Sagaloo vs LloydsTSB * WON *

[chillwiddastill]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just have a quick query, do I close my Lloyds account before or after I claim? Ive opened a new First direct account and they give me £50 if I start my account before December - prob be after that time that Lloyds cough up so do I close the old account, start the new and contnue the claim or do I keep the account, loose the £50 and close the old account after I claim?

 

So confusing!!!

[sagaloo]

Faxed SCM yesterday rejecting their conditional part offer. SCM confirmed today that fax was on my file.

 

Also wrote to collections who on the 1st Nov notified me that I had until the 10th Nov to payback my unauthorised overdraft position.

 

Also wrote to Customer Service Recovery centre putting them on notice that they have 14 days to return approx £1k to my account for charges incurred since my original claim submitted back in July. If no response I will issue a 2nd claim.

 

Also spoke to the Court who said paperwork in post tonight: hearing scheduled for 21st December.

[GaryH]

Sounds like you've got it all nicely under control.

[sagaloo]

Deleted message as duplicated below

[sagaloo]

Received this mornings post:

 

Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) scheduled for 21st December 2006 for 45 minutes - this is the date I had been advised of when I rang the court a couple of days ago.

 

More interestingly, it was also accompanied by a General Form of Judgment or Order.

 

"Upon the Court's own initiative

 

IT IS ORDERED THAT

 

1. As the Defendant asked for a stay to negotiate the solicitors shall write to the Court by the partner with responsibility for this litigation commenting on and explaining as appropriate the assertions in the Claimant's letter of the XX October 2006.

 

2. The matter be allocated to the Small Claims Track

 

3. The matter be listed for a Small Claims hearing on the first open date after 28 days with a time estimate of 45 minutes."

 

(This is the letter where I explained SCM kept saying they were waiting client's instructions and that at the last minute there was correspondence that they still hadn't passed to the client as well as the problems of being told on occasion Mr thomas was out of office and was the only person who could deal with it).

 

Any views - does this mean the Courts are paying closer attention to SCM's clear abuse of process?????????

[GaryH]

Excellant news! Our friends at SC&M have now got some explaining to do to the judge. He wants them to respond to your letter, in other words justify why the hell they're abusing the system. Good work Sagaloo!

[Smelliellie]

Is this the beginning of the end?

Don't hold your breath!

Good on ya Sagaloo, they had to come a cropper at some point.

I wonder if they will be able to ignore this instruction? They seem to get away with missing all kinds of deadlines etc.

[GaryH]

Thats a court order. If they ignore it they are liable to have their defence struck out.

[sagaloo]

It occurs to me that in future when we are told that Mr Thomas is out and is the only person who can deal with our case or when we feel that SCM are abusing court process we can ask for the name of the Partner responsible for overseeing our particular case and start addressing correspondence through to that person. It might just make them sit up and pay attention to the issues arising as a result of their case management and client's litigation strategy on the subject of penalty charges.

[GaryH]

Put it this way, I'd would'nt be at surprised if SC&M started to change their devious ways pretty soon. Perhaps I'm a little naive, but the courts are becoming well aware of their abuses of the system now and hopefully they're going to be called to task over it more and more. Credit to you for bringing it to the courts attention, its what we all need to do in all our cases. Thats the point of some of the letters I've drafted in response to their AQ, etc. I'm considering a complaint to the law society too, so any input is welcome.

[sagaloo]

I spoke to the Law Society a couple of weeks ago. Their position is that they only act on complaints raised by the client of the solicitor. On the basis that Lloyds are probably happy with the way SCM are approaching things I think it is unlikely they are going to complain.

 

This means they could not act on the complaint of a third party (me).

 

This is why I set out my concerns to both the Court and SCM and copied each in on relevant correspondence. I now have a clear paper audit trail of correspondence which clearly sets out why I believe a clear abuse of court process has occured. Interestingly, SCM haven't yet responded to an earlier letter where I clearly asked them to explain in writing why despite requesting a month to settle 58 days at that point had passed and there had been no attempt to contact me.

 

It will be interesting to see what transpires over the next few weeks.

[elsinore]

Excellent news, sagaloo, well done for putting the pressure on them.

 

Gary, you're so right, if each of us ensures that we keep our respective court informed, then sooner or later (hopefully sooner) SC&M will have to change their tactics and start behaving like solicitors!!

 

Elsinore

[sagaloo]

Received letter from Lloyds Customer Service this moring in response to my letter sent to them last week regarding penalty charges (approx £1k) that have been incurred since I submitted my original claim in July. This is the first time I have written to Customer Services regarding this new amount. I put them on notice that I would issue a 2nd claim at the end of 14 days if they didn'nt refund the charges back to my account in the intervening period. I also included court details of my current claim.

 

Unsurprisingly I received the following bog standard response:

 

"Thank you for your letter. I have noted your comments, but unfortunately I cannot add any further information to our previous letter or agree to your request. Since the bank's final response has been issued, I must advise you that we will not be entering into any further correspondence regarding the points made."

 

Their responses are still ridiculous as this was the first letter I had written regarding these latest charges. It is also wrong as it says "the bank's final response has been issued" it hadn't previously responsed to these charges and my letter also clearly demonstrated they they have entered into a conditional offer relating to my original claim (which has been rejected).

 

Given my court hearing has now been scheduled for the 21st December, if I go to court and pay £35 fee to amend claim for these new charges will it have any knock on effect on setting the hearing date back further?

 

Any views gratefully received.

[GaryH]

No, I can't see that it would. May be wise to check with the court though, see what they think. For a grand its certainly worth getting it amended if you can.

[sagaloo]

Spoke to SCM this morning and asked why I hadn't received a response to my letter dated 19th Oct. MR THOMAS (1st time he has spoken to me!) said he takes his instructions from his client and not from me.

 

He confirmed verbally he had my last fax and said it had been passed to the Client.

 

I then asked him about the judgement asking for the partner to write to the court regarding the information I had sent to the court regarding their stalling tactics.

 

MR THOMAS said what judgement? I read it to him and he said he would have to ring the court because he hasn't seen a copy!!!!!!

 

It will be interesting to see if this prompts them into any further action?!?!?

[Number6]

This is all very good stuff. How on earth have I missed this thread???

 

Well done sagaloo for exerting the pressure and what I'm doing mirrors your efforts. I too have written to the court twice now objecting to SCM's stalling tactics; I was told by the court last Friday that the file has now gone to the District Judge so fingers crossed I will receive something similar to your directions!

 

Pete

[freebird]

I too spke with SCM today and got similar response, looks like I'll have to wait until "stays up " on the 22nd. and again write to the court !

[foxyred]

I was writing my letter to send to the courts regarding SCM's lack of co-operation to settle. I suddenly decided that I'll give them another chance tell me what I wanted to hear so I called them again. I asked for the name of the person dealing with my claim and said that I was advised by the court to add this name to my correspondence. The lovely girl I spoke to dug out my file and then came back and told me that it was Mr Michael Thomas. She then said, Oh by the way, there's a letter been sent out to you today offering to settle. Well I be blown I thought. I shall still be sending the letter to the courts today because I don't trust those solicitors.

[sagaloo]

You can bet it will have conditions attached and may not be for the whole claim - if I was you I would ask for a copy of the fax - after you have faxed your letter to the Court.

[sagaloo]

Just thought I would put another phone call into SCM to see if they had anything to add now that I had made them aware that the Court was requesting information about how they were managing the case.

 

Surprise, surprise - Mr Thomas is out of the office today!!!! I took the opportunity to ask whether he was a qualified solicitor - no, he's a legal executive!!!!! That would explain why he sounded about 18 on the phone!

[freebird]

Saga, fax them and then phone them to follow it up........

have a look at my thread

 

xx

[sagaloo]

Faxed this to Mr T:

 

Following our recent telephone conversation (xxth November 2006) I have had time to reflect on your comments and would like to make the following points:

 

1) Although you take instructions from your client I think it is only a matter of courtesy that if I send correspondence to your firm requesting written acknowledgement that you should acknowledge receipt of my letter in writing and advise as to whether you have or are passing it onto your client.

2) Case management is obviously an issue for your firm as you appear unable to act upon your client’s instructions (the AQ you completed on their behalf indicated 1 month to attempt settlement – this failed to happen for whatever reason) and you also appeared to have no knowledge of the General Form of Judgment or Order recently issued by XX County Court.

3) I find it unbelievable that you are the only person who can deal with this case and yet appear to be away from the office or screened by your colleagues on a regular basis. I called yesterday to find that you were once again unavailable. On this basis can you please provide me with the name of the partner responsible for this litigation as I would like to ensure my concerns regarding the way this case has been handled is clearly understood by someone with authority within your firm. My understanding is that you are a legal executive and not a qualified solicitor.

4) I would be grateful if you could fax back a written response to my letter of the XXth October to assure me that my concerns about your firm and your client’s clear abuse of process are addressed.

[GaryH]

Great stuff. Copy it to the court for your file as well.

[ianbrown]

Hi, I note you mention a Court date of 21st December. You wouldn't be in the Cardiff County Court would you? I understand the District Judge there has listed over 80 claims for that same day.

[sagaloo]

No, I'm up in the Midlands.