Or is she being a CF

[nomorepeppax]

So BIL GF fridge broke just before Xmas so partner lent her £500 for the fridge she wanted on the basis she pays back £40 every month. The first 2 months were a nightmare to get money from her and now my BIL and his GF have broke up. He tried calling her a few days ago with no answer so messaged her reminding her that she has to pay for this month. She ignored it for a few days so I messaged her today and she replied saying she can't afford it so we can take the fridge back. No problem, we could do with a new fridge anyway as ours was second hand when we got it. Got someone to come and help us collect it and she's ignoring all our calls and texts. Her mum then phoned me shouting abuse down the phone to me and my partner and we explained that we just want this sorted. She either pays us as agreed or she lets us come and collect it. She hangs up and has either turned her phone off or blocked our numbers. We went to ex GF house and no one is in and can't get hold of either of them. I messaged again tonight explaining that I can get someone to collect it tomorrow but if that's not convenient she'll have to bring it to us as they can't do it any other day.

I'm obviously fuming now because we helped her out when she was in need, but is now doing this. What can we do next? I don't want to keep calling/texting but I'm worried that she's going to keep ignoring us and we'll be out of pocket and won't even have the fridge! If she had replied asking for more time to pay etc then that wouldn't have been a problem, but the fact that she is ignoring us makes me think she's going to avoid us and keep it. Is this a case for a small claims court or would that cost more than it's worth?
TIA

Wait a minute. Your partner lent her the money? Is that right? Not you? Then what on earth do you think you're doing? It is none of your business! You should stay right out of it, it is not your place to even discuss it with her. And if you aren't even married then you really have no legal or moral right to be getting involved. If you were a wife, it would be different. I must say I don't think much of your partner, what a no-hoper letting you take all the abuse and he is hiding behind you when it is none of your business and not your place to chase up some woman on behalf of your boyfriend. The ex girlfriend of your boyfriend's brother sounds like a truly nasty piece of work and a CF, however I too would be pissed off if some random girlfriend of the brother of my ex was interfering in something that had nothing to do with her and is none of her business. It's your boyfriend's debt, let him chase it. The fact he isn't bothered to chase it up shows that, well, he isn't bothered. So let it go. It's for your boyfriend to chase it up or let it go. Your bf wants to let it go, so, let it go. Chalk it up to experience, and don't get involved in bf's financial business.

So I didn't mention it before as I did not think it was relevant, but my partner has been suffering with mental health problems for the past 6 months hence why I have been taking the brunt of this.

He was the first person to message her, but she ignored his messages and calls for a couple of days so I messaged her and she replied to me straight away. Initially I thought it may be better for me to deal with it as I am a third party, obviously not.

It may seem dramatic to everyone, but my partner got made redundant last month due to his mental health as he had been signed off work for a while. So £500 is a lot of money to us at the moment, and why should we let it go. I wouldn't dream of treating someone the way she has treated us. I can't sit back and let someone threaten me with violence when I haven't actually done anything wrong

Good luck. I hope you get it sorted x

Think I would just let it go. Why lend that kind of money to someone, who doesnt have it? She could have bought second hand or a new one on a payment plan.

She probably is freaking out at the idea of having no fridge, especially now with the threat of the virus. She won't want to lose what she's got in it if she's got no money.

Surely the logical thing to do is to tell her that she can have yours, if as you've said, it needs replacing. At least she's got something, saves you getting rid of it somewhere and you've got your new shiny fridge.

Think I would just let it go

Op states her partner is not in work and could use the money. Not everyone can write off £500.

Serve her. You’ve been more than reasonable. If she’s going to be violent towards you then no sympathy.
Ofcourse you should get involved!
Goodluck to you

Send the letter before claim but it would need to be in your partner’s name as would the claim itself

You can claim back the court fee from her as well as part of your claim

Stop offering to pick up the fridge. You don’t need the fridge and you’re not required to take that.

Your claim should be for the amount she owes you.

Keep any evidence such as texts and bank statements showing she was paying you and evidence of paying her / buying the fridge

Judge Rinder is looking for cases like yours!

And this is why I would never lend money to Jeremy Kyle materials.

There is absolutely nothing you can do in the small claims court or anywhere else. I am presuming there was no loan documentation, no paper trail. She will just say it's a gift and you are harrassing her now they have broken up.
You are the ones who could get into trouble if she reports you for harrassment.
Sorry but that's what it looks like to me unless you have a paper trail, text message trail making it very obvious this was just a loan and even then it's really difficult to get something like this through small claims.
I've had fails before for goods and services not paid for. The judge will dimiss it unless there is solid evidence.

There is absolutely nothing you can do in the small claims court or anywhere else. I am presuming there was no loan documentation, no paper trail.

Not true.

OP DP can show bank statements showing she stated paying it back. They have the text messages admitting it. Why would they give a gift of a fridge to a SIL? Doesn’t make sense really.

Did BIL and ex GF have any kids together? That would change things a little for me and make him jointly responsible for this debt. Not legally I’m sure, but morally he would be just as responsible for providing a fridge freezer for his kids as she is. It’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of for her anger!

Any update OP? Has the CF-x-GF explained how she can buy another fridge yet fail to pay you back?

@TooTrusting, your advice is brilliantly clear! You should be writing a "how to sue people" book.

We got the fridge back. Police spoke to me about the threats and said although our case against them is bullet proof, it could mean that she has to pay us back over 5 years. I just wanted the whole saga over and done with, so offered once more to collect and she agreed. The people that collected it took the door off but refused to put it back on as she started getting abusive towards them so a little win for us for all the inconvenience. All working fine and I never have to speak to her again. Win win

That's good news, OP.

Well done!

I bet that's a major relief! Thank goodness it's over now.

Yes that’s good OP as with the CV you might not have been able to do much about it for a while

I suggest a deep clean!