Who do we take to the Small Claims Court

[*MSB*]

My mother bought an laundry appliance from Currys/PC World which developed a fault.

 

 

It isn't 12 months old. We have had engineers out to it multiple times and the fault has not been fixed. We wrote to Currys informing them, in great detail, of all the problems we had experienced and that we had had enough - we were rejecting the appliance as it was not of merchantable quality or fit for purpose. We told them to come and collect the appliance and arrange for a full refund.

 

 

They declined the refund - instead offering us another engineer. We declined and informed them if we didn't have a satisfactory solution within 14 days we would issue Small Claims against them.

 

 

We got no response. We filled in the Small Claims paperwork and after trying to look up the company details online and on their own website we filled the defendants details in as Currys , PO Box 1687, Sheffield, S2 5YA. The court office told us we couldn't use a PO Box number and we should use the store address that we bought the appliance from, so we did. The papers were served on the store which we then assume were forwarded to their Head Office.

 

 

DSG Retail then sent us a letter from their LEGAL SERVICES (it was in bold print!) they said their records don't match my mother's version of events... would you like to have an engineer inspect the appliance? He then, later in the letter, said that 'Currys do not exist in a legal capacity since they are trading names of DSG Retail Ltd who are the company that operate and control these stores. For very good reasons proceedings can only be issued against a legal entity. If we were to obtain a judgement against Currys we would not be able to take enforcement proceedings'.

 

 

This infuriates me. They make it as unclear and difficult as possible to find out where to contact if things progress to a Small Claims stage and then they try and rub it in your face. They have Currys on their receipts, their shops have Currys over the door, and they have a Currys website.

 

 

So do we now have to go through the whole procedure again and serve the papers on DSG Retail Ltd at a further cost?

 

 

I should mention that my mother lives over the border in Scotland and, according to the court office, they have jurisdiction because my mother is domiciled in Scotland.

 

 

Any advice / comments appreciated. Taaa.

[SabreSheep]

maybe apply and pay the fee to vary the papers. THEN if they want to settle out of court you can add that to negotiations, although the court would prob not award the extra fees