Being threatened with court for money I don't owe

[cloudparade]

Hi, I wasn't sure where to post this as it crosses a few different issues... property / legal /debt....but I think legal is maybe the main issue right now. I am being pursued by a company called Nationwide Renewables for some debt that I clearly and obviously don't owe them I cancelled a contract for solar panels that was signed in my own home - which means that I was entitled to the 14 day cooling off period regardless of what was in the contract. (If anyone else comes across this company please note that Nationwide Renewables are not part of any accreditation scheme, which seems pretty odd for a solar installation company and meant that I would have had no come back if the installation didn't perform as promised....there were lots of other issues that also came to light that I won't go into here.. but to cut a long story short I just didn't have confidence in them to do the work, and their behaviour since has confirmed to me that I should never have let them into my home in the first place)
When I cancelled the contract they offered me two options - one was my deposit back in full, in return for taking down a negative review on Trustpilot which explained all the reasons I had cancelled my contract and how they had behaved after I cancelled. If I refused to take down the review they said they would pursue me for 1.5 k, most of which is 'cancellation fees'.
Citizens Advice explains the legal situation about cancelling a service very clearly on their consumer page, which I have explained several times to Nationwide Renewables, but they are not interested.
I got my deposit back through the Co-op bank's Charge back scheme, which confirms what I already knew - that Nationwide Renewables had no claim to any money from me.
But despite this Nationwide Renewables is now threatening to take me to court for this fictional 'debt'.
I'm assuming that they just use this tactic because enough people are scared into paying it to make it worth their while? In which case how many other people are being bullied into paying money that they don't really owe?

I would love to know if anyone has advice or similar experience. So far Citizens Advice Bureau have been really helpful, but once it becomes a supposed debt issue (even though I owe them nothing) it all seems to get more complicated. Really I would love to put in a counter claim for the time and stress associated with all of this, but I don't know how this works....

Sounds as if it would be a good story for the BBC Radio 4 consumer programme You & Yours.

There's also consumer advice columns in national newspapers that take on complex cases and write them up as an interesting case, similarly to you&yours but for print rather than radio.

thanks for the suggestion. I did actually contact You and Yours earlier on in the saga, but I never heard back. I guess they have a lot of emails to wade through.

The guardian consumers affair journalist is really good, contact them

thanks for the tips, everyone. Once I feel I've got the court stuff prepared I'll have a look at how I could get more publicity - I really would like to warn people about these kind of sales tactics and the way that companies like Nationwide Renewables behave. I had no clue that solar panel companies were doing this kind of thing.

If they do go to court they will need to send in a claim with all the relevant documents

My inclination might be to wait until they do and not engage with them in the meanwhile

Or a subject access request?

Oh & if they employ 'Solicitors' check that they are in fact solicitors

If they are after you for £1.5K then they have probably spengt more than that already

Yes - I kept thinking they would probably drop it for the same reasons as you say... But they have now entered a court claim...

They had previously instructed a debt recovery agency that sent me a letter before claim. But the debt recovery people (Glenwood) dropped the case when I

a. told them about that Nationwide Renewables had started a court case off their own bat and

b.restated my legal position, with the suggestion that they consulted their legal team.

Glenwood said they would never have taken on the case if they had realized all the facts (though I did explain it to them right at the start and sent them links to relevant legal info - and it seems to me that knowing the law is really their job not mine)

It's all very bizarre and it's taking a lot of time as I suddenly need to learn a whole lot of law stuff I never thought I would need to know.

I also have to decide whether to go to the additional effort of making a counterclaim against Nationwide Renewables for distress and inconvenience, which they have definitely caused.

I truly despise these rogue companies and all the stress it causes. I had similar with a mobility scooter I purchased for my dad. It arrived and was too heavy and clunky so we returned it (within 14 days) in a new and un-used condition. The company sent me an inspection report once it had arrived back at their warehouse confirming it was returned in new condition. They then stalled on a refund and 2 months later, I still hadn’t received the money despite several emails. They eventually gave me a partial refund, deducting their original courier costs plus an admin fee, something they’re not allowed to do. I raised a chargeback for the missing money with Visa and then the company turned nasty, threatened to take legal action and then even sent me a new inspection report claiming the scooter had been returned dirty and damaged. Nice try mate but no!

Anyway, I just stuck to my guns and refused to engage with them. I knew I was legally in the right and they didn’t have a claim. As stressful as it is, probably best to just let the courts do their thing. If you’ve got all your proof and paperwork, hopefully the court will easily see through their nonsense.

Does your household insurance cover legal expenses? If so maybe see if you can get a solicitor to act?

Hi Op, thanks for posting this. I've just been reading their Trustpilot reviews - most of their good reviews are by person's who have no other reviews anywhere, which is a sure sign some if not most of the good reviews are fake. A lot of the language is very similar as well - probably written by the same group of people.

It's very common in Asia - some companies employ people to do fake reviews.

Edited to add you are on solid legal ground here so just make sure you include evidence of the cancellation in the court paperwork and include a copy of the relevant law regarding the 14 day cooling off period. I would also advise attending the hearing to give your oral evidence.

They are a pretty awful company by all accounts.

When they send the court documents you will have a certain amount of time to respond. You are clearly in the right here (the 14 day cooling off period is enshrined in law) so yo simply respond saying that. I think as a private individual you also have the right for any hearing to he held locally to you. I doubt it will even get that far as you are legally in the right.

I echo seeing whether you have any legal protection cover with your insurance - or even getting a solicitor to send a letter outlining the facts of the situation and the law.

DH has just been through a horrendously stressful experience with a high street bank relating to a parent's estate. He has just stolidly repeated the facts every time they contacted him, repeatedly asked for the evidence on which they were basing their (false) assertions, and they've finally (after 2 years) backed down.