Do i have any chance of defending this claim?

confusedsoul

Once a court date is set can you pay the claim at any point before you attend court? or once a court date is set then you can’t pay anything and have to attend court for the matter to be settled?

pinkshoes

confusedsoul said:

Hi

Yes he sent the correct camera back and it’s as expected. 

I am happy to refund the money for the camera but not the extra £70. 

Thanks

In which case I'd send a message saying they despite the camera not being faulty, as a gesture of good will you will refund the initial price.

Do not refund any extras.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP I don't think it was said, how much was this camera?

After 6 months you are entitled to make a deduction for use, after 9 months this isn't going to be much as a % IMO but on a £1000 camera £70 would be quite reasonable. 

Without meaning to make things complicated, another thought is did you provide the buyer with the information in paragraph (l) of Schedule 2 of the cancellation regs?

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/schedule/2

Very few eBay sellers do this correctly and if the buyer were here asking from the other side and the answer to that question were no then the advice would be the cancellation period is 12 months and 14 days and so they should cancel for a full refund.

In order to do so the buyer has to make a clear statement which they currently aren't doing (as they are attempting to reject the goods rather than cancel the contract) but if they become clued up they can still cancel (subject to the info not being given) which would negate everything regarding the "fault" but still wouldn't make their claim valid IMO.

I think you should defend the £35 from the second MCOL on the basis it's frivolous as they refused to return it the second time as they said they'd thrown it away and the buyer failed to mitigate their losses by engaging with you correctly. 

The £35 from the first MCOL comes down to whether the camera was faulty, hopefully you can show it isn't  

confusedsoul

The camera was £700

Ok a bit of an update.

I did a part admission and stated i would refund the camera on the 19th June. I sent the documents to court via recorded delivery and completed the form online. 

My online MCOL account shows your part admission was submitted on 10th June online and documents recieved on the 11th June.

I refunded the money via paypal on the 19th as i stated in my part admission. 

However i have now recieved a letter stating you made an offer of payment which has been accepted. The problem is its for the full amount which is £770 and not the £700 i agreed to refund which i have done.

I called up MCOL and they told me the claimant must have put in the full amount rather than the amount i offered. The MCOL advisors agree and can see i offered to pay £700. They have told me to get in touch with the claimant as he needs to update something from his account for this to go away. 

I have contacted the claimant but he has so far not responded.

What are my next steps?

tightauldgit

confusedsoul said:

The camera was £700

Ok a bit of an update.

I did a part admission and stated i would refund the camera on the 19th June. I sent the documents to court via recorded delivery and completed the form online. 

My online MCOL account shows your part admission was submitted on 10th June online and documents recieved on the 11th June.

I refunded the money via paypal on the 19th as i stated in my part admission. 

However i have now recieved a letter stating you made an offer of payment which has been accepted. The problem is its for the full amount which is £770 and not the £700 i agreed to refund which i have done.

I called up MCOL and they told me the claimant must have put in the full amount rather than the amount i offered. The MCOL advisors agree and can see i offered to pay £700. They have told me to get in touch with the claimant as he needs to update something from his account for this to go away. 

I have contacted the claimant but he has so far not responded.

What are my next steps?

Presumably to wait and see. If the ball is in the buyers court to do something then not much else you can do other than ensure you keep a record of all communications. 

It's the claimant's case so it's up to them to decide to pursue the other £70 or not. If I was in their shoes and had got my refund I think I would stop because it doesn't seem like they have a great case for costs to be awarded. 

confusedsoul

Just  to update everyone and again thanks for all the help.

This was the timeline of events.

A claim was issued against you on 30/05/2023

Your part admission was submitted on 07/06/2023 at 16:16:38

Your part admission was received on 08/06/2023 at 08:05:43

A judgment was issued against you on 19/06/2023 at 19:08:07

A warrant  was issued against you on 26/06/2023 at 19:09:07

Notification that you paid the claim on 27/06/2023 was received on 28/06/2023 at 19:16:35

I done a part defence for some of the money, then i got a judgement for the full amount, next thing i knew i had a warrant so i paid it.

Calling the court was no help, i did email them too but go no response.

I was under the impression after my defence we would both get a directions questionnaire. Am i wrong? How comes i got nothing and then a judgement?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sorry to hear OP, I'm not familiar with how the claims process works specifically, there is a long guide here 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/money-claim-online-user-guide/money-claim-online-mcol-user-guide

For a part admission it says You will be provided with the details and asked whether you wish to proceed for the full amount of your claim or alternatively enter judgment but only for the amount admitted.

There isn't much else said about part admission but by guide goes on to say: The defendant may file a defence for the remainder of the claim. If they do not respond to the claim, you can request judgment for the remaining balance once their time to respond has expired.

I'm not sure if you should have done something in-between the 19/06 and the 26/06?

I'm not sure why you put in a part admission? I think you either should have returned the goods advising the buyer to prove it is faulty if they wish to seek a remedy under the CRA or should have agreed something was wrong, issued a refund with a small deduction for use before the buyer actually filed anything and disputed anything else they wished to claim completely (personally I would think the former is the correct way to do it based on you advising there wasn't anything wrong with the goods). 

@Jenni_D might have something to add with regards to the court processes.