Curry's asking for evidence after judgement passed

vtc6

Hi everyone. Some of you may remember my petit cooker claim with Currys. I've received a surprising letter from Curry's after judgement had been passed.

Quick recap:

It was a new cooker. Paint/enamel was spontaneously flaking of it within few months (no there was no misuse, domestic environment, only gentle cleaning methods used). Curry's insisted that my only option was to make a warranty claim, which I declined because manufacturer wanted to charge me for inspection if fault wasn't covered by warranty and because warranty doesn't cover cosmetic damage.

I told Curry's that consumer law requires goods be of satisfactory quality, and in first six months onus is on them to arrange inspection or otherwise show goods are satisfactory. They repeatedly ignored this and repeated that I must make a warranty claim.

I made a claim via MCOL. Curry's did not respond. Court passed judgement in my favour.

And now their legal officer has written to me saying that they were not aware of proceedings until they received judgement. And that they are investigating my claim. They cannot find my "particulars" (ie the customer service conversations?). And they "humbly request" that I do not apply to enforce judgement. They want photographs of the fault.

I can't see any harm in sending the photos and they will show the fault and lack of misuse (no scratch marks, just clean missing chunks of enamal/paint). My only worry is that I don't want to be "entertaining" them unnecessarily or opening up more problems. I've already had to deal with weeks and weeks of their customer services.

Maybe it's a formality? They want to see the claim is genuine so not to appeal it? Appeal would cost them £150. Claim was for ~£235 inc court fees.

It was so nice to have things settled and upsetting that now they want to reopen a investigation. It looked like things had worked out favourably with them having to pay out but no provision made for them to take back the cooker, which works fine other than paint missing.

tomtontom

Sounds like they may apply to have the judgment set aside if they did not receive the papers. I'd send the pictures and see what response they come back with, if the judgment is set aside the court will expect you to communicate with the retailer, even after your earlier efforts.

naedanger

vtc6 wrote: »

Hi everyone. Some of you may remember my petit cooker claim with Currys. I've received a surprising letter from Curry's after judgement had been passed.

Quick recap:

It was a new cooker. Paint/enamel was spontaneously flaking of it within few months (no there was no misuse, domestic environment, only gentle cleaning methods used). Curry's insisted that my only option was to make a warranty claim, which I declined because manufacturer wanted to charge me for inspection if fault wasn't covered by warranty and because warranty doesn't cover cosmetic damage.

I told Curry's that consumer law requires goods be of satisfactory quality, and in first six months onus is on them to arrange inspection or otherwise show goods are satisfactory. They repeatedly ignored this and repeated that I must make a warranty claim.

I made a claim via MCOL. Curry's did not respond. Court passed judgement in my favour.

And now their legal officer has written to me saying that they were not aware of proceedings until they received judgement. And that they are investigating my claim. They cannot find my "particulars" (ie the customer service conversations?). And they "humbly request" that I do not apply to enforce judgement. They want photographs of the fault.

I can't see any harm in sending the photos and they will show the fault and lack of misuse (no scratch marks, just clean missing chunks of enamal/paint). My only worry is that I don't want to be "entertaining" them unnecessarily or opening up more problems. I've already had to deal with weeks and weeks of their customer services.

Maybe it's a formality? They want to see the claim is genuine so not to appeal it? Appeal would cost them £150. Claim was for ~£235 inc court fees.

It was so nice to have things settled and upsetting that now they want to reopen a investigation. It looked like things had worked out favourably with them having to pay out but no provision made for them to take back the cooker, which works fine other than paint missing.

I do not know the MCOL process. But I would be rather dubious that this was a genuine oversight by them and be concerned that it was either deliberate obfuscation or some sort of trap.

In the absence of more knowledgeable suggestions if I was in your position, I would write to them stating something along the following lines:

"I refer to your [letter/email] of xx. Please acknowledge receipt of this reply by return so that I can be sure you have received it, given your company seems not to have received other communications on this matter.

I do not give any consent to any delay in the process. This is because your company were well aware of my complaint, but rather than treating it seriously instead tried to mislead me regarding my legal rights as a consumer (as shown in the attached correspondence).

I cannot understand why you cannot find "my particulars" but have nevertheless re-attached all correspondence. [If the previous correspondence did not include photos then I would add that I had also attached photos of the fault. If the previous correspondence did include photos then I would add "Please note this correspondence includes photos of the fault".]

If I do not receive a substantive reply within 7 days I will proceed to enforce judgement against your company as it appears to me the most likely reason you were unaware of proceedings was because of internal failures within your company and, in any event, 7 days should be more than sufficient to re-examine the case and respond accordingly."

(I would then actually give them 14 days before taking any further action.

I would also phone after a couple of days if they don't acknowledge receipt. The purpose of the call would be only to check they had received the reply and not to discuss the case, which would be best done in writing.)

vtc6

Thanks. I always thought that proceedings were issued via registered post, so they would have had a letter from the court sent by registered post saying proceedings have been started.

The courts helpline said I could just enforce judgement. Sounded as though no bad could come of just enforcing judgement.

naedanger

vtc6 wrote: »

Thanks. I always thought that proceedings were issued via registered post (signed for).

The courts helpline said I should just enforce judgement.

Remember the courts helpline does not give advice.

Is there any real problem giving them a further 7 days?

My concern would be that if you proceed to enforce judgement and it turns out the court agrees with them to set aside the original judgement then they might argue the costs of that enforcement should be borne by you regardless of whether or not you later win the subsequent case.

However, as I said, I don't know the actual position. Hopefully someone will be able to confirm, or say otherwise, that "no bad could come of just enforcing judgement".

vtc6

naedanger wrote: »

Remember the courts helpline does not give advice.

Is there any real problem giving them a further 7 days?

My concern would be that if you proceed to enforce judgement and it turns out the court agrees with them to set aside the original judgement then they might argue the costs of that enforcement should be borne by you regardless of whether or not you later win the subsequent case.

However, as I said, I don't know the actual position. Hopefully someone will be able to confirm, or say otherwise, that "no bad could come of just enforcing judgement".

Naenger, to be honest my mind is not that clear right now. I had to deal with their inhuman customer services who were just following procedures with non concern for the actual situation, and basically I'm a bit p****d at them that they are restarting this. I'm going to wait for a few opinions from people and sleep on it.

In my experience with these kind of decisions, it probably won't make too much difference this way or that way. My first reaction I thought to just send them the photos but after that stop playing with them and enforce judgement.

vtc6

I sent the photos. I told them I'll only give them 7 days due to them not playing fair. They paid up.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

naedanger

vtc6 wrote: »

I sent the photos. I told them I'll only give them 7 days due to them not playing fair. They paid up.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

That's good news, and thanks for the update.

knightstyle

:beer: :j Well done, a victory for the consumer!

hollydays

Great result. I must admit I'm a fan of speaking to companies by phone before I result to such action( though I've never had a company be as dense as this) and insisting I speak to a supervisor and manager , and get their name . I then try the final " so , you are refusing to give me a refund?
Can I have your name, department and designation in case I need to quote this conversation"