Cobham Hall School Claimform for Unpaid Term Fees

[Mike Mechanic]

I have received a claim for outstanding fees/interest from my daughters school which I want to dispute.

I called the money claims number to ask for an extension as I had been away and they told me to send the below email to acknowledge the claim and automatically gain another 14 days to respond.

I then received the second email below what I need from you is how to respond. 

I can send an email to the address advised in the format they want which isnt a problem but need clarification on how to respond to the claim.

Their particulars of claim are:

Claim N************

Particulars of claim 
The debt is for unpaid school fees and extras plus contractual late payment interest for the education of **************.

£26,919.93 has been paid to date with this as the residual, the last payment made was on 01/09/2022.

Since this date letters have been sent on 05/09/22, 12/09/22, 23/09/22 (urgent reminder), 30/09/22, 14/10/22, 19/12/22,

14/04/23 & 27/04/23.

Despite numerous letters, calls and emails to the debtors no more payments have been made.

My response was going to be:

We dispute this claim in full.

We do not believe there are any outstanding fees.

On those dates noted by the Claimant we did not receive any letters from the school.

We actively contacted the school for meetings to discuss this matter.

Which were ignored.

They did not respond to our request.

Will this be sufficient as an acknowledgement of claim?

*************************************************

Thank you for your email.

Please be advised that if you wish to file an Acknowledgment of Service then it must be sent in the following template.

Your name and address & state which of the following options you are requesting.

 1. I intend to defend this entire claim

 2. I intend to defend part of this claim

 3. I intend to contest jurisdiction

 If you file an acknowledgment of service but do not file a defence within 28 days of the date of service of the claim form, or particulars of claim if served separately, judgment may be entered against you.

If you do not file an application to dispute the jurisdiction of the court within 14 days of the date of filing this acknowledgment of service, it will be assumed that you accept the court’s jurisdiction and judgment may be entered against you. If served outside the jurisdiction see CPR rule 6.35 and 6.37(5).

 Please also type your name & date the document at the bottom of the page (as a signature).

 The Subject heading of you email must state an Acknowledgment of service and case/claim number and be sent to [email protected]

 If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Kind regards

*******************

 

CNBC Claims Response Team

St Katharine’s House | 21-27 St. Katharine's Street | Northampton | NN1 2LH          

 For information on how HMCTS uses personal data about you please see: Here is how HMCTS uses personal data about you  

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“I am not authorised to bind the Ministry of Justice contractually, nor to make representations or other statements which may bind the Ministry of Justice in any way via electronic means”. 

 

---

From: 
Sent: 16 February 2024 09:23
To: CCBC AQ <[email protected]>;
Subject: Claim No -------- Issue Date 01 Feb 2024 Claim Response

 

Dear Sir/madam

 

I am writing with an acknowledgement of service to the above claim for myself ********* and other defendant *********.

Défense to follow

 

Sincerely *************** 16th February 2024

 

[lolerz]

Hi Mike Mechanic.

Welcome to CAG.

Thank you for typing out the Particulars of Claim.

Can you please complete the template on this thread and post it here?
 

 

[AndyOrch]

Topic moved to General Legal Issues forum in view of your court claim.

Please complete the link above and do not send anything off or respond just yet.

Andy

[dx100uk]

not ruddy kingshigh again is IT?

was this a paper claim form? and £26k!! 

[Ethel Street]

£26k appears to be what "has been paid to date" rather than what the claim is for.  @Mike Mechanic can you clarify how much the claim is for?

[Mike Mechanic]

approx £14k

[honeybee13]

Is this an online school, as dx asked please?

Also, if we need to see it do you have the contract that you signed with them?

HB

[BankFodder]

If you want us to help you then you will need to begin by responding to my site team colleague @lolerz request for you to complete the template and to post it here. That was asked 19 hours ago. It is important that you post this information.

Also, in your opening post you suggested that your response was going to be:

Quote

We dispute this claim in full.

We do not believe there are any outstanding fees.

On those dates noted by the Claimant we did not receive any letters from the school.

We actively contacted the school for meetings to discuss this matter.

Which were ignored.

They did not respond to our request.

This really tells us nothing and more importantly it will tells the court absolutely nothing as well.

It simply says that you don't think that there are any outstanding fees but anyway you have not received any letters and any approaches to the school have been ignored.
You have referred to a series of letters which you say have not received any response – but this is not an argument that you don't owe the money.

This really is not helpful at all.

I think that you need to provide a chronology and a point by point explanation of why there might be this misunderstanding as to fees.
Clearly they think that you owe them fees. You think you don't.

I think we need to start off by understanding their position – so why is it that they think you owe the money.

Then counter their point of view by explaining why you think they are wrong.

For instance, is it that you think that the fees have been paid?
Is it that your child has been withdrawn from the school?
Did you give notice that the contract was cancelled?
Do they think that you didn't give notice?


You will have to do this if it goes to court – and it seems that kind of money probably will. You may as well start rehearsing here the facts as you see them – and that will help us to understand what the dispute is about and enable us to give you the best advice.

Start off by completing the template as requested by my site team colleague @lolerz
we certainly need to know the date that the claims papers were sent to you – and the date that you responded with this acknowledgement.

From the sounds of it, you don't have a lot of time so you had better start off by telling us the whole story – and don't hang around
 

[Mike Mechanic]

Which Court have you received the claim from ?  County Court Business Centre

Name of the Claimant ? private School 

How many defendant's  joint or self ? Joint Defendants 

Date of issue –  01 FEB 20224

We asked for an extension as it took 9 days to reach us.

Extended for 14 days from  20.2.24 which is the 04.3.24

I think this is correct ?

 

Particulars of Claim

 

What is the claim for –

The debt is for unpaid school fees and extras plus contractual late payment interest for the education of Student

£25k ish has been paid to date with this as the residual, the last payment made was on in 01/09/2022.

Since this date letters have been sent on Date One Date two (urgent reminder), date 3 , date 4, Date5,

Date 6 & Date 7.

Despite numerous letters, calls and emails to the debtors no more payments have been made.

 

 What is the total value of the claim?Circa £13k

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? Give answer here CHECK

We asked for meeting to discuss after we applied for a loan in May 2022.

On a date in June the Debt was handed to a DCA to pursue us for a charge for interest on top of what we owed.

We paid the school fees in full in two transfers Aug22 and Sep22

A total of circa £389 was sent by standing order on 16.6.22 followed by five other payments of £389 to their bank account. All payments were returned because they didn’t inform us that the bank account had changed.
 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred? Give answer here - No 

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? student school fees
 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? 5.1.2014
 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ? By Hand
 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ? Unsure
 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. 
 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? 
 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? No
 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ? No but they employed a DCA
 

Why did you cease payments? – We ceased payments under agreement with the School Bursar after we had an extra dependant, health bills not covered on school policy. Legal fees as a result over a boundary dispute.  
 

What was the date of your last payment? Give answer here 1.9.22
 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved?  - Yes they ignored frequent requests to hold a meeting so we could come to an agreed payment plan. Each request was ignored. We were informed that the school had now been merged with a foundation.
 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? 

 Yes, we communicated fully when we had a further dependant to care for and had further financial pressures from a boundary dispute and our childs health problems when the health policy we took out failed to recognise her condition.

All were discussed at length with the Bursar and The Numerous Head’s.

An online meeting with the Bursar and Head at the time 22.6.20 discussing 30% loss of income.

No further support but Bursar agrees no interest added or to be added in the future.

The Bursar has since left.

We sought help from the family in May 22 to clear the debt of Circa £27,000
 

If you have not already done so – send a CCA request to the claimant for a copy of your agreement (If Applicable) Q  It is a school do we need to do this ?

Please find attached answers to your questionnaire and the claim form,

Desperate to get this response off.

Many Thanks

 

Claim.PDF

[honeybee13]

Would it be possible to post up our questionnaire as a copy and paste onto the thread please? Some people may not be able to view the attachments.

HB

[dx100uk]

pasted it above removed docx file.

please dont use docx, all your pers details are in file info/properties

dx

 

[dx100uk]

who is the claimant please 

you dont need to hide their details

dx

 

[Mike Mechanic]

It's not an online school. A private school, attended as a day student 

It's Cobham Hall School now part of a foundation.

What we need right now is what to respond with which I posted earlier to defend the claim. Is that brief statement or full evidence ? 

Yes can attach but it has school name on a question dx100 asked what is the name of the school 

School contract Names covered 5.1.15.pdf

[jk2054]

Defences can be brief but must be legally correct and fairly concise.

 

The real question is do you owe the money and can’t afford to pay?

[Mike Mechanic]

No we paid our fees in full, They added interest debt to a dca.

We paid fees in full as the school agreed not to add interest.

We submitted 3 means testing to demonstrate our financial difficulties.

School said dont move student too disruptive.

A great student who needed additional financial support with an increase in bursary.

[jk2054]

Ok so then its just a bog standard defend all strict to proof defence.

 

[Mike Mechanic]

is what I  posted sufficient ?

That I don't owe school fees they were paid in full.

The school failed to meet our requests for a meeting to discuss our proposed repayment by borrowing money.

Our initial interim £400 a month standing order until a friend was able to release an investment to make a loan to us was returned as they did not inform us of change of bank details 

[dx100uk]

please refrain from keep hitting quote

just type in the msg boxes.

are Cobham Hall School named as the claimant on the claimform please, if not who is.

school T&C's that state they can add interest just because the debt has been passed to a no powers DCA can be challenged, you'll see this in the kingshill claimform threads already here on school fees.

your defence will be almost the same as those threads but we need to get your ducks in line first, without assuming certain things and making errors before going forward, your defence is not due till 4pm 4th march.

have you had an acknowledgement that your AOS has been accept form the court?

dx

 

 

[Mike Mechanic]

Cobham Hall School is the claimant. 

£26k + was a lot to find at short notice.

We had to borrow money to pay this.

Our requests for a meeting were ignored.

An Email from [email protected] After we sent AOS their response was to advise us as cut onto message below.

to file an AOS must be sent in a certain template states have you had an acknowledgement that your AOS has been accept form the court? 

Thank you for your email.

 Please be advised that if you wish to file an Acknowledgment of Service then it must be sent in the following template.

 Your name and address & state which of the following options you are requesting. 

1. I intend to defend this entire claim 

2. I intend to defend part of this claim 

3. I intend to contest jurisdiction 

If you file an acknowledgment of service but do not file a defence within 28 days of the date of service of the claim form, or particulars of claim if served separately, judgment may be entered against you. If you do not file an application to dispute the jurisdiction of the court within 14 days of the date of filing this acknowledgment of service, it will be assumed that you accept the court’s jurisdiction and judgment may be entered against you. If served outside the jurisdiction see CPR rule 6.35 and 6.37(5). 

Please also type your name & date the document at the bottom of the page (as a signature). 

The Subject heading of you email must state an Acknowledgment of service and case/claim number and be sent to [email protected] 

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

 

CNBC Claims Response Team

St Katharine’s House | 21-27 St. Katharine's Street | Northampton | NN1 2LH       

 For information on how HMCTS uses personal data about you please see: Here is how HMCTS uses personal data about you  

Customer Feedback - we would love to hear from you. Click here to submit your customer feedback.   

“I am not authorised to bind the Ministry of Justice contractually, nor to make representations or other statements which may bind the Ministry of Justice in any way via electronic means”.  

---

From: Man
Sent: 16 February 2024 09:23
To: CCBC AQ <[email protected]>;man woman 
Subject: Claim No aaaaaaaa Issue Date 01 Feb 2024 Claim Response

 

Dear Sir/madam

 

I am writing with an acknowledgement of service to the above claim for myself Man and other defendant woman.

Defence to follow

 

Sincerely man 16th February 2024

Thank you dx

[BankFodder]

I am simply trying to summarise for the other people who are dealing with this because your account is rather patchy.

We understand that you agreed to pay a certain sum of money for your daughter's school fees.
You were unable to pay the fees all in one go so you paid by instalments and this was agreed in advance.

The school change their bank details and without telling you so your payments did not go through and as a result the school considers that you are in debt.

They have added interest because their terms and conditions say that they are entitled to do so.

Is this correct?

You should understand that the terms and conditions are not the be all and end all. If there is a breach of contract then any extra charges they might levy or interest would have to represent administrative costs incurred as a result of any breach.

From what you seem to be suggesting, there is no bridge on your part. In fact there is a breach by them in that they did not inform you of the change of bank. Clearly there was an implied term that they should do this.

What doesn't seem to be very clear to me, at any rate is exactly how the money which you apparently oh has been calculated.

It would be really helpful if you could lay out in a bullet pointed fashion.

Total fees
total instalments actually paid
total instalments which failed
interest demanded on failed payments
any other charges demanded by the school
any charges demanded by the debt collectors.

That lot for starters.

Please can you try and be a bit more succinct about the way that you present information. My site team colleagues are doing their best and we are getting a bit of a mishmash at the moment.

For instance, to the question:

Quote

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? Give answer here CHECK

you replied with a response which doesn't at all address the question.

Quote

 

We asked for meeting to discuss after we applied for a loan in May 2022.

On a date in June the Debt was handed to a DCA to pursue us for a charge for interest on top of what we owed.

We paid the school fees in full in two transfers Aug22 and Sep22

A total of circa £389 was sent by standing order on 16.6.22 followed by five other payments of £389 to their bank account. All payments were returned because they didn’t inform us that the bank account had changed.

 

I suggested above that the request for meetings and ignoring that are not really an adequate defence.

I'm not sure anybody here fully understands the story

For instance, on one hand, you say that the fees have been paid in full – yet elsewhere you say that they didn't inform you of the change of bank details.
Which is it?
If you say that the fees have been paid in full then how come you had instalments refused because they had changed the bank details?

If you have paid in full – then why is it they think that you haven't?

I also ask you questions relating to certain dates of the claim and the acknowledgement.

You haven't addressed these questions directly although I gather from something you have put up a couple of posts earlier, that you sent some kind of acknowledgement on the 16th.

Do we know the date of the actual claim? I haven't noticed.

I hope you realise that if you don't file a defence on time then they will probably move quite quickly to get a default judgement against you and it will then take some expense and some considerable explaining to persuade a court to set the judgement aside.

 

[dx100uk]

pop up on the MCOL or www.moneyclaim.gov.uk website detailed on the claimform.
[if it is not working return after the w/end or the next day if week time]
.
 register as an individual on the Gov't Gateway Site
Go to HMRC's login page.
Click the GREEN sign in button.
Click “Create sign in details”
Enter your email address where asked.
You will now be emailed a confirmation code. ...
You will now be issued with a User ID for your government gateway account.
 note down your details inc the long gateway number given, you might need it later.
 then log in to the court Website
.
 select respond to a claim and select the start AOS box.
.
 then using the details required from the claimform
.
 defend all
 leave jurisdiction unticked
 you DO NOT file a defence at this time
[BUT you MUST file a defence regardless by day 33 ]
click thru to the end
confirm and exit MCOL.
..
send the solicitors a CPR request

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/332546-legal-cpr-3114-request-request-for-information-when-a-claim-has-been-issued/

 type your name ONLY
Do Not sign anything
.do not ever use or give an email
.
you DO NOT await the return of ANY paperwork 
you MUST file a defence regardless by day 33 from the date on the claimform [1 in the count]

..............