HFC/Weightmans Advice

[mazel01]

Just to confirm:

1) Sending letter to HFC regarding lack of information that they have sent me

2) Letter to Weightmans regarding account in dispute

 

3) Letter to Weightmans requesting for information.

 

Do I also need to acknowledge the court claim?

[rory32]

Yes, but you don't need to acknowledge the claim just yet. You have 14 days to do that -although obviously you don't want to leave it until the last minute. Just get the letters sent for now.

[mazel01]

Is it 14 days from date of issue to acknowledge the claim, its just that it mentions something about a further 5 days on the form from date of issue?

[mazel01]

Update.....just received a phone call from Weightmans. They had spoken to HFC who said that they had not received any letter or correspondence regarding my SAR & wasn't aware of any dispute.

 

I told them that I have proof that my SAR was signed for on xxxxxx & I have received a partial response from HFC.....

 

They said 'Oh', I can't understand why HFC have said that then.

 

I said 'not my problem'. Weightmans are going to speak to HFC & get back to me....

[mazel01]

I find this very strange....yesterday they said that they had/were issuing legal proceedings and didn't have to speak to HFC. Today they have spoken to HFC and then rang me to discuss it.......what they playing at??

[rory32]

It would appear to have dawned on them that a judge would not be overly impressed by their conduct if they failed to even contact their client as to whether a dispute exists when they have been informed by you that one does.

[rory32]

Is it 14 days from date of issue to acknowledge the claim,

No. It's 14 days fom date of service. Date of service is the date that you received the claim.

[mazel01]

If & when they ring me tomorrow do I refuse to talk over the phone about it?

[rory32]

Unless they want to drop the case.

 

Generally I don't advise people to speak to solicitors as they are not representing you, they are representing the best interests of their client and are very far from your friend. Really we need communication to be in writing so that we have a record of it which is admissable and to ensure that any communication is perfectly clear and can not be misunderstood in any way.

[mazel01]

I have now sent the 3 letters off special delivery......

[mazel01]

No phone call from Weightmans so far today. Doesn't surprise me though!!!

[mazel01]

Never received the call that they promised for today, personally I think they were just fishing around trying to find out what my intentions were & planning to do with regards to the court claim.....

[mazel01]

When should I acknowledge the court forms online?

[rory32]

You can acknowledge them whenever you like as long as it's within the 14 days (although you need to allow a couple of days for processing).

[mazel01]

Rory, what do I complete? Is a full defence or partial.

[rory32]

I think it's best if you defend in full.

[mazel01]

Rory, just for my own knowledge, why is it better to defend in full if you know what I mean?

[rory32]

It makes it more difficult for them if you defend in full. By only partially defending you will have to admit that you owe x amount of money. While you are not trying to avoid paying what you do owe you don't want to make life any easier for them.

[mazel01]

Right....I thought that you defend in full if you don't agree that you owe the money and partially defend if you owe money but not the figure they are claiming, which is my case :o

[rory32]

Well ideally you want their case thrown out which is why you are defending in full.

[mazel01]

Excellent I will log on tomorrow morning & acknowledge the forms.

 

Rory, im sorry to drive you mad, but if I defend in full is it not saying that I don't owe them any money. I have never been in this situation before & am so nervous.

[rory32]

but if I defend in full is it not saying that I don't owe them any money.

No. You are just placing the emphasis fully on them to prove that any amount is owed. If the admitted amount was below £5K then it would possibly be worth making a partial defence and moving the claim into small claims. However a partial defence may still result in a CCJ. At the moment we want to see what they supply in terms of documents (if they don't supply anything then all the better as this will annoy the judge) and ideally avoid the CCJ in its entirety.

 

I understand that you are nervous so don't worry about asking questions. After all it's your claim to defend and you must be comfortable with what you are doing - if you don't understand why you are doing something obviously you won't be comfortable with it.

[mazel01]

No. You are just placing the emphasis fully on them to prove that any amount is owed. If the admitted amount was below £5K then it would possibly be worth making a partial defence and moving the claim into small claims. However a partial defence may still result in a CCJ. At the moment we want to see what they supply in terms of documents (if they don't supply anything then all the better as this will annoy the judge) and ideally avoid the CCJ in its entirety.

 

I understand that you are nervous so don't worry about asking questions. After all it's your claim to defend and you must be comfortable with what you are doing - if you don't understand why you are doing something obviously you won't be comfortable with it.

 

Thanks Rory I now understand why a full defence is better.....I just got a little worried about it earlier as I thought if I fully defend the claim & it goes to court would the judge not think that I have been wasting time when I knew that I owed money to them and I would be asked the question ' why did you fully defend when you knew that you owed money to HFC in the first place.

[mazel01]

I am currently on the website acknowledging the claim forms now & want to defend. Is it just the acknowledgement of service form I click on?....what happens next?

[rory32]

You wait to see what they send in response to your request for information. If they don't send you anything or state that they don't need to supply anything then don't panick. It's actually to your advantage if they take this approach as it will annoy the judge.

 

You'll want to send in your defence a few days before the actual due date, so when it gets close to this time let me know.