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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:10 pm
by dig dug dan
Had to file a county court judgement against a hirer who has failed to pay the £140+vat. I won't go into details of specifics yet (later on i will!). I filed it using money claim online, and i got a notice of issue when i came back from holiday.
It states that the defendant has until 7th april to respond.
I have not had a cheque, so i either assume he wants to fight, or he is ignoring the paperwork
Question is, does the court then let me know that he has failed to respond, and i take it from there, or do i give it a couple of weeks then take the next step
only done this twice in 18 years!
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:08 pm
by Carberry
You phone the court the day of the deadline, to find out whether they have responded or not. They then tell you what you have to do.
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:23 pm
by dig dug dan
i don't have a court where its issued at, but i do have a national 0845 number. is that the one?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:43 pm
by DNgroundworks
i cant help at all, but as usual i have a question.....got a call a while back from trading standard asking how i present my quotations/contracts...so i told them...anyhow they said i need to give any potential customer a written price which i do and then a separate thing stating their entitlement to a 7 day cooling off period, the setting out of said documents had to be spot on.
she said if i dont and i get a none payer then there is absolutely no chance of claiming through the courts?
Do you do this Dan?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:15 pm
by dig dug dan
Not heard of that one dan, and besides, the court would argue that the customer has ordered the work, and seen you working at the property for however long the job takes, so had plenty of time to say no.
No clown would have waited until it was time to pay before saying, "i did not want the job doing"
the only time that would be enforceable, is if you asked for money up front.
IN any case, it does not apply in this instance as its a crusher hire, which is a different thing
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:25 pm
by Carberry
I've not gone through the moneyclaim online thing, because they don't do it in Scotland. I sent my application in through the court and they told me to ring up as soon as the deadline was up.
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:14 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i notice the pikeys advertise the "7 day cooling off period" it normally takes longer than 7 days from a quote being acccepted to us starting anyway,
i think its more for the door knockers that turn up monday and block pave your lawn tuesday
LLL
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:09 pm
by rimexboy
as far as i know they will contact you but you can call them on the 0845 number and im sure you have some sort of refrence number...
as for the cooling of period i assumed that if i invited a contractor to my house and they sold me a window or something alike then i had 7 days to cancel my order ... as for if i had a contractor round to do a job such as lay a patio then i assume the contractor would take a deposit for the job ....
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:51 pm
by Dave_L
"Block pave your lawn" BIG LOL Tony! 
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:54 pm
by dig dug dan
well my defendant is counter claiming for labour lost and men on site not being able to work as my crusher broke down!
Whats amusing is his refusal to pay a repair bill for damage he caused, his ignoring requests to pay an agreed amount of £140, and now counter claiming!!
this one is going all the way to the end!
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:52 am
by London Stone Paving
Sounds like a mither you dont need Dan. Your stuck really because it will cost you more than £140 to get your money back, but on the same note you've got to put a marker down so people dont take the piss in future. Can you not ask people to leave a holding deposit in future?
Steve
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:36 pm
by dig dug dan
I always get the full hire charge inc delivery and vat, when i deliver the machine. the cheque is cashed at the end of the hire.
in this instance, He booked it for a week, and paid this plus hire charges.
The machine stopped working after a few hours. I sent an engineer from the manufacterer who pushed a fuse back in!
He hung around for an hour and made sure everything was ok.
Then i get a call to say it won't start. Turns out they left the ignition on whilst they had a cup of tea, and the cooling fan drained the battery
I told them how to jump start it.
They did this, but after an hour i get a call to say the jaw keeps cutting in and out.
he was now getting fed up and off hired it, having done 6 hours worth of crushing in total
I get to site, to discover the machine has a flat battery, and i get it jump started and loaded.
I hand him back his cheque, and he said he would pay for a days hire.
Upon getting the machine back to base, i discover the entire wiring loom had been melted, so the alternator could no longer charge the battery. plus the computer had blown as had the transducer. It turns out that when he jump started the machine, he left the cables connected whilst he crushed!!
I send a repair bill, to which i recieve an angry phone call.
After a heated debate, he again agrees the £140+vat
I send the invoice. Nothing
I ring and leave a message. nothing
I send a reminder. Nothing
then i send a final letter threatening further action if not paid.
nothing!
so that is how we now get to where we have!
rant over
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:59 pm
by Dave_L
I know you want to set a marker Dan by these proceedings but do you really think it is cost-effective to persue this all for £140?
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:23 pm
by dig dug dan
on principal dave, yes. if it goes to court and i win, i get to claim loss of days earnings and tavel expenses.
My mate took a solicitor to small claims for £10! (he won)
I know some may think its not worth bothering about, but i feel this sort of thing needs doing to set an example for others
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:36 pm
by Dave_L
But this guy could get a CCJ against him and still not pay.
Some people have no morals.
Best of luck Dan, we've been there in the past and have picked up a bad debt recently to the tune of £2k. Bastard won't answer his phone. Was a Highway job so can't go back there and plane it out. Very frustrating.