Pen v Scottish Power.Overcharging/meter problems

[MARTIN3030]

You have not lost-the case is not over yet-The Court have seen that you are unable to properly file a defence in the absence of not having info to do that.

His orders allow this.

You should be in a better position to submit a defence that will serve the purpose and set out your case.

Not much you can do until the other side comply-and if they dont then it will be curtains for them.

 

Will alert 42man to this.

[42man]

It was probably a bit of a shock to them as they probably don't see many defences along these lines.....and of course there is the possibility the judge may think Scottish Power are always correct !!! However as Martin has correctly said, the court has ordered the documents to be produced...although i'm slightly confused as they have written this to comply with the 21st August which was 2 weeks ago ???!!! Did they comply with this order ?

[MARTIN3030]

Oops just realised the dates ? August ???

Let me read through this again.

[MARTIN3030]

You said on 19th August that you have 14 days to file a defence ?

was this working days ?

What is date of issue on the claim ?

[MARTIN3030]

the supplier was given 14 days from the 7/8/09 to supply a statement of account, we have 14 days from the date we receive it to lodge a defence with the court.

 

So they were due to submit to you no later than 18th.August.I see you got something on 19th-"I have received a copy of all my bills form 02/07 to the current date.

however thats all they have sent me as a stament of account . is this what the court would be expecting???"

You had up until 2nd September to respond with a defence.

So from looking above you sent that in the time limit on 1st September-" I have to have it all written and posted tomorrow."

 

I see they were ordered to supply a statement of account,which is what they did supply ?

They would only be required to supply those copy documents that were ordered by the Court.

 

Looks like your defence was looked at last week but something does not seem to be right.

Especially you getting this notice so quickly.

Are there any dates on this letter-I mean September dates ?

Edited September 7, 2009 by MARTIN3030

[Pen]

Hi Martian and 42man.

sorry I have been to ill with worry to come back on site, now i have calmed down lol!!

 

the letter was dated the 4th September but looking at the very bottom it is dated 7th August. This was the date we went to court and the judge made the order,

 

is what i have recived just a copy of what was ordered on the 7th Aug???? if so why have they waited till now to send it!!! I did write the order down whilst i was in the court room only because i take so much morphine each day that my memory is now in shatters!! I hope so i will call the court tomorrow. So all may not be lost is that why your saying ???? could it be because i was a day late producing my defence????

 

Martin your question here:

 

-"I have received a copy of all my bills form 02/07 to the current date.

however that's all they have sent me as a statement of account . is this what the court would be expecting???"

 

no the wording for this is

 

the claimant shall file at court and send a copy to the defendant of all statement f account showing all credits and debits since inception of the account to the date of issue of proceedings by 4pm on the 21st August 2009.

By this I gathered the court wanted all bills and payments from the day my account started with SP in 2003. That was what i was expecting! they have only sent a copy of all bills from feb 07 to current date. Their mistakes took place when they installed the pre payment meter which was installed in 05 and removed in 06. they have not provided the court or me anything which relates to the PPM. hence i could not put together the defence!!

 

Is the onus on me to prove i don't owe them this money or is it on them to prove i do.??? if they do not provide me with the information how do i prove my case.

 

I will be back on line when i have spoken to the court in the morning, Fingers crossed, thanks guys

 

Pen

[Pen]

called the court this morning and what i have recieved was a written copy of the order made on the 7th September, so i will just have to see what the court has to say to my defence. however considering SP has not complied with the order it would be nice if the judge did strik out there claim on the grounds that they are wasting time and still not providing me with the information i need to prove my case!!! sorry for the mad panic guys x

[MARTIN3030]

Dont you mean 7th August ?

 

 

"called the court this morning and what i have recieved was a written copy of the order made on the 7th September"

[42man]

I'm slightly confused....if they haven't complied fully with court orders then the claim should be struck out !!

[Pen]

Hi Martin i am getting confused myself now lol!! your right i meant the 7th Aug,

 

I agree 42man. That was why i had difficulty writting my defence. this is the second time they have failed to provide me with information. they failed with my SAR!! i sent my request and the fee, when they failed to provide me with it i made an application to the court to have the case struck out which was why we had the hearing. The judge dismissed my claim and said what I needed was a statement of account from inception of account yet they only provided me with bills covering this last year which doesn't help me as i need the information from 2005 when the installed a prepayment meter and removed it in 2006.

 

I am now hoping the judge will see how evasive they are being and dismiss there claim!! do you think that is reasonable.

 

Pen

[Pen]

I received a letter today from Drydens who are SP solicitors stating they have applied to the court for judgement against me on the grounds that they did not received my defence. !!

 

I phoned the court to ask if they could do this as I sent them, and the court my defence within the 14 day timescale.

 

The court usher said that the case has gone to the judge for directions but they confirmed my defence has been logged.???

 

I hope the judge reads the whole file and checks that my defence was recived and not just make a award against me because SP are stating they did not receive it! would the judge do that do you think? I have sent Drydens another copy of my defence just to be on the safe side.

[Pen]

Update.

 

In court tomorrow at 10am only I don't hold out much hope of winning we still did not receive the statement of account from SP as ordered by the court. last time i felt the magistrate was all in favor for SP as he would not allow us to put forward any questions, every time we asked to say something he would say NO! yet listen to everything SP had to say.

 

If we lose we lose but what will hurt most is having to pay the £2,980 costs they are applying for. I always thought there was no costs for claims under £5,000 how wrong was I.

 

Any last minute advice from anyone. We sent in our defence on time what little it was seeing that we could not get our Data information or statement of account to ascertain exactly how much they do owe us and how much we have paid.

 

thanks everyone

pen x

[kia]

sorry cant advise on this pen but good 1uck eh wi11 bump it for u xxxkia

[Pen]

thanks Kia.

 

i hope someone can before we leave x

[Pen]

Hi All.

despite having all the evidence showing that we had overpaid at least £500, plus warrant fees ect and the judge agreeing that we had over paid by that much we still lost. whilst going through the bills he saw a (credit payment thank you) for £560 and had the nerve to tell us it was a refund! that was what we had paid for that quarter in electric cards but would he listen NO, with regards to SP not providing with a statement of account from start of account ( they only provided us with one year which did not even relate to the card meter) he said well! the information was not really needed. as to chargers, it was only when i pointed out that we could not work out exactly how much they owed us because they had not provided us with a statement of account he went loopy, giving SPs dirty looks for being so stupid, because of it he could only award them 900 in costs. e said we had no chance of winning so wasted the courts time. I had no chance with him as a magistrate.

 

I now have to find near on £4,000 I could cry. never again will i try to fight someone in court

[Pen]

I'm still fumming over this, don't know what to do next, appeal at court is a no no just incase i get the same judge? I phoned the ombudsman and they can't help as the complaint it over 9 months old. Any ideas guy's. i will be paying them tomorrow, luckly i have been putting the cost for elec away each month although i am going to have to find the costs from somewhere as i had not banked on them, I hate the very thought of them getting away with it.

anyone any ideas!!!

[nottslad]

IMHO there isn't a lot else you can do, you've exhausted all channels here mate

[Pen]

there must be something i can do, can i complained about how it was dealt in court

[pelham9]

Your only course is to appeal against the jugment and costs.

You will not get the same judge again.

 

From your description I would think that the judge became impatient with you because to him you appeared confused. Perhaps it would be better to consult a solicitor?