The continuing Saga of Richard Durkin

mystic_trev

All credit to the Guy for continuing his battle, even though I doubt the case will succeed. It looks like it's taken 16 years out of his life!

All Richard Durkin wanted was a laptop with an inbuilt modem. But what he ended up with was an epic 16-year legal tussle, a £250,000 bill for legal fees and, now, a date at the supreme court.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/jan/09/legal-battle-laptop-uk-supreme-court

For those wanting to know what it's got to do with this forum, this from five years ago.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/885979

Loughton_Monkey

I bet, with hindsight, he wishes he had just taken it back and insisted upon a different (similar priced) one with a modem, or maybe paid a few quid extra to have one put in.

Having said that, though, I can understand how a contract for purchase, and a contract for credit are two different things.

But it looks like it's little to do with money now. Just the principle of the thing. But even if he wins finally, he'll still be 6 figures down!

Moto2

At least he managed to dodge the €300K Spanish house purchase
By my reckoning, that puts him at least €150K up

PasturesNew

What a waste of time, money, effort .... and the air he breathes.

mystic_trev

A man has won a 16-year dispute over a laptop which he bought from the Aberdeen branch of PC World.

Richard Durkin claimed the HFC bank ruined his credit rating after he tried to pull out of a credit agreement when he returned the £1,499 computer.

Mr Durkin, 44, took his case to court and initially won damages of £116,000, but that ruling was overturned.

The Supreme Court in London has now allowed his appeal and ruled he should receive £8,000 in damages.

Mr Durkin told the BBC the ruling was a victory for the consumer but a blow for him personally.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-26731192

16 years out of his life, and he ends up with £8,000, was it really worth it? I believe he's run up costs somewhere in excess of £500k so assume he'll now end up Bankrupt

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

I believe he's run up costs somewhere in excess of £500k so assume he'll now end up Bankrupt

If he won the case then, assuming a settlement wasn't offered, he won't have to a costs.

mystic_trev

What about his cost prior to the Appeal?

Edit -It's ok Gen I've found it!

Had Durkin lost, he would almost certainly have faced bankruptcy, as he could have been hit with a legal bill for an estimated £300,000, on top of his own £250,000 legal bill.

His legal team is now likely to argue that HFC Bank, a division of HSBC, and PC World – the other party in the case – should pay their own costs, plus at least some of Durkin's.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/26/supreme-court-victory-hsbc-pc-world

mystic_trev

An oil worker who won a 16-year court battle over credit payments for a laptop revealed today that he is facing a bill of £300,000 after having to fund his enormous court costs with high-interest loans.

Father-of-two Richard Durkin, 45, of Aberdeen, claims the court said he was unable to claim any legal costs from the bank despite winning his case.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063088/Father-won-16-year-court-battle-1-499-laptop-PC-World-faces-whopping-300-000-bill-one-year-later.html