Child’s art tutor threatening small claims court

[Ohapples]

Well...bit of a strange one, never check emails before bed! I received an email tonight from an irate art tutor threatening small claims court for an art class my 14yr old took in the summer, it was £55 paid cash plus cost of canvas. I’ve been on two of these classes before held in a local church hall with no problem, then there’s a second email, this time threatening to contact my 14year old at school, only met the tutor twice before but seems out of character and...well? out of proportion for anyone. I am sure school came up in conversation with my child, it’s not a secret and I wouldn’t have sent him to class if I was concerned about the tutor, completely shocked and now a bit concerned about making any reply. My son was really happy with the class, had I not seen the email I would have booked him in again next half-term (Obviously not now). Any advice on what to do/ reply?

Threatening small claims court for what exactly? Do they say why?

It is not really clear from your post what the claim is for. Did you not pay for the class?

First email received this evening (took my child’s name out)

“Account for July 2018 Portrait Workshop at Headley

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

This account is now overdue and subject to interest charges at 5% per month plus admin costs. I shall send the original account of £55 to “my child’s name” as stated. Should it not be settled by the end of September 2018, all charges will be applied plus I will place the account in the Small Claims Court where it will incur litigation charges.

Your lack of response to all my communications will be no obstacle to my legal redress.”

Sorry to be blunt, but err, did he pay?!

Did you pay? Do you have a receipt?

Yes paid for class & canvas. As I did for two classes the year before

I don’t have receipt, it was just a class by a local artist in a church hall.

Respond at a decent hour to explain that you've paid and send proof if needed. I would call the tutor to explain by phone first to check what the grievance actually is. Maybe they've been hacked?
Small claims court is hardly worth it in fees for this amount of money but some people are crackers!

Do you have a receipt or other evidence such as bank transfer to prove your payment?

Ps. He can't legally sue your child, and if he doesn't have your address or name I wouldn't be too worried!

Hacked, didn’t think of that although it says my sons name at top off email, I didn’t cut and paste that.

Thanks Heatherbaby, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has my address and I would have given him my number when booking classes. I would pay another £55 to not be up thinking about it at 2am! and have no idea how to reply, if I thought someone hadn’t paid I would make quick call or threaten court. Do I reply “I most definitely paid cash on the day, but here’s an additional £55 because this is weird and I don’t want you contacting me”

I wonder if he’s been left unpaid by a few parents. Ring him and tell him about the money you gave and give details.

I work in a similar line OP and if I were you I would simply send an email telling him that your account is fully paid (you SHOULD have got a receipt you know) and that if he contacts you again, you will call the police for his threats.

He won't take you to court, it's just flannel.

You can't call the police about someone who thinks they haven't been paid threatening the small claims court! That is what the small claims court is there for. What on earth do you think the police are going to do?

Tell the tutor you paid. Give proof of payment. Also under 18's cannot be sued.

Tilly Because of this then there’s a second email, this time threatening to contact my 14year old at school,

If someone threatened to "contact" my child at school and this person was not a relative or friend...well then I would take that as a sort of a threat at the very least. The tutor is obviously unstable to say that.

Of course the police would do something.

Angelina she has no proof. She didn't get a receipt.

Having dome drop-offs at this kind of thing and seen the chaos, the most likely thing is that the tutor is confused about who paid what and thinks the £55 from you was from someone else. Don't pay twice, it's not worth it.

Don't fret. Just send a reply:

"Apologies for not replying sooner, I don't check this email address every day.

I most definitely paid you in cash on the day. I remember (insert any detail you can recall of handing over the cash. Was it in an envelope? What combination of notes?).

I'm sure the administrative pressure of sorting out arrivals and fees must be very overwhelming and obviously now I regret not insisting on an immediate receipt."

The chances are if he's disorganised enough to not have a proper system for receipts he may not actually have proof that your ds was even there.

Tell him to swing his hook, politely at this stage. Is he quite well?

Either you pay in advance or on the day for this sort of thing. No payment, no art class.

Also if he continued to make threats, I'd let the village hall people know as well, and would post about it on a local FB forum.

You might also encourage him to start giving out receipts, surely he needs these for tax purposes...or is it undisclosed income?

inquiquotiokixul is right. It's probably an error.

I would send inquiquotiokixul's suggested reply, possibly with something along the lines of "I think that you might have got me mixed up with someone else and sent this to me by mistake." at the start of the second paragraph and possibly throw in a reference to the fact that you paid the same way for two classes the previous year at the end of the paragraph.

I would also maybe leave out the third para for the time being. I would just keep it fairly breezy at this stage and try to convey that there must have been an innocent mistake on his part.

I am rather doubtful that he actually would follow through and she for £55 and wouldn't think he is likely to have a strong case if he doesn't have any evidence of the non-payment.

*'Sue' not 'she'

Bloody autocorrect!

Who physically handed over the money to the teacher? If it was your son maybe he forgot to at the time? Seems odd that a receipt wasn't given.