Small Claims Court - Matter progressed - Next steps ? Confused !!

metal675

I made a claim against a car dealership in SCC as they refused to refund a deposit I paid on a car but did not purchase. I did not even go to see the car and cancelled my intention to view.

The matter has progressed in SCC and I am confused as to what the next steps are - Further below is what I see on the Small Claims Court claim section

Brief history

- I made a claim after them ignoring all my emails for a refund and me giving a final notice. I also asked for additional cocompensation and interest for the period the amount is unpaid.

- Their solicitor filed a response saying they will give me full refund if I provide proof of payment and rejected any additional compensation. I had provided the proofs including payment confirmation and bank statements multiple times to the dealership on email before raising a claim.

- The solicitor also sent me a private email asking to provide proof and they will give full refund. I responded with a counter offer with a reduced claim and gave a deadline. I also asked them to seek the proof from dealership where I gave them the timestamps when I emailed the proofs to dealer. They did not reply and the deadline has passed.

What are my options now? And do I have to write to the court again? Or wait till I hear anything back?

The status is as follows -

You submitted a claim on dd
Your claim was issued on dd
A bar was put in place for xxx Limited on dd
The bar in place for xxx Limited was removed on dd
xxx Limited filed an acknowledgment of service on dd
A bar was put in place for xxx Limited on dd
xxx Limited filed a defence on dd
DQ sent to xxx Limited on dd

Can someone please advise?

Thanks

Okell

What "additional compensation" did you claim on top of interest?

Did you suffer some loss you haven't mentioned??

DullGreyGuy

Technically you simply file in the county court not small claims. You too should receive a directions questionnaire which will determine which track of the court (eg Small Track) the case will be set to.

tightauldgit

If they have offered you a full refund why did you not provide the information they requested and obtain the full refund? I don't see how you are really entitled to some vague 'additional compensation' unless you've incurred costs we haven't been made aware of? You'll spend more taking it to court than you will gain and the judge will frown upon you wasting their time by not co-operating with their solicitor. What exactly do you expect to gain by acting like that?

RefluentBeans

Agree with the above. If you want the court to ‘punish’ the company with punitive charges then you wouldn’t get those anyway. Damages have to be shown in order to get additional compensation. Think, for example, if the car was required for a job like a plumber; and you couldn’t work for X weeks losing those X weeks salary. 

You can’t just claim an amount without justifying it. If you can justify the amount, then you should claim for it. But otherwise accept the refund and save yourself filing fees and stress. 

metal675

Oh dear, please stop the judgements

A big corporate car dealer refuses to reply to 6 emails and several phone calls and does not pay me the deposit I paid to view a car when I don't purchase it. When I make a claim, they ask for proof of payment to give refund.

All after me going through this harrowing process, being on call with court for hours and all the paper work.  I am claiming additional court fees and interest at a daily rate for the time the amount has been unpaid.

My point was their solicitor claimed in "statement of truth" I have not provided any evidence of having made the payment. I feel this is contempt of court as I have many emails where they asked me for proof in the past and I have given them the evidences with the emails being acknowledged.

The direct communication from solicitor to me was - give proof and we will refund deposit

Their communication to court was - we will give refund if we get proof of payment, we don't agree with any extra costs to be given

Hope that gives more clarity. I am not seeking vengeance, I am seeking justice

metal675

DullGreyGuy said:

Technically you simply file in the county court not small claims. You too should receive a directions questionnaire which will determine which track of the court (eg Small Track) the case will be set to.

Many thanks. You are right, I have now received

- Notice of Allocation to Small Claims Track asking to fill N180 form

- Notice of Defence that amount has been paid

The second one seems to be in error as I have not got any payment. Both the comms have the defendants defence attached. The second one says to see form N9B but there is no such form. I will speak to the court to clarify but I am looking for some guidance from anyone who has been through this process please with regards to the next steps and the best course of action given all the above information ?

Thanks

tightauldgit

metal675 said:

Oh dear, please stop the judgements

A big corporate car dealer refuses to reply to 6 emails and several phone calls and does not pay me the deposit I paid to view a car when I don't purchase it. When I make a claim, they ask for proof of payment to give refund.

All after me going through this harrowing process, being on call with court for hours and all the paper work.  I am claiming additional court fees and interest at a daily rate for the time the amount has been unpaid.

My point was their solicitor claimed in "statement of truth" I have not provided any evidence of having made the payment. I feel this is contempt of court as I have many emails where they asked me for proof in the past and I have given them the evidences with the emails being acknowledged.

The direct communication from solicitor to me was - give proof and we will refund deposit

Their communication to court was - we will give refund if we get proof of payment, we don't agree with any extra costs to be given

Hope that gives more clarity. I am not seeking vengeance, I am seeking justice

Your OP mentioned compensation - not court fees. It's important to be clear in what you are claiming, especially to a court. 

I'm not the judge, but I think you won't get your fees paid because you aren't co-operating with their solicitor who has said he will refund you once you provide proof of the debt.

As for the 'harrowing process' - are you being serious? Because that kind of hyperbolic language doesn't fly with judges either.

screech_78

Currently sitting in front of a case just now where the judge was unhappy with the claimant for failing to accept our offer before making a small claims case and also noted their lack of willingness to engage in negotiations with us. They also said the claimant should not be raising grievances based on principles and as a result, has awarded what we had offered previously and nothing additional. 

Be careful as they don’t take kindly to claims where you’ve not played ball. 

metal675

screech_78 said:

Currently sitting in front of a case just now where the judge was unhappy with the claimant for failing to accept our offer before making a small claims case and also noted their lack of willingness to engage in negotiations with us. They also said the claimant should not be raising grievances based on principles and as a result, has awarded what we had offered previously and nothing additional. 

Be careful as they don’t take kindly to claims where you’ve not played ball. 

Thank you.

The solicitor made an offer and I had made a counter offer to which they did not respond. This is where things stand now.

My case is different to the one you are referring - as they made an offer only after I raised a claim in the court. Prior to my claim my 3 emails were unanswered and I gave them two months before raising a claim. My final email was an ultimatum to pay before raising to the court.

Next step as I understand is both of us filing the DQ. Any guidance on my previous post would be helpful