just lost £500 in less than 24 hours cos i am stupid

Pandilex

I didn't pursue small claims due to not understanding it for something a few years ago and kicked myself ever since.

If you go through the process, and I am sure MSE will help, you'll learn a lot of valuable stuff you can use in the future, like when I went through the deposit protection scheme to try and get money back.

Absolutely do it, even if it takes a bit of effort it will be well worth it!

pinkteapot

Although this is house buying related, for advice on the small claims process you might find the consumer rights board more useful as it's where legal disputes tend to get discussed.

Definitely note down any high-pressure sales tactics used (like demanding cash instead of cheque). They should help your cause.

warehouse

Parks, please keep us updated on this as I really want to see you come out of this with most of your deposit back. Good luck and fight them all the way.

Taylor132

Hello

Just wanted to drop by... Everyone makes mistakes and I think you have a very good case. I know the small claims courts can be intimidating but it really is set up to accommodate disputes like this. Its aimed at allowing people to represent themselves.

The small claims court staff, while not able to help with your case in terms of argument can help with the procedural side and MSE is here for everything else.

On a side note, a judge will not look favourably on a company behaving this way towards a consumer. It’s seen as unfair due to the relevant power of each party.

Hope this helps and please, please don’t give up. You are in the right!!

POPPYOSCAR

Do you have legal insurance with your home insurance?

If so give them a ring, they may be able to give you some advice.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Do you have legal insurance with your home insurance?

If so give them a ring, they may be able to give you some advice.

Great shout, I always (reluctantly) pay for legal cover on my insurance policies and never use it. If you have it Parks then make sure you get your monies worth!!

powerful_Rogue

4.1 Terms are always likely to be considered unfair if they exclude the consumer's rights under contract law to the advantage of the supplier. A basic right of this kind is to receive a refund of prepayments made under a contract which does not go ahead, or which ends before any significant benefit is enjoyed. In certain circumstances consumers are entitled to a refund even where they themselves bring the contract to an end.

4.3 Where customers cancel without any such justification, and the supplier suffers loss as a result, they cannot expect a full refund of all prepayments. But a term under which they always lose everything they have paid in advance, regardless of the amount of any costs and losses caused by the cancellation, is at clear risk of being considered an unfair penalty – see Group 5.

4.5 A way to improve the fairness of such a term is to ensure that it does not go beyond the ordinary legal position. Where cancellation is the fault of the consumer, the business is entitled to hold back from any refund of prepayments what is likely to be reasonably needed to cover his net costs or the net loss of profit resulting directly from the default.18 There is no
entitlement to any sum that could reasonably be saved by, for example, finding another customer.

4.6 Alternatively, the prepayment may be set low enough that it merely reflects the ordinary expenses necessarily entailed for the supplier. A genuine 'deposit'– which is a reservation fee not an advance payment – can quite legitimately be kept in full, as payment for the reservation. But of course such a deposit will not normally be more than a small percentage of the price, otherwise it is liable to be seen as a disguised penalty (see paragraph
5.8).

5.1 It is unfair to impose disproportionate sanctions for breach of contract. A requirement to pay more in compensation for a breach than a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss caused to the supplier is one kind of excessive penalty. Such a requirement will, in any case, normally be void to the extent that it amounts to a penalty under English common law. Other types
of disproportionate sanction are considered below – Part III, Group 18(c).


5.6 Cancellation penalties and charges. A term which says, or is calculated to suggest, that inflated sums could be claimed if the consumer cancels the contract is likely to be challenged as unfair. For example, a penalty for wrongful cancellation that requires payment of the whole contract price, or a large part of it, is likely to be unfair if in some cases the supplier could
reasonably reduce ('mitigate') his loss. If, for example, he could find another customer, the law would allow him to claim no more than the likely costs of doing so, together with any difference between the original price and the re-sale price.

5.7 There is unlikely to be any objection to terms which fairly reflect, in plain language, the ordinary legal position – that is:
• requiring the consumer to pay a stated sum which represents a real and fair pre-estimate of the costs or loss of profit the supplier is likely to suffer, or
• stating simply that the consumer can be expected to pay reasonable compensation, or compensation according to law.
Note, however, that a term which purports to reflect the law on damages is open to challenge if it is potentially misleading.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft311.pdf

Either party are free to cancel a contract and receive a refund of any prepayments - especially if the contract has not been performed or no significant benefit has been enjoyed.

In the event of the customer cancelling without justification (ie suppliers breach of contract), they are liable for losses reasonably incurred by the supplier as a direct result of the customers breach. However they are only entitled to their losses. Any term stating the full contract price is due would amount to a financial penalty under UK law which is unfair and legally unenforceable.

Parks

can't thank you all enough on here as you have really spurred me on to fight for my money back. I originally started this thread feeling like a great big muppet (still feel stupid) and resigned to the fact i had more or less just handed over £500 to a company and didn't have a leg to stand on and it was going to be the most costly mistake that i have ever made and all for such a small space of time - less than 24 hours later i was £500 lighter. So a huge thank you for not making me feels as stupid as i was and also for all the wonderful advice. I will keep you posted of all developments. I am taking on the big company!!

POPPYOSCAR

Parks wrote: »

can't thank you all enough on here as you have really spurred me on to fight for my money back. I originally started this thread feeling like a great big muppet (still feel stupid) and resigned to the fact i had more or less just handed over £500 to a company and didn't have a leg to stand on and it was going to be the most costly mistake that i have ever made and all for such a small space of time - less than 24 hours later i was £500 lighter. So a huge thank you for not making me feels as stupid as i was and also for all the wonderful advice. I will keep you posted of all developments. I am taking on the big company!!

Anyone who says they have never done anything stupid in their life is a liar!!

We have all been there at some time or another.

Parks

Hey guys what do you think of my next letter? I have had no response to the original letter asking for my money back so i am doing everything prior to going to court to show that we tried. please feel free to let me know if i need to make any amendments as i am posting on Tuesday after the bank holiday

" Dear Sir / Madam
You will be aware that I wrote to you on the 16th April via the royal mail recorded delivery service; and that the letter was received by your company on the 17th April. The letter referred to the reservation fee my wife and I placed on xxx a property which we decided within 16 hours was not right for us. We have not received any reply from your company regarding this correspondence.
I telephoned your company regarding this matter a number of days later and the lady I spoke to called me back within ten minutes to say that the directors of the company have said that they will not refund the reservation fee.
I am further writing to you to inform you that I have taken legal advice and the contract that states the reservation fee is non refundable does not stand up to legal scrutiny under the Government Office of Fair Trading Laws. The UK trading laws state that any reservation fee that is used in a transaction should be refunded less any costs incurred by the vendor. Given that we cancelled within 16 hours I feel that the costs to your company would be minimal and incurred only on the banking of the reservation fee. With this in mind I think that costs of no more than £30 would have been incurred by your company, given this and the UK laws on fair trading I would be prepared to receive £470 of my initial reservation fee back.
Please send me a cheque payable to myself for the sum of £470 within seven working days of the receipt of this letter and once the cheque has cleared I will consider the matter closed. If however you do not return the said amount I will instigate legal proceedings in the county court and I will pursue the full £500 plus any costs incurred by me in pursuing the case (including all legal costs)

I look forward to hearing from you
Sincerely,