[Wolves] Sick of M$

[Mark Harrison]

A few technical points:

1: The "Small Claims Court" isn't actually a separate court, it's a 
different process used within the County Court to process certain 
(small!) claims quickly.

2: The courts will virtually never award the costs of 
rectification/chasing if processed through the Small Claims Track.

3: It is worth downloading the form N1 from the link below, filling it 
in, and attaching a copy to your "letter to the company you want to sue."

- http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n1_0102.pdf

This shows the company that you are serious, and costs nothing.

You DO have to pay if you actually file the claim with the court, so 
what I suggest is that you fill out the form, with a letter that reads 
along the lines of:

"Dear <Name of Senior Manager>

I am writing to you asking for £<sum claimed> in settlement of our 
dispute over <Outline of issue>.

If you would prefer to settle this matter amicably, please could you let 
me have a cheque for the full sum in 7 days.

If I have not received this payment by <date 7 days from now> then I 
will lodge a claim under the Small Claims Track in <local court>. For 
your convenience, I have included a copy of the claim I intend to lodge.

Regards,

<Your Name>"


I should stress that I am NOT a lawyer. My knowledge of this comes from 
some work I do as a mentor to landlords in landlord / tenant disputes. 
My mentees have reported that the above tends to work quite well in 
disputes with people like letting agents :-)

Regards,

Mark





William J Giddings wrote:
> Alternatively,
>
> Threaten them with a summons to the small claims court as you want them
> to fulfil the terms of the service contract. Also add the cost of all
> your time and effort at a reasonable work rate for preparing the case
> against them plus compensation for travel time, petrol, parking, phone
> calls, electricity consumed for making prints. It will cost you a few
> quid to lodge the claim but the defendant will have to pay if
> successful. This usually causes big firms to act as the paperwork is
> dispatched to the company secretary who has to respond in writing within
> a specific time frame. As the cost of settling a small claim fulfilling
> the contractual obligation is less than the cost of dealing with the
> complaint through the small court, the issue gets settled pretty
> quickly. If summons in this way, a you can recoup all of your costs plus
> more.
>
> Regards
>
> WJG 
>