what he said in an email. I want to get over in writing before any hearing what this builder did to me and the extra debt I found my self in, not to mention the stress. I also don't want to arrive at a hearing and have to go over it I would rather it was there in black and white so I can have a clear mind to answer any issues that may arise. Any advice greatly appreciated

I am based in Scotland. I broke my Samsung Tablet in a fall and arranged online with an English company - Fone Angels - for its repair. I paid them £200 by PayPal and sent them the item. I was informed the repair would take 7-14 days. This was in December. It's now March 13th. Their customer serve phone line take you through to a recorded message and does not itself record incoming calls. When I try to email them, I receive vague and non-specific information about my item. I wish to raise an action in the small claims court for the return of the item and the funds I have sent them. My question is: do I raise an action in the small claims court of Edinburgh (where I am and where I made the contract) or in Rickmansworth (where this company is based?)

We are british, living in France, being diddled by a uk car hire company (trustpilot rating 0.5/5!) for a rental when we were in UK. Using a UK credit card. We are using resolver.co.uk (which is good) as are the company. But it keeps going on, they keep charging semi-random amounts on the card which we have to get frozen and so on. It really has been a considerable amount of trouble by now. We've got the "bill" down from £1450 to £85, so we are making progress. They are only claiming now for a valet charge which is baloney. Can I use the uk small claims court procedure without having to attend? Should I? Is there some better alternative (like getting a hearing in France would be handy). Is it correct the claim would have to be restricted to the £85 plus actual expenses, nothing for hassle and distress and time spent? Thanks

Hi all, wondering if anyone can help - I originally posted on another forum where I got some advice but not getting any replies to help take this forward. my wife has an old debt to Welcome Finance for a personal loan. She became ill, and disabled, whilst repaying the loan and had to stop working. She agreed a repayment plan initially but then her benefits were frozen for a while and she could no longer pay so welcome passed the debt to Cabot Financial. Cabot haven't even tried to make any contact for about 2 years - then suddenly started court proceedings last month. Based on figures my wife says she's already paid a lot of the loan back - but the amount they're claiming doesn't tie up with anything she has and there's no statements from Welcome been received in years. when we got the claims form we acknowledged, and requested a copy of the credit agreement, notice of assignment and default notices under CPR 31.14 (referenced in the claim particulars) from Shoosmiths (the solicitors Cabot instructed). Despite this going by recorded mail they've not responded (nearly 3 weeks) at all. Meanwhile we also requested the agreements and notice of assignment from Cabot - who responded to say they don't have it and have requested it from Welcome, but may take 40 days over it. Tomorrow is the due date for a defence to be filed. I'm lost as to how to handle it - we can't accept the claim without any proof of the amounts involved. Any thoughts appreciated as to how best respond?

Hello all, I have filed a MCOL against my old landlord for four weeks' rent. I was claiming HB, then began full time work, and thus became entitled to a HB run on payment. I have proof from the council that this was paid to the landlord, albeit after I paid my last rent. So, because I was up to date on the rent to the day that I left, and he also received 4 weeks' housing benefit run on, he was effectively paid twice for the same month's rent. This has been going on now for a year. I have sent over a dozen calls/letters/emails and received either no response or 'I'll call you back' (never did). Only when receiving the court documents did they actually phone me up and say there was a cheque for the original amount *roll eyes* However, I calculated the interest owed and it's £38. Plus I have already paid £35 in fees. All the stress that this has caused me makes me unwilling to give up (potentially) £73. But then if it goes to court, I could get nothing and have paid even more! So, what would happen if I accept the cheque now but carry on court proceedings for the remaining £73? Is there a way to ammend it to show I've received partial payment of the debt? I have got in writing from them that they have the cheque for the original amount. Would this count in court as admission of guilt evidence? And would a court take into account that they have prolonged this process and never once offered to settle it, even though we have provided them with evidence months ago? Obviously I know I have done this in the wrong order, but now I am panicking I don't have a valid claim. Does anyone have any insight into the likelihood of my claim being awarded? Also, I assume when I pick up the cheque they'll want me to sign to say that upon receipt of this cheque, I'll discontinue court proceedings. What should I do then? I've tried the Property Ombudsman but they are not TRO listed. All your help would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Hi I was wondering is someone might be able to give me some advice about our landlord's failure to provide us with the prescribed information and them seeking to deduct £100 from our deposit which is held with DPS. I will try to keep this brief. My partner and I rented a property from private landlords. We had an assured shorthold tenancy. 3 weeks before the tenancy was due to expire, they gave us notice to leave at the end of the tenancy as they wanted to sell the property. We pointed out they had to give 2 months notice, they didn't provie a full 2 months and didn't give us proper notice but we let it slip as we didn't want the hassle and just wanted to leave. We left 10 days ago. The landlords mum completed the inventory. She noticed a dent at the bottom of the washing machine. We wrote to the LL after we left to confirm we think the dent has always been there. They said they are going to deduct £100 for the dent and everything else was in order. We disputed this - it is wear and tear and has not affected the working order of the machine. They told us they are seeking to sell the machine and will make a loss. Whilst doing some research, it came to our attention that we've not been provided with the prescribed information relating to our deposit. We wrote to the LL accordingly. They ignored us. We chased, they've come back and said if we agree to them taking £100 they will release the remainder of our deposit. We wrote to them again clearly explaining that failure to provide the prescribed information is failure to comply with the law and we are entitled to seek the return of our deposit in full and 1-3 times compensation. They have now responded saying they have released all but £100 of our deposit and have requested ADR through DPS. My question is - can I send a letter before action and accept ADR at the same time? I am intending to say if they give us the remaining £100 then we will not take further legal action but I don't want to end up in a sitution where I start ADR and can't seek legal redress for their failure to provide the prescribed information. Sorry that was much longer than intended. Any advice would be greatly welcomed!

Hi all! Long time lurker. Quite a complex issue so apologies about the length of this post. Back when my nephew was born my brother and his partner set up two bank accounts - a joint account and a single person account ( my brothers partner) - meant for paying for stuff for my nephew, etc. They were never married. All well and good until they split. My brothers ex partner is now making life difficult for my brother to get access to the second account - there was a not-unconsiderable amount of money in this, including birthday/christmas money from other relatives, etc. There should be no reason for any money to have left this account since my brother moved out of his ex partners home - we do question whether she has used the money for other purposes and is now attempting to hide the fact. We've tried communicating with her since however it's slow going and it seems very much like she's making it difficult. Some money was paid in by cheque so I imagine it should be able to be traced back to which account it came from. First question: Does this fall under small claims court, criminal law (theft - permanent deprivation?), or neither? Second question: If it's small claims court territory can we start a claim against his ex partner to force disclosure of statements and splitting of funds (So what he has paid in he gets back, what she paid in she gets back)? Thanks guys, Al

Hi All I followed an old post on here regarding the above company Mkdp ,who had been chasing an old debt for HSBC. I know the debt is over the 6 year statute time limit and anyway basically ended up with a ccj form from Northampton (CCBC) , which I replied to the acknowledgement of service and following another thread on here (Stokes v Mkdp) asked Mkdp to furnish me with the details of the debt etc, so I could enter a defence of the claim. Mkdp eventually just before the 28 day deadline replied saying they did not have the details at the moment and would need to get them from HSBC,and this would take at least 8 weeks to obtain. I entered this in my defence and informed the court they had failed to provide them and that without them I couldn't make any decisions on the debt(again using a template from here). I have now received a notice of proposed Allocation to small claims Track and a request to fill out a directions questionaire and it must be returned by 30th April 2014. the letter states 1.this is now a defended claim. 2. it appears this case is suitable for allocation to the small claims track. if you believe that this track is not the appropriate track for the claim, you must complete box c1 on the SC DQ(N180) and explain why. 3.you must file it with the court office by 30th April (and serve on all other parties) At this point my main questions I need help on are, Am I better to agree to the small claims track as to reject it? and do i just fill the form in and send to the court?and what about the (serve copies on all other parties) ?does this mean I photocopy the completed form and send it to Mkdp and to my local court? Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give on the subject. Bruce

I was taken to small claims court and I lost, the reason that I lost was that the claimant lied in court and the judge completely ignored my evidences and witness statement, also the claimant in question was my former tutor and I got some advice from a solicitor friend and the solicitor says that the judge was bias to the teacher and automatically believe in the words of a retired tutor and ignored the students side of the story, so at the end of the hearing I asked the judge for an appeal. She asked why and I then said that the tutor made false allegation and she did not present any proof to her allegations and the judge refused my appeal and said that I have to ask permission from another court and that I have to pay what I owe, so basically the solicitor said for me to forget about because will ended too costly and a judge will not grant us a permission to appeal because that means going against another judges opinion and I only have 21 days to appeal and before appealing I have to ask permission from the court to appeal and time is against me. So I was given 14 days to pay and I said to the judge I’m unemployed and I do not received any benefits and she simply ignored and said well you have to search online at the small claims website. So now my question is how can I get out of this situation without paying my ex tutor because she lied, so she does not deserve the money? The woman in question took me and my friend to court and my friend is employed and will be able to pay her even thou we both agreed that were stitched up by the teacher, but my friend has a mortgage and cannot have a CCJ, on my case I’m unemployed and I absolutely do not want pay this teacher back, I much rather take the money when I have and give to charity. The only reason the teacher won in court was because she lied and she told the judge that at the time she was a retired teacher working for free foe the University and she never mentioned to the judge or to the court that besides her retirement from teaching she is owns a investment company and she is the director of the company. In court she played the poor pensioner and the money that she’s allegedly say that we owe was for accommodation costs for a field trip to a foreigner country, when we were promised by her that in regards of food and accommodation costs we will not be spending a penny because we’ll be taken care by a the association that we went to work for, but when we arrived there the teacher denied everything and everything that she promised was a lied and she paid and said that we would sort it out once we are back. In court she said that we arrived in a foreign country without money and she said that we were offered free accommodation but refused and asked to be taken to the hotel, so the judge thought that we were taking advantage of this 66 year old lady and ordered us to pay the now £254,00 Without the permission to appeal and completely ignored mine and the other defendants evidences and a signed document accepting our staying for free at the charity association. Plus 3 days before our hearing the teacher contacted my witness and said for them to change their statement otherwise she will drag them to court and the judge completely ignore the fact that the teacher blackmailed the other students and she also asked them to write a statement in her favour. I'm a very honest person and I believe in honesty but the tutor made so many false allegation, she even said that we all have criminal records and I asked the judge to ask for proof of that because myself and the other defendant do not have any criminal records and amongst other lies in which she has no proof to what she’s alleging, but guess what the judge just absolutely believed in the words of a teacher with a PhD and ignore the students. I’m still in shock with the judge’s decision and the fact that a former tutor made up so many lies I do not believe that was a fair decision made by the biased judge. So what should I do? Thanks everyone for reading my lengthy post.

Hi, I am considering making a small claim against a company in Scotland however I reside in England and am hoping someone can advise me how to proceed. Background. I had a financial agreement with a company who is based in Scotland and as far as I am aware do not have an office in England. When this financial agreement was set up I resided in Scotland however I no longer live there but reside in England and this financial agreement came to an end in 2012 and I was resident in England by that time. For reasons I do not wish to divulge I now wish to take this organisation to the small claims court as the usual letters have not resulted in a satisfactory response. Now the problem arises in that the organisation has offices in Scotland yet I live in England. Referring to the English small claims website https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview to make a claim through the English courts the organisation needs an English address which as I mentioned above the organisation does not have. So I looked at the Scottish law courts website and on the face of it it looked as though I could make an application to a court in Scotland. Because I do not live in Scotland I thought (by reading through the Scottish law courts website) that I should apply to the court nearest the defendant. To check this is the case I phoned the court and spoke to someone in the small claims court and explained my scenario. Unfortunately this is where I became confused. The person just asked me (words to the effect) 'under which jurisdiction' do I want to make the application. I stated that I did not understand what they meant re-iterating that I do not live in Scotland. They then replied that I would have to pursue the defendant through the English courts to which I countered that the English courts (apparently) will not allow this because this organisation does not have an office in England. At this point I got the impression they were becoming irate with me because I did not understand the phrase 'under which jurisdiction' (again I am para-phrasing somewhat), so they just pointed me to links on the Scottish Law Courts website where I can get in touch with Citizen's Advice etc. So my question is can I make a small claim against this organisation which has offices only in Scotland yet I live in England? which legal system do I use? Unfortunately speaking to the person in the Scottish court I became more confused. I realise that the court cannot give me legal advice but I would have thought they would have been able to clearly state whether they could accept an application for a small claim given the above scenario. Many thanks for your help.

Hi, Did try to private message but unable to, so starting new thread as Vodafone and forums are unhelpful...should have stuck with Orange! My new Lumia 925 never recorded sound on movies. Did not realise till last month when decided to share and playback so upset missed out on some good videos...anyway due to less than 6 months called Vodafone and arranged a repair. week 1: Original 925 sent off, checked repair status which said fixed with software update and was being sent back. week 2: original phone received, tried to record...no audio so not fixed, back again. week 3: replacement sent out as could not be fixed. The replacement was in bad condition, the sim holder looked damaged and the back was not on properly and could be pulled back. As much as I was disappointed to hear all replacements are refurbished and new ones are not given, told to send back. now I thought I had rights, original phone clearly had a fault from day one and when I picked it up from Vodafone store. Been told can replace with new during first two weeks but never noticed. So as much as I wanted a new and working phone, which as far as I consider to be part of the £34 I pay each month,was supplied with a previously used phone with a fault...otherwise why would it be refurbished? So week 4, just received another replacement and again poor condition. So already 4 weeks without using a phone and looking to progress to small claims as seems only way I can get a decent working phone plus some money back whilst not being able to use it due to Vodafone and their repair team. So small claims, should I use main Vodafone details or the store I picked it up from? Oh, and the original phone was a web order, picked up from Norwich store as was going shopping as daughters birthday. Repairs are posted in as I live an hour from local store and not possible. Kind regards, Ben

Sorry this is my first post but I guess that is the nature of this site, anyhoo I need some advise regarding the SOGA and small claims after rejecting a vehicle - to cut a long story short... Question 1 - under the small claims court it appears I need to seek the judges permission to present expert evidence? I have spoken to VW Van center in Exeter and due to the nature of the camshaft fault needing some of the engine to be removed to be properly diagnosed this will cost £390 in labour and parts (gaskets need to be replaced when engine is taken apart, hence parts cost). I am worried if I pay for this to be done in advance of the claim the judge might say it was an unreasonable cost and whilst make a judgement in my favour he could choose to not assign this cost to the defendant because I hadn't asked his permission before having the work done? Obviously on the other hand I've had this van on my drive since the end of June and it was meant to be my daily car so I don't want to delay things any further Question 2 - The road tax runs out in August but the dealer hasn't sent me the V5, second key or warranty paperwork as promised so I'm not sure what to do if this is ongoing after the road tax runs out? Edit: Attached the letters and evidence I have started to document for my claim for anyone interested in reading them... [ATTACH=CONFIG]45348[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]45349[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]45350[/ATTACH]

A deputy district judge has allocated a case FILED by my former accountant for hearing by July 30. I think its time I write and submit a statement of case with documents as evidence. What do you think? Thanks for your quick response

I'm not sure where to post this but this seemed like as good a place as any. Basically I have an issue with a landlord who took over a year to repair a leak which left the flat in a state of damp and lots of mould in particular in bedroom areas for over 6 months. I put this through the local complaints process and they offered me £500 to sign and absolve them of responsibility. I have said no to this and escalated to the ombudsman as I think this is ineffective and doesn't go far enough. Having taken some guidance I have been advised to take them to the small claims court. Given that I think they are in breach of contract how much do you think I can put a claim in for? My rent was about £715 / month. Also more recently I have moved out as I can't be dealing with them any more as it drives me up the wall. Since moving out they are now trying to claim that they need to get a cleaner in to address stains on the carpet. These are a direct result of the leak and subsequent maintenance so I assume they must be liable? I have attached some pictures of the damage as a result of the long standing leak. They have also said that they want to recover the cost of splashes on the walls. I'm not 100% sure what this is and have asked them to clarify but I can only think I can think is there are some marks on the kitchen perhaps behind the sink or cooker. Baring in mind I can't imagine what this is and my GF is a clean freak this must be very minor. Any thoughts on this as a claim by them? Is this the best place I can seek advice? If not where do you suggest? I have had discussions with other tenants who have suffered similarly, but have not been able to overcome their obfuscated ,maintenance and complaints procedure.

Can anyone help..... i have a small claims court date of 26th july 2013 against BPF, I have been through the FOS and they partly upheld my case. it was for a training course through HIT/PROPERTY PROFESSIONALS which went into administration in 2010. I cant afford legal representation and am seriously concerned about my ability to produce a satisfactory bundle. My claim is on the grounds of misrepresentation, section 75, and possibly " non- est factum. Could anyone help as the more i try and produce this bundle the harder it becomes thanks in advance

In order to reject a used car, do I take it back to the dealer, even if we are in dispute about how much he will refund me? I am planning on taking him to court for the full amount I paid, plus compensation for repair costs, as it broke down after one week and was not as described. If I take the car back, do I sign the car over to him while I let the court decide how much he should refund me? If I keep the car until the issue is resolved, do I have to insure it, even if I don't use it? The car tax is due to run out, can I claim back the cost of this, since I am not able to use the car due to the dispute? I have asked the dealer to collect it, but our negotiations have been going on for almost 3 months and he keeps changing his mind about what he is prepared to offer me. Meanwhile I have a car that I can't use.

I am currently locked in a dispute with a sole trader who has ignored all of my communication to date; sadly, I am bracing myself for having to issue proceedings in the County Court in order to elicit a response. One hopes that alone will be sufficient to open a dialogue and resolve this matter without the need for the court to pass judgement; however, I wish to be prepared for the eventuality that the claim goes to trial. My research has so far taken me through many helpful posts on forums such as this, together with other advice sites and also the Civil Procedure Rules themselves. Due to the scale of the dispute, I expect that any claim will be allocated to the Small Claims Track (which would be absolutely fine with me); am I correct in understanding that, to the extent that I am awarded any costs (e.g. my fixed costs such as postage, travel, etc), they will be included in the order? What is the process for demonstrating to the court the costs that I have suffered in order that they can be assessed? Having demonstrated such costs and had any award towards them included in the court's order, I understand that I may have to take further action to enforce that order which will clearly incur further costs. Whilst I understand that court fees will automatically be added to the amount due, it is unclear to me how I would go about having my additional fixed costs added? In particular, in the deeply regrettable case that matters reach this stage, I will probably have to obtain an "order to disclose information" (N39) in order that I can decide the best method of enforcement. Since such an order must be served personally, its service is quite costly; this post* suggests that such costs can be recovered (albeit not specifically on the Small Claims Track) - but it doesn't explain how one goes about claiming that cost? * I don't have permission to post links: /forum/showthread.php?326659-Problem-with-serving-Order-to-attend-Court-for-questioning#post3614188

Hi, my online shopping went wrong, I paid money but never saw the purchased item. Cutting the story short, I used the Money Claim Online court to recover the money. The seller (a limited company in England) didn't respond to the claim and the court issued a judgement as I requested. The judgement is for 25 pounds. I cannot request a warrant online and send bailiffs as the minimum amount for a warrant is 50 pounds. Is the money unrecoverable if it's below 50? I'm assuming the seller is able but not willing to pay. I don't know where they have a bank account so a third party debt order is out of question. Please advice if there is anything I can do to enforce the judgement?

Hello, In Pre-Action Conduct, I am expected to have tried my utmost to settle my dispute out of court, but what constitues an attempt to conduct negotiations? I am at the Formal Complaint stage. The online retailer has admitted fault, concluding they'd incorrectly sold me goods (as pictured & described) for the price-code of other goods. They attempted to send these other incorrect goods. To switch to the goods as-advertised, they demand the £125 price difference, which is in breach of contract and their own Terms & Conditions. I want them to honour our binding contract for the goods, but for an example of negotiation, am I expected to offer to pay for their courier up-to £25? Which? consumer magazine's sample Letter Before Claim includes, "I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts and would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard." - is this sufficient for negotiation? Also, how does this look for the bottom of my Formal Complaint, "If this cannot be resolved amicably, I will bring County Court proceedings against you for damages, being the cost of having to buy the goods elsewhere (source: Which? consumer magazine). Added to this any consequential loss including, but not limited, to an extra day's holiday for new delivery, and costs, and Statutory Interest of 8% per annum (source: MoneySavingExpert.com). And amongst other effects, this will be forwarded to the Trading Standards in Herefordshire and be on the National Trading Standards Database." Thanks,

Hi folks. This is my first thread so be gentle. I recently won an item on eBay. The item was one of only 1000 released. I won it for approximately the price that it sold for in the shops when it was first released. The problem is that the seller has made baseless accusations against me and refunded my payment and is refusing to conclude the transaction. I do not want to cancel the sale. I want the item that I won. The seller is also the Managing Director of a small company in England. His company sells items related to the one he sold me but he sold me the item through a newer private account and not his business account. (I'm not sure if that's relevant or not.) The only other way to obtain a copy of this item is to pay substantially more than I paid this seller. The seller has accused me of making threats (which is provably not true) and has refunded my money and said that he will not be sending me the item. Here's a few other points that may be relevant. The seller's listing claimed that he would be posting the item within 1 day of receiving payment. I contacted him 3 times asking when he intended to post the item because the 1 day deadline for dispatch had passed. I contacted him on Saturday asking him for the tracking number for the item as he had marked it as dispatched. This was when he chose to respond. He claimed that he had intended to post the item on Monday (5 days after payment) because the Post Office was shut on Saturday but that since I was being rude (!?) he didn't want to deal with me and was refunding my payment. The post office can be proved to have been open on the day that he claimed it was shut. I suspect that he is just being greedy and wants more for this item and that he used my requests for acknowledgement as an excuse to cancel the sale. Now, my question is, can I take this seller to the Small Claims Court for the cost of replacing the item from another seller? I want the item (which cost only £56 from the seller in question) but to replace it will cost between £130 and £170 plus P+P. I consider this a breach of contract and I further consider that since the item will cost substantially more to replace I am out of pocket. This seems to be exactly what the Small Claims Court is for. What advice can anyone with experience of the system tell me about how successful I would be, if I decided to pursue this case through legal channels? To further confuse the situation, the seller is in England and I am in Scotland. Many thanks.

Hi guys, I was hoping for some advice on this. I was contacted by an agency after sending out an email on a website stating that I was looking for a new room. I was taken to view the room in which I said I would need some time to consider my options. The agent suggested that I put down a holding deposit which I have done in the past with other agencies and on these occasions they were refundable. I paid the deposit (in cash) and then was handed a receipt in which it says that the deposit is to cover the admin fees and is non- refundable. In addition, should my references not check out they are also allowed to keep my deposit. I know it's probably my fault for being so naive, but I was just desperate to get out of this house. Are there any guidelines on holding deposits? When is it acceptable for agencies to keep the money? Thanks for the help in advice

Full information on how to use the new court service for small money claims can be found here :- http://www.colemans-ctts.co.uk/blog/how-to-issue-a-claim-in-the-new-county-court-money-claims-centre With thanks to Colemans-ctts.

Hello, I'd like to ask few questions. Last year I have found out I had a CCJ which I knew nothing about before,as per paper work I got it in 2009. At that time I didn't even know what a CCJ was but followed up with the court, asked for it to be set aside and asked for rehearing. I went to court today and judge set it aside. Person who took me to court claims I owe him money, I think I don't owe him anything but it might be hard to prove since the whole thing had happened in 2008 and I haven't kept relevant paper work. The judge told us to go through mediator and if that doesn't solve anything then the case will end up in small claims track. Can someone tell me what will happen during the meeting with mediator? And if we end up at the small claims hearing and I lose, does it mean that I will get ccj again? If I lose I won't be able to pay the debt within a month (it's about 2k). I really don't want to have my credit ruined

Sorry this is long - I've tried to summarise as much as possible but I really need help. I took out a Loan with PPI in 2004. The agreement had separate repayments and interest for each part. The PPI was cancelled in 2004 and refunded. Repayments of just the loan continued. After a lot of correspondence the position in summary is: Barclays have admitted in writing they wrongly closed the account in 2010 and passed it to debt collections demanding the full balance of £10,000 be paid in seven days. This includes £3500 not due to them as below. Barclays admitted in writing to making an error when PPI was cancelled which resulted in £3000 (with accumulating interest) being left on the account. Barclays are now claiming that an error was not made and that the repayments should have been recalculated when PPI was cancelled. They have now produced falsified figures which contradict the original agreement. These figures would mean that I would have still being paying towards a cancelled PPI policy. All payments made towards the PPI have already been refunded through a separate complaint. Barclays error, meant that I was unable to rearrange the loan at a better interest rate because of the error on the account. This has cost me thousands of pounds which would have been saved. Had I paid the £10,000 demanded this would never have been discovered and Barclays would have effectively stolen £3500. I had to pay an accountant to work out where the error was which took quite some time – Neither Barclays nor the Ombudsman were able to work it out until these figures were provided to them. The complaint was raised with the Ombudsman who closed the case before the error was discovered and refused to re-open it stating it was a new case. Barclays have now changed the loan terms without agreement by adding interest on to the term of the loan instead of be cumulative interest. Barclays refuse to acknowledge how much this has cost me in money time and stress over many years. There is now £5500 outstanding on the loan. I have not made repayments for over a year and Barclays have not chased them up. The last letter I received dated 29th November 2011 has the falsified figures, contradicts Barclays previous response and restates an offer of £250 as a gesture of goodwill. This doesn’t come anywhere near meeting what this has cost me. They want me to contact the local business manager to set up repayments. It further states they will not enter into any further correspondence on the matter. As I see it the options are: Wait until Barclays start chasing payments and let them take me to court and make my case there. Make a claim on Barclays in Small claims for losses incurred including costs of letters time and travel visiting Barclays Head Office, the amount that would have been saved by rearranging the loan. Accept the £250 and make repayments.