Customer owes £1,000 - what to do?

rapido

. .

Horace

Moneyclaim online deals with all claims where folks havent paid, there is no point in duplicating the fact by going to the small claims court at your local court. By her not paying as instructed by the court, she already has a CCJ against her name. Moneyclaim online is a proper court that is based in Northampton.

As the woman hasnt paid, you can either go back to the court and get the bailiffs sent in, you can apply for a winding up order but that probably won't get you your money back.

Do you have anything in your terms and conditions that tells the customer that the goods remain your property until paid for in full? If so, go in and collect whatever it is that you have sold her.

Maybe if you are dealing in big items then maybe you should do what other firms have started doing and that is asking for 50% with order and then 50% on delivery.

hippyadam

Hold on hold on, rewind a bit here...

rapido wrote: »

Last year we sold £1,000 of plants to a woman trading as a garden centre, however she never paid.

Right so to clarify, you supplied "Mrs A J Bloggs T/A A Garden Centre" and not "A Garden Centre Ltd"? You need to be clear here as it will influence your next step...

rapido wrote: »

Now, I know we can send the bailiffs in - however we did this a couple of years ago to a different nursery, and all we got is a £55 bill from the bailiffs and a note saying that they couldn't take anything.

That is quite common unfortunately, bailiffs generally look to levy on 3X the value of the amount outstanding, but if they attend an address and there is nothing of value to levy on you get stuck with the bill

Now if you got judgement against "Mrs A J Bloggs T/A A Garden Centre", you can send the bailiffs to her home address as well as the business address as she is the business. Conversely if your judgement is against "A Garden Centre Ltd" you are unable to pursue the this woman personally as its the Ltd company that is responsible for the debt.

Also if your judgement is against the sole trader, and she owns her own property you can have the judgement registered against the property with the court. Then she has a year to pay or you can actually make an application to the court to sell her house to satisfy the judgement.

You also have other options but we really need to know the style of the judgement you have? Is it a Ltd co or a sole trader?

PolishBigSpender

My knowledge of UK court proceedings is sketchy these days, but couldn't you commence bankruptcy proceedings against her if she refuses to pay?

hippyadam

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

My knowledge of UK court proceedings is sketchy these days, but couldn't you commence bankruptcy proceedings against her if she refuses to pay?

Yes if you want to pay another £1500-£2000 up front you can but that's not the way i'd go.

If you've heard she is selling up you need to get a charging order linky ASAP.

However you need to at least write to her recorded delivery asking her to settle the amount before applying to the court. Otherwise the judge may deny the request & you will have played your hand to early...

Do read through all of the guidance in that link as it will help you understand the process thoroughly. Its not a magic bullet, but its probably the best chance you've got of securing your funds...

wuckfit

I think you can petition for her bankruptcy for debts of more than £500.

olly300

rapido wrote: »

H
I have asked her to settle the amount many times, more recently a letter after the court judgment, however no response (of course, none of these letters had any mention of charging orders).
o

How did you send the letters?

If you didn't send the letters by special/recorded delivery or a courier then she can simply turn around and say she didn't receive them.

So you didn't the first step is to send her a letter by special next day delivery tomorrow before 12 noon so she gets the letter on Friday.

BTW next time use debt collectors before taking someone to court as you are more likely to get your money back.

olly300

rapido wrote: »

Hi there,

I sent the letters by recorded delivery, altho' the last one I sent (on the 8th Jan, after judgment) doesn't appear to be signed for, possibly because she recognised who it was from and gave it back to the postman, so I was planning to re-send a copy 1st class with certificate of posting - as I always understood that to be "deemed to be delivered".

See if you can get a relation or family member to write the address on the envelope for you.

Also she has a fax number or email address and you have it, send the same letter via one of those after you think she would have received the postal one that way. If you use fax keep the print out stating that it was received.

If the worse comes to the worse drive down to her with someone else and hand deliver it.

BTW I've had fun in the past getting people to accept court letters.

stebiz

Some good advice here. A quick letter to her advising that you will be pursuing a charging order - and then get on with it quick.

Stebiz

hippyadam

stebiz wrote: »

Some good advice here. A quick letter to her advising that you will be pursuing a charging order - and then get on with it quick.

Stebiz

Personally i wouldn't tell her what i was planning or even waste time sending in the bailiffs... OP if you've written to her after obtaining judgement i'd just get straight onto obtaining the charging order.

If she refused delivery of your letter keep it as evidence you tried to obtain payment before going for the order.

She's had plenty of chances, get her told!!

elsien

Certificate of posting just means you've got proof you sent it, not that it's arrived - it could be claimed to have been lost in the system somewhere.