any advice on small claims court? how much does it cost?

[starlover]

some of you may know that i've been having a bit of a time with a pram i bought last december.

anyway, trading standards said the shop should give me a refund... but the shop refuse and say i will have to take them to court.

i don't want to, i can't afford it and i don't need the hassle... so we tried going straight to the manufacturers who after a few months of umming and ahhing have decideed that they can't contact the actual manufacturers over in spain and therefore cannot help!

i'm so angry over the whole thing... but is it worth going through the small claims court to get my money back?

It is a simple proceedure, there is a fee to pay but you include the costs plus any interest in your claim and if you win the full claim you will get it back.

I followed the procedure once.

ok.... how much did you have to pay? (if you don't mind me asking?)

also, someone dp vaguely knows got given his money back, but still had to pay costs... what's with that?

starlover, it can be worth it & it does cost money but you do have to accept that even if awarded you still may never see your money. Which may involve going back to court to get bailiffs in etc or accepting a very small amount of money each week/month for a length of time.

Also you do need to follow the correct procedure.i.e. write a letter before action stating the problem, what you want done to resolve issue and give a precise length of time regarding when proceedings will follow iif yo uget no response. You do have to be able to show in court that you did everything to reach a settlement before it got to court too.

hth

try here

yeah i have written to the shop twice. i guess i need to do that one more time.

i really, really want to avoid going to court... but i am so angry over it... because the shop owner obviously knows that for most people court is really not an option which is why she is trying to call my bluff and worm her way out of it!

can i get a lawyer or something to write to them and scare her into paying up?

starlover, you don't need to get a lawyer.
You can do it yourself and sometimes the threat of court can be enough. Fingers crossed for you.

thanks for link btw... very informative

i am just scared really, even though trading standards have said taht we have a case... what if the court decides otherwise and i ended up paying loads of money?

starlover if you can prove that you've tried to resolve things (which you obviously have) there should be no problem with the court accepting you have a case.

but do you think it would be scarier if i had an official letter froma solicitor rather than one from me? that way she knows i have legal advice etc

ok thanks... i think i may go and talk to the CAB too

I had done work for a client who had paid me money for various projects and furniture, but he then paid me with a cheque that bounced..when i drew his attention to it I never got sent a new cheque...I wrote and asked for the money and asked by phone

Eventually I think after about three months I was owed about 3,500 quite alot of which was for furniture I had bought and installed in his home.

I knew he could pay as at that time his wages without sponsorships was in the region of £12,000 per week.

I went to the court office and got a form you write on the form the nature of the dispute and describe the steps you have taken to resolve the issue, any evidence you have that you are owed the money. The fee is bout 50.00 I think (not much any way) then you hand back the form.

They write to the other party and ask for them to respond within a certain time and they send back the confirmation to you that the other party has had notification. If they do not respond (happened in my case) then they are sent an order to pay and there is a time limit on it if they don't pay then it will go to court as it will if they produce a counter argument.

I didn't receive a payment within the time limit and so it would have gone to court but when i sent the court form back they did pay (he wouldn't have wanted to go to court because it would have been a story for the papers)

Even if it does go to court you don't need a soilicitor you can speak yourself.

I do this a few times a year as I am self-employed. Occasionally people don't pay their invoices, despite written reminders, and eventually I have to go to court. It's easy and straightforward, and you can now do it online at Money Claim Online . This is the Court system's official web presence.

The usual procedure is to wite a formal letter to the person who owes you (you can send it recorded delivery so you have proof they've received it) laying out your case, and pointing out that their lack of response leaves you no option but to take them to court. My letters usually say something like: "Blah blah blah, and if I do not receive full payment of the outstanding amount within fourteen days from the date of this letter I shall have no option but to commence legal proceedings against yourselves in the County Court" (which is what it technically is, despite the term 'small claims court'.

I then leave it 28 days, just in case they're a bit crap. After 28 days from sending a letter like this I make a claim using the online system. It's v. easy to navigate and gives you little tutorials. Considerably easier to negotiate than the goons who staff the real Court offices, who have a habit of ignoring the queue while chewing the fat with their mates, leaving you to get crosser and crosser.

The online system will calculate for you what the Court Fee should be (IIRC somewhere in the region of 10% of what you're claiming for) and it will be added to the claim automatically. You then get a little box in which to explain your case. You give a credit card no. to pay the fee and hit send.

When I have used it it has always been extremely effective, and people tend to pay up straight away. If the company don't accept your version of events they can contest your claim, in which case you will receive a letter explaining what to do next. Eventually a judge will decide who is right -- even if you lose, the worst that can happen is you lose the fee you paid to bring the claim in the first place.

does anyone know if i could use this procedure to recover goods from someone?I took out a credit agreement for my mum for a sofa and she hasnt paid for it,so i have been left to payfor it which i refuse to do,i got into the house and managed to get one piece of the sofa but she still has the other piece,i have been advised by a solicitor to take her to small claims court but i know for a fact that i will not get any money out of her so i just want the rest of the sofa to sell on and recoupe some of the money im going to have to pay.

my proble though is that the shop are denying that there is a problem with the pram.

they aren't going to just cough up the money and give me a refund.

Did trading standards say they agreed that there was something worng with it

They are denying it at this point because it's cheaper and easier to keep fobbing you off and they hope you will give up and go away.

If they get a letter from you like the one frogs suggested, and you mention that trading standards are behind you, they might cave in and pay up, although OTOH they might just do heads-in-sand and even if you get a judgment against them continue to refuse to pay (not sure what happens then?)

well last time i was in the shop i said that i had been to trading standards and that they had said i had a case and the woman just said "well take me to court then"

basically there are various things wrong with it, but it is still useable... so the shop lady says because i CAN use it that's tough luck. They also told me it did certain things when i bought it which it doesn't...
both of these break the sale of goods act in regard to not fitting the description etc etc

trading standards said that they had contravened the sale of goods act by telling me that the bumper bar was removable when it isn't... so i was misled at the time of sale

I think it is more complicated if you are in dispute as to whether the goods are faulty

I suspect you would have to have the pram independently assessed which might be expensive (I imagine a report on it would be about £150.00)

You can get free legal advice from a solicitor if you approach them to ask if you have a case they will usually give you 20mins FOC

where could i get it assessed?