FFS. CCJ I knew nothing about.

[TryingNotToFreak]

Letter from solicitor in the post this morning.

Apparently I was served a CCJ in January and they are commencing enforcement proceedings.

This is the very first letter I have had regarding the matter, and of course now it's too late!

A reference copy of the County Court claim form was enclosed, my old address is on it (moved in 2021). Frustrating that they clearly have my correct address NOW (solicitor letter) yet clearly every other communication on this has gone to my old address, so I've had no idea!!!

It's for a vet bill totalling £300 originally. We had Royal Mail redirection for a year after we moved so no idea why we didn't get the original invoice. We also saw the same vet last year, and no mention was made when we paid that invoice!

Thankfully we have healthy savings so can pay whatever costs (£1k on court claim papers but guessing more now solicitors commencing enforcement proceedings) but I'm so frustrated that they have only just sent to the correct address!

I am meticulous about updating new addresses too- this vet is different to our usual one (which I updated!) but shares out of hours vet cover. Obviously a mistake on my part not to let them know our new address but a) we had Mail redirection and b) assumed invoicing/records were shared between the two anyway... clearly not 😓

Ready to pay whatever but rang the solicitors as soon as I opened the letter and no one has been available to talk to me, despite calling and chasing via email today like a madwoman.

Any advice? Google seems to say I need to settle the debt and then have a terrifying and embarrassing day in court to try and get it set aside on the basis that the court paperwork went to the wrong address?

An update.

After a month of regularly chasing the claimant solicitors with no phone calls or voice messages answered and minimal replies to emails ('we are awaiting claimant instructions', and when I tried to chase the claimant up on that basis: 'we won't speak to you, go through our solicitors'). I got totally fucked off, bit the bullet, and instructed my own solicitors.

I find it crazy that a solicitor can send such a threatening letter (proceedings will start etc send bailiffs in or whatever) and then refuse to engage with me?!

So, now paying a small fortune for a solicitor to deal with it for me, and he's not having much luck getting in touch with them either.

Oh well, at this stage I'll be very happy to have my day in court if it comes to it.

Wanted to update this, as personally I find it really frustrating searching for threads that relate to whatever current dilemma I'm dealing with, when there's only half a story.

In a nutshell, I did indeed instruct a solicitor (the one recommended on this thread!).

After several months of nonsense (due to the other solicitors, not mine- they were excellent), a consent order was finally sent to the court last week.

The whole debacle has cost me about £1200 in solicitor costs, and will hopefully be settled without needing to go to court. Pretty sure a judge would look favourably on my situation if we took it to court (and I'd claw money back) BUT that's more expense and stress and if the judge decided I was being arseholey by not working with the sloooowwww claimant( they could have awarded nothing in court, and I'd be another £3k poorer.

Just the three months to wait for the court to look at it now 😑

Thank you for updating us.
Its crazy how much time, effort and money can be wasted on things that could easily be solved with a phone call.

I suspect it must cost more than the £300 to the vet too. Could it be a reason why there solicitors are so slow?

Well done OP. A lot of effort and cost that really somebody else should be paying.

Another update.

The court threw it back in November, and requested information that was already provided.

My solicitor advised me that's common; different parts of the documentation get detached and missed apparently 🤷‍♀️ Not to worry, etc.

So back of the queue again, another 3 months before the court backlog would look at it again.

My wonderful solicitors chased it again this week, and emailed to say that the court said they were so backlogged that we probably wouldn't hear until the end of April ☹️

BUT then I get an email from my solicitor today saying it's DONE! Consent order approved by the court!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

It's taken a year to sort out 🙄

Sharing this update in case anyone finds themselves in the same position and stumbles on this thread.

Highly recommend the solicitors @StPaulandTheBrokenBones recommended, www.masonbullock.co.uk. Throughout they've been fabulous, realistic, and helpful. Thank you StPaulandtheBrokenBones for pointing me in their direction, they've been amazing.

Congratulations. It took so long but I'm glad you have got there.