suing a company as they have not fulfilled their obligations - have i won?

[itsamomentintime]

suing a company as they have not fulfilled their obligations

 

claim issued on 1/11/06

 

acknowledged by defendant on 6/11/06

 

today is 21/11/06 but nothing has been entered as a defence on moneyclaims website

 

have i won?

[barracad]

There should be an option to click on MCOL to request a default judgement.

[itsamomentintime]

nope there isnt anything

[itsamomentintime]

sorry my mistake - they have 28 days to answer, not 14 - popped my cork to quickly....

[itsamomentintime]

i am currently suing a company that i asked to perform an inspection/road test on an M3 EVO that i bought on ebay - claim is at the 'acknowledged' stage and has been since 6/11/06

 

i had prevously used them without a problem, so i stumped up a colossal £274 which paid for an engineers report and a road test. the engineer phoned me and said that he had found a huge problem, being a coolant leak when the cooling system was under pressure. the vendor assured me that there was no leak, and that the engineer hadnt sealed the cooling system properly, causing a leak under pressure.

 

the engineer said he would complete the road test after repairs had been done, but i would have to pay an extra £137 for the road test, which (unbelieveably) i paid. the vendor was admant that there was no leak, so i decided to drive to birmingham and have the car tested at a BMW main dealer. surprise surprise no leak. i asked for a refund on the £137 and for the engineer to be sent out free of charge. i got a refund but was charged £30 for the privilige. they also said that they wouldnt send out the engineer

 

so.......i have paid £307 for a full engineers report and a road test, none of which i have recieved. i wrote to them but their reply suggested that i had fixed the fault myself before the BMW test, which left me fuming.

 

 

what do you think will happen in court?

[Bookworm]

I think that if they try to use that as a defence, they'll have to be able to prove that you could do so. Could you?

 

I also think that you want to ask BMW if they'll provide a copy of their findings. If there had been a "huge oil leak", there'll be traces remaining around where the leak is supposed to have occurred, congealed drips,run-offs, that kind of things. In fact, I suggest you take lots and lots of pictures of the offending area as well, as soon as possible.

[itsamomentintime]

bookworm - i have a copy of BMWs report that says there is no leak, also i am sure that BMW would be able to tell if the coolant system had recently had any new parts.

 

i was going to leave it but when they accused me of fixing the problem myself i hit the roof

[Bookworm]

And so would I. Go for it, let us know what pans out.

[itsamomentintime]

well they have until 4/12/06 to file a defence

 

incidentally, the car comes highly recommended - if you can you should

[Bookworm]

It's a BMW. No chance in hell. I used to work for their emergency services, I know enough horror stories to put anyone off from them for life!

[itsamomentintime]

not mine - its a hand-built masterpiece

[itsamomentintime]

well they have filed a defence and the case will be moved to the local court - i will let u know what happens

[Bookworm]

Cool.

 

Do you want to post the defence here so we can have a look?

[itsamomentintime]

yes i will when i recieve it, no problemo

[itsamomentintime]

recieved defence and Allocation Questionnaire today - whats the best way to post it on here? scan it?

[Bookworm]

If you have OCR, scan, copy and paste. Otherwise, scan, (remove identifying markers) upload to something like Photobucket, them paste the URL.

 

Or type it in...

[itsamomentintime]

AQ hand delivered to court today, i have found a scanner (!), just need to set it up....

[Bookworm]

ooooh, you tease.

[itsamomentintime]

i try

[itsamomentintime]

right cant scan it so here it is:

 

i am XXXX employed as a customer service manager by XXXX

 

we offer vehicle inspections and prepare condition reports for prospective purchasers

 

our service is subject to T's and C's

 

our vehicle inspections are purely visual and no dismantling takes place. the inspection does not carry any guarantee or warranty and none is implied

 

on 30th may 2006 we took a booking to inspect a BMW M3 EVOLUTION reg XXXXX. the inspection costs £274 for a 133 point inspection. payment was made via credit card

 

our engineer was allocated to inspect the car

 

our engineer completed the inspection on 1st june 2006. the inspection was incomplete insofar as the road test had not been undertaken as the engineer reported a serious leak to the cooling system

 

our T's and C's specifically deal with incidents of this nature:

a road test will not be carried out if our engineer deems the car as unsafe or unroadworthy

 

Mr XXXX contacted us on 5th June 2006 concerning the fact that the road test was not completed. he was advised that a re-inspection charge of 50% (£137) would be required for this (this is our normal practice). whilst Mr XXXX raised concerns in an email dated 5th june 2006 concerning the inspection fee, he subsequently accepted and paid the fee, and was advised that the matter was not being treated as a complaint at this time. Mr XXXX was advised that the car should be repaired before the road test can be done.

 

at 4.30pm on 6th june 2006 Mr XXXXrang to cancel the further inspection. he was advised that a fee of £30 would be retained for administration. our normal cancellation fee is £70(!!!!!!!!!!) as identified within our T's and C's

 

on 1st august 2006 i recieved a notification of a complaint from Mr XXXX which was dated 5th july 2006 regarding the inspection service we had carried out. the complaint concerned the fact that we were unable to carry out a road test due to the vehicle being unroadworthy and our cancellation fee of £30 which was levied when Mr XXXX cancelled the re-inspection.

 

an acknowledgement of the complaint was sent to Mr XXXX on 3rd august 2006

 

our engineer was sent a copy of the complaint and supplied his own statement

 

we have had no further contact with Mr XXXX until the issue of the county court claim dated 1st november 2006

[Bookworm]

So, let me get this straight:

 

They're stating in their defence, that they

a) charged you full whack for an inspection they did not complete,

b) charged you a further fee for completing the inspection,

c) charged you more for NOT completing the inspection?

[itsamomentintime]

ha ha ha i didnt think of it in that way - in my wifes words, its a joke

[itsamomentintime]

here is a copy of the original letter that i sent:

 

Dear sir/madam

 

I am writing to you to express my disgust at the way I have been treated by your company. I recently applied for a vehicle check costing £274. the inspector carried out the test but was unable to complete the road test as he thought he had found a serious water leak when checking the water pressure. He told me to contact the office to arrange a retest, once the water leak had been fixed. I did this, only to be charged a further £137 for a future road test, even though I had already paid for one that had not been done. I contacted the vendor who assured me that the car had no leak, and urged me to get it checked independently. I contacted your offices again to cancel the road test and to get a refund on the £137, which was given to me. However you charged me a cancellation fee of £30, (bear in mind this means I have paid £304 for 2 road tests that have not been carried out).

 

The car was taken to Ryedale BMW in Birmingham and a water pressure test was done at a cost of £50 (copy included). No leak was detected, meaning your engineer had made a mistake, which I wont crucify him for however I take exception to the fact that I have to pay for someone else’s error. Your greedy company provided no help at all, instead you insisted on charging me extra at every turn.

 

Do not seek to blame the engineer, he only made a mistake. The real fault lies with your policy on ripping people off. As a result I want a full refund for:

 

Vehicle test £274

Road test cancellation fee £30

Ryedale water pressure test £50

Travel expenses to Birmingham from and Manchester, and vice versa £30

Total £387

 

If you don’t refund me I will contact my credit card company for a chargeback, as I have a report from you stating that the full vehicle test can’t be done due to a water leak, and I have a statement from BMW saying there is NO water leak. This means you have not provided the service that I have paid for.

 

 

Please respond within 7 days.

 

Regards

 

itsamomentintime

[blacksheep1979]

I've got a feeling that you won't get the full amount back - you'll probably be awarded the £30 and £137 as thats what they deem a road test to be worth (and is the only part not carried out). Did you receive the report about the condition of the car without roadtest? If so you have had some value from the report.

 

Good Luck anyway

[itsamomentintime]

why do you think i would get £137? they already refunded that you see