at what point do you go to the small claims court for nonpayment of fees

[lifesavingnoodles]

I will try and keep it short and cover all the relevant points

I have made a few mistakes...... no contract, no policies etc, but i took on two kids as emergency cover. But i have plenty of emails and text records that show there is an agreement of sorts to pay for childcare, they also signed the kids in and out.

Now these kids werent angels but i thought i could cope with them

the parent paid me at the end of that week then asked to be put on monthly bills which i agreed to.

Minded the children for 3 days into the new month, but gave the parent notice because of a number of issues.

I waitied till the end of the month then billed the parents for the three days. they promised the money on the 4th, then on then paid half on the 9th. Ive been promised to be paid the rest on the 13th and then on the 16th. Now they are saying that they cant pay me till 23rd.

I dont trust them that i will be paid and i have told them that i will take them to the small claims court.....

BUT

i want to be fair and not rush into it.

but

the court will give them 14 days to pay and i need to be paid now

they have savings.... 'that they dont want to dip into' and they 'dont want to use thier overdraft'

I have no credit card, no savings, no overdraft to call upon. so since they havent paid me WE have to go without.

so my question is... would you file the papers online now.....or wait till monday?

I do have enough food in the house for the weekend.... but then im really struggling for money.

tia

How long would court action take? I expect it may take a while and even if you win, they may still not pay up, so it would cost you to enforce via bailiffs.

Is offering a repayment plan worth a try, such as x amount now, y amount next month?

You need to notify them in writing before you can file a claim, the courts can penalise you if you've not done this first.

So send them a letter with details of how much they owe you and adequate time to repay (14 days). Inform them in the letter that you will file a case at the end of the 14 days. Only then can you submit a small claims court case.

If you've only told them verbally then this is not enough! Must be in writing.

well, the fact that it could delay it more is why im hesitating... becuase i NEED that money. Im not kidding.... it'll be the foodbank next week.

i cant afford for him to delay or sting it out any longer. the court could say £1 per week and then im truely stuffed.

but if he loses then he will have a ccj which will affect his credit rating....people arent so carefree with that are they?

The bbc just ran a series about small claims court, it's on iPlayer... Called The Legalizer. It's pretty good at explaining the process!!

it was in a text that i told him....

so i have to tell him im going to take him to court in 14 days, then the court gives them another 14 days to pay?

how is that fair?

i have emails, that they have responded to....does that count as 'in writing'?

Unfortunately you can't make him pay any other way. So you need to start proceedings ASAP with the letter. Type it up now and take it by hand. Maybe the threat of legal action will be enough to make him pay.

It's not fair... In fact it's totally shit that he hasn't paid you.. But the law is a process and you have to jump through the hoops... And it will be 14 days from when they hear the case, not from when you submit the paperwork

And I don't think a text counts...

but doesnt the fact that i've been corresponding with them since the 1st of the month count.... thats already 19 days

I think it's called a 'Letter Before Action' - so you need to write a letter to inform them about court action. An email or text won't be suitable. So annoying for you though.

We used small claims court and had to send a letter outlining our claim and a timeframe to pay with intensions to sue, prior to online small claims application. There is a fee payable by you to file small claims court paperwork. It took 5 months for the hearing to take place and then we had 14 days to wait for payment. The payment was lodged with the court and then paid out to us. Unfortunately it will take some months to get your payment, assuming they pay on court judgement. Hopefully the threat of small claims will prompt them to pay!

Write the 'Letter Before Action', see what happens. Maybe they will pay the rest due on the 23rd.

Meanwhile concentrate on how you will feed your family in the coming weeks.

One risk of being in business is that customers do not pay. It's a pain, I have been there in the past. Ended up just writing it off as a bad debt (was under £100) as I could not be bothered to have the stress of taking it through court system.

Only you can decide if it is worth going through court system. It won't produce money quickly, so look at what you can do now to make some money and keep chasing, they may pay up on the 23rd as they claim they will.

I had a family who didn't want to pay me for the nanny work I had done - kept saying be at end of week. Nothing. Then they said would send a cheq.waited a week and nothing. Agency called them and they said they would send another cheq etc etc

This went on for a month

Agency told me to start ccj

I filled out form and emailed them a copy of it and said if payment wasn't in my account within 24hrs I would be sending the form off

Payment came within 2hrs

So the threat of it worked. Once you have a ccj against you doesn't matter is £1 or £10k - it's the fact you have one

Good luck

thank you for all the advice..... i have learned my lesson and i wont let this happen again

i think i will wait till monday, if they dont pay, i'll hand deliver the notice before action letter then take it from there.

meanwhile....foodbank it is!

thanks for the advice

Don't hand deliver send it by recorded delivery or one that has to be signed for.

ok will do