Court documents sent to Mother's and not my address, 'deliberately'

Selector

Hello
I feel I've been backed into a corner by T-mobile/EE now wholly owned by BT and Lovells(??) their debt collectors.
I still have other mobile phone accounts with EE, so they definitely know my correct address.
A couple of years ago I got into a dispute with them whereby I refused to pay an outstanding balance which was, essentially, early termination charges after they didn't provide restore my service once I'd brought my account up to date, as they had previously agreed to do so. We were communicating by telephone and email at the time.
I wrote to them by email and post terminating my mobile contract, which was at least 15-years old on an ongoing/repeated renewals basis. I terminated on the grounds that they were failing to provide a service I'd fully paid for which I considered to be breach of contract. In response, they called my actions early termination and demanded payment to end of term, hence our dispute.
Shortly afterwards, I stopped receiving chase letters at my home address, but similar envelopes started arriving at Mum's address (I was a fifteen year old child when I left Mum's nearly 40 years ago and none of my post goes there). I've had three changes of address since joining Tmobile over twenty years ago, none of which have been my Mother's. All the letters received at Mum's for me have been returned to sender, "Not at this address".
I continue to receive postal communications (including paper bills) from EE at my correct, home address for my other/current mobile accounts. They know where I live and where me.
This week a letter arrived at Mum's for me from the dreaded NN1 2TX which remains unopened. I am perfectly aware that court documents don't need to go to correct or current address to be considered served, but it should be an address the creditor associates with the alleged debtor.
Now to my point/question (sorry it took so long this is my first post); I'm aware return to sender post is slower even than second class mail. My fear is that summary judgement may be issued, in the interim, if I return to sender. But then to simply call the Court or put in my legitimate defence from Mum's address lends credence to the creditor repeatedly and deliberately using the incorrect postal address.
If the courts documents had been posted to my correct, home address, the court would already have my defence....and all the other letters over the last couple of years would also already have been answered.
I have a good credit record and a high credit score. I don't need/want that damaged.
Any wisdom/advice much appreciated bearing in mind any solution needs to be time sensitive to avoid a summary judgement.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Harry
(apologies for typos)

Browntoa

It's a valid debt either way as you broke the original contract

Selector

Thanks for your reply. I don't think it is a valid debt and don't think I broke the original contract. And if they thought I did, they were a liberty to inform me of the same at the time and take appropriate action. They did not. Instead, settlement terms were formally agreed. I did what was agreed = paid them in full. They then refused to provide a service. At this time they were not asking for any money. Only when I cancelled the contract,,on the grounds that they were in breach of it, did they demand payment to the end of term. one can hardly charge for a service in advance that you've already refused to provide.


But that's a distraction, my question regards the serving of court documents. I can make my own defence and let the court decide if the matter is not settled beforehand.

As a new user I'm unable to post link to avoid spammer but a Google search for, 'Default County Court Judgments A consultation on ensuring the process works fairly, for both creditors and debtors on Default judgements' takes you to a single page Ministry of Justice site at the bottom of which is a pdf which says on page 14;



'In providing information to the court, the claimant confirms the accuracy of the details in the claim form, including the address, by signing a declaration known as a statement of truth. Anyone who deliberately provides false information may be held in contempt of court which may ultimately result in a fine or imprisonment. The valid service of the claim gives the defendant the opportunity to respond to the claim and is dependent on businesses and consumers keeping their public records up to date and....'

There's absolutely no public record, or record with the creditor than links me to my Mother's address.


EE, BT and Lovells (sp) all know my correct and current address. EE/BT have known it for over ten years and sill use it. Their debt collectors have known it for over two years and have had all correspondence sent to my correct address answered and responded to...

Thanks, again, anyway

papaface

What purpose does the issue with where they've sent the papers serve in reality? It doesn't change that you have a debt and they're persuing payment and you are aware of the court papers. Of course you could plead ignorant but this is (to my knowledge) only going to be a defence if you were to later "find out" about a CCJ and try to have it set aside on the basis that you did not receive the court papers due to them being sent to the incorrect address. I don't think you should try and plead ignorant when you are actually aware of the court papers, it seems an inefficient use of your own time.

To me it sounds like you decided that they'd broken the contract and you've unilaterally decided you don't owe them anything. Now that may well be the case but that doesn't preclude you following the correct process to handle the matter, i.e file a complaint and if you're not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint refer it to the ombudsman for review.
I think you should just suck it up, open the leter and just deal with the matter before it escalates any further.

Browntoa

You considered that they had breached the contract

I'm assuming that you cancelled the direct debit without agreement , breaking the contract.

You cannot just stop payment

elsien

You knew you were getting letters. For whatever reason it was decided to return them rather than pass them on and open them. Now you are fully aware that there is a court letter sitting there that you've also decided to ignore.

Would it not be far more sensible just to open the blasted thing and take it from there. This is not a situation where you've not had a clue they've been chasing you, more that you've been wilfully ignoring them. It's going to end up in court either way. So why not do that now rather than having to pay upfront for a set aside then end up exactly where you are now, anyway.

The words cutting off your nose to spite your face come to mind.

[Deleted User]

You breached the contract and therefore owe the debt.

Get it paid and move on.

Selector

Thank you, very much, papaface, for your considered and sober response.


The pragmatist in me arrived at the same place earlier in the week when the letter from the court arrived.

I didn't unilaterally decide they'd breach the contract. I served them 30-days' notice by email and signed for post giving them the opportunity to reply. My letter said that if I had not received a reply within 30 days, then the contract would be terminated/cancelled for their breach. Having not received a reply, the contract was, duly, cancelled. About two months after my 30 days' notice, letters started arriving at Mum's, which were all returned to sender. I've never been linked to Mum's as an adult having left there as a 15-year old minor over 37-years ago!

I've much bigger fish to fry, so I'm currently considering settlement to avoid a default judgement considering the time constraints. I'd not be using ignorance as a defence but, instead, knowingly not properly served which, of course, I undermine as soon as I formally respond to the court letter. I'm no novice at taking on large organisations and corporations and have done so professionally and also privately for myself and others, with a great deal of success.

Certainly when this issue/dispute began, circa 2016, the comms industry was still a properly regulated one and termination of contracts and cessation of service required formal, written notice. None of which the creditor adhered to. To the contrary, even if my original late payments were in breach of contract, such breaches were not invoked by the creditor but, instead, the matter was remedied by full payment of all outstanding balances. Only then did the creditor decide to up sticks and refuse to provide the service they'd been paid for a month in advance (as mobile service charges are billed monthly in advance).

My not unsubstantial experience of such matters tells me that courts take a dim view of large organisations manipulating procedural law to their advantage against 'the small guy'. And it's a genuine shame that I have neither the time nor money to present/contest such a case.

In my heart of hearts, I suspect the creditor is banking on no reply from me as they knowingly send letters to a wrong address. This is contemptuous, according to the Ministry of Justice. In which case with a CCJ, whether I pay them or not, they'll be able to prove they've made every effort to collect the debt and have it written off against their corporation tax liabilities.

I will open the letter and came onto this site to check for advice before doing so. But it sends a veritable chill up my spine to think that these big boys may/are doing this sort of thing as a matter of course/routine to less legally knowledgeable people than me.

This isn't a case of me being wrong. This is a case of it no longer being worth it to try to prove myself right. Up until now, the costs of returning letters unopened has been nominal in terms of time and money. But as I said at the start of my OP, I feel I've been backed into a corner/trumped... I don't want to be one of those cases where a judge is being empathetic and apologetic about the limit of his/her remit.... while telling me that procedural law is in the way of them administering justice.

Thank you, again.

H

Selector

Gary, thanks for your reply. You are entitled to your opinion. You and I disagree. That's kinda exactly what courts are there for; dispute resolution.
I didn't come here for judgement,. Instead I came here for advice. If I wanted judgement, I'd simply go to court

Selector

Thank you, elsien. The 'thank you' button appears to have disappeared from my login.
I hope I've properly expressed myself in my post to papaface above.
Have an excellent weekend!

Harry

sourcrates

Court papers have been sent, you MUST respond to them within the alloted time frame or you WILL recieve judgement in default, that is a fact.
You would have 30 days in which to settle the debt, and have the CCJ removed from your file, if you didnt do that, it would remain for 6 years.


No amount of complaints and legal bluster can now stop this chain of events, any other response, except the filing of the court papers will result in a judgement in default, you need to deal with this now.