Reid Vs Barclays

[riccles]

Hi everybody,

 

Thought I would get my thread started.

I am already upto the stage of going to MCOL and I have had an offer from Barclays which I will be rejecting.

I will fill in the details of my claim later on today.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[crashbandicoot]

Good going Richard, hope your claim is settled soon

 

Keep on at it....

[riccles]

Hi guys,

 

Finally got round to entering the details, and I also need some help as I have been so slow in replying to Barclays.

 

Details as follows:-

 

I am owed a total of £460 charges and £54.12 in interest

 

Initial Bank Charges Letter & Charges sheet sent - 06/10/06

Letter from Barclays explaining investigation to take place - 11/10/06

Letter Before Action sent to Barclays & Charges sheet - 31/10/06

Letter from Barclays offering partial settlement - 02/11/06

Letter to Barclays rejecting partial settlement sent - 05/01/06

 

MCOL to commence on the 11/01/06 (assuming Barclays haven't come back with a full settlement).

 

My letter rejecting the settlement is attached below. Could someone please confirm this is ok?

 

Response to settlement offer.

 

Dear Ms Walter

 

Thank you for your letter dated 2 November 2006.

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £514.12.

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary.

 

My letter before action sent previously indicated that you had until 16/11/06 to respond before Court action commenced. I have extended this date until 11/01/07. If I do not hear from you by 11/01/07 offering full and final settlement, then I shall start my Money Claim. Please be aware that I am determined to proceed with the litigation unless you are prepared, unconditionally, to settle this claim in full.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

My problem is as follows....in the partial settlement letter received from Barclays, they said I had 8 weeks to reply otherwise they would deem the matter closed, exact wording as follows:

 

'In accordance with our standard practice, if I do not hear from you to the contrary within eight weeks from the date of this letter, I shall assume that your complaint is resolved and close my file'

 

The 8 weeks was up as of the 28th December and I am only replying tomorrow. Does anyone think this invalidates my retrieval of the fees. Personally I don't think it does as I am intitled to them, just because I have been a bit slow should not change this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

 

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

 

Cheers

 

Riccles

[crashbandicoot]

Hi Riccles,

 

Letter sounds good, can't really make it much clearer than that can you...you're being generous in sending them a rejection and giving them more time...I would have a filed a court claim straightawy.

 

As for their 8 wk deadline - that's their own get-out clause...your letters showed them you meant business, and albeit you're a bit late, YOU haven't told them the matter is closed as you're still pursuing it. They'll know Christmas and New Year came in the way!

 

I wouldn't worry...proceed as normal, it's not as if they don't know what's coming. Worst case scenarion, if they do hold it against you, re-start by sending them the same letters again....that'll really tick 'em off!

[riccles]

Also, could someone please let me know how to put all my details about my progress in each post I make? (without having to retype them every time.)

[riccles]

Thanks Crash,

 

Thats what I thought.

And I have worked out how to do my signature as well!

[riccles]

Hi everybody,

 

I have given an outline below of where I am upto:

 

Initial Bank Charges Letter & Charges sheet sent - 06/10/06

Letter from Barclays explaining investigation to take place - 11/10/06

Letter Before Action sent to Barclays & Charges sheet - 31/10/06

Letter from Barclays offering partial settlement - 02/11/06

Letter to Barclays rejecting partial settlement sent - 05/01/06

 

MCOL issued 24/01/07

MCOL served to Barclays 29/01/07

Request for judgement 13/02/07 - REJECTED

Barclays file acknowledgement of service 14/02/07

Request for judgement 26/02/07 - REJECTED

Barclays file defence 26/02/07

 

I need to have my Allocation questionairre returned by the 18/03/07, but as this is a Sunday it needs to be with them by Friday, which means it needs to go in the post today.

 

I have downloaded notes on how to complete, and have completed except for 'Section G - Other information'. Could someone please advise if there are any standard words to put in here or if not, what I should be putting?

 

Also, when reading the advisory notes again it stated that when completing my MCOL, that I should have sent MCOL a schedule of charges. I don't think I did this. Will this affect my claim in any way?

The last schedule of charges I sent to Barclays was with my rejection of settlement offer letter.

[crashbandicoot]

Hi Reidy, you can put the following in the section G:

 

"I am respectfully requesting that my claim be allocated to the small claims track. This issue

is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the Defendant in respect of its customer’s contractual breaches exceed their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their actual costs and I am surprised the Defendant did not counterclaim for these, because I would have reduced my claim without argument. However, the continuing problem is (in common with the hundreds of other cases currently being brought by other bank customers) that the banks refuse to reveal the details of their penalty-charging regime. As the banks have a fiduciary duty towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly and in utmost good faith.

Accordingly, I would respectfully ask that the court in this case, not withstanding allocation to the small claims track, order :

i) Summary Judgement as the Defendants defence did not answer the particulars of claim and consisted of no grounds for defence;

OR

ii) Standard Disclosure.

I believe this would bring a rapid end to this litigation."

 

 

As for the schedule, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you want, you can send an updated SOC now, and advise that you're enclosing it (covering letter will do) or you will get an opportunity to submit an up-to-date one at court bundle stage anyway.

 

HTHs

[riccles]

Thanks Crash,

 

A few more questions before I send:

 

1) As my claim is around £600 do I need to actually attach a fee to the allocation questionairre?

 

2) Is the fee for the allocation quest the same as the court fee?

 

3) Do I need to add any other words to section G other than the ones you have given me, the guidance notes mention attaching other documents. Should I be doing this?

 

Cheers

 

Riccles

[livelylad]

Thanks Crash,

 

A few more questions before I send:

 

1) As my claim is around £600 do I need to actually attach a fee to the allocation questionairre? No

 

2) Is the fee for the allocation quest the same as the court fee? Not required

 

3) Do I need to add any other words to section G other than the ones you have given me, the guidance notes mention attaching other documents. Should I be doing this? No

 

Cheers

 

Riccles

 

Hope this helps

[crashbandicoot]

Lively got there before me....lol! Just for your info, an additional £100 fee for the AQ is only payable if your claim is over £1500. No other docs need to be attached at this stage as you'll get an opportunity to do this later

[riccles]

Thanks guys,

 

Much appreciated.

[riccles]

Hi again,

 

Now I have sent my allocation questionaire in, I know I need to get my court bundle together..........should I do this straight away?

 

I ask this because it seems that the banks generally seem to drop at the last minute and is there any point getting together until near the court date?

 

Also, how long does it take to put this all together?

 

Advice would be much appreciated.

[crashbandicoot]

Reidy, your bundle usually needs to be in 14 days before your court hearing by the latest (but check the instructions you get with the hearing date). You can start doing the bundle about a week before it is due in...don't leave it till the last minute. There is a lot of printing, copying, and page numbering to do so you do need several hours for this.