DCB Legal again...

OldBugger

Hi all.

The latest on my case. This morning I received the below letter/reply to defence from DCB legal. It refers to a court letter dated 20/07/2026. I have not received any letters from the court. Should I have received a copy?

In the letter (2nd paragraph) it states that I have not served them a copy of my defence. However, I have a letter from the business centre dated 09/02/2026 stating that a copy was being served on the claimant (or claimants solicitor) See below. I also have a notice of allocation to the small claims track dated 23/03/2026 stating that "a copy of the defence has already been sent to you (DCB legal) by the defendant.

So have DCB legal lost my defence or has the court not sent it? I'm currently waiting on a call back from the business centre about this but not expecting it will happen.

Also, the fact that DCB have sent a reply to defence to the court, does that mean they intend to proceed or is this just more bluff in the hope I cave in?

Coupon-mad

Stop trying to phone the CNBC.

They haven't got the file any more!

Put the phone down and instead ring the local court you chose and tell them you didn't get their letter/directions dated 20/07/2026 and only learned about this from the Claimant, so please can they re-post a copy (check they have your right address?) or email it over.

DCB legal have indeed lost your defence and you've done nothing wrong. If you can't get through to your local court, why not send an email to DCB Legal telling them that you didn't receive the court letter dated 20/07/2026 so if they will kindly email you a copy to resolve the problem of both missing documents quickly, you'll read the court's directions first and will email them (DCB Legal) a copy of the defence they were served with, but seem to have lost.

Oh, and both those images have your name on, so edit & delete the letters.

OldBugger

Thanks for the reply, I've now edited the documents and will ring the local court tomorrow.

So are they intending to proceed or is this a last ditch attempt to get me to pay up?

Gr1pr

Good question, that dcb legal won't answer. !

But

They Usually discontinue just before the hearing fee is due

Meanwhile, follow the excellent advice above by coupon mad

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086268#Comment_82086268

They'll discontinue before any hearing, but the Order must have required them to send a reply to defence.

Have you emailed them as I suggested? You want to see that court order in case it has directions for you, too. They want to see the lost defence! So, hold onto it until they cough up a copy of the court directions.

OldBugger

Well I phoned Wakefield county court and my call was redirected to the CNBC where I had a 40 minute wait.

Eventually I got through and found out that the directions were applicable to the claimant only. A judge had read my defence and ordered DCB legal to reply to it.

I then rang DCB legal who were only interested in trying to get me to settle out of court. I told them where to go. I also mentioned the missing defence and told them I had 2 documents from the CNBC both stating that a defence had been sent to them. They didn't seem interested in obtaining a copy of my defence so I didn't offer to send them one. This suggests to me that they have no intention of this going to court.

Coupon-mad

I didn't say to ring DCB Legal. Nobody rings them! Send the exact suggested email. You NEED a copy of that order.