Won at Small Claims Court - cheque sent is short. Advice?

Gavin83

KateBrown said:

I recently won a small claim court case.
Their solicitor has sent me a cheque that arrived today.
It is a very small amount of money short.

What obligation do I have to inform them that the money is short? I do not need to cash this cheque yet, as I do not want them to have grounds for full and final settlement, as worded in their letter to me.

They will get a CCJ next week because it took too long for them to pay me and there are now bank holidays in the way.

A good outcome for me is that 30 days then elapse and the CCJ is on their credit record for 6 years.

Please don't feel sorry for them. This is a major household name who ride roughshod over consumer rights, not just mine.

I understand the process is:
If I do not reply to the court that I have been paid, the debtor can submit evidence that the debt has been paid. They will submit evidence of recorded delivery of the cheque.
The court then will ask me if the debt has been paid, which it has not been.
I will then tell the court that the cheque sent to me was 2p short. I will do this on the maximum allowed day (I believe the courts give me 30 days to respond).

My question is:
Will this result in a 6 year CCJ for them?
Am I under any obligation to tell the company or their solicitor that the cheque is short prior to the courts asking me?

Many thanks.

I have to be honest you sound like a really nasty person, regardless of the circumstances. The whole purpose of this topic appears to be how you can get them a CCJ, despite how several have pointed out on here they won't care.

Stop being petty, accept the cheque and move on. You'll feel better if you just put this behind you. Continuing this process will almost certainly affect you more than it does them.

KateBrown

Fortunately I don't believe in Santa and am not worried about being naughty or nice. I just care for the legal position.

GrumpyDil

KateBrown said:

Fortunately I don't believe in Santa and am not worried about being naughty or nice. I just care for the legal position.

In which case why ask the question as I really doubt anyone has experience of trying to get a judgement debt recorded as unpaid for an underpayment of 2p.

I agree with the others that a corporation is not going to give two hoots about this. 

Brie

Personally I would go ahead and put the cheque in the bank.  And when asked you can consult online banking and say "oh my, it was 2p short!"  If the court decides to record that as unpaid then it's up to them.  

You might make yourself seem non petty to the court if you add something like "I'm not worried about the 2p myself but perhaps XYZ corp could send proof of a contribution to a food bank to make up for the difference."  If XYZ then prove they've sent tuppence to a food bank then you would certainly have the moral high ground.

Gavin83

KateBrown said:

Fortunately I don't believe in Santa and am not worried about being naughty or nice. I just care for the legal position.

You can add a cute reference to Christmas to it if you want but if you don’t care about coming across as a horrible individual that’s your choice I guess. I’m not sure why you asked as you seem clear on the legal position anyway.

However as I said previously I’m really not sure why you’d bother. This’ll lead to more inconvenience and stress for you than it will for the company. As pointed out they won’t care less. You’ll likely get a second cheque in the post for the 2p without any further word said. If that makes you feel better go ahead.

MalMonroe

This really does sound like a jolly Christmas japey joke to me. 

Or is it because I started on the Baileys too soon?

Whatever, let them have the 2p. Karma is bound to deal with them, eventually. 

Open the Baileys! Or if you don't drink, have some water. And chill. 

Happy Holidays!!! And a very Happy New Year to you and also to everyone else on this thread. 

Grumpy_chap

KateBrown said:

Grumpy_chap said:

2 pence short in a greater than £1k claim.  Any further action is likely to be looked upon as petty and frivolous.

Is that a legal position?
I'm happy to be petty.

The courts (at all levels) tend to look very unfavourably on vexatious actions.  The court may well find in your favour in terms of the two pence (as they'd likely have to as a technicality of essentially confirming a past judgement) but then award all the defendants costs against you.  Given the size of the corporation you are up against, even a few hours of their in-house lawyers would likely accrue several £k of costs.

If you become what is known as a "vexatious litigant" (usually regular cases of such a trivial nature) you can be banned from lodging further civil claims without advance permission to be granted by the courts.

If you want the two pence as a matter of principal, and you think it is worth the price of a stamp, then the appropriate action would be to write to the company pointing out their error and requesting that the outstanding balance is remitted by return.  The company will probably send you a cheque for the two pence just to get you out of their hair.  I have not checked the price of stamps recently - have you?

Indeed, if you want to pursue the two pence as a matter of principal, the court is most likely to want to see evidence that you took reasonable steps to recover the debt first and that the court is being used as a last resort.

born_again

MalMonroe said:

Happy Holidays!!! And a very Happy New Year to you and also to everyone else on this thread. 

Same to you 😜

bris

2p would be frivolous and backfire, especially if the plan is to rundown the clock then say it was short.

The courts don't take kindly to time wasters like this.

But it's the holidays, trolls are out to play.

TripleH

Brie said:

Personally I would go ahead and put the cheque in the bank.  And when asked you can consult online banking and say "oh my, it was 2p short!"  If the court decides to record that as unpaid then it's up to them.  

You might make yourself seem non petty to the court if you add something like "I'm not worried about the 2p myself but perhaps XYZ corp could send proof of a contribution to a food bank to make up for the difference."  If XYZ then prove they've sent tuppence to a food bank then you would certainly have the moral high ground.

I think this is a wonderful idea. Best wishes to all over the festive period.