Advice please - calling all barrack room lawyers!

fischer79

Hi,

I'm currently in process of trying to claim back a £395 towing fee from a private landlord/agent.
I'm also trying to institue a chargeback via my credit card company. Intially my cc company denied the existence of chargeback but did request a sales receipt from the towing company. The receipt was marked "paid under protest" (twice) by myself however the CC claim because i entered my pin it was authorised.
Should I challenge this based on the receipt and should i also challenge under section 75 that I don't believe a valid contract was entered into?
Any advice appreciated.

peter_the_piper

More details please of the circumstances surrounding the clamping. Do you have pics of signs, entrances where you parked? did you get a receipt? did you get a police incident number? Have you sent a letter before action to tower/landlord? You will have to sue both jointly to get your money back. A ccj against the tower will be ignored, one against the landowner will be more productive. At the very least a ccj will be a help in chargeback.

Coupon-mad

Yep, you need to send a Letter before Action to the clampers and whoever contracted them, rattle the cage of the managing agent/landlord by phoning A LOT as well, to try to force an out of court settlement.

In the meantime I would put in a section 75 claim, what have you got to lose? If it's refused you can always refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman which costs you nothing - and takes MONTHS! But if the Ombudsman finds in your favour then you'll be compensated, that's the usual result I believe, to restore you back to the position you were in before the issue arose.

In the meantime, if the cage-rattling doesn't get the refund out of the managing agent/landlord then go to Small Claims Court, naming them and the clampers as jointly and severally liable.

As regards the chargeback, most people meet the sort of brick wall you have found but if you get a CCJ against the clampers and/or agent/landlord then that'll help your Ombudsman complaint I would think.

Post for help on pepipoo.com. Start your own thread, read the FAQs first and read other clamping threads (like makara's which is similar to yours in some ways, he's in the process of taking clampers and a landowner to Court):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

HTH