National company small claims issue

[Bygones07]

Hi - my first post so here goes..... Am in process of submitting a claim through the Small Claims' Court against a national company.

 

 

Does anyone know how I complete Form N510 'Service out of the Jurisdiction'? I need to submit this form as I live in England but the transaction took place in Scotland and they're based in Scotland too. I've tried CAB and a solicitor and no-one seems to know. The small claims centre in Salford have told me which forms I need (N1 and N510) and how many copies I have to produce to send to them. Apparently they process the claim then send a copy back to me as I have to serve the claim to the company's head office.

 

 

There are 9 paragraphs which are very similar. I think it's the first one I need to tick but does anyone know exactly which words in the square brackets I need to delete in this case? Shame there are no guidance notes for this form. It's all very well saying I need someone legally trained to help me, but the solicitor I consulted (although he has helped with small claims before) knew nothing about Form N510. I also see that Form N510 is being re-written to take account of new legislation. If my form N510 has (11.08) at the bottom, does anyone know if that means I can still use this form without having to annotate parts of it? Crikey they don't make it easy for us 'lay' folk do they? It's a minefield.

 

 

It would be so easy just to give up, I am only asking £500 in compensation, but have been offered £200 'as a gesture of goodwill' - not acceptable. If they think this 60something lady will just give up - well watch this space. Grateful for any help with this. Thanks for reading.

[BankFodder]

Don't start talking about giving up yet.

 

Why don't you tell us about the whole problem. You're not on your own. Loads of people are having problems with the energy companies and if you let us help you you can beat them.

 

First of all, tell us which company they are – but if you are considering issuing proceedings in Scotland then maybe it is ScottishPower.

 

If it is, I don't think you need to issue proceedings out of jurisdiction. However we will look into it for you.

 

Start off by telling us your story in a nice chronological order.

[Bygones07]

Hi - thanks for that. It's a well-known national garage company. I don't want to name them as I've involved Trading Standards and I'm pursuing them through the small claims court. Basically a car I bought was misrepresented by the garage salesman; had been repaired (fairly extensively) and he'd told me it hadn't. It's been like ploughing through treacle trying to sort out the paperwork. The small claims centre told me I would need a form for serving the claim in Scotland because I live in England.

[Conniff]

If you would like to give the date of purchase and say if it is on HP that would help.

 

 

What are you claiming for ?

[Bygones07]

Purchased last Summer and not on HP. I part-exchanged my previous car. The misrepresentation was verbal.

[Bygones07]

I'm claiming £500; they've offered £200 as 'a gesture of goodwill'.

[BankFodder]

Hi - thanks for that. It's a well-known national garage company. I don't want to name them as I've involved Trading Standards and I'm pursuing them through the small claims court. Basically a car I bought was misrepresented by the garage salesman; had been repaired (fairly extensively) and he'd told me it hadn't. It's been like ploughing through treacle trying to sort out the paperwork. The small claims centre told me I would need a form for serving the claim in Scotland because I live in England.

 

Whoops - why did I think that it was a Utility company???

[BankFodder]

Did you buy the car in England or in Scotland?

If they are a National company then surely they have English offices.

 

Also - you should name them anyway. It will not harm you at all - and in fact it may attract others who have had similar problems and that will help you as well.

[Bygones07]

I live in England but bought the car in Scotland. Wanted a specific make and model and low mileage so they are few and far between, hence buying it from so far away. The company is Arnold Clark and their head office is in Glasgow.

[maroondevo52]

https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/frequently-asked-questions/small-claims

[Bygones07]

Thanks for the link but when I searched for Form N510, there were no hits. Has anyone else completed one of these for Service Out Of Jurisdiction (England to Scotland) please?

[maroondevo52]

I'm sure you can start your claim at your local county court.

 

Your Particulars of Claim must contain the following statement if you are using a defendant's address outside England/Wales:

 

"'I state that the High Court of England and Wales has power under the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 to hear this claim and that no proceedings are pending between the parties in Scotland, Northern Ireland or another Convention territory of any contracting state as defined by section 1(3) of the Act."

 

Please note that if you do this, then the period of time for the defendant to file the acknowledgement of service or the admission is extended from 14 days to 21 days from the date of service of the claim (if the particulars of claim are served with the claim formicon) or 21 days from the date of service of the particulars of claim if they were not served with the claim form - remember, the deemed day of service is two days from when it was posted.

 

The time for filing a defence is 21 days from the date of service of the particulars of claim or 35 days from the date of service of the particulars of claim if the defendant has filed an acknowledgement of service.

 

You'll also need to file a form N510 Service out of the Jurisdiction and tick the appropriate box.

 

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n510-eng.pdf

[BankFodder]

But also, if they are a national company - then surely they must have offices in England.

 

Also, what does it say in the T&Cs? Does it say anything about which law or which courts should be used in a dispute?

[Bygones07]

Thanks - particularly for the exact wording I need to use. That wording is one of the options on Form N510, so that's helpful. I see Arnold Clark issues are raised regularly on this site. Their website talks about their excellent customer service and for the first time when purchasing a car I didn't get an AA report on it, as I had faith that I would be treated fairly and professionally by such a well-known company. I drove 1,200 miles to get it! Had I known the car had been repaired I would not have bought it. I asked the question to the salesman and was told no- it hadn't been in any accidents or had repairs done and it turned out it had been repaired in the very same garage 3 weeks earlier. The repairs came to light when I took it to my local garage who pointed out the areas which had been filled, resprayed and repaired.

[steampowered]

You may refer to https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part06#6.3, which is part of the underlying civil procedure rules.

 

As you can see from the table in rule 6.9, you can serve your claim form at 'Any place within the jurisdiction where the corporation carries on its activities; or any place of business of the company within the jurisdiction.'

 

You can serve them in Scotland if you want, but it is not necessary. If you issue the claim in England or Wales and send the claim to an office based in England or Wales, there will be no need for you to use form N510 or any special wording.

[scaniaman]

Can't quite understand why you are only claiming £500 compo. Surely a smashed(repaired) car is worth a lot less than a non accident car. I assume the reg docs do not show even a low grade write off.

In the past (in England) clarks lawyers have told them not to fight a claim as they thought winning would be unlikely. But Clarks being clarks went ahead and lost the case---so don't give up.

When it comes to selling this car, if your garage saw repair marks then so could any prospective punter.

Did Clark not offer to bring this car to your local depot for you??

[Bygones07]

Hi - thanks for your input. No they didn't offer to bring the car south for me. According to my local garage, they checked the car's chassis track rods etc., and all seemed OK. Clark's maintain the repairs were 'purely cosmetic'. However, as you rightly say, any future garage will notice it's been repaired. I felt stupid not noticing the repaired areas but as a lay person, I don't suppose I would. I also am kicking myself for believing the word of the salesman - hence not wanting to 'make money' out of this; it's mainly that I asked the question and was lied to. I really think this was more than just poor 'customer service', it was blatant misrepresentation. I'm not going to give up although the paperwork and policy for serving the claim are daunting. Although I don't have money to burn the £500 would at least have reflected that I paid 'top book price'. Clark's name seems to crop up fairly regularly on this site; you would think they would want to minimise negative feedback.