Letter Of Claim for death of cat now Court Claim received.

[FTMDave]

We generally recommended to send normal 1st class post, with a free Certificate of Posting from the post office.  Legally that's quite sufficient as proof of delivery, and avoids the problem you're having.

 

If it hasn't been delivered by late morning tomorrow then get another copy sent off 1st class.

[BankFodder]

Yes, I agree with my site team colleague above. Whatever you do don't deliver it by hand. This will only lead to face-to-face conflict, contradictory stories and accusations.
First class post is fine with a certificate of posting.

 

[danyboy72]

thanks - i will do

 

just checked the tracking again and its been updated - its been collected yesterday form the local depot in town - signed for by the boyfriend aka 'the policeman'

[BankFodder]

Okay, absolutely nothing to do now rather than wait either for the evidence that you have asked for or else the claim form.

 

[FTMDave]

Any update?

[danyboy72]

hello, yes - ive just received a reply letter (most of it lies, missing receipts, invoices with a different address and no documented milage) i am trying to use adobe scanner and will upload them in a bit.

 

i have since photographed the dilapidated fence that bankfodder requested...it is attached

 

here is the letter i received.

points i noticed that are incorrect/havent been answered :

 

1. i did not attempt to run away.

 

2. she says i allowed my dogs to trespass on private property which i didnt as it happened on a verge.

 

3. she is now saying there are another two witnesses - there was no other witnesses apart from her mother and partner that saw it.

 

4. i was not found running away because i ran towards my dogs!

 

5. she has not supplied a receipt for the burial costs. she has not supplied any comparator estimates.

 

6. she hasnt supplied an accurate route or detailed miles travelled in her car or petrol receipts - instead shes said its 145 miles (which i doubt) and that the government say its 45p a mile(which is what the gov says is for income tax not what you can charge other people)....i thought she can only claim what it actually cost her in her car? ,..not a recommended charge for miles for income tax use as it says on the .gov website. she also hasnt supplied the make and model of her car.

 

7. she hasnt supplied pictures of the cat before and after.

 

8. she did not confirm that the address from which she is writing is the cats home.

 

9. she has not explained why the cat was away from her home on that day.

 

10. some of the vets invoices are a different address ...they start with "the lodge" and are not her address of writing or the field that her mother owns.

 

merged and compressed

3 letters merged.pdf appendix 1-21_compressed.pdf

[honeybee13]

....

[dx100uk]

Thread tidied

[FTMDave]

There's a lot to plough through, but I notice immediately that they've been a lot more conciliatory since you've challenged them to prove their case.

 

You're right about what she can claim in petrol and it's a nonsense to want the whole £500 for the cat given it was five years old when it died and was no longer worth that amount.  This is essentially half the amount they're claiming.

 

You could point this out or you could not tip them off about how pants their claim is and let them balls it up.

 

I suppose it depends on what you want to achieve.  Do you want to stick two fingers up to them given their attitude or are you prepared to negotiate and pay £300 or similar?

Edited April 18, 2023 by FTMDave
Typo

[FTMDave]

Other quick thoughts.  A quick calculation on petrol for my car to travel 145 miles is around £31.50.

 

What's all this nonsense about burial costs?  Don't these people own land in the country?  I grew up in a similar place and when the dog died my father dug a hole and buried the dog!

[Nicky Boy]

Parents did exactly the same thing... with several pets.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Nicky Boy

[danyboy72]

dave - they said they paid around £200 to hire a digger to bury the cat ...but hevent got a receipt for it...i reckon they are just ramping up every price they can think of.

[Nicky Boy]

Also, burial costs were inevitable.

Every cat passes away at some point.

It's not reasonable to expect someone else to cover burial costs because of the circumstances death. 

[danyboy72]

yeah i know nicky...but using a jcb to bury a cat and then not produce a receipt.....sounds suspect to me

[FTMDave]

I don't want to minimise the upset when an animal dies.

 

My cat got run over and when I found out I went for a long, long walk into the countryside to try to calm down while shedding a lot of tears.

 

The person who found her dead in the road buried her in his garden and only found out later I was the owner.

 

I thanked him and that was that.  i didn't get a priest/vicar/rabbi/imam/humanist to carry out a burial ceremony!

 

What a load of baloney that you need to hire a JCB to dig a hole to bury a cat.  Couldn't muscular boyfriend do it?

 

 

[danyboy72]

your right dave - thinking of the most expensive way to bury any pet is the last thing on your mind.

no Dave muscle man has probably never done a hard days graft in his life lol, they are just milking it for every expense they can think of

[labrat]

Quick question

 

Page 4 of the appendix is an insurance claim for vets fees for burial/cremation

 

One of the notes from the vet says the cat was taken home for burial

 

Have they claimed some fees they weren't actually charged?

[FTMDave]

You need to reply to them, although not urgently.  They took long enough.

 

Have a think about what you want to do. 

 

You could offer the £300 in full and fair settlement or else tell them to do a running jump and let them mess up in court.

 

Also hang on a few days to see if BankFodder replies to the thread, as BF is by far the most experienced Cagger on these matters.

[BankFodder]

I haven't really been following this discussion very much although I am aware that it  has been going on, and on, and on, and on….

Could you just do a recap in terms of the evidence you required please.

Please can you list out the documents that you asked to see and what the response has been in respect of each one.

Please don't get into a narrative about this. Really we just want lists.

Also if you think there is anything missing – please list that separately.

I believe that they sent your letter of claim. When did they send that to you and how many days did it apparently give you. I expect we are beyond their deadline by now. By how many days has their deadline expired

[danyboy72]

thanks bankfodder,

i used the letter you made for me, i sent that letter to them within the 2 weeks of letter of claim and now have received one back(attached above 3 letters pdf) the evidence required was:

1. reports of any work carried out by vets, diagnosis and conclusion.

2.

documentation relating to the burial of your pet along with any comparator estimates which you would have obtained in order to decide the most economical way to proceed.(she hasnt supplied a receipt for the jcb digger or any comparator estimates)

3. certain petrol costs. Please let me have receipts and also an explanation of the mileage involved. I would also like clear and accurate documented mileage for your petrol costs and the miles per gallon of the make and model of your car.(she hasnt provided any receipts or acurate milage. she has not also shown any routes taken or provided the make and model to determine the miles per gallon)

4. I notice also that you say that the majority of your expenses have been covered by insurance. Please will you let me know what they are so that I can understand what portion of the money you are seeking from me is represented as a percentage of the total insurance payout.

5. I understand that your deceased pet was a pedigree Bengal. Please supply me with details of pedigree registration, original purchase receipts, and details of the microchip registration. Also any recent veterinary reports relating to the health of the animal.

Please would you also supply photographs of the pet before it received any injuries and afterwards. (she has not provided any microchip info or photos of before and afterwards of the animal)

6. Of course it is unusual for a pedigree animal of this kind of value not to be kept inside the home. Maybe you could let me know why on this occasion your pet was out of your house and even to the extent that it was in a public space where it apparently attracted the interest of my dogs. Please could you confirm that the home of the cat is the address from which you are writing and if not what is the address of its usual home.(she has not answered this or confirmed the cats home address - sh also has invoices from a different address)

 

[BankFodder]

Thanks for this.

Haven't made any comment about the veterinary work. Has she supplied you with details? Is there a bill for it?

Has she let you know the insurance details that you have asked for? We would also want to know about how much money has been paid by the insurers and in respect of what expenses.

 

[danyboy72]

this is the letters and bills she has sent me

3 letters merged.pdf appendix 1-21_compressed.pdf

[BankFodder]

Sorry but could you just give me some brief answers to the questions I have put .

I really don't have the time to go through nearly 25 pages of poorly scanned documents for you.

 

Please do be aware that we are trying to help you free of charge.

We're not asking you for money and we don't have administrative support. We rely on you to try and be a straightforward and as easy as possible

 

[danyboy72]

sorry bankfodder - i appreciate your help but i havent got a scanner - you told me previously to use adobe scanner app which ive done - i cant help it if the app has scanned them poorly.

 

as theres lots of points/issues with this letter it will be hard to briefly list them but ill try to shorten them tomorrow

[labrat]

If it helps

 

Total requested is 1,029.14

Breakdown is 

Excess and admin for vets now is 317.20, I total excess and fees on receipt 317.20

 

Excess and admin for Shrubbery vets 146.24

Excess listed on receipts is 111.25 + a vet receipt (details not listed) for 34.99 so 146.24

 

Petrol costs 65.70 - 6 trips listed in letter no breakdown

 

Burial costs £42 - no receipt other than a claim of £192 to insurance for "vet fees burial/cremation" of which £150 was allowed

 

Cost of cat £500

Pedigree certificate and receipt included for 1x Bengal cat

 

It is stated in the letter that the burial was done by a local company however there is no receipt

 

Tracing it on Google maps the location of the cat is approx 5 miles from the first vets, and 18 miles from the second.

 

Pedigree "certificate" lists history, is missing registration number, the address is a semi detached house. Personally I suspect its someone who brought Bengals themselves flogging the kittens without registration, but there was a tica registered breeder with that name years ago (but apparently no internet presence)