Being taken to small claims late bill payment

keystone

romik wrote: »

I already received a form from county court, solicitors fee 50 and court fee 15 plus bill amount obviously.

DCAs are renowned for sending out court forms that look exactly like the one the court sends out to frighten the recipient into paying. If it does not have the official NCC seal on it and a case number on the top it hasn't been issued by the court itself. Has it got a seal and a case number?

Cheers

romik

keystone wrote: »

DCAs are renowned for sending out court forms that look exactly like the one the court sends out to frighten the recipient into paying. If it does not have the official NCC seal on it and a case number on the top it hasn't been issued by the court itself. Has it got a seal and a case number?

Cheers

I will check. It looked kosher though. Isn't it unlawful for a DCA or anyone for that matter to do that?

Cardew

romik wrote: »

I will check. It looked kosher though. Isn't it unlawful for a DCA or anyone for that matter to do that?

Unethical, but I suspect not unlawful - you could spend a few thousand pounds trying to establish the point if you wish!

As we have both said it sounds like a fairly standard DCA tactic.

Regarding the question, to whom do you reply? Is there a 0900 premium telephone number?

romik

It's genuine, it's a claim form (moneyclaim.gov.uk)

keystone

Arrrgh! Of course the form itself is genuine. Its a Particulars of Claim form but has the claimant just filled it in and sent it to you as a frightener rather than putting it through the court? If its got a seal and a case number it's come from the court and you need to deal with it. If it has neither then it hasn't and your approach may well be different. There seems little point is even trying to help you if you can't/won't/don't answer simple questions.

Has it got a court seal and case number or not?

Cheers

Cardew

You don't say which water company - Severn Trent?

I have never heard of a water company going straight to court; they all pass the debt to a DCA.

Normally the last thing they want is it to go to court, as if you can convince them that you are short of funds, they will make you pay back at a pound a week.

romik

keystone wrote: »

Arrrgh! Of course the form itself is genuine. Its a Particulars of Claim form but has the claimant just filled it in and sent it to you as a frightener rather than putting it through the court? If its got a seal and a case number it's come from the court and you need to deal with it. If it has neither then it hasn't and your approach may well be different. There seems little point is even trying to help you if you can't/won't/don't answer simple questions.

Has it got a court seal and case number or not?

Cheers

It's official, I already registered with moneyclaim site and this claim exists. I have 5 days to pay up or I get a CCJ.

It's Anglian Water (c...s)

keystone

romik wrote: »

It's official, I already registered with moneyclaim site and this claim exists.

OK - just once more and then I'm going to give up. Have you received official court papers through the post with a seal and a case number on them? Yes or no? Starting from the date you receive them you get 14 days to either settle the claim or submit your defence. If you do neither then the claimant can apply for judgement by default in which case you then get 28 days following judgement to pay. If you submit a defence then you receive an Allocation Questionaire which you obviously haven't as by the time it gets to that stage it gets transfered out of Northampton to your local County Court. A CCJ is only recorded after that 28 days after judgement have expired and you still do not pay.

I have 5 days to pay up or I get a CCJ.

If that is the case you are now 23 days into the time allowed after judgement against you for you to pay. Have you been ignoring paperwork from the court previously?

It's Anglian Water

So its not via a DCA then. Anglian Water will have written to you an number of times about this debt including some letters with scary red writing on them. Have you been ignoring them too? If you are only two months behind (as you have claimed) then none of this is adding up and I am at a loss to understand what help you are looking for. Clearly the whole story isn't being told and I'm not the first on this thread to see that.

C'mon fella give a better clue huh?

(c...s)

It seems you are not exactly helping yourself so that little jibe is just a little counterproductive.

Cheers

romik

I will answer in full tomorrow, appreciate response in detail. I don't understand what full story you are after here, charges are for a quarter ending October 2012, we are in December, so yes 2 months late roughly. Yes, had a red letter from them, but nothing from a DCA, that's why I was surprised they went for a claim in cc, as I have always paid them. If these utility firms start doing this to ppl that have no intention of defaulting on their bills then they are just making it harder to pay the sordid bill. You guys probably don't understand what it's like when your partner loses a job and all thrse companies want to be paid promptly. Now I have to find another £65 extta. Do they also have cashflow problems?

Cardew

As explained above, it is a lengthy and formal process to put a claim through the court, and to repeat, getting you in court is not something they want to happen.

Everything you have stated(or rather has been extracted from you) smacks of the usual DCA scare tactics.

Edit - post crossed

It is nothing to do with being unsympathetic, just trying to establish the position with the Court - which was your original query.

You have simply failed to answer Keystone or my questions.