Taking large parcel delivery company to small claims. One bit of advice please

petere123

Hi. Issued small claims court proceedings re non-delivery.
Months of no comms from courier until they received court docs.
They responded by email to offer full amount as "gesture of goodwill" and deny responsibility. 
Sick of being lied to. Probably why they did so by email. 

Reply, or tell them to only communciate via court online process ?. ie where they cant lie. 
I want an admission of liabilty then my money, not just my money. 
Thanks for any help

emmajones1976

If it gets to court and they find out you have refused an offer of full and final settlement, it isn't going to look good as it is a waste of everyones time.

If they are paying out in full, 100% of the money (inc. the court filing fee), take it. Now. Continuing to pursue it merely as a moral crusade is your problem and nobody elses, and in any case they may not even admit anything anyway.

Sandtree

petere123 said:

Hi. Issued small claims court proceedings re non-delivery.
Months of no comms from courier until they received court docs.
They responded by email to offer full amount as "gesture of goodwill" and deny responsibility. 
Sick of being lied to. Probably why they did so by email. 

Reply, or tell them to only communciate via court online process ?. ie where they cant lie. 
I want an admission of liabilty then my money, not just my money. 
Thanks for any help

It is both normal and expected for parties to continue trying to resolve the issue, the court is supposed to be the last resort. Having issued its fairly likely these days that the court will suggest going to a mediator/ADR which you may well be asked split the costs of.

Take the money and go. Courts may not award costs even if you win if they are told you havent be engaging

Alderbank

It's only in newspaper libel cases that the other party can be made to grovel.

Take the money

petere123

Alderbank said:

It's only in newspaper libel cases that the other party can be made to grovel.

Take the money

Thank you very much. Not so much grovelling as wondering whether I'm being played
by email, with no intention of paying up. Cheers

emmajones1976

petere123 said:

Alderbank said:

It's only in newspaper libel cases that the other party can be made to grovel.

Take the money

Thank you very much. Not so much grovelling as wondering whether I'm being played
by email, with no intention of paying up. Cheers

You have been offered the full amount, it's in your opening post! Whether this is in admittance of liability, a goodwill gesture, or because the day ends in a "y" is utterly irrelevant.

petere123

Sandtree said:

 both normal and expected for parties to continue trying to resolve the issue, the court is supposed to be the last resort.

Take the money and go. Courts may not award costs even if you win if they are told you havent be engaging

Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated.
This is 1st time they've engaged, and have been almost impossible to contact for months.
Figured they might well be offering to settle in email, with no intention of doing so. 

Thrugelmir

petere123 said:

Sandtree said:

 both normal and expected for parties to continue trying to resolve the issue, the court is supposed to be the last resort.

Take the money and go. Courts may not award costs even if you win if they are told you havent be engaging

Figured they might well be offering to settle in email, with no intention of doing so. 

Companies have better things to do with their time than play petty games. Seems to be forgotten thse days that time costs money. A lot of money. 

Sandtree

petere123 said:

Alderbank said:

It's only in newspaper libel cases that the other party can be made to grovel.

Take the money

Thank you very much. Not so much grovelling as wondering whether I'm being played
by email, with no intention of paying up. Cheers

Who's the email from? 

Liability won't be admitted because in theory after getting the £50 for the item (or whatever its value) you could then wack in a £3,000 claim for loss of opportunity or something similar and they will want to be able to defend that fully hence gesture of goodwill. 

My claim against JL was similar, they offered full out of court settlement for the £2k or so I was claiming on a WP basis hence if the freezer suddenly caught fire their admission to there having been a fault doesnt have them on the back foot. In my case it was their panel solicitor firm that dealt with it post issuing (though was just a basic fee earner dealing with it given the low value)

mikb

emmajones1976 said:

petere123 said:

Alderbank said:

It's only in newspaper libel cases that the other party can be made to grovel.

Take the money

Thank you very much. Not so much grovelling as wondering whether I'm being played
by email, with no intention of paying up. Cheers

You have been offered the full amount, it's in your opening post! Whether this is in admittance of liability, a goodwill gesture, or because the day ends in a "y" is utterly irrelevant.

Note: Offered, not paid.

It may well be an offer conditional on dropping court action. The offer may or may not include the additional non-refundable expenses of the court filing -- which could still leave the OP out of pocket (if they do pay) or further out of pocket it they have to file a second time.

emmajones1976

Which is why my very first reply mentioned the court fee.