Court papers received unsure how to proceed.

[echo394]

Hi

 

i've received a couty court claim form from a company and i'm not quite sure what to do. Something doesnt sit right somehow and i'm not sure how to defend the claim.

 

I ran ad's in a magazine for about a year for my website ( i'm a sole trader). same scenario everytime. they rang i said i wanted to advertise and then they would email a booking form for me to complete, without it being signed and returned the booking wouldnt be processed. Well one month i wasnt too sure but asked for the booking form to be emailed to me. they couldnt get it to go thru and asked if they could take the telephone conversation as agreement. i told them no i required a booking form so they posted it to me.

 

I decided not to go ahead with the ad and never returned the form and thought nothing of it. i received an invoice and queried it by phone but nothing ever came of it so i ignored it. i also got hold of a copy of the magazine and the ad had been included.

 

they wrote to me in january and told me to pay the invoice or they would take me to court.

 

i phoned and explained i never agreed to the ad or returned the booking form and was told it would be looked into. i followed this up with a letter asking for a copy of the signed booking form.

 

i received a without prejudice letter in february saying they didnt have the signed booking form but i agreed by phone so that was enough for the contract to stand and if i did not pay they would take me to court.

 

i phoned them and asked for a copy of the call and was told they dont record calls but was sure they could turn something up to prove i had agreed. i followed up the call with a letter giveing them seven days to supply the recording or proof that i had agreed or i would consider thhe matter closed.

 

i heard nothing until yesterday when court papers came thru door.

 

I've gone onto the moneyclaim site and tried to login with the password given but it is saying it does not recognise the claim number or password and has now locked me out.

 

looking closer at the form the defendat is the name of my website(without the www. bit or com bit) and on the following line my name and address.

On the acknowledgement form the claimant is listed as the company suing, the company suing and me (company suing is listed twice) and the defendant is listed as website name and my name. is this correct??

 

on the POC it gets confusing cos half way thru they start refering to me as the claimant or at least that is how it reads or i may be being blonde and reading it wrong.

 

example:

 

on xx/xx/208 (slight error i think there lol) a formal request was made for payment, the claimant then contested that agreement had never been made, despite verbal agreement had occurred.

 

if i type out the POC and post it up would someone have a look for me and advice on how i go forward with this please.

 

Many thanks

[WormHasTurned]

Hi

 

I've gone onto the moneyclaim site and tried to login with the password given but it is saying it does not recognise the claim number or password and has now locked me out.

 

 

..just a thought - but could this be the next stage of a [problem]? I would ring MCOL and see if this claim number actually exists...

[kurvaface]

Yeah ring the court to check.

 

I think your a**e is covered if they have no proof of your agreement with them. Any proof they do have will have to be disclosed to you at some point down the line.

[echo394]

..just a thought - but could this be the next stage of a [problem]? I would ring MCOL and see if this claim number actually exists...

well that was my thinking. Altho it does appear to be from the court and has the court stamp on it:?.

[BankFodder]

What is the value of the claim?

[echo394]

Yeah ring the court to check.

 

I think your a**e is covered if they have no proof of your agreement with them. Any proof they do have will have to be disclosed to you at some point down the line.

 

I have kept the unsigned booking form complete with the postit note asking me to complete and return. So i hope i'm covered

 

also on the bottom of the booking form it says that for the order to be processed the booking form must be signed and returned.

[echo394]

total value inc court fee is £355

[WormHasTurned]

......then IF it is a genuine claim and you defend, they have to provide ABSOLUTE proof, and pay extra money in to the court when it is transferred to your local court.

 

My first gut feeling is that it is a [problem]. But if it is a genuine MCOL claim, then these are the type of people who feed off the gullible, and with them it is a numbers game - they will go for the ones who roll over and pay up in full without a fight - I'd be surprised if they took it to the next stage.

 

If they do, then people more experienced than me here can help you.

[echo394]

right i will ring MCOL first tomorrow to see if this is genuine. Tried logging in again just to see if i had made an error but still saying the same thing.

[echo394]

rang court and claim is genuine BUT the lady on phone i spoke to checked some details and put me on hold. When she came back on phone she told me that they were barring the claim due to incorrect filing of name and they will be writing to the company to inform them and asking them to resubmit if they so wish.

 

So obviously i want to head them off at the pass so to speak, what should be my next step in preventing another claim being issued (if i can). Do i need to contact the company or should i just sit back and wait for them to get there act together.

 

thanks

[kurvaface]

I would sit back.... If they don't have proof of agreement why waste your own time? See what their resubmitted claim says.

[chauvesouris]

From what you've said, the problem with the name is that they didn't put "YOUR NAME trading as YOUR BUSINESS".

 

From other things you've said, it doesn't sound like they've got much of a case - and it sounds like they're counting on you not defending yourself.

 

If I were in your position, I would write to them and explain the situation as you have done here. Mention that, if it comes to court, you will be producing the unsigned application form, complete with the Post-It as evidence that no agreement was ever reached.

 

But don't worry too much. It doesn't sound like they've got a realistic chance of success against you. Come back and let us know what their claim says when they resubmit - then you can enter your defence and ask for Summary Judgment.