dcbLegal letter of claim

wyddfa

Stayed overnight at hotel at motorway services. Parking provided. Arrived 2346 on 15-03-2015 left at 1115 on 16-03-2015. Received pcn 28-03-2015. Wrote back to PC plus same day - no reply from PC plus. Received further reminder believed it had crossed in post -ignored. Nothing further received until 19-12-2019 - dept recovery letter from dcbl.
Wrote back to dcbl (I now know that was foolish) informing them that guests of the hotel do not pay - no reply. Have received letter of claim from dcb Legal dated 13-01-2021 giving 30 days to pay or reply. As a frequent guest at this hotel chain invariably on the motorway network have sent letter of complaint to the motorway services head office about the shoddy way we have been treated -not had  reply yet.  Intend to send application for SAR to PC plus this week. The original charge was £100 or £60 if paid within 28days - if not paid debt collection charges of £40 will be incurred. Do I need to contact dcb Legal they are trying to charge £170. I believe the amount is not recoverable through the courts after 16-03-2021 (41 days away). Have now consulted this forum for advice. 

beamerguy

You have to feel very sorry for DCBL, they must be sending out 1000's of this rubbish chasing old tickets ..... total desperation for the parking company.

There is a dedicated thread for DCBL, please post again here

DCBL letters ... forum group thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6237177/dcbl-letters-forum-group-thread#latest

D_P_Dance

Complain to your MP, the hotel, Trading Standards if appropriate, and write bad stuff on TripAdvisor, Trivago booking.com, hotels.com et al.

nosferatu1001

Did the hotel require you to enter your reg? Any signs?

Umkomaas

This claim should be statute barred around 16 March this year, so I would delay responding to the LoC until near to the 30-day DCBL deadline.  Then respond to them as per the advice in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, second post, asking for a (further) 30-day suspension of action as you are seeking debt advice.  That should get you past the finish line, but it may not stop their conveyor belt churning out court claim - you will need to be awake to that as it will need dealing with. You are not in ignore mode, stay alert. 

Have you been in touch with the hotel asking them to intervene and get this cancelled. 

Have you sent a SAR to the PPC, which I don't think is 'PC Plus' - do you mean 'CP Plus'?  You need be totally accurate on the forum, otherwise we can be sent down the wrong rabbit hole!

nosferatu1001

Indeed, a timeout (liimtations act) is possible here
IF they issue a claim after it is statute barred then you need to raise that as a defence, ask the court to strike it out ab initio as it has zero chance of success, and to award you your full costs PRIOR to allocation to small claims. 

wyddfa

Many thanks to all for you replies. Yes, I have read through the dedicated dcbl group section. My Letter of claim is from dcblegal. The advice was to start a new thread if the letter is from dcblegal as specific advice may be needed and send application for sar but to ignor if from dcbl. Yes, original post should read cpplus. I had intended to leave the sar application as late as possible to delay proceedings. The reason I asked about contacting dcblegal was simply to inform them that sar had been applied for in case they were a bit quick starting proceedings as they would then have no excuse for doing so. I noticed in one post that it was suggested to request that the 30 day standstill for debt management advice be extended to 60 days due to the pandemic. Would that be an option? Yes, I emailed the hotel chain chief executive yesterday and received a reply this morning requesting full details so that they can act on my behalf. Details have been emailed. Yes, I did have put the reg no into a little calculator size handset mounted on reception counter which wobbled about when trying to use it, the lcd screen was tiny with no backlight, contrast was poor and no printout so no way to check if correct.  Not very suitable for use by persons with poor close up vision. I cannot say if there were signs at the entrance. It was a very dark night, the rain was thrashing down so hard it was barely possible to see through the windscreen and the site lighting was poor. As  hotel website was offering free parking spaces I had no interest in any signs that may have existed. Does this not mean that I had a prior parking contract with the hotel and as such I had no need to enter into another with CPplus?  The person receiving the the pcn was actually one of two persons insured to drive the car, was the registered keeper, was not the owner and was not the driver. The registered keeper did not disclose who the driver was or refuse to give the information. Cpplus were simply informed (by return) that as guests of the hotel there should be no charge and proof of hotel booking was enclosed. Their reply is still awaited 6 years later.    
 

Coupon-mad

Can you add paragraph breaks please?  Can't read that.

wyddfa

Many thanks to all for your replies.
Sorry about the paragraphs Coupon-mad - I finished school 59 years ago. We used slates and chalk - not computers!                                                                                                   
Yes, I have read through the dedicated dcbl group section. My Letter of claim is from dcblegal. The advice was to start a new thread if the letter is from dcblegal as specific advice may be needed and send application for sar but to ignor if from dcbl.                                                                                                   
Yes, original post should read cpplus.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
 I had intended to leave the sar application as late as possible to delay proceedings. The reason I asked about contacting dcblegal was simply to inform them that sar had been applied for in case they were a bit quick starting proceedings as they would then have no excuse for doing so.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I noticed in one post that it was suggested to request that the 30 day standstill for debt management advice be extended to 60 days due to the pandemic. Would that be an option?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Yes, I emailed the hotel chain chief executive yesterday and received a reply this morning requesting full details so that they can attempt to act on my behalf. Details have been emailed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Yes, I did have to put the reg no into a little calculator size handset mounted on reception counter which wobbled about when trying to use it, the lcd screen was tiny with no backlight, contrast was poor and no printout so no way to check if correct.  Not very suitable for use by persons with poor close up vision.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I cannot say if there were signs at the entrance. It was a very dark night, the rain was thrashing down so hard it was barely possible to see through the windscreen (this is obvious from the photograph) and the site lighting was poor. As  hotel website was offering free parking spaces I had no interest in any signs that may have existed. Does this not mean that I had a prior parking contract with the hotel and as such I had no need to enter into another with CPplus?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The person receiving the the pcn was actually one of two persons insured to drive the car, was the registered keeper, was not the owner and was not the driver. The registered keeper did not disclose who the driver was or refuse to give the information. Cpplus were simply informed (by return) that as guests of the hotel there should be no charge and proof of hotel booking was enclosed. Their reply is still awaited 6 years later.    

beamerguy

Yes, I emailed the hotel chain chief executive yesterday and received a reply this morning requesting full details so that they can attempt to act on my behalf. Details have been emailed.    

This is the way to go ..... the chances are high that the PPC will say as it is now in the hands of a legal there is nothing they can do ..... THAT OF COURSE WOULD BE RUBBISH

As an aside ... "I finished school 59 years ago. We used slates and chalk - not computers!" 
I remember a slate board with squeaky chalk and the dreadful warm bottles of milk ?               

D_P_Dance

 I finished school 59 years ago. We used slates and chalk - not computers!          

I left school 62 years ago.  I have been complimented for my superbly  crafted letters                           I