Defending a claim made by a floor repair company who demanded an extra £480 and walked off the job

[musicsyellow]

Hi all,

 

I have had a torrid couple of months with a floor restoration company who are now taking me to court to reclaim money they feel they are owed. I have recieved the claim and returned the response pack with a robust defense. Yesterday I received a letter of notification to the small claims track and a request that I fill in the Small Claims Directions Questionnaire.

 

I am quite stressed about the whole thing and nervous about court...not because I don't think I have a defence just because that's how the act of going to court makes me feel. So any advice you can give me is very much appreciated.

 

Here are the relevant bits:

I have a standard 3 bed 1930s semi detached. The wall had been knocked through between the dining room and the kitchen. The next job was to sort the floor out. Here's a picture of the floor :

 

 

The job was to lift the boards from the lounge to make the necessary repair work in the kitchen/diner and replacing the boards from the lounge with chipboard (as this was going to be under a carpet). The floor guy came to quote the job up and said it would take two days for £850 + materials of around £120. When he was at the house he saw the screed where the old fireplace was however there was still laminate flooring covering the old kitchen floor.

 

He went on a cruise in the caribbean and sent 3 young lads round.

 

The young lads were surprised to find that the original floorboards didn't extend into the small, flat roof kitchen extension. There was chipboard here instead. The whole area measured around one square metre:

 

 

On day two he phoned me up from the cruise ship asking for anther £480 for another days work to complete the job. He said this was due to the delays caused by the chipboard in the kitchen, that he had assumed the original floorboards were under the laminate flooring when he came to quote.

 

I wanted the job done as I could not use the entire downstairs of my house and there was a big hole in my lounge floor.

 

 

I offered to meet him half way and pay and extra £240.

 

He got very angry and shouty and later that day sent me a text saying he'd take me to court if I didn't pay up and that he'd instructed his team to leave the job.

 

I sent him a few emails explaining my side but he didn't reply claiming that he couldn't get emails on the cruise ship.

 

I waited a month and then got another company in to finish the job. They charged me £600 to not only finish the job but re-fit the floorboards over the old fireplace which had been screwed in using 6 inch screws and were loose.

 

I paid the original company £980 - £600.

 

Now we're going to court.

 

If anyone can assuage my fears about going to court to defend this please do

 

Thank you.

[AndyOrch]

Hi musicsyellow and welcome to CAG

 

Perhaps if you could post the particulars of claim by the claimant and a copy of the defence you submitted...so we have an all round picture of the claim and can advise on how to proceed to allocation.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[musicsyellow]

Hi Andy,

 

Here are images of my defence paperwork. I'm at work at the moment so I'll try to take photos of the claim itself when I get home but each area of the claim is directly addressed in my defence.

 

Thank you,

 

Andrew

 

[BankFodder]

Please would you post your documents in pdf format. They are often too small in JPG.

[musicsyellow]

Hi BankFodder,

 

Is it possible to block out personal data on a PDF? If it is then I'm happy to post.

 

Thanks,

 

Andrew

[BankFodder]

Do it with an editor or with postit notes before you scan.

[musicsyellow]

 

Here are the relevant bits from the claim form.

 

@BankFodder: I'm sorry I don't have a scanner. I have taken a photo of the claim form (which came in the post) at the highest resolution possible so hopefully it is easy to read.

[musicsyellow]

Struggling to get you a PDF. I don't have an editor and my defence was submitted online not on paper so can't use post-its and scan (don't have a scanner either). I've tried again with the defense sections by zooming in. Hopefully these are easier to read.

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by musicsyellow

[musicsyellow]

And here is Defense 6. I was only able to add 5 files to the previous post.

 

[musicsyellow]

Hi all,

 

Did any on of you have further updates after I uploaded the paperwork? If so I'd be interested to hear your advice.

 

Thank you,

[AndyOrch]

What stage is the claim at now...is it stayed?

 

Andy

[musicsyellow]

I have just had a letter through the post saying it has been allocated to Sheffield (as I requested) and I will hear about next steps in due course.

[AndyOrch]

Okay once you get your Notice of Allocation...post up and we can run through the directions with you.

[musicsyellow]

OK I will do that, though I was hoping that some of you may have offered a view based on the information I have uploaded, i.e. do I have a reasonable chance at defending this?

[AndyOrch]

Unfortunately we are not judge and jury...the court will decide...but if you felt it didn't have prospects nor right and just you wouldn't of issued the claim