small claim against a "sole trader" caravan repairer ***Paid in Full***

[Surfer01]

Hi all.

 

 

I have an update but not a great one.

 

 

The repairer has not replied to any letters. We also asked the "Consumer Ombudsman" to help, but he declined their intervention. I know that he was not part of their scheme, but trading standards thought it a good idea to involve them.

 

 

The caravan has now got in a worse state, and my dad has no spare cash to correct the work before being refunded of the poor work done. Is there anyway that we could use the "Money claim online" service to recover the monies paid, or would they only award costs if we had repairs carried out.

 

 

My dad has legal cover with his caravan insurance. He is going to contact them tomorrow. Does anyone know if they will advise and take the case on for free without taking a penny of the sums awarded?

 

Can I suggest that you join a Caravan Forum like Caravan Talk as you may get other advice there regarding repairs to a caravan?

[marka1980]

AFAIK, getting the work done and then billing this chap is a better approach, but if your father doesn't have the funds available, then the same process should be applied.

 

Obtain three estimates for the repair, then make a claim against the individual.company for the cost of the repairs, then once/if you are successful you will have the funds to carry out the necessary repairs.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I also think that getting repairs done would be a better idea, but unfortunately with quotes in excess of £2000, he doesn't have that kind of cash available.

 

We only have the damp reports and quotes to back up the case the work was poor now. Getting a repair would have enabled photo's to be taken, to show the severity of the damp problem.

 

I'll send a letter before action to now say that if we aren't refunded, then we will get money claim online service involved. I assume that changing out minds and not having repairs done wont harm our chances of winning in court as we do have a breach if warranty and poor workmanship to claim for.

 

Thanks for your help., much appreciated!!!

[marka1980]

Can I suggest that you join a Caravan Forum like Caravan Talk as you may get other advice there regarding repairs to a caravan?

 

Hi thanks for that, but caravan talk was our 1st port of call, and someone directed me to this site from there,,

 

I did get some good advice off there though., there is a caravan to be enjoyed once all this is over,,

[marka1980]

Forgot to say that we do now have quotes ,,,

[Bazooka Boo]

I'd be inclined to get up to date accurate reports of the cost of the work required, with time scales as to how long the quote will last for so you have a rough time scale to go by.

 

Then send the reports with a LBA stating that a response will be required by a certain date, usually within 7 working days, whereby you will go ahead with getting the repairs completed using one of the three quotes you have supplied him, and taking legal redress through the small claims court in order to recover your losses.

 

That should then give him plenty of time in which to either start communications, or continue ignoring you in the hope you'll just go away.

[marka1980]

Hi all,

 

 

The rogue repairer has not responded to our LBA, so it looks like it's off to the small claims court we go.

 

 

I have a few questions, and am in need of a bit of advice regarding the small claims court.

 

 

Is it best to use the "Moneyclaim" online service, or shall we just fill in the N1 form and post it off to the court along with the fee?

 

 

We do have lots of supporting documents to add, i.e damp reports, quotes, and previous letters sent to attach, so maybe filling out the N1 form is the way to go. Although it is cheaper online, it would be a lot of work to scan and attach all letters, quotes etc...

 

 

We have heard that the rogue repairer, who is a sole trader, is considering closing down the business.

 

 

We have always sent 1 letter to the business addressed "Joe Bloggs T/A The Bad caravan company", and also one to his home addressed as "The bad caravan company" c/o Joe Bloggs.

 

 

Would it be ok to put both the business and home addresses down when on the claim form.

 

 

Any advice much appreciated please..

Edited February 16, 2016 by marka1980

[Bazooka Boo]

Hello again!

 

Shame it has to come to this, but some people just don't know when to give up do they?

 

AFAIK, and this is goingout of my comfort zone as I'm not really au fais with the legal side of things, BUT MCOL,is, I think, the way to go yes, as you say it is cheaper, although should it go in your favour, these costs are added to the claim anyway, but if you can show that you have still attempted to keep his costs to a minimum, then that can only go in your favour too.

[marka1980]

Hello again,

 

 

and thanks for all your help. I'll start on the claim at the weekend and take it from there. I have printed the online guide to MCOL which is 26 pages long, so I need to read and understand that.

 

 

I'll keep you posted on what happens..

 

 

Mark..

[steampowered]

Is it best to use the "Moneyclaim" online service, or shall we just fill in the N1 form and post it off to the court along with the fee?

Do it on MCOL. Cheaper and easier.

 

We do have lots of supporting documents to add, i.e damp reports, quotes, and previous letters sent to attach, so maybe filling out the N1 form is the way to go. Although it is cheaper online, it would be a lot of work to scan and attach all letters, quotes etc...

The form itself should only contain a brief description of what has gone wrong and details of what amount of money is required to fix it. Feel free to post a draft on here if you want input from other users.

 

You do not attach supporting documents at this stage. You will need to provide your supporting evidence later in the process, after the directions questionnaire but before the hearing.

 

Would it be ok to put both the business and home addresses down when on the claim form.

If you are suing a sole trader, you can serve at the usual or last known residence of the individual or principal or last known place of business. The court will only serve on one address, so just choose the most appropriate one.

 

We have heard that the rogue repairer, who is a sole trader, is considering closing down the business.

This would be a pain if he was operating a company. But as it sounds like he was operating as a sole trader, not as a company, it doesn't really matter whether or not he closes down the business.

[marka1980]

Thanks steampowered, some good advice there. I'm going to use MCOL now.. i'll get onto the weekend..

 

 

He is a "sole trader" not a "Ltd" company, so I think I will put his home address down. It's where we have sent copies of previous letters to. It's a shame to get his family involved in all of this, but, he obviously hasn't spared any thought for my dad and all the hassle it's caused him, so it serves him right.

 

 

Would I put something like "The Bad Caravan Co" and below "c/o Joe Bloggs" followed by his home address, on the form? I assume I must mention the name of the business even though I've put his home address down.

 

 

I will definitely post up the draft form I type out on here. It's the first time I've ever done anything like this, and also, a little more difficult as I'm doing it on my dad's behalf.

 

 

Hopefully, when he has the work done we will have photo's of the poor repair to make the case watertight...

[steampowered]

Would I put something like "The Bad Caravan Co" and below "c/o Joe Bloggs" followed by his home address, on the form? I assume I must mention the name of the business even though I've put his home address down

The standard format is [the individual person's name] t/a [business name].

[marka1980]

Hi,

 

 

A repairer has very kindly done a report on the bad repair job.

 

 

My dad has spoke to the legal team and at the camping & caravanning club, and they said for a report to be shown in court, an expert must produce a report under "civil procedure rules". I have googled it, but can't really find out much about it.

 

The report is very good, but I'm sure if it will be acceptable in court.

 

 

Would it be possible for me to email the report to someone so they can check it out and see if we can use it in the latter stages of our case?

 

 

Thanks

Mark.

[steampowered]

The club are correct. Read https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27#27.5.

 

You need the court's permission to use an expert report. This is to make sure that the expert is independent. You would apply for permission if you wanted it on the directions questionnaire, which comes later - after you have filed the claim and he has filed the defence. For a small claim like this any expert should normally be jointly appointed and the identity of the expert agreed by both sides.

[marka1980]

Thanks steam powered. I understand i couldn't use it as an expert's report then.

 

 

Perhaps, I could use it to add more weight to my case as part of the quotation he also did for me. The report just shows how poor the repair is, he says it's the worst he's seen, and he wouldn't have paid £300 for it, let alone £1600.

 

 

Now another thing is.

 

 

Just after the repair in May 2015, my dad asked the same repairer to put silicon on the caravan to seal it better. He paid an extra £200!! Even though the extra work has never been mentioned in any letters to the repairer before, can we now ask that we want, not only the original repair bill refunded, but a refund of £200 for the job he did afterwards?

[steampowered]

You will be able to use factual evidence but not expert evidence (unless you have permission to get expert evidence). The point about expert reports is that you can't use this person's opinion to try and convince the judge, because the judge doesn't know whether this person is independent or not.

 

If necessary you could ask for an independent, jointly appointed expert to be appointed to prepare a report, and the identity of that expert should usually be agreed with the defendant.

 

You could still use photographs etc. as factual evidence.

[marka1980]

Hi all,

 

 

I'm just beginning our Claim with "Money Claim Online" and I am in need of a bit of help before I begin.

 

 

The defendant is a Sole Trader, so I have his name and address in the boxes as follows : Box 1 - Title: Mr

Box 2 - Joe

Box 3 - Bloggs T/A

Box 4 - The Bad Caravan Repair Co.

Box 5 - Address

Box 6 - Address

Box 7 - Address

Box 8 - Post Code

 

 

There wasn't enough room in box 3 to put "T/A" and then the name of the company, so I just wanted to know if I am correct putting the business name in Box 4 below.

 

 

We are claiming back a refund of the full cost of repairs of £1600. My dad has also had to pay out for damp reports, quotations, postage costs etc...

 

 

Now should I add that to the £1600, or is there another part where I can add the relevant costs incurred.

 

 

I have also considered claiming interest, but I don't know if we are entitled to do so, and also from what date it's reasonable to claim interest from i.e the date we first contacted the company to tell them we weren't happy with the repair.

 

 

In the particulars box do I name the defendant by name and business or do I just put "the defendant".?

 

 

I have also read the MCOL guide, and found out that claiming interest will reduce the amount of space needed in the particulars box by 6 lines. This is quite a lot, and I don't want to have to send extra particulars to the defendant after the claim has been issued.

 

 

I'm sorry I'm being a pain, the answers might seems quite simple, but I don't want to jeopardise the claim in anyway by getting the basics wrong.

 

 

Thanks..

[marka1980]

Hi,

 

I am currently in the process of issuing a small claim against a "sole trader" caravan repairer on my dad's behalf.

 

The repairs carried out have been found to be of a poor standard judging by recent damp reports, and inspections by other caravan repairers who have quoted.

 

First of all, our aim was to get him to agree to repairs, or we would get the caravan repaired by a third party repairer and invoice him the cost. Afterall, a twelve month warranty was provided verbally at the point of collecting the caravan. The repairer still has "twelve month warranties on all repairs" stated on his website.

 

Due to the high costs of the repairs, and such to the poor quality of materials used the repair is now far more complex and expensive than first thought.

 

We now would like a full refund of what was paid for the repair so we can continue to progress with repairs with another company. Until the monies from the rogue repairer have been recovered, we do not have the funds to get another repair done

 

I sent a letter before action on 5th February 2016, giving him until the 20th February in which to respond.

No response has been received,

 

 

please see my particulars of claim as below:

 

In May 2015, the defendant, Mr ******* ******** of ****** Caravan Repairs

carried out damp repairs on my Bailey Pageant Caravan.

 

Following recent damp checks and tests, damp has been found to be still present in the areas he carried out repairs.

 

I seek a full refund for the repairs

totalling £1600.00 for breach of contract s13 Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

arising from repair work completed without the necessary care and skill.

 

Mr ********* also provided me with a verbal twelve month warranty,

as also stated on his website.

 

I have made several unsuccessful attempts

over the telephone and in writing at contacting Mr ******** since finding problems with the repair.

 

I sent Mr ******** a letter dated 5th February 2016, giving him until the 20th February to send me a refund,

from which I have received no response.

 

I would welcome any thoughts on the above. Rewording perhaps..

[dx100uk]

threads merged and re-titled

[marka1980]

threads merged and re-titled

 

 

Thank you !!

[marka1980]

Is anyone able to help me please?

[marka1980]

This is my final draft of my "particulars of claim" I'm going to send it tomorrow night.

 

 

In May 2015, the defendant, Mr ****

****** of ****** Caravan Repairs carried

out damp repairs on my Bailey Pageant Vendee

Caravan. Following recent damp tests and

checks, damp has been found to be still

present in the areas he carried out repairs.

I find the repairs to be in breach of section

13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act of

1982, regarding repair work completed without

the necessary care and skill. Mr *******

also provided me with a verbal Twelve month

warranty, so by ignoring my attempts of

contacting him he is breach of contract,

on the promise he made. I have made several

unsuccessful attempts over the telephone and

in writing to contact Mr ***** since

finding problems with the repair. I sent Mr

******* a letter dated 5th February 2016,

giving him until the 20th February 2016 to

send me a refund, and I haven't a received a

response. I am requesting a full refund of

£1600.00 so I can commence with the necessary

repairs needed to my Caravan.

[Bazooka Boo]

Plus statutory interest at 8% per annum from date of judgement.....

 

I think you have been more than reasonable with your requests and the manner in which you have attempted an amicable solution.

[marka1980]

Thanks Bazooka Boo..

 

 

I did add the extra bit about interest before submitting it last night.

 

 

 

did put T/A after the defendant's surname in the end. I think it would have best before the company name below. It's too late to change it now, but I don't think a small thing like that really matters , I have the address and names all spelt correctly..

 

I'll keep you updated on our progress.

 

 

Mark..

[steampowered]

Your POC looks fine to me.

 

Don't worry about where you put the T/A. As long as the individual is the named defendant, that is the important thing. What you have done with the T/A sounds sensible.

[marka1980]

Hello again to all,

 

The defendant has yet to file a response..

 

With the date I can request judgment fast approaching, I would like help on my next move. Obviously, I must request judgment online. When judgment is requested does a judge look at the POC and decide if there is enough of a case to rule in our favour, or, does the fact we've had no response make it a win for us anyway?

 

Another point to mention, is I drove past his unit the other day. There was no one about, but he still had motorhomes outside and his sign was still above the door. Would it make much of a difference if he was in the process of moving premises?

 

Just the other day another disgruntled customer of his contacted my dad. He has also received no response from any contact made. I'm sure he will take action like we have.

 

Thanks

Mark