Small claims court settlement - should they pay my court fee?

powerbarge

Hi all
I have an open small claims court case against a hotel booking agent for a hotel booking that could not go ahead due to COVID. The booking agent did not provide a refund after asking for one on several occasions (And having a rejected credit card claim!)
The case hasn't made it to the hearing yet
Their solicitor has replied to the case saying that they will be refunding me the entire booking amount to my original payment method, and that I should drop the court case,
They have made no mention of reimbursing me the court fee that I paid,
What is the opinion of members here - should I refuse to drop the case until they pay me this or should I just shoulder it and move on? I will wait until I actually see the money back on my card regardless.
Thanks in advance 

Sandtree

Guess it was a chargeback rather than S75 claim on the credit card that you attempted... though a bit late for that avenue.

Its a negotiation, its up to you if you want to take it and carry the cost to have an end or make a counter offer. In all probability there is very little to lose by making a counter offer.

eskbanker

As above, there's always an element of brinkmanship in negotiation situations, but personally I'd have thought that if they've already conceded the entire booking amount (presumably at least hundreds of pounds) then they're unlikely to put up much of a fight over the much smaller court fee if you push for that too, especially as it's included in the overall value of the claim.  I don't know the details but it must cost them money in legal fees to continue with defending cases, and there may be court costs for them too if it gets that far, so I'd have thought it's in their interests to concede the inclusive figure.

[Deleted User]

If you win the case I think you should be awarded costs as well but am not an expert in this.  Fingers crossed for you. 

Alan_Bowen

You should certainly insist that any settlement covers the court fees but they're the only costs you could claim. If you claimed interest on the Claim Form then that could also be a legitimate request but if you didn't mention it, you won't get it

powerbarge

Bit of a delay on this one but I managed to get the court fees back without really any friction, pretty much just asked, and the solicitor representing them just sent me a bank transfer for it.
The actual refund of the booking has turned into another big hassle due to some problems with the payment provider but I did eventually get it sorted... all's well that ends well I suppose ... just wish they'd been decent in the first place and refunded this booking instead of needing to go down this route.