Small Claims Court

Anthony74

Hi

I have been sent a date for my hearing against Comet. Does anyone have any advice as this is a first for me.


Thanks

felicity1

Can you elaborate a bit on what has happened?

I have never had to attend the small claims court but several years ago got very close. My advice would be to try mediation first and avoid the court route, if at all possible - time consuming, it will mean time off work, and if you lose you could stand to lose out financially. Oh, and it's stessful too!

Assuming you have tried this, then you really need to read up a bit on court procedure and how this system works, it will give you confidence when you attend court and you will go there knowing how to win your case. There are a series of leaflets available if you call your local small claims court, they are easy to understand (If I can use them, anyone can!) and, hopefully, they will be able to help.

Don't envy you, I was really stessed when we were threatened with court action, best of luck to you.

furrypolka

Hard to comment on the case without knowing the details. However the small claims court itself is relatively informal for a legal procedure; you will probably find that you will be sitting in an office with the defendants and the judge, informally around a table. Some county courts will let you see the room in advance so you have an idea what to expect.

Some advice is to treat the judge with respect and don't get his back up, they do not respond well to offhand manners or aggression.

Anthony74

furrypolka wrote:

Hard to comment on the case without knowing the details. However the small claims court itself is relatively informal for a legal procedure; you will probably find that you will be sitting in an office with the defendants and the judge, informally around a table. Some county courts will let you see the room in advance so you have an idea what to expect.

Some advice is to treat the judge with respect and don't get his back up, they do not respond well to offhand manners or aggression.

Ok, this is the story

A week after buying a £200 Tom Tom back in September it died on me. Comet exchanged it as i wanted a replacement but this one has now died on me after using it for the second time in November. I still have the receipt and wanted a full refund as i don't want another. They refused as they said its up to the manufacture to repair or refund. As within my rights i refused to deal with the manufacture as my contract is with Comet. I am claiming the money back due to the product clearly being not fit for purpose under the Sales of goods act.


Their defense is that i have had full use of the product and the unit isn't faulty.

mpython

Furrypolka's advice is very good. Just stay calm (easier said than done), stick to the facts, point out the dates & your evidence (presuambly you've written to comet etc), original unit broke, replacement unit broke, obviously not fit for sale. & as Furrypolka says, be respectful to the judge (like being infront of the headmaster).

What is the substance behind their defence case? Have they repaired it in between?

furrypolka

Sounds from that that you have a solid case.

I assume you have argued that the goods are not of satisfactory quality nor fit for normal purposes, and therefore they do not comply with the terms of the Sale of Goods Act. The trader is indeed entitled to repair or replace in the first instance, but you are arguing that you have given them opportunity to replace but the same fault exists, therefore you have lost faith in the goods and - as is your right - are now rescinding the contract.

(Rescission normally means a partial refund less an amount for wear and tear you have had from the product, but in this case you would have a good argument for a full refund since you have had so little use).

hollydays

Really hope you succeed where we failed.I once had a sat nav bought for me from from Halfords (long story)..they too insisted it had to be sent back to the manufacturer..it was never really sorted out properly and i ditched it as it never worked (my son even tried to fix it but invalidated the guarantee) so I had to give it up as a bad job which was quite annoying.Good luck.

As others have said its likely comet wont contest it.Make sure you go into the correct court, County Court,they are often next to the the Magistrates and Crown Courts,make sure if you use the court car park you have put in plenty of money for parking should you be there longer than you expected.

Anthony74

mpython wrote:

Furrypolka's advice is very good. Just stay calm (easier said than done), stick to the facts, point out the dates & your evidence (presuambly you've written to comet etc), original unit broke, replacement unit broke, obviously not fit for sale. & as Furrypolka says, be respectful to the judge (like being infront of the headmaster).

What is the substance behind their defence case? Have they repaired it in between?

Thanks people. Their defence is

1) The unit was not charged.
2) They deny the unit is faulty
3) If the unit is faulty we aver that the claimant has had full use of it.

furrypolka

Anthony74 wrote:

Thanks people. Their defence is

1) The unit was not charged.
2) They deny the unit is faulty
3) If the unit is faulty we aver that the claimant has had full use of it.

What evidence do they have to back up (1) and (2)?

As the item has become faulty within 6 months of purchase, it is down to Comet to prove that it is NOT faulty in court - a judge will assume that it was faulty until they can provide evidence to the contrary.

As for point (3), that is frankly ridiculous and I think a judge would wonder what on earth they are going on about. Are they saying a TomTom should only last a matter of a few months?

Anthony74

furrypolka wrote:

What evidence do they have to back up (1) and (2)?

As the item has become faulty within 6 months of purchase, it is down to Comet to prove that it is NOT faulty in court - a judge will assume that it was faulty until they can provide evidence to the contrary.

As for point (3), that is frankly ridiculous and I think a judge would wonder what on earth they are going on about. Are they saying a TomTom should only last a matter of a few months?

Points 1&2 , they have no evidence. When i spoke to head office they said the info is passed on from the store manager. The last time i took the unit in they had it for an hour to see if they could get it to work. I have a copy of the repair sheet and written on it is unit is DEAD.

Its crazy and the store manager has lied to me.

furrypolka

Then in my personal opinion they have no chance of winning this case.

As said, if a fault is reported within the first six months after purchase, the burden of proof is on the trader, not the consumer. This means that if it were to go to court, the onus is on the trader to provide evidence that the goods are not faulty, and not on the consumer to prove that it is.

In this case, the judge will assume that the goods are indeed faulty unless Comet can provide enough proper evidence to convince him otherwise. If they don't do this, the case will be straightforward and the judge will most definitely not be impressed with them.