Friend owes me £150, how do I get it back?

Horace

OP when you submit a claim through Moneyclaim online there is a fee of about £30, include that in your claim as money that is owed to you.

JimmyTheWig

How much was the phone actually worth?
Given that you sold it with no effort or cost, you could look at it as if you'd have sold it to one of these "cash in your mobile" companies. If so, how much would you have got for it?

If that figure is more like £150 then I'd be tempted to forget about it.


Do you have her physical address? I believe you'll need that for a small claims court action.

StuC75

What can you do to prove that the phone was worth an agreed value of £300 at the start?

How much did the phone cost at the start? how long did you have the phone before you gave her the phone? how long ago was this?

Whilst the friend was living with you did she pay other bills or cover things which she may have thought was in lieu of the money for the phone?

Are you still with the same network? why not just get them to block the handset - most networks will hold Imei details of the phones..

StuC75

This as well, would be surprised if you had sold it at a 'Mates rate'...

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

How much was the phone actually worth?
Given that you sold it with no effort or cost, you could look at it as if you'd have sold it to one of these "cash in your mobile" companies. If so, how much would you have got for it?

If that figure is more like £150 then I'd be tempted to forget about it.


Do you have her physical address? I believe you'll need that for a small claims court action.

dandelionclock30

You are not going to get it back I'm sorry to say and the only thing you can do is learn from the experience. Never lend money to friends unless its like a really small amount like £5.00. People wont pay it back. Dont get stung again.

iammag

@sulphate: Yeah, I think the public shaming on Facebook, followed by a Letter Before Action if she doesn't pay up is probably going to be the best route forward. Thanks

iammag

@JimmyTheWig: I have no idea how much the phone was worth at the time. It was an iPhone 4S, it was only a year old (I got it when it first came out) and I upgraded when the iPhone 5 came out. I've just recently got £160 for the my two-year old iPhone 5 through O2's recycle program, so I'd guess my one-year old iPhone 4S would've been worth closer to £300 at the time I sold it to her, but that's obviously just a guess.

I do have an address for her, but whether it's her current address or not I don't know. I could probably get her to give me her address if I asked her, so I'll do that before I proceed with any small claims court.

lulu_92

iammag wrote: »

@JimmyTheWig: I have no idea how much the phone was worth at the time. It was an iPhone 4S, it was only a year old (I got it when it first came out) and I upgraded when the iPhone 5 came out. I've just recently got £160 for the my two-year old iPhone 5 through O2's recycle program, so I'd guess my one-year old iPhone 4S would've been worth closer to £300 at the time I sold it to her, but that's obviously just a guess.

I do have an address for her, but whether it's her current address or not I don't know. I could probably get her to give me her address if I asked her, so I'll do that before I proceed with any small claims court.

Remember that recycling services seriously undervalue your phone, so they're not the best way to value a phone.

redcard

If it's not about the money but the principle then perhaps you should learn from the principle that it's usually a bad idea to give money to friends without having a proper agreement in place?

Or does that principle not suit so much?

iammag

@StuC75: This was two year ago (November 2012). I'm on contract so I don't know the full cost of the phone, but it was an iPhone 4S which had only been out a year at the time, and she was the one who suggested £300. Looking back over our messages when she first asked me, she said they were going for £300 on eBay so I'd say it was probably a fair value at the time.

She paid a negligible amount of rent (£20/month), but everything else was separate.

I believe she unlocked the phone when she got it as she was on a different network, and being two years ago it's unlikely she still has the phone.