BPF unsigned credit agreement and unsigned direct debit. ***Received Full payment***

[Its WAR]

I have checked, it's not been received. Had they have issued a cheque or made a direct payment, I would still expect them to say so. Especially after all the correspondence chasing it.

[AndyOrch]

And this offer was made personally by MR Stuart Muir of BFP ....in writing ?

[Its WAR]

Yes, Stuart Muir.

 

[AndyOrch]

And what does this letter state.....verbatim ?

 

 

 

.

[Its WAR]

" I can confirm I am upholding your complaint, due to the poor service you have received in relating to Mr (my uncles) account. Due to the distress and inconvenience you have faced and as a way of apology, I have arranged for a cheque for £250 to be issued to you. Please expect this to be received within the next 15 business days."

 

The rest of the letter provides details of the amounts owing on his account (which is what I had been trying to ascertain for months), a reduction of some interest  and provides a settlement figure. It invites me to make an early one off payment to close the account within 14 days.

 

I didn't reply immediately but decided to wait for the cheque to arrive (it didn't arrive), but chose to pay the final balance any way by the 14th day, rather than have to get revised figures or keep paying monthly. I wrote more letters chasing the £250 and everything has been ignored.

[AndyOrch]

And you didn't formally accept the GOGW in writing ?

 

A good will gesture can indeed be legally binding because it can still amount to a formal contract between the two parties. A contract legally formed if there is an offer and an acceptance if they had offered to make that payment and you accepted it in writing, then a contract is likely to have been formed.

However, that does not mean that a contract cannot be retracted so it is possible for them to retract such an offer if the circumstances around which it was offered have significantly changed. 

 

 

 

.

[Its WAR]

Yes I get that. Although the 'offer' says  they had decided to actually make the payment. It didn't seem to be an offer that required my acceptance. They had simply arranged to send the cheque already. I could have written to complain, or do nothing to accept. I chose o do nothing and banking the cheque would have implied acceptance (had the cheque arrived).

[AndyOrch]

Yes I accept that...but these are the the points you have to nail down before submitting a court claim....there is no wriggle room.

[Its WAR]

Payment received in full.

 

Whilst I wasted time deciding who to sue, I had a letter from their solicitor responding to the notice before action. Despite the NBA stating I would have already issued the summons by then, the letter requested more time to look into the matter and it would be premature were I to issue the summons before they completed their enquiries, and if I did issue, they would bring this to the attention of the court. So basically a hollow threat or warning.

 

I knew full well it was unlikely to ever get to a hearing, once the summons was issued it would have the effect of putting their toes in the fire.  Moral of the story..........issue the summons sooner rather than later (as Bank Fodder explains).

 

However, as I had not yet issued, I decided to give them another week. The payment arrived without further contact. Thereby saving the trouble of issuing a summons balanced against the satisfaction of issuing a summons.

 

We should remember though, this matter was latterly only arguing over £250, but this is no reason to be lazy just because it was a small amount. These small amounts should be dealt with as if they were important amounts. They make excellent practice for any time when you might be faced with making a substantial or worrying claim. I was a little lazy with this one.