Harlands - the best way to do it (in my opinion)

[littleyellowduck]

My son was billed by Harlands for a cancelled DD and an admin fee. I did not want to get into copious amounts of correspondence with them over the issue, so I advised him to pay the £39 claimed.

 

I then issued a Moneyclaim online summons to Harlands for the £39 plus the court fee. They did not bother to defend and a judgement was entered against them.

 

A final letter to them advising that if they did not pay the judgement within 14 days a bailiff would be appointed at a further cost of £77 plus bailiffs fee. Within 48 hours they had paid in full.

 

If ever I have a dispute with a company, I always pay in full to avoid any possible credit rating issues, and then retrospectively sue.

 

To me, this is easier than entering into months of fruitless correspondence.

[dx100uk]

Well that's cost you more than ignoring

Which you should have done

So they won really

[littleyellowduck]

Well that's cost you more than ignoring

Which you should have done

So they won really

 

 

How come? It did not cost me anything (other than two stamps) and I have the satisfaction of knowing that they had a judgement issued against them, all be it will show as settled, but it will still show.

 

 

I am not one for doing nothing.

[renegadeimp]

If they paid within 28 days they wont have any judgement showing,. Which means you have wasted your time and money

[slick132]

Hi LYD and I like your style !!

 

We're always on the lookout for folk who want to take Harlands to court for harassment but most tend to ignore them instead.

 

Harlands will not have the CCJ registered against them as they settled in full within the 28 days allowed.

 

This would never have affected your credit rating but you certainly have the pleasure of having taken them to court and winning.

 

The £39 that YS initially paid - how was this made up ?

 

[littleyellowduck]

Thank you Slick132.

 

 

I have found the other comments to be quite negative. What some of the more experienced 'members' on here should understand is that some people are not happy to 'front it out' and just ignore the letters. For those that are, then that is great, just do nothing and bin their letters, but for those that are not, or who are in dispute with another Business, where ignoring letters can affect your credit rating, this is a perfectly acceptable solution.

 

 

It is all very well members saying 'this will not affect your credit rating', but sometimes things can. My wife and myself have an impeccable credit rating (I was a bank manager for 30 years) and moved in 2015. We applied for a small capital raising mortgage on our property to help our daughter buy a property. We needed the funds urgently as she was a cash buyer and needed to prove she had the funds. We applied through Santander where we have a select account, but we failed their credit score and was turned down. When we checked with Experian, some muppet at Virgin Media had not cleared an amount of about £13 from our old property (they had a direct debit set up and could have collected it any time) and after 3 mnths it had gone into default. Luckily, after a call to the VM Chief Exec complaints team, it was sorted, and they contacted Experian to expunge our credit rating, and paid us compensation. They also sent a letter to Santander apologising and confirming it was all their fault. We did eventually get the funds, but it was a close call.

 

 

As mentioned previously, I would rather pay up front and 'claim' it back through MCO. This way, whoever the Company, it cannot affect your credit rating. The number of 'youngsters' I came across in the bank who were applying for a mortgage, who were turned down due to an issue with a mobile phone company, and they would always say ' I disputed the amount of the bill so I did not pay it'............and not paying that £50 bill stopped them getting the mortgage.

 

 

The £39 was made up of a monthly payment of £14 and a 'missed payment admin charge' of £25. Because they refused to admit him to the Gym as they said he had not completed a health questionnaire (after going for 10 months) I argued they had broken their own contract so a verbal cancellation was sufficient, therefore he did not need to give 30 days notice. As the judgement was issued in default as they never submitted a defence, I do not know whether this would have held up, although I doubt due to the cost, they would have ever taken it to a hearing.

 

 

Cheers

[renegadeimp]

Theyre not negative. They are opinions and factual. But just like you have expressed yours, we can express ours providing they are not incorrect or abusive.

 

As fo ryou saying they can affect your credit rating... sorry. It wont unless they go to court and win a CCJ AND you fail to pay within 28 days.

 

Harlands dont do court as it will show up their unlawful charges and business practice. It's also likely why they never defended your claim and paid within 28 days.

 

They might be a very shady company but theyre not daft.

[dx100uk]

your instance, littleyellowduck is very small potato's, and it does cost, the £39 already paid.

and i'm not sure what bailiffs you are intending to employ but you cant employ HCEO's its below their £600 threshold?

 

 

i'm also not happy with the general advise people pay whats owed and then goto court.

simply to keep a clean file.

dispute the debt with the original providers as you did.

 

 

some mobile debts that we and you have seen that prevent mortgages etc are several £100's

that might not even be legally owed re unfair till end of contract sums.

 

 

we don't advocate ignoring and binning the letters either.

[slick132]

Hi LYD,

 

We're all entitled to our opinions and, what works for one person won't work for another.

 

I take your point about CRA's but we know that gym m/ships have not been reported by CRA's since 2011 when the OFT took AMSL to the High Court.

 

Ignoring Harlands/CRS demands means they make demands and harass members for many months and you avoided this by the action you took, which makes sense to me.

 

Out of interest, could you kindly confirm the PoC you used on the claim form N1.

 

Thanks