Small Claims Court

Paulingreenwich2

A company was constantly harassing me for money that  I did not owe, I tried  mediation, they refused, they also refused to show evidence, despite me showing evidence I did not owe them a penny. This continued for over 2 years. Eventually out of absolute frustration I employed a solicitor who sent them a letter/evidence and demanding they stop harassing me. As a result they stopped, never replied but just stopped.

My question is this, can I take the company to a small claims court to recover the money I spent on solicitors costs??

lincroft1710

In theory, yes.


But first you have to send the company a Letter Before Action stating that you consider their actions forced you to employ a solicitor to prove you did not owe them money and you further consider they should reimburse the costs of said solicitor. If after 14 days there is no reply or they refuse to reimburse, by denying the debt, you can then start court proceedings.


However do remember you may not get a judgement in your favour, so will be even more out of pocket

eskbanker

Paulingreenwich2 said:

A company was constantly harassing me for money that  I did not owe, I tried  mediation, they refused, they also refused to show evidence, despite me showing evidence I did not owe them a penny. This continued for over 2 years. Eventually out of absolute frustration I employed a solicitor who sent them a letter/evidence and demanding they stop harassing me. As a result they stopped, never replied but just stopped.

Your prospects of success at small claims are likely to be influenced by the severity of the harassment - what form did it take and why didn't they seek to enforce the alleged debt via court?

Paulingreenwich2

Thanks for both replies, the harrasment was sending over 20 repeat invoices and on 5 or 6 occasions  giving a deadline to pay and threatening court action and naming their debt collectors and links to how much extra it would cost if not paid. The reason they did not enforce is because they had no case, the debt did not exist.

It was a dispute about undelivered goods, some arrived some did not and I applied for and got charge back,  the company claimed the bank took all the money (it did not), I explained time and time again that I only got what I was entitled to so if the bank took more, the dispute was with the bank not me. But still they kept demanding, forcing me to take expensive legal action.

macman

Since debt collectors have no powers to enter or seize goods anyway, companies that threaten to employ them are invariably bluffing and/or incompetent, so you could probably just have ignored them until such time, unlikely though it is, that they actually commence legal action.
Just send a cease and desist letter, which does not require a solicitor to write.

lincroft1710

macman said:

Since debt collectors have no powers to enter or seize goods anyway, companies that threaten to employ them are invariably bluffing and/or incompetent, so you could probably just have ignored them until such time, unlikely though it is, that they actually commence legal action.
Just send a cease and desist letter, which does not require a solicitor to write.

According to the OP, following his solicitor's intervention, the harassment has stopped