Initiated court action, what next

djpleasure

I'll try to summerise briefly,

I sent off 4 on-working laptops to be repaired through a company, they stated on website "They will get your laptop up & running" fixed price for all motherboard repairs.

In a nutshell, they managed to fix none, then tried to charge me.
Then refused to send the laptops back.

I liaised for quite some time trying to get this sorted, but the guy was impossible and not trustworthy. I threatened with court, the threat failed so I instigated a case via the small claims court service.

They was issued a notice by the courts, this was ignored, I then filled the form which requests the full amount, to which judgement was made.

I asked the court service what happens next if they ignore all of the above, to which I was quoted "court staff are not legally trained and cannot offer advice on how to proceed or give advice on how you should complete your forms."

Anyone know what the next steps are towards recovering my loss.

The guy who i sent the laptops to has taken his websites down since the above action, but I have his name and address which he used to register websites wfam.co.uk and slserv.co.uk as well as screenshots etc

oneye14

court staff are not legally trained

That's a new one - presumably totally useless at their jobs ......

Seriously, Court Staff should not and do not give legal advice for obvious reasons, but I would thought they would be more helpful.

If you have a Court Judgement you can send in the Bailiffs ......
However before paying the privelage you need to find out whether the guy can pay out / has any assets. Court Bailiffs are there to follow defaulted judgements.

arcon5

Was the claim against an individual or a company?

Court staff rightfully should not give legal advise as they are not qualified to do so. They are merely administrative staff. The law is complex and the last thing you want is poor and potentially damaging advise from an untrained official

djpleasure

claim was made against company, not the individual. It no better than theft

ILW

djpleasure wrote: »

claim was made against company, not the individual. It no better than theft

If the company have no assets, you will throwing money away.
have you tried phoning or visiting them in person?

nitra

I've been down this route with a individual that wouldn't answer any of the court documents.

You really start to relise how toothless the court system is, but I got my money back eventually by following him to his place of work and getting his wages garnished (£100 a month for the next 14 months, thank you very much). He could of easily countered had he bothered to answer the summons, but hey ho.

As this is a business, then things are slightly different...

If they have a fully fledged address, I'd send the baliffs round. They won't be able to take any of the customers equipment but if he's working with computers it's a fair assumption he will have some of his own gear.

Does he know your face? I'd be tempted to visit the premise for some made up reason and whilst their just try to get a rough estimate of the value of what he uses (printer, computer, laptop etc).

arcon5

If the websites have been shut down it's likely the premises have also been left empty. I fear you will see nothing of this judgement, unless you are willing to pay about £1200 to petition for a winding up order which still may not see any return but could see the directors brought to justice in case of any wrong doing (although still could be unlikely).

djpleasure

ok failing that, what is the criminal aspect, I dealt with just one person, that person is the one who stated when and where to send laptops as well as refuse to return, surely that constitutes theft? I would visit, but unfortunately he is not local

mattyprice4004

djpleasure wrote: »

ok failing that, what is the criminal aspect, I dealt with just one person, that person is the one who stated when and where to send laptops as well as refuse to return, surely that constitutes theft? I would visit, but unfortunately he is not local

Not much you'll be able to do, as theft is taking goods with the intent to permanently deprive. They took the goods to repair and went bust, which is different. It's a civil matter.

ILW

How much are we talking here? It appears to be the value of 4 non-working laptops. I would have thought £200 tops.

wealdroam

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Not much you'll be able to do, as theft is taking goods with the intent to permanently deprive. They took the goods to repair and went bust, which is different. It's a civil matter.

The OP willingly sent the goods to the repairer... no-one actually took the goods at all.

But I agree... the bottom line is this is a civil matter, not criminal.