Advice with Court Claim received please?

gazfocus

Hi all,

A couple of months ago, I sold a sat nav online (not eBay) for £200. The sat nav was advertised as a digital version of a particular model as this was what I ordered at the time of purchasing it. Subsequently, the buyer received the sat nav and despite firstly expressing his pleasure with the sat nav, he later emailed me to say that it wasn't the digital version and was in fact an analog version.

Communication passed between the two of us and the buyer pointed out that the only difference between the two was the cable that goes from the cigarette lighter to the sat nav (one is analog and one is digital) and said that the replacement cable was £60.

I spent about a month trying to get the retailer I bought the sat nav off to give me the cable as they had obviously sent me the wrong model, however, to no avail. I then told the buyer that I would be willing to pay 50% of the price of the new cable (£30).

He responded and said 'make it £40 and we'll end it there, if not, I will take legal action'.

I replied pointing out that he's had the sat nav for 2 months and that I feel an offer of £30 is fair considering he will end up with two cables so I reiterate my offer of £30.

Today, I get home and find a court claim from the buyer, now claiming that a new cable costs £99.99 (looks like he has purposely sought out the most expensive retailer) so is claiming £99.99 plus £25 court fee.

This is obviously ridiculous as he's one stated the replacement cable is £60, then asked for a £40 refund, and now trying to claim £99.99, all without sending any form of letter before action.

I fully intend to defend the claim, but can anyone please offer any advice on the best way to go about this?

Thanks

RFW

gazfocus wrote: »

I fully intend to defend the claim, but can anyone please offer any advice on the best way to go about this?

Thanks

Whilst I can give some advice based on past experience on both sides of claims, my best advice would be to get some face to face (or telephone) advice from someone who can help you fill the form in. The claim form should give some contact details, for Citizen's Advice and others.

I'd personally defend it in full (don't offer part of it), in the defence be to the point and don't go into too much detail. Once you defend the claimant has to pay more money out to get to court, which will take a while.

in_the_Cotswolds

Firstly check to see if there is a different cable. I just thought the cable was for charging and it's the internal components that are either digital or analogue.

Mind you I could be wrong!

girlycara

youve got him over a barrel here. if he takes you to court he heas to do everything possible to mitigate your losses, ie buy the cheapest viable option. if you can demonstrate with for example a price comparison print out that he has bumped up the claim value then you have an excellent technicality to challenge the claim on

gazfocus

Thanks for the replies.

I should be able to file the defence myself, I will just stick to facts and give the full story (as the buyer has outright lied in his claim).

I have checked the Garmin website and there are in fact different cables, however, there's only about £20 difference in price between them. The buyer put in his claim that the cable I sent prevents the sat Nav from getting the lifetime traffic and map updates but this is not true. The garmin website actually says that both cables enable the lifetime updates but the digital cable allows HD traffic updates.

Going through the communications, I offered a full refund on two occasions. Once when he first alerted me about the cable and once when he refused the offer of 50% towards the new cable.

Unfortunately there's nowhere on the online defence form to attach screen prints of the messages.

gazfocus

girlycara wrote: »

youve got him over a barrel here. if he takes you to court he heas to do everything possible to mitigate your losses, ie buy the cheapest viable option. if you can demonstrate with for example a price comparison print out that he has bumped up the claim value then you have an excellent technicality to challenge the claim on

Thanks. I intend to file my defence online. I have found the cable on Amazon for £68 and on eBay for £59. I will put a link to the Amazon one as that would be classed as a reputable retailer. Even garmin sell the cable for €89 and the buyer is asking for £99.99 because that's how much Halfords charge.

girlycara

you should win on this alone, when you take someone to court you have to demonstrate that you have done everything reasonable to mitigate their losses, this is the opposite, the court will have seen it all before and will help you

RFW

gazfocus wrote: »

Thanks. I intend to file my defence online. I have found the cable on Amazon for £68 and on eBay for £59. I will put a link to the Amazon one as that would be classed as a reputable retailer. Even garmin sell the cable for €89 and the buyer is asking for £99.99 because that's how much Halfords charge.

I'd be wary of doing that as it may be considered you are admitting to offering to pay for it. Having the knowledge of how much a replacement is for court would be a good idea but not as part of defence. I'd contact the manufacturer and ask how much a replacement cable from them is.
The main defence would be that the buyer had it for two months before making a complaint on a second hand item. He was previously pleased with the purchase and you tried to help him as a goodwill gesture that was rejected. Mentioning where he can buy a cheaper cable is not really relevant. He may have actually purchased it and have a receipt.

girlycara

it is completely relevant to mention he could buy the cable cheaper, you have a legal obligation as a claimant to minimise every single cost in the case, failure to do so can throw out the claim, suggest you check your facts on this

RFW

girlycara wrote: »

it is completely relevant to mention he could buy the cable cheaper, you have a legal obligation as a claimant to minimise every single cost in the case, failure to do so can throw out the claim, suggest you check your facts on this

I don't need facts on that part of it. If the OP contests the cost of the cable then he is admitting to owing something. If the claimant has written advice from the manufacturer (at this stage the OP may not know this from the claim) to buy cable x from manufacturer y for £99 then OP loses the case, has to pay up with costs.
Advice from people on internet forums is not a good idea for legal matters, especially someone with questionable ethics on another thread about how to open an Ebay account when in debt to them for £900.

gazfocus

Thank you both for your comments. I do feel that it would be prudent to show that the cable can be purchased elsewhere for cheaper. In the claim, the buyer gives the part number of the cable. It only takes a 2 second Google search for find all the companies selling that cable. Of those, only Halfords is charging £99.99. Even the manufacturer only charges €89.

If the buyer hadn't mentioned the model number of the cable, then yes, it may have been better to get a formal quote from the manufacturer.

Furthermore, there is documentary evidence (if the court should request it) that I offered the buyer 50% of the cost of the cable but there is also documentary evidence that the buyer stated the cable costs £60, therefore, the buyer has inflated the cost by seeking out the most expensive retailer.