I am a Ltd small business being sued in my local scotish court by a consumer in England

[smallclaimhelp]

Hi I am a small business and my business which is a ltd company is being sued in my local scotish court by a consumer in England.

Please help.

 

I have an online retail shop selling branded goods. A consumer returned a pair of branded shoes and asked for a refund. Although I do offer these shoes for sale in my shop I hadnt ever sold this particular style in the colour and size retured, I had no record of the customers details either on our accounts. I called the customer as she put a note in the box requesting a refund. I asked her when she had bought them, she said her sister bought them as a gift. I advised her that she couldnt have bought them from us because we have never sold these shoes. She demanded a refund. I explained I could not refund something that wasnt bought from my company she was angry and went to trading standards and I told them the situation and they agreed that If an item wasnt sold by me then I didnt have to accept the return. The customer wanted the item back and she wanted me to pay the postage, I explained that as she didnt buy the item from us and as we had already discussed this matter with trading standards that this was her property and we were not liable for them. She finally agreed to pay me the cost of posting them back to her which I did by recorded delivery (I have the stamped and printed reciept as proof) but the customer is saying that she didnt get them? track and trace tells me to come back later? now she has lodged a claim against me in court wanting the cost of the shoes (£50 + postage to return to me and postage to resend them back to her + legal costs) - I must note that had she bought them from us the shoes would have cost £40.

 

Im so angry this lady has taken up so much of my time already and now she is taking my company to court. I want to defend this how do i state a defence that makes sense and can I make a counter claim for the time i have to take away from my business to goto court?

 

 

It just seams so silly its like buying a bottle of perfume from boots and asking superdrug to refund you... Totally bizare situation can anyone please please help me with how to word a defence in scotland please.

 

thank you

[IdaInFife]

hiya

 

can you post up what the particulars of claim are?

 

and when does it need to be back in?

 

how long has it been hanging on the track and trace page?

 

and welcome to CAG

[smallclaimhelp]

Hi thanks for your help. This woman is saying total lies about my business and is destroying my good name:sad:.

this is what she put on court papers:

 

Details of the claim:

 

I recieved a pair of shoes for christmas 2009. I rang ********* and asked them to exchange my shoes for an alternative size. I returned my shoes and a month later I called the company to ask where my shoes were. they said they would send them. I sent them a letter 6 months later and they said that they would only send my shoes back if I paid £3.95 to post them back. I was annoyed that they were changeing me a postal fee and still not get my shoes, I called again and they said I had not paid the postage fee and they made me pay it again. I still have failed to recieve my shoes the company now have my original shoes which retail at £50. The original payment of £50 and two postage fees of £3.95 each. I wish to recover this money plus an additional court fee which I have paid to retrieve my shoes. this is a total of £72.90

claim needs to go back 27/12/10

 

I must point out that this customer 100% did not buy these shoes from me or my company. This customer will have no record of a payment to my business for these shoes because I have never sold these shoes in that size and colour. She will only have a charge for 1 x £3.95 postal fee which is the standard charge we charge customers for postage. this fee was charged only because we returned her property to her.

I have called the supplier who have told me that they had only sold 5 pairs of these shoes in that particular colour and size the whole year of 2009. 1 was sold to a customer in Finland and the other 4 were sold to ebay sellers of this product in the Uk. I have checked the ebay sellers and they sell them for between £24.99-£40 none of them sell for the £50 that she is claiming that was paid. I have no idea which ebay seller sold her these shoes.

How can I defend this? I could ask the supplier to write a letter confirming that they have never sold me these shoes as evidence, I can supply a copy of my tracking book to show that I returned them to her. Maybe I could call the card terminal people to trace her card and detail all the transactions made on her card to my company which was £3.95? - I dont know if they can do this though?

Can I make a counter claim against this woman for wasteing my time and damageing my companies reputation?

 

all help is apprechiated thankyou:-)

[IdaInFife]

Hiya,

 

Obviously you would dispute this - think its on page 7 box 3.

 

Keep it Simple:

 

 

Just that once received was noted you never sold this item, they have not supplied any receipt or payment confirmation to show who payment was made too and that the items were retruned via track and trace

 

is it not saying yet the item was delivered? if not give royal mail a call incase they have left a card

 

ida x

[smallclaimhelp]

thanks for your help.

I didnt get a page 7 - only 1-4? Should I make a counter claim for the time this is taking up ? If yes how do I do that?- It says that I need to goto court to defend it which means time off work. Do I have to go?

I was going to put this but should I add or take away anything?

 

DEFENCE:

1. This customer did not buy these shoes from **********
   
2. The manufacturer of these shoes is *************, (+Address Details)
   
3. We do not make any profits whatsoever from the sale of these shoes by the manufacturer
   
4. I have contacted **********and they have advised that they have only previously sold 4 pairs of these shoes in this particular size and colour and all of them were to retailers registered on ebay.
   
5. This customer did not pay ************ £50 or indeed any other amount for these shoes and as such she will have no evidence to show this money was paid to us.
   
6. This customer returned these shoes in Error to us in January 2010 thinking that they were purchased from us. We immediately contacted the customer to advise that we could not accept return of these goods as the customer did not purchase them from us.
   
7. We returned the customers property to her via royal mail tracking number *********** (Please see evidence of posting attached)
   
8. We did not charge the customer any storage fee for taking care of and storing her property securely on our premises for 8 months which was the time that it took her to pay us £3.95 postal fees
   
9. The only charge that has ever been made to this customer was £3.95 which was the postal cost of returning her property to her.
   
10. I have contacted royal mail and they have advised that the customer should submit a claim using the tracking information provided to claim compensation for her property. Royal mail have stated that she will need to provide evidence of the cost of the item ie a reciept as proof of purchase for the goods before they will pay any claim directly to her.
    

Thanks for your help x

[IdaInFife]

thanks for your help.

I didnt get a page 7 - only 1-4? of course this is a business so correct

Should I make a counter claim for the time this is taking up ? I don't think you can but will get someone else to pop in

If yes how do I do that?- as above

It says that I need to goto court to defend it which means time off work. Do I have to go? I would always advise to go is this your local court?

I was going to put this but should I add or take away anything? see below

 

DEFENCE:

 

1. This customer did not buy these shoes from **********
   
2. The manufacturer of these shoes is *************, (+Address Details)
   
3. We do not make any profits whatsoever from the sale of these shoes by the manufacturer
   
4. I have contacted **********and they have advised that they have only previously sold 4 pairs of these shoes in this particular size and colour and all of them were to retailers registered on ebay. irrelvant
   
5. This customer did not pay ************ £50 or indeed any other amount. No reciept of proff of payment has been forwarded
   
6. This customer returned these shoes in Error to us in January 2010 thinking that they were purchased from us. We immediately contacted the customer to advise that we could not accept return of these goods as the customer did not purchase them from us.
   
7. We returned the customers property to her via royal mail tracking number *********** (Please see evidence of posting attached)
   
8. We did not charge the customer any storage fee for taking care of and storing her property securely on our premises for 8 months which was the time that it took her to pay us £3.95 postal fees
   
9. The only charge that has ever been made to this customer was £3.95 which was the postal cost of returning her property to her.
   
10. I have contacted royal mail and they have advised that the customer should submit a claim using the tracking information provided to claim compensation for her property. Royal mail have stated that she will need to provide evidence of the cost of the item ie a reciept as proof of purchase for the goods before they will pay any claim directly to her.
    

Thanks for your help x

 

 

ill get someone else to pop in and have a look

[seriously fed up]

Ida asked me to look in on this one. I think you are setting about it in the right way - sent shoes back to you wrongly, you returned via Post Office (might be an idea to follow up the tracking number - were they delivered or not?). The only thing I would add is that she seems to have the idea that she bought from you, but you deny this. Remember the burden of proof is on HER to prove that she did indeed buy them - its not for you to disprove it, or at least not unless she puts some evidence up (a receipt for instance). Otherwise I could take our local Rolls Royce dealer to court because I went in last week and paid him £60k (or whatever - like I would KNOW?) but just never got a receipt - now he says he wont deliver because he has never heard of me.

[IdaInFife]

SFU what or how would th eop ask for them to provide a recipt or confirmation of payment etc?

[seriously fed up]

if you go here http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/sheriff/small_claims/guidance_notes.asp and to the pdf at 4 (for after 2009) then go to section 18 - its all there.

Edited November 18, 2010 by seriously fed up