Reclaiming small claims court fees

housebuyer7

Hello,

I bought bathroom items and sent back unused within 14 days. The company was not responding regarding my refund and didn’t respond within timeframes set out in consumer rights. I sent them a notice before action and then eventually filed a claim with the small claims court following the lack of response. Once I did this I received the amount immediately and they responded to my claim to say they have paid.

Please can you advise how I now go about getting the reimbursement of the application costs for the small claims?

MyRealNameToo

housebuyer7 said:

Hello,

I bought bathroom items and sent back unused within 14 days. The company was not responding regarding my refund and didn’t respond within timeframes set out in consumer rights. I sent them a notice before action and then eventually filed a claim with the small claims court following the lack of response. Once I did this I received the amount immediately and they responded to my claim to say they have paid.

Please can you advise how I now go about getting the reimbursement of the application costs for the small claims?

You acknowledge the payment of the original amount which you accept as interim payment but point out that as the payment was made after the date given in the LBA and therefore the issuing fee is still outstanding and you are awaiting reimbursement of that before you file a notice of discontinuance 

housebuyer7

Thank you! Do I contact the company first to give them a chance to pay? Not sure they know about the fees.

sammyjammy

thats exactly what the above post advises you do!

housebuyer7

Hello, I contacted them and gave a deadline to pay the fees and that deadline has passed with no response / payment. I’m now looking to respond via the courts and it’s asking me if I agree Ive been paid in full (amount in brackets) response: yes settle the claim or no proceed with the claim. The amount in full is correct but doesn’t include the court fees so which option should I select?

housebuyer7

Hi @MyRealNameToo any idea on this?

Aylesbury_Duck

Presumably your claim was for the refund plus the fee, so no, the claim hasn't been settled in full.

sonearandyetsofa

Did you include the cost of your court fees in the claim?

Okell

housebuyer7 said:

Hello, I contacted them and gave a deadline to pay the fees and that deadline has passed with no response / payment. I’m now looking to respond via the courts and it’s asking me if I agree Ive been paid in full (amount in brackets) response: yes settle the claim or no proceed with the claim. The amount in full is correct but doesn’t include the court fees so which option should I select?

It's not clear what you mean, but If you made the mistake of not including court fees in the amount you were claiming, I think the answer must be that it's been settled in full.

You can only claim what you've included on the claim form

Did you include court fees in your claim and in your Letter Before Action?

DeathByFluffy

When lodging a claim, you need to include the court fee if you expect this to be repaid to you. 
If you've not included the fee in your total, I'm afraid you've made a bit of a rookie error and I'd write it off to experience. 

Right now, they've paid the full amount you've claimed - you've just not claimed the fee back by the sound of it. 

A_Geordie

Court fees are automatically added to the claim. I suspect the OP is using the Online Money Claims service (the new version not the old MCOL). If they haven't paid the court fees in addition to the amount claimed then the OP should select no and continue with the claim. Should also write to the defendant and explain they have not met the full amount of the claim and need to pay the court fees too, if they want to settle the dispute.