How do I write a letter before claim?

goldlemontree

I hired a PI back in June, he did not complete the job as discussed, and in fact found the wrong person twice, assuring me each time that it was the correct person. It has been 3 months and the company have sent me intermittent emails every few weeks in response to me trying to get an update, saying that they are still working on this, up until a few weeks ago when I suggested a refund and a discussion since this was a time sensitive case, and will probably not be much use to me now. They won't respond to emails or pick up calls, so I think they are hoping I will just go away. I paid the £600 and received nothing from them, not even a report on what they had been apparently attempting to do, so I am going to send a letter before claim to them and see if that inspires a response. Has anyone written one of these before and have any advice?

DullGreyGuy

Advise them which term of the contract you are alleging they have breached, what resolution you are wanting, a realistic timeframe for this and the consequences if they dont. There are plenty of template LBA/LBC templates if you dont know how to layout a letter etc.

born_again

goldlemontree said:

I hired a PI back in June, he did not complete the job as discussed, and in fact found the wrong person twice, assuring me each time that it was the correct person. It has been 3 months and the company have sent me intermittent emails every few weeks in response to me trying to get an update, saying that they are still working on this, up until a few weeks ago when I suggested a refund and a discussion since this was a time sensitive case, and will probably not be much use to me now. They won't respond to emails or pick up calls, so I think they are hoping I will just go away. I paid the £600 and received nothing from them, not even a report on what they had been apparently attempting to do, so I am going to send a letter before claim to them and see if that inspires a response. Has anyone written one of these before and have any advice?

Could they argue that as they have found 2 people even through not who you are looking for that they have worked the case. 
Unless it is written that you can receive a refund if they do not find the person. I think you will not get a refund, as work has been done to find them.

goldlemontree

born_again said:

goldlemontree said:

I hired a PI back in June, he did not complete the job as discussed, and in fact found the wrong person twice, assuring me each time that it was the correct person. It has been 3 months and the company have sent me intermittent emails every few weeks in response to me trying to get an update, saying that they are still working on this, up until a few weeks ago when I suggested a refund and a discussion since this was a time sensitive case, and will probably not be much use to me now. They won't respond to emails or pick up calls, so I think they are hoping I will just go away. I paid the £600 and received nothing from them, not even a report on what they had been apparently attempting to do, so I am going to send a letter before claim to them and see if that inspires a response. Has anyone written one of these before and have any advice?

Could they argue that as they have found 2 people even through not who you are looking for that they have worked the case. 
Unless it is written that you can receive a refund if they do not find the person. I think you will not get a refund, as work has been done to find them.

I haven't seen any correspondence or reports to prove this, they haven't acted very professional since they have just been ignoring my calls and emails asking for any updates. I'm sure they could argue this, but the terms of agreement were that they find the person I specifically asked them to, and they assured me they could with all the information I had given them (which was not insufficient). However, when they realised it was harder to track down this person than they thought, they began to backtrack whenever we spoke, which wasn't what I agreed to and paid them for. 

fatbelly

The phrase that turns your letter into a LBA is

' If you do not respond within 14 days I will start County Court action against you'