Small Claims Court guide

baldego

is there a reason why i cant.

At the end of the day if i had not taken out the claim in the first place i would not have incurred the solicitors fees due to them, ?

Is it law that i cant ?

kah22

It may seem obvious but surely the best person to ask is the solicitor! He'll have all the information at hand and will certainly be able to tell you if the other party can be held liable for his fees

JenClem

Hi everyone, i just thought it might be useful to share my recent experience of MCOL and the Small Claims Court.

Someone scraped my car in June 2013 and after much faffing about, i filed a claim with Money Claim Online (MCOL). What a joke. The only 'online' bit about it is lodging a case, after that it's all paper, lots and lots of paper.

I have a good degree from a well-respected university and yet i have found the process to be difficult, stressful and time-consuming. I have not taken advice from anyone but purposefully set out to use the guidance and information provided by the Ministry of Justice. Doing this, i cannot see how anyone manages to successfully get a case dealt with in a timely and satisfactory manner, and i applaud the few on here who say they have.

One of the reasons why it has been so drawn out (from June to now, and we have not had a date for the hearing yet- it has been 8 months. So long for a very small amount of money!) is because of the incompetence of the people who deal with the claims. 5 times they have given me incorrect and conflicting instructions and each time it's another stamp (the last time i got so fed up i called them and the lady said i could email her the documents - why on earth don't they put that on their letters???!!!) and more delay, and more opportunity for error.

Previous posts have mentioned the difficult language needed for filling in the very unclear forms and i agree with them entirely. I have found it very difficult to know what to put and how, and where, and it has been very stressful. As someone who used to work in business improvement, i think the MCOL is in dire need of someone who has a bit of common sense, let alone any expertise in the BI field.

To me, the whole process has been a paragon of farce, inefficiency and bureaucracy, and i've not even reached the end yet.

I was hoping that the defendant would back down before now, as they must have had a lot of their time wasted and been put under a lot of stress themselves, but they have refused mediation and so obviously want to go all the way. This is fine by me as i am interested to see what happens but what a waste of time and effort for so little money. Unbelievable.

I do hope i haven't put people off going down this route, and thank you very much to MSE for addressing this difficult issue.

bambibunny

does anyone have any experience of taking BT via the small claims route?

long story short, they failed to cancel contract after min term and about 20 phone calls and letters and emails etc and are still billing me despite being with another provider since 4/11/13 and now a final demand has been received, they've admitted on last 4 contacts that I do not owe anything and that it would all be sorted out and it hasn't

I'm seriously at the end of my tether with it as have told them till blue in the face and they keep denying any knowledge

Computersaysno

Big company...fairly easy ...they will usually cave and sort it out once the papers hit their doormat.

Raksha

bambibunny wrote: »

does anyone have any experience of taking BT via the small claims route?

long story short, they failed to cancel contract after min term and about 20 phone calls and letters and emails etc and are still billing me despite being with another provider since 4/11/13 and now a final demand has been received, they've admitted on last 4 contacts that I do not owe anything and that it would all be sorted out and it hasn't

I'm seriously at the end of my tether with it as have told them till blue in the face and they keep denying any knowledge

But have you paid the bills? If not, you haven't suffered any financial loss

Bevpercy

My ex owes me over £500 - I paid for one bill on my credit card so I have evidence of this however the other items are for rent he didnt pay hotel bills and sky TV - so I have only asked him to pay the credit card bill of £244 as he could say he didnt agree to paying rent or paying half to the hotel bills or the sky tv. I have got text messages from him where he is saying I have to give him my xmas present back or reduce the money he owes me by £100. I have sent him two recorded letters saying I will take him to the small claims court but not got anything back in writing. Where do I go from here ?? How much does it cost to take someone to the small claims courts - does anyone thing I would have a chance at getting my £244 back as I have proof I paid it on my credit card and what about all the other bills he owes me for do I just have to forget about those as it is my word against his ?? please can someone help me on where do I go now ? Many thanks Bev

Industrial_unit_owner

We would like to ask if using a small claims court is the right approach to challenge a management company for excessive charges, failure to offer any breakdown of costs or explanations and failure to enter any meaningful dialogue. Please see further details below. Many thanks for readings this rather long post.

Here is a brief synopsis of the situation:

- We have been complaining against excessive charges from management company fees for two years
- We are paying for another company’s electricity usage which is serviced by the same meter and has been lumped together with the running of two small pumps which ‘everyone’ pays for. (This is our main concern)
- Found out that not ‘everyone’ (who should be paying) pays for these electricity charges and that is why the costs are excessive to the people who don’t or haven’t before questioned the situation. (Again this is a main concern)
- Paying for road repairs that are not done
- Paying for ‘security’ that is not done
- Have proof from a document from the management company via a conveyencing solicitor that not ‘everyone’ is paying for the charges.
- Tried to enter into a dialogue with management company – constantly ignored
- Have requested paperwork to ask for a breakdown of costs – constantly ignored
- Have requested proof that everyone pays for these cost – constantly ignored
- Decided to withhold certain parts of the management charges until answers were given
- No dialogue from management company for 6 months
- Bill presented to us for complete payment or threatened with court action
- Decided that we would pay the bill in sufferance , wrote out 10 cheques for the payments and gave a breakdown of what they should do to rectify the situation (eg give us a breakdown of the costs and justify the costs) and if they didn’t we would involve a third party if any of the payments were cashed
- Nearly six months elapsed and none of the payments we made have been cashed.
- Recently 2 days before the 6 months has elapsed 5 cheques were cashed
- The 5 cheques are for the electricity usage which is our main concern
- There has been no communication from the management company, no explanation of the costs, no breakdown of the costs as requested.

Further info
- One of the management company directors has constructed a unit without planning permission and is operating a business from it – he pays no management charges on this building and the building is not on any council plans or VOA

guillermohm

Hi all,

I have a court hearing at a District Court regarding a Money Claim through the SMC in a month.

I have been told to send the documents I intend to use at the hearing to the defendants too, but there are no instructions as to how to do this. When I call them, they don't respond clearly to this.

I think it may be possible to send it via first post, but then, how can I prove I have sent the documents if the defendants deny receiving them? Does this matter? Would it be my word against theirs, and the hearing will then go on?

Thanks to all in advance,

mumlady1

Hi everyone
Just looking for a little advice here if possible please. I'm stressed out & worried sick.
Builder who was working in my home ordered an item for my home without my prior knowledge or approval.
Item arrived & was not as we had discussed so I said I did not want it
Builder ordered replacement & took away the incorrect item
Builder now expecting me to pay for both the original item AND its replacement.
I have refused & written 5 letters explaining why.
Recieved no acknowledgement to any of them.
Now received a letter from his solicitor advising that they are taking me to court if the bill is not paid within 7 days.
I've replied saying I will consider paying IF they original (incorrect) item is returned to me. (I don't want it but if I'm paying for it, I think I should have it)
I've had no acknowledgement of this letter so I can only assume they are now starting court proceedings.
I'm seriously worried about this as I know if it goes against me my credit rating will be shot.
I don't use credit but I do dabble in property development (very small scale)
If I just pay the outstanding amount (the rest of the invoice has been paid) before the court date, will my credit rating be affected?
If I pay the bill, how will I then go about getting the goods back?
Apologies for the long post, tried to keep it as short as possible while giving all relevant facts.