Consumer Rights Help

loobelou

We bought a catering trailer from a Company which has now dissolved, Sole Trader I Believe as wasn't registered as LTD at Companies House.

It was not only totally the wrong colour - we ordered Beige and it is Canary Yellow but was scratched and dented and fibre glass cracked when delivered but the delivery company refusd to take it back. An engineers report has condemed the trailer as unfit for purpose and dangerous and it is untowable. The Company has never responded to any requests of exchange/money back and other than an initial repsonse of they are looking in to it.
Everything about the Company has disappeared. We started a small claims process after banging our heads against a brick wall with everyone Citizens Advice etc etc, who just didn't seem to want to help. We claimed against the Company and 'The Person' as we were unsure of what to do as the Company had disappeared. You get so far along in the process and then information doesn't seem to make sense. I have called court helplines, emailed them and they just direct me to the help booklet and don't want to help. We did everything online via MCOL - we 'Requested Judgement' and got a 'Notice of Judgement Entered' form it has been 5 weeks - how do we know when to go to the next step???

The next step seems to be Request of a Warrant - do we not get a hearing so we can put our case to a Judge??? We have spent money (on the advice of CAB) getting Engineers Reports etc but for what reason if no-one sees them??

I am at my wits end with it all as this was inheritance money I used and I am stuck with something that I can't earn money from and £5k out of pocket.

Do I Request a Warrant against the Company that has disappeared or against 'The Person' - both have the same address by the way. There is no help anywhere or from anyone we speak to. Do hope you can advise - many thanks

[Deleted User]

Sounds like a Business to Business transaction for which Consumer Rights legislation will not apply.

dj1471

If they were a sole trader then you claim against the individual. Presumably they didn't respond to the case?

You have no consumer rights as you clearly purchased for business use not as a consumer.

unholyangel

A hearing is only required if the other party contest the claim. If they accept the claim or don't respond, you get a default judgement.

As for who you would chase, if the company didn't exist as a limited company (or limited partnership, friendly society or something along those lines) then the company doesn't exist as a legal entity and you contracted with joe bloggs trading as ABC.

However before spending more money, have you checked to see whether they have any assets that might cover the amount they owe you?

loobelou

Thank you, unholyangel I have done the searches for CCJ that the Court advised em to do, but not sure how I would check for assets. He does run another Company also with a different name which is still trading.

loobelou

So basically are you saying we don't have a leg to stand on as it was purchased to be used for a business? So I have got a trailer that can't be used as a trailer and there is nothing I can do about it, surely we still have some rights it isn't for purpose and not what was stated on the deposit invoice. I am so unhappy- but thank you everyone not sure what to now about it all xx:cool::cool::(:(

lincroft1710

What exactly is wrong with the trailer which makes it unfit for purpose?

You say that the trailer was the wrong colour, so was it a new one? Did you inspect it before buying it?

You have a judgement against the vendor, so your next step is to get the money owed. Have you read this?

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

tells you how to try to get your money

KeithP

loobelou wrote: »

So basically are you saying we don't have a leg to stand on as it was purchased to be used for a business?

If anyone has said that, they are wrong.
What has been said is that as this a business to business transaction, consumer legislation, e.g. The Consumer Rights Act, does not apply.
The Sale of Goods Act applies to your purchase.

As it's title suggests, this board concerns itself with consumer rights and your issue seems to be outside that scope.

Have you thought about using the Small Businesses Board?

bris

The rights for yourself in this case are very similar to consumer rights because of the nature of your problem, as in a clear breach of contract..


You seem to already have a judgement against the said company but what you need now is enforcement.


Unfortunately for you if you bought from a company then you have no rights against the person, regardless if they are trading as a director of a similar company or not, an old trick sorry to say.


What you need to do if you don't mind throwing another few quid at this is speak to the Bailiffs or Sheriffs officers to see if they can enforce it.


There are people on here who can tell you the status of the company you bought it from if you care to post the name up.

DoaM

bris wrote: »

Unfortunately for you if you bought from a company then you have no rights against the person, regardless if they are trading as a director of a similar company or not, an old trick sorry to say.

Not so if the company was A N Other Trading as XYZ Trailers ... the person A N Other was a sole trader and is the liable party. It seems OP has a judgment against A N Other and therefore can enforce against that person - that person's personal assets can be seized in respect of payment of the judgment.

Whilst OP doesn't indicate the value of the judgment, given the nature of the goods then it is probable that the judgment value falls within the scope of High Court Enforcement.

loobelou

We didn't view as these are all built to order (they are the pod style) and we only wanted the standard specification inside sp no special requirements. He also lives 8 hours away from us and as I have had dealings with this gentlemans other company and traded with him for the last 6 years buying his goods, I stupidly trusted him as we had built up a rapour when speaking, messaging etc and chatted about family.

This was a new venture for him also and I left it a year before we totally decided on purchasing and chatted a lot about them previoulsy, He told me they had a upgraded the chasis and other bits and bobs since first staring and that everything was to British Standards now (he used to import Polish Chasis).

On arrival I immediately tried to make contact with the company and tried to get the delivery Company to take it back, basically at this point as it was totally the wrong colour and only one side had been painted the other was still primed only, but they refused as they would only do that on instuction from the man I bought it from. He was not answering calls or emails or facebook messages so they unhitched and left it.

I had one email from the man saying he wasn't sure what had gone wrong but he would look into it and come back to me on the Monday (this was on Friday), I waited and waited and by 8pm on the Monday I hadn't had a reply so I tried to make contact. I received an email back telling me to stop sending 'Annoying Messages' - that was the last contact we had with him.

We phoned everyone we could the following day CAB, Trading Standards etc etc and followed all their instructions on sending 3 letters asking for a refund etc etc, all to be ignored, they advised us to get an Engineers Report (£250.00 later) which we did as this would help us when we got to court. So this is where we are at.

It is not fit for purpose as it is unstable, the shell is not even fixed properly to the chasis and the floor isn't welded and hanging down, there are bolts missing from the frame and it is a swimming pool when it rains. The engineer that came to inspect was amazed it had even arrived to us in one piece.

I will try the other link someone kindly popped on here too and I thank you for your time everyone xx