Small claims court - any experience?

[MaltipooMama]

Hi everyone,

I posted the below thread a while back after we'd paid £300 for our one year old's smash cake photo shoot back in November. The package was due to include 10 matching prints and to date after sending a total of 12 messages to the photographer (four of which have been replied to), she has now ignored my last several messages and still not sent our photos. So today I've completed a small claims court application, because I'm appalled that she thinks she can ignore me until I disappear, to claim the monetary value of the photos that we were supposed to receive. Does anyone have any experience of going through the small claims court and what to expect? Thank you in advance x

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amiibeingunreasonable/5269075-photographer-not-sending-prints

I found it awesome. They didn't offer a defence so I was awarded my money back. But that was a large company. My concern is that your photographer will just ignore the court judgement and you will have to enforce it somehow. Good luck ✊️

I've used SCC quite a few times, but luckily everyone has paid up, although they did push it to the wire. They will give the photographer a month (??) (possibly 2 weeks) to return a "defence"/pay up. If they miss this date, SCC give them another month (again, could be 2 weeks, can't remember exactly). This annoyed me because I'd already given them time to pay. But tbh, the minute SCC contact them, it scares them enough to pay up immediately. Was around £50 to apply - which you get back from the defendant in court costs

Those are some really helpful insights, thank you both of you. the whole thing is just beyond ridiculous now, I've noticed that she now has several reviews online (all posted in 2025 so after we had our photoshoot) which say that her communication has been terrible and she hasn't sent their photos out so I don't know what's changed in the last few months but her service has seemingly gone down the pan. I've been so incredibly polite in my messages to her and have always gone along the lines of "it's absolutely no problem if you're struggling to obtain the hard copies or send them out but please can I just have an eta or a response" and it's all been ignored. So now I just think she's taking the absolute piss, I can live without the £250-odd that I've put the claim in for, but I'm not letting her think she can get away with doing this to people without any comeback! Ooh it's been a long time since I saw red like this 😂

I'm sure it works out well for some people, but it was a waste of time for us. I took a man to SCC who agreed to do some work on our garden, took a deposit "for materials" and then made excuse after excuse to push the starting date back and eventually just stopped replying completely. We won the case but he said he didn't have the money any more and we would have had to shell out more money to employ bailiffs to get it so we just wrote it off and chalked it up to experience to never deal with any tradesperson who wants money up front again. My friend had a similar outcome with a botched job and never got her money either.

Yes. Very easy experience. I had some advice as well and because of own knowledge I created a file like a legal bundle. I basically created a summary of the case and did it in a plan chronological sequence. I had retained all emails and letters, also notes of telephone conversations. Each was a separate document with an exhibit number, date and one sentence describing it, and a covering key list of each document. As the summary progressed I referred to each exhibit by number and also highlighted the key points.

At court, was just a room with tables and judge. Court niceties were observed in s much that courtesy to each party. I explained my claim simply. The judge didn't expect me to go through it forensically as he stated that the claim and file was very detailed and easy to follow, and then asked the defendant to outline their defence.

Courtesy continued until the judge summed up his finding and was frankly scathing to the defendant. Awarded claim to me and they paid up. All simple.

As a result, I have threatened to start a claim twice for the same type of incident, my car being hit by another driver in a car park. Both times driver admitted liability and then withdrew it and claimed knock for knock. I issued the letter before claim and immediately they capitulated. The insurance company had demanded I deal with them but I told them to go forth and that the defendant would have to appear at county court. Basically easy to tell lies but they think twice before having to go to court and argue on the balance of probabilities.

Just go for it

I'd let it go personally.

It just takes up more headspace and disturbs your mental piece. Drags on.

I think you'll feel better if you drop.it now....

Just to confirm I actually have already gone through the small claims process, I have proof of literally everything including the entirety of the conversation via message, copy of the contract confirming what would be included and a copy of the pricing on the website, I was just more keen to find out more about what the next steps would look like and whether or not anyone has had any success. I have a much clearer understanding of the process now so thank you to everyone for sharing your own experiences. It's scary how easy it is for people to just ignore after completing a botched job and not give a shit about people receiving goods after payment so I definitely won't be leaving it, my exact words to my partner were "I want her to understand that it's not ok to treat people like that and not expect any come back" so if anything hopefully the next person won't have to chase for three months for something that they've handed money over for!