Taking Music Magpie to Small Claims Court Advice

jgallcash

Hi all,

Hopefully you can all advise my next course of action.

I sold a load of my old CD’s and DVD’s to Music Magpie way back in April for an agreed amount of £24.52.

They confirmed receipt quickly via email and told me they would send the cheque out. A couple of weeks later and there’s still no sign so I try to contact via telephone but I simply cannot speak to a human!! The answer message says to try another time. I contacted again via email and they tell me they will cancel the cheque and reissue another.

A few more weeks pass and still no cheque - so I contact them again via email and they apologise and tell me that they will send payment via bank transfer if I send my details. I duly did that and again nothing – This is now early July.

Then things change and they don’t respond to emails asking them to call me and I still can’t get through on their telephone line.

By the end of August I really didn’t know what to do so I sent them a formal letter before action (pasted below) and hope to go to small claims.

Could someone please advise me on the next step? Is it worth paying to file a claim online? Are they likely to care about a CCJ? Is there anyway that I can check to see if they have already had a CCJ to see if I should just cut my losses now?

Many thank in advance



Entertainment Magpie Limited
Black & White House
Hulley Rd
Hurdsfield Industrial Estate
Macclesfield
SK10 2AF

30th August 2012

URGENT: NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL ACTION

Reference Order Number xxxxxxx - Payment due to Mr x of £27.07

To whom it may concern,

As it has not been possible to resolve the above matter amicably and it is apparent that court action may be necessary, I write in compliance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct.

I made an order through the MusicMagpie.co.uk website on 14th April 2012 which amounted to £24.52. After receiving confirmation of the successful processing of the order and promise of payment I am yet to receive the sum agreed. I have made contact with customer services on numerous occasions without success

I would like an amount of £27.07 to be paid to me. This is based upon the £24.52 as previously agreed in the Music Magpie order summary, plus £2.55 for recorded postage and packaging of this notice.

Should this matter be taken to the small claims court I must advise that additional costs will be sought to cover cost for application fees, telephone calls and costs for the hours of time incurred.

Listed below are the documents on which I intend to rely in my claim against you:

Timeline of events
Music Magpie Order Summary
Chronological email correspondence pack

I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts and would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard.

In closing I would draw your attention to section II (4) of the Practice Direction which gives the courts the power to impose sanctions on the parties if they fail to comply with the direction including failing to respond to this letter before claim. I look forward to hearing from you within the next 28 days, should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then I anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you.
Yours sincerely

Johnkg

Well if it was me, I'd do it! You've given them notice of your intent. If you can afford the £25 and have proof that the goods were sent to them then why not?

I just did the same to SportsDirect.com. They didn't refund me for the postage for returning goods they incorrectly sent me. After two months of them generally ignoring my emails and claiming they'd lost the proof of postage, which was STAPLED to the blimmin' return letter, I got fed up and put in a claim.

The only problem is that, the day after lodging the claim (the day the order was issued), I got an email from them:

'Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your email.
We are having to raise a cheque for the returns postage.
This will be sent to you via post.
Kind Regards
Customer Services'

Funny that!

I emailed them back saying they would have to refund me through the Small Claims process. I think some of these companies need a reminder that not all customers roll over if they give bad service.

jgallcash

Funny you should say that because within two hours of putting this post on the MSE forum a member of the PR team spotted it and asked the head of cus services to contact me.

So they'll ignore you for months until their name is in the public domain and then they jump.

I'm not going to be unreasonable by pursuing the claim further but I am pleased that I sent them the letter before action.

Johnkg

Glad its being sorted for you!

I'll post here as my claim progresses.

Johnkg

Got an email from a third party company that must handle Sportsdirect.com's legal stuff.

We represent the defendant (“Sports Direct”) in this matter.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused to yourself when trying to reclaim the cost of postage in relation to returning your incorrect item to Sports Direct. Please confirm that the following address is correct and we shall arrange for a cheque in the amount of £xx.xx to be sent in full and final settlement of this matter.

Upon receipt of the cheque please confirm you will immediately withdraw your claim against Sports Direct.


Replied and said that I would cancel the claim once the cheque had cleared.

Got another email later

A cheque in the amount of £xx.xx has been sent to the address provided via recorded delivery. I fully understand you would like to wait until the funds have cleared, and should be grateful if you would communicate to the Court that you are discontinuing your claim as soon as this takes place, and provide us with confirmation the same.


Please accept our apologies once again for the inconvenience caused.


LOL! So moral of the story, take them to Court!!!!

zaax

yes money claim online is very easy to ujse

Jm53

I would never I repeat NEVER EVER use this service! Took forever for the cheque to come through and I didn't get all the money I was promised! Some of my items got rejected instead of being returned to me were probably sold on for a profit whilst I got NOTHING!! MY ADVICE DONT NOT GO THERE UNDER ABY CIRCUMSTANCES. Their customer service is terrible when I rang up to ask why I didn't get all my money they told me it wasn't their problem and was apparently in the terms and conditions. I future well sell it on ebay they only pay 25p anyway and won't pay for for all your items! It's disgusting! DO NOT USE! EVER!!!