should i pay the court fees?

[ruintooeasy]

hello,

i had a debt with a childcare provider which i have now paid off. they have been very unreasonable throughout - phoned me on the day to tell me they would not be collecting my son that day unless i paid £400 despite the fact i had an agreement in place to pay weekly; they passed it to a debt collector (daniels silverman) without trying to arrange a payment plan with me; the debt collectors didn't respond to my repayment proposal and then the childcare provider issued me with court notification (no letter before claim was sent). anyway, they refused my offers of £30pcm, £50pcm and demanded £100pcm despite me having no disposable income (and providing evidence of this). eventually they bullied me into £70pcm and the debt of £527 (collection agency fees included) has now been settled. however they are demanding i pay the £60 court fees but my argument is that their court action was premature and unreasonable and they have been such b*****ds throughout that i am loathe to pay it. they are threatening me with further court action.

any advice would be gratefully received.

[ruintooeasy]

sorry, meant to add. i am thinking of reiterating to them that their behaviour has been unreasonable and them taking court action was premature and therefore i will not be paying the fees. if they want to take it back to court then i will be defending it.

[ruintooeasy]

can anyone help?

[DS4215]

Have they actually taken you to court and got a judgement against you? - if they have then you will probably find the court fees are part of the judgement (or they messed up). If they haven't then you shouldn't have to pay anything extra.

[ruintooeasy]

as soon as i received the court papers i contacted the childcare provider and they bullied me into paying £70 per month and withdrew the claim. i was backed into a corner because i have been working hard to build up my credit and definitely did not want a ccj. i assume the £60 fees were still incurred for administration even though it did not get to court?

they have emailed me today saying they are taking it back to court and i will incur further charges

[spacey2012]

Lets have some questions:
This debt : how much of the service they charged you for did you actually GET, not booked, how much did you use.
How much have you paid them already ? might be able to get you a refund.
And what charges have they added on. LIST
Did they send you a printed invoice or demand for the money BEFORE bringing in the debt firm.
Last question, did you receive STAMPED (stamped or printed seal of court inside ring top right) court papers and where are they now.

[ruintooeasy]

Originally Posted by spacey2012

Lets have some questions:
This debt : how much of the service they charged you for did you actually GET, not booked, how much did you use.
How much have you paid them already ? might be able to get you a refund.
And what charges have they added on. LIST
Did they send you a printed invoice or demand for the money BEFORE bringing in the debt firm.
Last question, did you receive STAMPED (stamped or printed seal of court inside ring top right) court papers and where are they now.

the fees were payable up front for the whole term. from the outset i explained this was not possible so they agreed i could pay weekly. the £400 they then demanded at the end of june included fees up to the end of july (for the whole school term). so i did not use all of the service i was charged for.

i have paid them £527.50 (£400 owed and £127.50 debt agency fees). they are still demanding £60 court fees that i am refusing to pay.

£127.50 collection agency fees were added on

no, they did not send a letter / invoice demanding money before bringing in the debt agency

i did receive stamped court papers in march. i still have them (at home, i'm at work now)

[ruintooeasy]

any advice? their last email told me they will be taking it back to court.

[davek1]

to be honest I would let them take you to court. I think you have an argument that you have already paid for services that you have not had (childcare for the following month) and that as such that money should adequately offset their incurred expenses in taking you to court in the first place.

Whilst I do understand your view with regard to not wanting a CCJ. You really shouldn't be bullied into paying something just for that reason, that's a bit like pleading guilty to something in a criminal court just to get it over with.
Even if the court finds in their favour make sure they understand that you can only pay a small amount each week and pay it over a prolonged period.

Also is the company local to you so would the hearing be in your local county court? If not get it moved to your local court, that is your right and it would cause them hassle.

[Mara69]

As an income officer, we have the following procedure: If a debt is not paid and the debt letters not answered we refer to court. This immediately incurs court fees. If the debtor then offers to pay via an agreement we still get a judgement and the court fees are still payable. The only time we withdraw court action is by payment, in full, of the debt and the court fees.

Therefore, if they have incurred the court fees then it is understandable that they are passing them onto you. If you think you have a chance defending the action in court, then by all means do so.

[keithdc]

It would be helpful if you produce a timeline of events.