Cabot/Restons County Court claim form received for debt I don't owe!

[Amathaine]

Hi,

 

As per the title of the thread, I have been sent a form for a debt to Next Directory for £453.57. It gives a date of on or about 31/03/2008 and says it was assigned to them on 15/10/2010.

 

I have never had an account, as such, with Next. The only thing I can think of is that I ordered six or seven items from them online in the after Xmas sale in 2007 and only two arrived.

 

I remember phoning them and being told that the other items were being sent separately so to just pay for the two which had been delivered, which I did. An invoice arrived which stated that the other items were out of stock so, obviously, that was the end of the matter. The out-of-stock items would have come to about £400 pounds. It was a pain in the rear because these were "deferred" Xmas presents - we had just exchanged token gifts on the day so we could get the things we wanted half price a few days later.

 

If that counts as having an account with them then yes, I did, but I never bought anything else from them, I paid for the items I received, never signed anything and do not owe them anything.

 

What should I do now? It was nearly seven years ago so I don't have any paperwork and I am only guessing that this is the cause of the problem, if it isn't then I am stumped.

 

I have a long running dispute with Barclaycard and have had lots of threat-o-grams so it is possible that Cabot have written to me in the past but I don't recall anything about this alleged debt.

[AndyOrch]

Thread moved to the correct forum.

[catquest]

It was very common ( still is ? ) for mail order companies to claim that a credit agreement had been set up even though only one item was ordered and nothing was signed.

I would ask for credit agreement ( s 78 request ) asking for strict 12 + 2 days so that you have time to qoute non-compliance in your defence . Don't forget to return acknowledgement form which gives you this extra time for defence.

Also it appears this alleged debt may be statute barred - check your credit file as mail order firms usually make an entry.

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?419198-You-have-received-a-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**UPDATED-April-2014**

 

Can you have a read of the thread linked above - copy and paste the first post into this thread, and then answer the questions please

[Amathaine]

Name of the Claimant ? Cabot Financial (UK) Limited

 

Date of issue – top right hand corner of the claim form – this in order to establish the time line you need to adhere to. 17 Oct 2014

 

Date of issue XX + 19 days ( 5 day for service + 14 days to acknowledge) = XX + 14 days to submit defence = XX (33 days in total) - 5 Nov 2014

 

^^^^^ NOTE : WHEN CALCULATING THE TIMELINE - PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE DATE OF THE CLAIM IS DAY 1 [example: Issue date 01.03.2014 + 19 days (5 days for service + 14 days to acknowledge) = 19.03.2014 + 14 days to submit defence = 02.04.2014] = 33 days in total

 

What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? Please type out their particulars of claim (verbatim) less any identifiable data and round the amounts up/down. The Claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and Next Directory dated on or about 31/03/2008 and assigned to the Claimant on 15/10/2010 in the sum of 453.57

 

What is the value of the claim? The value is 453.57 + 35.00 court fee + 50.00 solicitors costs. Total amount 538.57

 

Is the claim for a current or credit/loan account or mobile phone account? Catalogue account (credit?)

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? Not sure, if it is the purchase from Next it would have been late 2007 or early 2008 (Dec 2007/Jan 2008)

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Debt purchaser.

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No.

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? No.

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? No.

 

Why did you cease payments:- Only made one payment for goods received (full amount) January 2008.

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No.

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt managementicon plan? No.

[Amathaine]

Do I acknowledge the summons and ask Cabot for the credit agreement? I know they do not have one. Is my next step to write out my defence?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Do I acknowledge the summons and ask Cabot for the credit agreement? I know they do not have one. Is my next step to write out my defence?

 

 

Going back to the early-mid 2000s it was common practice for catalogue companies to "open a credit account" on acceptance of the 1st order from a customer.

[ims21]

Do I acknowledge the summons and ask Cabot for the credit agreement? I know they do not have one. Is my next step to write out my defence?

 

By my reckoning you have until 4 November to acknowledge the claim and your defence must be in by 18 November. Follow the instructions in the claim pack and register online with MCOL and complete the Acknowledgement of Service with "Defend All".

 

Get the CPR and CCA requests off as per the item that citizenB linked you to earlier.

 

Then you start thinking about your defence.

 

One thing that strikes me is that they say the contract was in late March 2008 and this is at odds with your timings of Dec 2007/Jan 2008.

 

Either way, if you paid for the goods you received and that payment was early in 2008 then it looks very much like this is Statutory Barred but you need to do some checking to find out for sure about the transactions and the payment you made.

 

A phone call to the catalogue company might be worth a shot.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Have you checked your credit reference files yet, there may be some "clues" as to dates there. IF the alleged debt is still reported.

Equifax and Experian have free 30 day trials. Noddle (Call Credit) is Free always.

[Amathaine]

Thanks for replying Brigadier, I have checked my Noddle credit file and there is nothing about this debt on there. I will acknowledge and get the CPR and CCA requests off on Monday - they are £1 each are they not?

 

My credit file is in reasonable shape, the only things bringing the overall rating down are several payday loans (all paid on time) but, as I have posted elsewhere, Wonga have excommunicated me for not meeting their new lending criteria so I am out of that habit.

 

Edit: I have just noticed that, although my Gas and Electricity payment history is on there,my rent and my phone + internet is not, I would have thought any ongoing service would be included?

Edited October 25, 2014 by Amathaine

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Thanks for replying Brigadier, I have checked my Noddle credit file and there is nothing about this debt on there. I will acknowledge and get the CPR and CCA requests off on Monday - they are £1 each are they not?

 

My credit file is in reasonable shape, the only things bringing the overall rating down are several payday loans (all paid on time) but, as I have posted elsewhere, Wonga have excommunicated me for not meeting their new lending criteria so I am out of that habit.

 

 

Hi was that Noddle report up to date as far as you could tell?

 

 

This could indicate that more than 6 years has passed since the default was placed.

 

 

Can you recall if any payment or unequivocal written acknowledgment has been made to the alleged debt in the last 6 years?

[ims21]

I will acknowledge and get the CPR and CCA requests off on Monday - they are £1 each are they not?

 

 

£1 for the CCA.

 

Nothing to pay for the CPR.

[Amathaine]

The report was up to date. I am certain that no payment or acknowledgement has been made, if Next had asked me for any money I didn't owe I would have gone ballistic.

This whole thing is strange, why would they have sold on a non-existent debt and then waited until it was statute barred to start proceedings to collect it? I haven't moved house. Could this be mistaken identity or their system getting indigestion? Either way I am going to have to put time and energy into sorting this out.

[ims21]

Don't forget that this debt is not "non existent" from their point of view.

 

Companies sell on debts/accounts for a variety of reasons.

 

DCAs/Debt Purchase companies buy these debts for a fraction of the face value in the hope of getting the debtor to pay the full amount. It doesn't matter to them whether they are SB or not as they know that there are some who will pay up on an SB debt.

 

Being SB doesn't prohibit court action being taken but if defended on the basis of SB and SB is a fact then they will lose as SB is an absolute defence.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

The report was up to date. I am certain that no payment or acknowledgement has been made, if Next had asked me for any money I didn't owe I would have gone ballistic.

This whole thing is strange, why would they have sold on a non-existent debt and then waited until it was statute barred to start proceedings to collect it? I haven't moved house. Could this be mistaken identity or their system getting indigestion? Either way I am going to have to put time and energy into sorting this out.

 

 

Often the debt purchaser has little or no idea of the status of a debt Cabot appear to be chasing a large number of suspect catalogue debts at present.

 

 

Double check everything in respect of payments and written acknowledgments of this alleged debt so there

is no doubt about its status, your defence if this is SB is absolute.

[Amathaine]

Hi there,

 

I acknowledged the summons and sent off the CPR and CCA requests. Restons have returned the CPR request with a snotty letter saying that, as it is unsigned, they will not provide any response. Should I have signed it? My name was printed at the bottom.

 

Where do I go from here? I chose the option for extra time to submit my defence but I think I had better get it done and submitted. Any help would be gratefully received.

[Amathaine]

I have received a response from Cabot regarding my CCA request. They say that Next have been unable to provide the information.

 

They go on to say that, as a result "...Cabot has taken the decision to no longer pursue collection of this account."

 

Where does that leave me with regard to this Court summons? Do I still have to submit a defence? I don't trust Restons to drop this of their own accord. Do I send a copy of this letter to the court?

 

Can anyone advise what my next move should be? Thanks in advance.

[AndyOrch]

You must still submit your defence on time...the claim is still proceeding even if their collection isn't.

 

Andy