Tarmac Driveway done by Tom Diggins Stockport Driveways, judgment plus costs - ***WON***

[BankFodder]

Please have a look at the proposed draft below. Let us know what you think about it – whether it is correct – whether you would be prepared to sign it off. Whether you think there is anything missing

 

 

Quote

Dear Tom

Letter of claim

 

As you know on the XXX date we contracted with you to resurface our driveway. You quoted a figure of £6186.
So far we have paid you £3186. In principle there is a figure of £3000 which is outstanding.

Although you have apparently completed the work, in fact it is clear that the resurfacing is of extremely poor quality and unacceptable.

We have tried to deal with you about this and you have refused to cooperate and you are adamant that the work is of a satisfactory standard.

As you know, we have obtained assessments as to the quality of the work and also quotations for putting the matter right.
A number of assessments taken independently have all concluded that your workmanship is so poor that there is no possibility that the resurfacing can simply be put right.
The assessments are unanimous that the material that you have laid down on the driveway has to be removed and replaced from scratch.

As you can imagine, this means that there is extra work to carry out resulting in extra expense.

You have already been provided with the information and you have been fully appraised as to the results of the various reports and quotations.
The cheapest quotation for remedying the situation comes to £11,000.

You have refused to return the £3186 which we originally paid to you. In addition to that, there is a further figure of £4814 which apparently is the cost of removing the material that you have installed and returning the surface to a condition which will allow the installation of a tarmacadam surface to a proper standard.
This means that in order to recover the situation, we require a payment from you of our initial payment of £3186 and which you have already refused to pay over to us plus the figure for remedial works of £4814 which totals £8000.

For the avoidance of doubt, we have lost confidence in your ability to complete the work to a satisfactory standard and also in your readiness to undertake all necessary works with any goodwill.
Because of that, there are no circumstances in which we would be prepared to consider allowing you back onto our property to carry out the resurfacing.

We have already supplied you with copies of reports and quotations, but once again and for the avoidance of doubt, this letter of claim is accompanied with further copies of all relevant documentation and photographs.

If you do not pay us the £8000 which we have detailed above within 14 days then we will start a legal action against you to recover this plus interest plus costs and without any further notice.

Yours sincerely

 

[BankFodder]

I've just noticed that I haven't got the figures completely right. Please amend

[smithy49]

Its excellent, thank you so much. I have part completed the claim, will continue shortly. I am assuming I would only submit it on after 14th April? 

 

I am concerned that he set up a limited company last week and whether that will have any affect on our claim. We are claiming against him as as person not a company though for the reason he trades under different company names and we paid Tom Diggins not a company

[BankFodder]

No, your contract was with him in person. By the way do you have any written evidence of the contract or any written agreement?

Also, we will want to see your particulars of claim before you send it off.

Also, we want to see your fully corrected and finalised letter of claim before you send that off as well.

[smithy49]

We have an email quote and a further email agreeing the price. I will upload the letter when I have finished it and also the particulars of claim. Thank you very much

[BankFodder]

Also, did you pay by cash? Did you get a proper receipt and a VAT receipt?

[smithy49]

We paid by bank transfer to the bank account of Tom Diggins. We have correspondence from him asking for the payment and giving us his bank details

[BankFodder]

Well read what we have to say about what happens when people pay by bank transfer to these kinds of tradesmen or they pay by cash

[smithy49]

SD draft letter of claim (1).docx

[BankFodder]

Okay that's fine – although you should revisit your maths in the second paragraph.

Go ahead and send it and then let's get ready with the particulars of claim

[AndyOrch]

Must be headed " Letter of Claim "

[smithy49]

I am unsure whether to put him down on the moneyclaim form as an "individual" or a "Sole Trader".  We are claiming against him as an individual but is he actually considered as a sole trader as he has carried out work for us? Sorry if this is a daft question but I want to get this right

[BankFodder]

It is a very sensible question.

Was he using a trading name?

[BankFodder]

Incidentally, do you have the means to be able to have the work done now before getting a judgement?

There will be much better being able to show that you have spent the money rather than claiming "in advance" as it were.

[smithy49]

He was dealing with us as Stockport Driveways although he didnt use any official with that name on. We paid to his personal bank account of Tom Diggins.

We borrowed the money to have the work done so we have the money we haven't paid to him and some savings but not enough to cover the full replacement costs right now unfortunately

[BankFodder]

I think it would be very advantageous to you to put the clearing up work in hand and then plan to undertake the resurfacing later on after you have obtained your judgement and enforced it.
I'm assuming that you will eventually be able to enforce the judgement because you've identified an important asset.

Does he have a business address where he stores tools or machinery or materials?

I would be suing him as – Tom Diggins – trading inter-alia as Stockport Driveways 

[smithy49]

Is anyone available to edit the header of this post so it just says Tarmac Driveway, not fit for purpose? I would like to make it less visible on google search. Thank you

[honeybee13]

Why do you want to make it less visible, Smithy?

 

HB

[smithy49]

I would rather it didnt come up on search until our court claim has gone in. I dont want him to see this discussion

[BankFodder]

There is no disadvantage to you to having his name prominently displayed. His name and his business names are on the thread anyway so they will still come up in Google.

If he does see it, don't worry. It will just increase the pressure on him and that's no bad thing.

 

[smithy49]

We received this response to our letter before action today...Does this mean we can proceed to small claims now or do we have to engage/wait until the 14 days are up?

Response to letter before action.pdf

[BankFodder]

No. I don't think he's waived the 14 days notice.

However what he is saying is useful to you. What have you to say about his assertion that you said you were pleased about some of the work?

Also, I thought you had already supplied him with copies of the assessments/inspections which have been carried out

[smithy49]

We haven't told him the work looks good. We have texts and emails telling him we are unhappy with the work as well as a letter we sent to him telling him the faults.

We did send the report and quote.  He has written to us today off the back of a letter that went to him previous addtess. Our revised letter reached him this afternoon

[BankFodder]

So in other words he hasn't even received the letter of claim until today? So this response is not a response to the letter of claim so why would you think that the 14 days had been waived?

[smithy49]

We sent our original letter of claim to his previous address and he had until 11th april to respond. 

I then said on here that we had found out he bought a house and moved and you drafted another letter which he received today.  In the new letter we gave him 14 days to respond.

I dont know whether we have to reply to the letter he has sent or just wait 14 days and go straight to court, as per the letter of claim