Can anyone advise on responding to malicious Online Money Claim

[Daffodil1822]

This highly emotionally unstable and malicious former client has spent 6 months harassing and stalking me and has now filed a totally spurious money claim via MCOL against me, asking them to force me to pay her £500 compensation.  

 

She has sent this paperwork to an address I have never lived at or heard of judging from the latest rants she has sent me via email.

 

In the early hours of the morning I also received an email from the money claims centre providing the claim number and password.  

I logged in via the HTMC site, but when I attempted to respond to the claim it asked me to create an account -- which I did.  

 

Then it asked me to enter my claim number and password again and wouldn't let me in and just keeps saying the password has "expired".  There is no option given to create a new password.

 

Help!

 

This awful and abusive woman is going to achieve a default judgment against me if I'm not given a chance to file my defence.  

I've emailed the online money claim team and not heard back.  

 

I called them earlier today and spoke to a man there who said the claim number I've provided is not showing up on his system.  

Then he put me through to a different department who just kept me on hold for THREE HOURS, 40 mins and never answered the phone.

 

What the hell do I do?

 

Are these people likely to ever answer the phone or respond to email?  Would there be a way to write to them or fax them?

 

I'm seriously, seriously terrified. 

 

The address this awful woman seems to have given to the court looks like something she got off the internet as when I Googled the address it showed that a person with the same first name but didn't surname to me resided there in 1982.  

So obviously I am never going to receive whatever paperwork has been sent out in the post.

[BankFodder]

If you have a copy of the claim then I'm not sure why this person should manage to obtain a default judgement against you because then presumably you can put in a defence.

I think it would be helpful if you could give us much more the story and also post up a copy of the claim here in PDF format please. That means scan the original document and post it up – or in fact if it comes from the moneyclaim website, you are probably able to access a digital copy already and post it up here.

Redact it for identifiers before you do.

[Daffodil1822]

How could I possibly have the claim?  

She has sent it, from what I can tell from her rants and threats, to a completely random I have never heard of and have no access to.  

 

All I have is an email received from Money Claim online, containing a Claim Number and password that do not even work.  

[BankFodder]

Thank you.


Maybe you could post the email which you have received up here – and also you might consider calling the money claim helpline – which is not too bad – and tell them about the problem which you are having accessing the account.

Also, have you any clue as to what the matter might be about?

Do you know this person who apparently has suit you – and is there some history?

[Daffodil1822]

As I stated in my post I called the Money Claim Online helpline and was placed on hold for over 3 hours before eventually having to give up.

[dx100uk]

mcol dont send out emails to anyone regarding a claim being made, unless they have done this for info to you after you asked them for it over the phone.

 

can we see this claimform please in pdf?

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Yes, I'm sure it's very difficult – although I'm afraid that I don't think there is much help we can give until we know much more about the story.

You have responded to my question as to whether or not you know the person who has claimed against you and if there is any history between you.

Although it is frustrating I think you will have to be patient trying to get hold of the people on money claim.

Is there no way that you can access the address which has been used or get the people there to contact you and to let you have the documents they have received? Presumably the claim has been sent to that address.

How did you discover that the claim had been made? Who told you? When did this happen?

[AndyOrch]

No your not...you have 19 days to acknowledge service which you can do by email using the claim number......you then have a further 14 days to submit a defence...so 33 days in total.

 

So it must be acknowledged by Fri 22nd Jan 4.00pm.

 

In the meantime request a copy of the claim form from MCOL and inform them of your correct address.

 

Andy

[Daffodil1822]

Ok, thanks!

 

As I've said it doesn't seem that MCOL answer the phone given that I was on hold for over three hours with no response.  I have emailed them and it remains to be seen whether or not they answer to emails.  

 

Before the online system locked me out I was able to see that the claim filed by this woman consisted of a very long series of grievances against me, example:

 

"She is a narcissist and I want the courts to punish her"

"I feel she is abusive to me just like my husband has abused me and I want the courts to force her to pay me damages."  

 

the claim itself looks like it is ridiculous and doesn't carry any weight.  

Nevertheless if I don't file a defence ultimately there would presumably be a default judgment made against me,  regardless of how ridiculous the claimant's claim is.

To give a brief overview of who this woman is,  

 

I work as an editorial consultant and this woman hired me to help her edit some written work.  

 

It fairly rapidly transpired that she was an extremely disturbed person -- she was asking me if I could see the angels resting on her shoulders whispering into her ear, that sort of thing.  

She also began claiming that her husband is poisoning and stalking her.  

 

I realised that she seemed to be seeking some form of counselling or psychotherapy rather than the services of an editor, so I tried to gently sever ties with her. My perceived rejection sent her over the edge.

 

Thus began a 6 month stalking campaign by her and by the husband she had previously claimed is abusing and poisoning her.

 

A woman fitting her description was also seen loitering outside my parents' house for hours, just staring into the windows.  

 

Unfortunately I think my parents' address if readily available via the online electoral roll sites.  

I threatened her with a non-molestation order if she continued stalking me and she seemed to have stopped and seen reason.

 

Then about 6 weeks ago she started up again, this time saying she was going to claim compensation through the courts for the distress I've caused her by "sacking" her as a client.  

 

She began posting defamatory comments about my business and my character all over social media and then had her son telephone me on my work number advising me that they'd take all the comments down if I just transferred a certain sum of money (£500) into his mum's bank account to compensate her for the distress I've supposedly caused.  The son called at least twice and was trying to coerce me into making a bank transfer while he was on the phone.  I refused.

 

 Latest development is that this woman has now instigated these online money claim proceedings.  She didn't even ask me for my actual address and has instead emailed a letter that has this totally random address on it, bragging that she's now initiated court action and that I'll be forced to transfer £500 "compensation" into her bank account by the end of this month.  

 

I Googled the address she has used on this letter she emailed me and very few entries came up but there was one entry that showed somebody with a similar name to me had resided at this address at some point in the 1980s!  

 

it seems she just randomly got this address from online and decided to send court papers there.  

I have tried so many times to reason with her and calm her down.  

 

Initially I thought she was just a very unpleasant woman but it now seems she's actually quite mentally ill. that is the background in a nutshell.

 

The claim itself is ridiculous and holds no merit.  

Without a defence from me I suspect a default judgment would be entered, regardless of how frivolous this woman's claim is.  

 

Naturally I can't really just pitch up at this random address she has used, particularly during a lockdown, and say:

 

"Hi, sorry to bother you but a rather disturbed woman has sent a court claim to your address addressed to somebody with a similar name to me, would you mind handing it over to me!"

[AndyOrch]

Its not deemed good service if the address used on the court claim pack has no connection to you or never been a previous address....not that they can possibly get a default judgment if you follow my last post...but if they did it could easily be set a side and you claim costs from the claimant.

 

Get the details of the claim......claim must be acknowledged by Fri 22nd Jan 4.00pm...stating you defend all of the claim.

 

 

.

[Daffodil1822]

Thanks.

 

As I said I've no idea whether MCOL will reply to my emails or not.

 

 I do at least have the claim number so am I right in thinking as a last resort I can just download an empty Acknowledgement of Service online, fill in the claim number and my details and file it with MCOL?  And then I can file the defence in the same way?  

 

Because while obviously I will keep calling and emailing MCOL but there is no guarantee they will ever answer the phone or reply to my emails, and if they don't contact me then I'd have no way of actually getting hold of the claim.

 

Thankfully at least I have a general gist of what this woman has written in this claim.

 

The email MCOL sent me when notifying me of this claim (the screenshot I've posted above) states that they need to hear from me by 25th Jan 4pm.  

 

Does that sound right to you?  

I'm guessing that's about 19 working days.

[dx100uk]

just type no need to hit quote..

 

ring MCOL again tomorrow

quote them Claim number 

ask them to send you a copy of the claimform by email pdf.

 

once you've got that 

then fill this out please

 

You have received a Court Claim ISSUED IN ENGLAND & WALES What you need to do - Financial Legal Issues - Consumer Action Group

 

what you are doing wrong is that to date you've not registered with the .gov.uk portal first, then you'll have access to the MCOL portal. 

[AndyOrch]

Quote

I do at least have the claim number so am I right in thinking as a last resort I can just download an empty Acknowledgement of Service online, fill in the claim number and my details and file it with MCOL?  And then I can file the defence in the same way?  

 

Not really recommended as it wont have the court stamp .......you use Email to AOS and submit a defence...but you cant do either until you have details of the original claimed particulars.

 

Alternatively try as advised by DX above and try registering first...get your username and then you can do it all on line as per normal.

 

 

[Daffodil1822]

Did all of that.

 I posted here after having already exhausted all the usual avenues of getting this sorted.  

Their system just doesn't recognise this claim number/security password.

 

 Let's hope I can get hold of someone on the phone tomorrow who can give me an insight into why their system is not recognising the claim number.

 

 I spoke to a person at MCOL this afternoon who punched the claim number into his system and nothing came up.  

 

He even did a search using the claimant's name, then tried my name, then tried the address the claimant has sent the claim to -- and nothing at all came up for him.  

He was quite puzzled himself.

 

@dx100uk Rang MCOL this afternoon, quoted claim number,

guy I spoke to could not find the claim anywhere on his system.  He also searched the claimant's name, then tried searching my name, then tried searching the incorrect address the claimant has used for me -- absolutely nothing came up on his system.  

 

He said he would normally be able to find any claim on his system and he doesn't understand why this one is not showing up.

 

 obviously he cannot email me the particulars of the claim because he can't even find any trace of the claim on his system.

 

But.....the email they've sent with the claim number and security password is actually a genuine email.

 

I've no idea what is going on here.

[dx100uk]

does this work for you?

 

Enter your claim number - Money Claims

[Daffodil1822]

16 hours ago, dx100uk said:

does this work for you?

 

Enter your claim number - Money Claims

Thank you.  I clicked the link you provided, entered the claim number and it took me to a screen asking me to enter the "security code."  I entered the exact security code they provided in their email to me and I just get an error message saying that this security is wrong or has "expired."  

 

This is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  The screen also then suggests you "contact us" if you need a new security code.  So, that is why I spent around 4 hours in total on the phone with them/on hold yesterday.  First to be told that the claim number I have does not even appear on their system.  And then to be put through to a different department who, after over three hours on hold, had not even answered the phone.  I also, naturally, emailed them at the email address provided and so far I have not even received an acknowledgement of my email.

 

I simply have no idea what to do.

 

If this continues -- with no response to my email, and being told when I call that there's no trace of this claim on their system, I really would surely be looking at a default judgement through no fault of my own.

[dx100uk]

as you rang on a monday after a long holiday i would suspect their system had no caught up with online stuff.

mcol is flaky at the best of times, let alone after a long xmas break.

 

pers i'd be ringing northants bulk again over the next few days and getting to the bottom of this.

there is no real rush as you have 19days from its issuance to simply acknowledge it, defend all, which then gives you a total of 33 days to file a defence once done.

 

i've known several claims here to be invisible to mcol by one operator that didn't know the system, yet another found it 1st time,

 

 

[Daffodil1822]

@dx100uk

That's a good point -- so maybe the issue is that when I called it had been less than 24 hours since this stalker character filed the claim, so maybe MCOL's systems simply hadn't updated yet.  

 

I'm going to try to calm down (anxiety is through the roof) and will then try again to get some answers from MCOL towards the latter half of this week.

[Daffodil1822]

@dx100uk

 

They've now emailed me back and told me they've reset the security code.  I've now been able to log in and do the acknowledgement of service.  What a relief.  

[BankFodder]

You should now have access to the claimant so I suggest that you download it and then post it up here – redacted for identifiers

[dx100uk]

or simply complete this:

 

You have received a Court Claim ISSUED IN ENGLAND & WALES What you need to do - Financial Legal Issues - Consumer Action Group

[AndyOrch]

Just the particulars of claim... as most of the above is not applicable to this type of claim.