Help with small claim defence and deadline

meiyaonline

hi folks . Before I go further on this case can I just ask when I need to submit my defence please ?
issued on 20 th March

TadleyBaggie

Related to this parking case?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6661450/halfords-chatham-total-parking

meiyaonline

is there a defence template I could use ? I am citing Consumer Rights Act 2015 & Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

I would like to now outline the case and then submit the claimants particulars of their claim against me .
in a very brief summation I believe I am well founded to say that I do not need to pay for diagnostics ( no call fee instead they charge £90 to diagnose the problem that was later exposed as being completely wrong and the quote for the work needed from this incorrect diagnosis of a boiler fault being ten times more than the actual cost of the work required to fix the problem without need to replace pump burner and pump valves and cost just £25 call out and £145 to fix in less than half an hour .
they want £90 for this inacccurate diagnostics and quoted £1,1812 for the work that never actually needed doing !!
I feel it is fair to say that the trader tried to use my inexperience off boilers to financially leverage more money from the job than it was worth . IN SHORT I FELT I NARROWLY AVOIDED BEING SCAMMED FROM START TO FINISH

When I booked the appt I also asked it be booked for the afternoon and chatted with the woman ( I now know is the boss’s wife and company director and explained that my mum was 85 and a vulnerable adult for that reason and consequently on the morning of said appt the boss / technician / her husband turn up at 9 am and I would never have known except that he couldn’t find the bungalow from the parking area and had to call me.
I was not happy at all but did he could continue only if he was to phone me before any work went ahead with costs .
ge phone ten minutes later to ask how to switch it on!!! It’s a plug that needed to be plugged in to the socket in front of his face when looking at the boiler !

Then he called and said it couldn’t be fixed as pump and burner totally jammed. Would need new parts and would cost well over a grand . Which I thought instantly was rather steep for an oil boiler . So he then left and I expected the woman to call to get the £90 for diagnosing the problem which I had at that point no reason to disbelieve, but she didn’t and I started wasting time and effort looking into affordable options to repair boiler as per the diagnoses .
I did it see the invoice and quotation emailed to me as at same time my cat was very ill and couldn’t get vets to take seriously and he almost bled out internally that month. ( he is still alive ) but it was a very stressful and worrying time with my cat yowling throughout night causing me sleep deprivation.

i couldn’t understand why the cost was so high so decided to see if parts were difficult to obtain or pricey. They weren’t. Ea costing less then £100 and in speaking with these sellers and boiler part experts and engineers they were asking if I was sure both needed replacing as it’s unusual as burners are such simple machines that are easily repaired. So I kept trying to find a recommendation for a boiler engineer and luckily someone said they knew a good oil boiler technician who I booked (£25) call out and he repaired on the spot!! No parts ( other than a capacitor ) which didn’t charge for and though burner was seized he easily fixed it and pump then was just running a bit sluggish which he easily fixed for cost of £145 .
a few weeks later I see an email from the first company whose name I had forgotten. By then and to be honest as hadn’t heard from them via phone for their £90 I just thought they had quoted a ridiculous price and unbelievable diagnoses as didn’t want the job. We have fifteen rescue cats at my mums and I also wanted to be there to empty litter trays etc as it can look messy etc and if trays not done can be bit whiffy because at time there was a episode of Giardia causing smelly runny poo amongst the cats ( now recovered ) and so I thought this was a phishing scam using legitimate business name.
when I googled the company name and is this a scam google said that name gets used a lot for phishing scams and so I posted a warning on Facebook . Though it never implicated any genuine company as scammers!
this is important because then the woman phoned me to berate me for going on social media and demanded I take it down.
I couldn’t believe she was asking £90 when they tried to do the appointment without me being there ( but got caught out ) then asking to be paid for inaccurate diagnoses and then the matter of the price being asked!! I was really cross .
subsequently the husband / boss/ technician contacts me on Facebook messenger !!!! Which considering they state they don’t deal with complaints over social media can only be seen as harassment in order to make me pay.
I was furious , outline my complaints , called them con artists and then blocked him .
I then researched if I could refuse to pay for incorrect diagnoses which I am advised is covered by 2015 act and the vastly inflated sum required for work not needed can only be seen as a con / scam or fraud again covered in 2008 unfair trading practices .
I have health condition/ disability making writing or responding to things I. Timely manner difficult and I didn’t think it necessary to email when I had told them in messenger and phone why I would not be paying and thought they would drop it .

Bug they didn’t and ended up taking me to small claims for the £90 which I’m trying to formulate a proper legal response to . They are also alleging libel for defamation re the fb post . What I put on my fb post is my business and I pointed out I had stated in the post that a phishing scam was purporting to be a legitimate company which the woman acknowledged both in written response and on phone. I’ve only recently removed it because of court case and to take one of their claims down.
bit I did some research on them and there is a whole website with web address in company name which details an appalling category of illegal practices from misquoting to secure work the. Demanding new higher price when winning contract and two other serious breaches . Now they must know who that customer is ( he paid poor soul not knowing his rights) but had this up as a warning which unfortunately does not show up in google till long way down in the first returned results.
but my point is that they haven’t taken action against this person ( it’s been up since 2021 ) and reason I believe is that any judge reading what was said would instantly recognise the practices described as improper and criminal.
apparently as I reported to cit advice consumer who send the details of the website and my case on to trade standards. And apparently as trade standards will now look into it I can use this as evidence . Which I Intend to show as their libel claim is scurrilous to say least .
I also am wondering about entering a verbal agreement for diagnostic service ( no written consent or anything signed) but do I neeed to defend this also in my defence . ( not using 2013 co tract laws ? Or should I but just in realms of the 2015 case .
In my next post I will post claimants claim with my details scrubbed out . I just need a cohesive legal wording to set out my defence.
and I need to know when exactly I need to submit the defence please as per the above image on details of claim issue and my aos.

meiyaonline

Is my deadline for submitting my defence 17..04. 2026?

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956044#Comment_81956044

It would appear not.

elsien

You need to take out all the irrelevant surplus information from that post, (and there is quite a lot of of it) because most people are not going to plough through it all.

For example your cats are not relevant to a legal defence.

Your mother’s age and them turning up at a different time is not relevant to a legal dispute over payment.

Etc.

And a contract can indeed be verbal instead of written.

elsien

also, the small claims court does not deal with defamation as a rule.
So concentrate your defence on what money you owe them or otherwise and take your post down if it’s still there and stop using hearsay to smear them all over Facebook.

Okell

15 cats. Hmmm….

So what amount is he suing you for? £90?

Was it clear when you engaged him that he would charge £90 for an inspection and diagnosis?

If it was and you agreed to it, then perhaps you should pay it? I'm not sure the fact you can demonstrate the diagnosis was wrong is relevant. It would appear from the motoring forum here that people frequently pay car dealers extortionate amounts for diagnoses that turn out to be wrong.

Have you pointed out to him that his diagnosis was demonstrably wrong according to the engineer that fixed it, and that he might look a bit foolish in court when this comes out? Is that what he wants?

Byall means challenge it in court if you want to, but I'm not sure you'd win.

He can't sue for defamation in small claims. He could only do that in the High Court and would cost him about £10k plus to get a case of the ground.

However, you should always make sure that what you post on social media is true and factual.

15 cats…

meiyaonline

thanks I thought it was true and factual am I did thereafter correct the post to highlight my mistake.
so it was a genuine mistake.
according to the 2015 trading standards law you do not have to pay even a garage if the diagnosis is wrong.
And you should not pay.
I have checked that I can enter the other website as evidence and I have a reference from for advice/ trading standards so the judge can see that.
I I have subscribed to legal answers that law society recommended ( chat to lawyer or speak direct to one) and checked my defence which is correct and I’m not worried about my argument except o would like to know about the 2013 contract laws and if they apply to this case .

However it was said by the lawyer that it would only apply if I went on to sign something ( 14 day cooling off period etc) so these do not apply .

What does apply is unfair trading practices whereby the diagnostics and the quote were so far removed from being correct and price so extortionate it could perhaps be construed as fraudulen.

I really just needed a template to set my argument out in and obviously the story behind it is not my defence paragraphs but merely to explain what happened.

It is not to do with a parking claim also. It is indeed the company who are extremely aggressive in their practices taking me to court for £90. For a service that was not done with reasonable care and skill . That is what I am using for 2015 trading standard law in application to the situation

meiyaonline

Could anyone please advise when my deadline for the defence is please my date of issue was 3rd March and I submitted an aid for 28 day

pinkshoes

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956952#Comment_81956952

Surely it says online with the claim you received?

Just put a simple defence. Be factual.

"X came out on <date> to fix broken oil boiler. X couldn't even work out how to turn boiler on then incorrectly diagnosed the fault and wanted £XXXX to fix it. After looking online this diagnosis seemed unlikely so another engineer came on X date and diagnosed a simple fault which fixed the boiler.

The fee of £90 is not owed as the engineer did not diagnosed the fault and was clearly inexperienced as he didn't even know how to turn the boiler on."