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

RAS

it needs to be entitled "Letter before Action"

Parks

Thank you RAS, I have done this now

FelinePrincess

Parks wrote: »

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,

Would it be worth making it clear here that you informed them of this decision within the 16 hours? Ie, which within 16 hours we informed you that we decided it wasn't right for us and we did not want to go ahead with the sale.

Good luck

Parks

FelinePrincess wrote: »

Would it be worth making it clear here that you informed them of this decision within the 16 hours? Ie, which within 16 hours we informed you that we decided it wasn't right for us and we did not want to go ahead with the sale.

Good luck

will do, thanks for advice

jaylee3

Good luck Parks.

hazyjo

How much would it cost for a solicitor to send a similar letter?

Legal action is likely to cost more than the costs you're trying to recoup. I presume the developers are aware of that and will force you into legal action for that very reason, hoping you'll drop it. For that reason, I'd start off with a solicitor's letter. They did one free for me once as part of my free initial consultation.

Jx

Leo2020

hazyjo wrote: »

How much would it cost for a solicitor to send a similar letter?

Legal action is likely to cost more than the costs you're trying to recoup. I presume the developers are aware of that and will force you into legal action for that very reason, hoping you'll drop it. For that reason, I'd start off with a solicitor's letter. They did one free for me once as part of my free initial consultation.

Jx

Not if the OP goes down the small claims route. £50.00 to submit court papers for claims up to £500.00.

Some companies will back down as soon as the court papers are issued and will give a refund. My husband put in a small claim regarding a hotel room we booked. The company involved gave us our money back plus compensation without it going to court.

Parks

Leo2020 wrote: »

Not if the OP goes down the small claims route. £50.00 to submit court papers for claims up to £500.00.

Some companies will back down as soon as the court papers are issued and will give a refund. My husband put in a small claim regarding a hotel room we booked. The company involved gave us our money back plus compensation without it going to court.

you have given me hope to go for it! i am prepared to sacrifice a £50 payment to small claims to hopefully win my money back

embob74

When I was taken to court the claimant paid the £50 cost and when I put in a defence they had to pay another £50 to continue to pursue it so it might be worthwhile checking whether there will be any more costs than the initial lodging fee.

KILL_BILL

heres details that you need : https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

you can do your claim on line which will cost you abit less in fees.

even if the company defends the claim the hearing if it takes place will take place at a court near to you as you a litigant in person and not a company.