Jump to content
We are now - The National Consumer Service ×


  • Tweets

    No tweets were found.

  • Posts

    • Attaching Exhibit A as I would like some validation that this email consitutes indeed a draft defence. If not; i might need to tone down my argument. I had initially counted 6 emails from them but I can only find 5 now... If I can't find the last one I will just change the number down to 5. Exhibit A. Draft Defence Redacted.pdf
    • Appreciate your swift input and amendments! I've reworded some of it (and will likely reformat the page a bit before printing to make it neater) but I've included the majority of your suggestions. Let me know what you think. Would you recommend I email this to the individual who declined the compensation as well as sending it by post? Cheers Switch2 - Letter of Claim v3.pdf
    • I suggest (change in red) -   The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature which fails to comply with CPR 16.4.  The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 1.  The Defendant is the recorded keeper of [car reg no]. 2.  It is denied that the Defendant entered into a contract with the Claimant. 3.  As held by the Upper Tax Tribunal in Vehicle Control Services Limited v HMRC [2012] UKUT 129 (TCC), any contract requires offer and acceptance.  The Claimant was simply contracted by the landowner to provide car park management services and is not capable of entering into a contract with the Defendant on its own account, as the car park is owned by and the terms of entry set by the landowner.  Accordingly, it is denied that the Claimant has authority to bring this claim.    4.  In any case it is denied that the Defendant broke the terms of a contract with the Claimant. 5.  The Claimant is attempting double recovery by adding an additional sum not included in the original offer.  6. The Claimant is claiming an unlawful amount of interest.  The dispute between the parties concerns a disputed, unpaid invoice, issued on 6 January 2025, on which it is written "Payment to be made by 06-Feb-2025".  Yet the Claimant is claiming interest from 4 January 2025.  7. The Particulars of Claim is denied in its entirety.  It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief at all.
    • Okay. That sounds a lot better. Hopefully you now realise that the third party rights act only applies if you have used a parcel broker but you are trying to sue the courier company directly. So because you contracted directly with the courier, you are going to sue them directly. By using insurance or prohibited items or non-compensation lists, they are seeking to exclude or limit liability for failure to exercise reasonable skill and care – and of course this is contrary to section 57 of the consumer rights act and in fact the insurance that they pressurise you to purchase amounts to a secondary contract under section 72 of the Act because it is a prohibited secondary contract which is attempting also to limit or exclude liability for failure to exercise reasonable skill and care. The prohibited items list is an unfair term as you have already pointed out. Even more significantly here not only are they saying that it is prohibited – but they are saying this despite the fact that they were very happy to take your money in respect of insurance. These people are stupid and dishonest. But also now they will abuse the County Court system by making you jump through the hoops because it costs them scarcely anything at all to use up the County Court system because it is a publicly funded taxpayer resourced system of justice. They don't use this to obtain justice. They use this simply as a means of debt avoidance to try and frustrate their customers legitimate claims.   Okay I've made a few amendments – and also I've added a further head of damage for unfair trading which could give you a next your little bit of money and also an extra little bit of leverage. Please have a look. See if you are happy with it. If you want to take anything away. If you want to add anything. If there is anything which is incorrect – and post up the final draft here please for a last look.
  • Our picks

    • If you are buying a used car – you need to read this survival guide.
      • 1 reply
    • Hello,

      On 15/1/24 booked appointment with Big Motoring World (BMW) to view a mini on 17/1/24 at 8pm at their Enfield dealership.  

      Car was dirty and test drive was two circuits of roundabout on entry to the showroom.  Was p/x my car and rushed by sales exec and a manager into buying the mini and a 3yr warranty that night, sale all wrapped up by 10pm.  They strongly advised me taking warranty out on car that age (2017) and confirmed it was honoured at over 500 UK registered garages.

      The next day, 18/1/24 noticed amber engine warning light on dashboard , immediately phoned BMW aftercare team to ask for it to be investigated asap at nearest garage to me. After 15 mins on hold was told only their 5 service centres across the UK can deal with car issues with earliest date for inspection in March ! Said I’m not happy with that given what sales team advised or driving car. Told an amber warning light only advisory so to drive with caution and call back when light goes red.

      I’m not happy to do this, drive the car or with the after care experience (a sign of further stresses to come) so want a refund and to return the car asap.

      Please can you advise what I need to do today to get this done. 
       

      Many thanks 
      • 81 replies
    • Housing Association property flooding. https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/438641-housing-association-property-flooding/&do=findComment&comment=5124299
      • 162 replies
    • We have finally managed to obtain the transcript of this case.

      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

      Frankly I don't think that is any accident.

      One of the points that the judge made was that the customers contract with the broker specifically refers to the courier – and it is clear that the courier knows that they are acting for a third party. There is no need to name the third party. They just have to be recognisably part of a class of person – such as a sender or a recipient of the parcel.

      Please note that a recent case against UPS failed on exactly the same issue with the judge held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply.

      We will be getting that transcript very soon. We will look at it and we will understand how the judge made such catastrophic mistakes. It was a very poor judgement.
      We will be recommending that people do include this adverse judgement in their bundle so that when they go to county court the judge will see both sides and see the arguments against this adverse judgement.
      Also, we will be to demonstrate to the judge that we are fair-minded and that we don't mind bringing everything to the attention of the judge even if it is against our own interests.
      This is good ethical practice.

      It would be very nice if the parcel delivery companies – including EVRi – practised this kind of thing as well.

       

      OT APPROVED, 365MC637, FAROOQ, EVRi, 12.07.23 (BRENT) - J v4.pdf
        • Thanks
        • Like

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

 

I'm new here so fingers-crossed that this is in the correct forum.

 

Until around 3 weeks ago I had a former friend lodging at my home. He was only here, on & off, for around 6 weeks, I had to throw him out because he caused substantial damage to my home and neither arranged to have the damage made good, paid for it to be done or even apologised (& I'm talking about what will in total be over 1,000).

 

I've since received a number of items of post addressed to him. Today when I got home another one had been delievered except I didn't notice it was for him until after opening it.

 

It's a letter from Marston:

 

"We are in posession of a Magistrates Court Order as a consequence of non-payment of the above amount. We are instructed to demand immediate payment in FULL from you. We must inform you that unless the TOTAL sum due is paid into our office within 7 days of the date of this letter, our bailiffs will attend to levy distress and remove your goods for sale by PUBLIC AUCTION. This action will involve minimum further costs of 215."

 

It was seemingly non-payment of a 35 fine for 'A*****t by b*****g' + 85 fees.

 

Not wanting something like this to be recorded against my address I called Marstons, it was a -long- process just to speak to someone. The first time, after being on hold for ages the line was answered, as I started speaking it went dead. I called back, more time on hold. This time I was able to start explaining the situation but after a few moments the line died again. In case it was a problem with the landline at home I tried from my mobile. More time on hold & yep, same problem after speaking for a few moments. On the 4th attempt, having speant over an hour on hold I eventually got to speak to someone properly.

 

I explained the situation and explained that because the addressee left under far-from-favourable circumstances, that he did not provide a forwarding address but that I had subsequently discovered where he was working, I offered this information but it was refused with no explanation beyond "I need a residental address". I said I thought it was ludicrous that they were being offered information which would enable them to find the person they're trying to contact but were refusing it. I then specifically asked for my address to be removed from the persons record.

 

I was told that I would have to send them a utility bill in my name. I asked what that would acheive, given that it neither prooves I actually live at the address or that the person they are chasing does not. I received no sufficient answer to this, only mumbling about bailliffs visting. I asked again both what sending a utility bill would acheive and also why I should have to do anything given that I'm not the person they're chasing (this being particularly annoying when I've already offered contact details (which they could verify with a single call) and when they could verify my residency here on the electoral roll). When I didn't get a sufficient reply again I asked to be transferred to his duty manager and I was asked why he should!! I said that I wanted to speak to someone in authority there and the reply was "I'm in authority, I'm a senior member of staff" so I pointed out that if he was "a senior member of staff" that he wouldn't be taking first-line calls. I then asked again to be transferred to his duty manager and he refused. I asked for him name, given the fact that he had a strong accent, because he was obviously very agitated and because I wanted to be sure I asked him to repeat and the response was (shouted) "A-L-F-I-E, did you get that, was it simple enough for you?". Given his appalling attitude I hung up.

 

So........... as I'm not an expert in these matters what should I do next? I have no wish to avoid either Marstons or my former lodger running up expenses and charges etc, that bit doesnt bother me in the slightest. However, I dont want any of this to be recorded against my address. Can I force the removal of my address? How on earth can I proove someone -doesn't- live here? Should I have to proove anything? Can Marstons send someone to my home to seize property? Can they force access to do so? Everything here is mine, there is nothing here that belongs to the former lodger.

 

Many thanks in advance!

Richard

Edited by RJPotts
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Richard welcome to CAG

 

Well 1st of all they are in breach of the DPA for disclosing the details without checking the person is who it was meant to be, and if therefore you are not the person involved just simply call the police and ask for them to attend to "prevent a breach of the peace" it's the their duty.

 

Provide your details and simply state that the person they are trying to enforce no longer lives at this address, and to return the warrant to court for reissue to correct address, IMHO also a call to the court service stating that the person no longer lives there, and if your bailiffs return I will sue for tort of trespass and harassment and that should be the end of it, but..... if they levy on any of your property then try to take it, they commit the act of theft,

 

You may want to edit your post to take out the nature of the offence because you are not the person concerned and is not relevant to this and you may get yourself in to bother if your old lodger finds out

 

Also outstanding debt from court is attached to the to the named persons credit file not you or your home also the bailiffs don't like being filmed either so worth having a video of the confrontation you may have, ask to see the Bailiffs ID card and keep the details safe if it indeed turns ugly you have a name to start with....

Edited by mikeymack2002
  • Haha 1

If I have been of any help, please click on my star and leave a note to let me know, thank you.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

Thanks for the message.

 

I dont believe they have breached the DPA as they didn't disclose any information on the phone. The information I have is from the letter.

 

I dont see any value on speaking to Marston on the phone again. The attitude from the guy I spoke to was truly shocking.

 

I guess it may well be useful speaking to the court service and seeing how they can help. The only slight problem there is that the contact details on the HM Courts & Tribunals Service website, unless you're using a textphone, are on a court-by-court basis and I have no idea which court dealt with the matter. What I do have though is the HMC&TS reference number. Does anyone know if there's a way of finding out which court it was? If not I suppose it may be worth phoning the most local one and seeing if they can look the reference number up.

 

I was under the impression that credit searches etc will often show list other people who have been resident at the address?

 

By chance there's a (tiny, part-time) police station a few hundred yards from my home so yes, should a bailiff come knocking I'll ask him to wait outside and then call the police.

 

Best regards

Richard

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have flagged your thread for one of the Site team who knows about these things. It is probably best that you don't speak to them on the telephone again.. but then you have almost certainly come to that conclusion yourself !

 

Someone will be with you soon as they can :)

Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

Uploading documents to CAG ** Instructions **

Looking for a draft letter? Use the CAG Library

Dealing with Customer Service Departments? - read the CAG Guide first

1: Making a PPI claim ? - Q & A's and spreadsheets for single premium policy - HERE

2: Take back control of your finances - Debt Diaries

3: Feel Bullied by Creditors or Debt Collectors? Read Here

4: Staying Calm About Debt  Read Here

5: Forum rules - These have been updated - Please Read

BCOBS

1: How can BCOBS protect you from your Banks unfair treatment

2: Does your Bank play fair - You can force your Bank to play Fair with you

3: Banking Conduct of Business Regulations - The Hidden Rules

4: BCOBS and Unfair Treatment - Common Examples of Banks Behaving Badly

5: Fair Treatment for Credit Card Holders and Borrowers - COBS

Advice & opinions given by citizenb are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO GIVE ADVICE BY PM - IF YOU PROVIDE A LINK TO YOUR THREAD THEN I WILL BE HAPPY TO OFFER ADVICE THERE:D

Link to post
Share on other sites

Get to the nearest solicitors, send them a stat dec that everything in the house is yours ( create an inventory of goods to make it easier), send it to the bailiffs and tell them to bog off.

 

You will also need to call or write to the courts, explain what has happened, and send in the stat dec. They will probably want you to go to the court and sign something there too.

 

It is pretty easy to show he isnt there. You just need to do the legal documents to prove it.

Any advice i give is my own and is based solely on personal experience. If in any doubt about a situation , please contact a certified legal representative or debt counsellor..

 

 

If my advice helps you, click the star icon at the bottom of my post and feel free to say thanks

:D

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi both,

 

Thanks for your messages.

 

You're quite right CitizenB. I have no wish to speak to them again!

 

Hi Renegadeimp, By chance (via scanning messages on here), I've just been reading about stat decs. It is indeed true that everything here is mine, the few things that he left included nothing of value so it all went in the bin. Am I correct though in reading between the lines that a stat dec is for a limited period? Is it correct that I can obtain one at a court free as opposed to charged at a solicitor? Does it then need to be submitted to the court, to Marstons, or to both?

 

I'll be phoning the local court on Monday (i've already emailed also) to seek their advice. You mentioned it being pretty easy to show he isn't here. Barring showing someone the now empty spare bedroom how do I do so though?

 

Best regards and again, many thanks!

Richard

Link to post
Share on other sites

A stat dec is a legal document that declares that everything in the house is yours and the named person does not reside there. You can also go to the court and do it there. It is legally binding as if you sign a stat dec at a court and you are found to have lied, you will be found in contempt of court and be punished as such.

 

GO to the court, take as much proof as possible and get the documents signed. You also need to go to a sol and get a stat dec done and send it to the bailiffs. The court might not even need the stat dec as long as you provide enough proof and sign the right forms.

Any advice i give is my own and is based solely on personal experience. If in any doubt about a situation , please contact a certified legal representative or debt counsellor..

 

 

If my advice helps you, click the star icon at the bottom of my post and feel free to say thanks

:D

Link to post
Share on other sites

You state that you have an HMCTS reference. Does the letter state which court or any details. For example, does it state HMCTS London, Kent, Liverpool etc.?

 

It is important to put something in writing to the Court and copy it to Marston Group

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have looked around and have found the snippet from a list if you are not the debtor then the levy is invalid the bailiff cannot take anything of yours if you are not the debtor

 

 

Invalid levy

 

This is a edited list of grounds a levy could be invalid and the distress is irregular,

 

Edited by mikeymack2002

If I have been of any help, please click on my star and leave a note to let me know, thank you.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 Caggers

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Have we helped you ...?


×
×
  • Create New...