County Court Claim - is a LBA a requirement?

[PB Print]

Hi, hoping someone can offer a little advise on a situation I have.

I'm a sole trader and I've received an online claim for an invoice which I've overlooked. It's an invoice for £30.00 from about four months ago, which I do not dispute, but just overlooked. The supplier emailed a couple of statements, which ended up in my junk folder, so I never saw them until I went searching, but other than these email statements, no other communication has been made. She has now submitted a court claim for £65 - £30 debt and £35 court fee. As I said, I do not dispute the invoice, so as soon as I received the claim, I paid the £30, and submitted my response to the claim form stating I've now paid the debt but dispute the court fee as no Letter Before Action was sent. The claimant has submitted her response stating I've not paid and is proceeding with the case. I guess I'm being a bit stubborn here because her heavy handed approach over £30 has got my back up, but am I correct in thinking that because no LBA was sent, and the original debt was paid as soon as I was made aware it had been overlooked, a judge would look dimly on this claim, or is my stubbornness just going to get me into more trouble?

 

[Newchodge]

May I suggest you turn it round for a moment.

Your supplier supplied something which you received and sent an invoice which you ignored, even though you should have been expecting to pay it. They sent you a statement which you ignored. They sent you another statement which you ignored. They possibly sent more statements - a couple is not an accurate figure. Now you think they are being heavy handed for taking you to court?

Incidentally financial documents going into your junk folder is your problem, not theirs and is something you need to take action over before it costs you more than £35. I would just pay up.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Pay up and move on!

 

[PB Print]

Well that's me told. I'm not here to be an @rse, I'm just gobsmacked that it's considered OK to take someone to court instead of picking up the phone. I've never had a problem I could not resolve with a phone call, and it's such a shame that people these days feel they would rather take someone to court and ruin a relationship than pick up the phone to talk about it! Had this lady picked up the phone, I would have apologised and immediately paid, but clearly it's this level of customer service which has died over the past 20 years. So sad.

 

[DontAsk]

I've never had a problem that couldn't be solved by email. Sort out your spam filters.

 

[PB Print]

Ironically, this bill was to an IT company to resolve spam email problems. I guess I could argue they never done their job properly, but that's a can of worms I don't have the stomach for......

 

[pentel]

I agree with the OP that the lack of a lba may make the claim invalid however the amount of time it would take to sort this would not be worth the candle.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Well that's me told. I'm not here to be an @rse, I'm just gobsmacked that it's considered OK to take someone to court instead of picking up the phone. I've never had a problem I could not resolve with a phone call, and it's such a shame that people these days feel they would rather take someone to court and ruin a relationship than pick up the phone to talk about it! Had this lady picked up the phone, I would have apologised and immediately paid, but clearly it's this level of customer service which has died over the past 20 years. So sad.

I 100% agree with you. It's a minor irritation and a reflection of dealing with someone who doesn't know how to do business.

They're irritating, have poor customer service and taking someone to court instead of picking up a phone is stupid.

Also, they're a spam filter company. If they're so bad at what they do that their spam filters are blocking their own emails then they're a terrible company to do business with. I'm willing to bet they embedded a tracking pixel in their emails which will get blocked by their own spam filters. Something they'd know.

 

[PB Print]

Thanks all. Just to close this now, I have paid the remaining court fee and walked away. Life has thrown so much at me this past year, which may have broken some people, but I'm still holding on. I just get really annoyed when petty people make life even harder when there is a much simpler solution.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I'm just gobsmacked that it's considered OK to take someone to court instead of picking up the phone

It isn't, however, you must weigh up the cost of persuing this! Sure, you might get your money back, but it will be a time consuming task.... for £35!

Had you actioned this before court, it might have been a reason to stop proceedings, but after? As you admit, you were chased for the money and you did owe it!

 

[PB Print]

Court date still not been set, so it has not yet been heard,

It isn't, however, you must weigh up the cost of persuing this! Sure, you might get your money back, but it will be a time consuming task.... for £35!

Had you actioned this before court, it might have been a reason to stop proceedings, but after? As you admit, you were chased for the money and you did owe it!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Not having sent an LBA will work in your favour - maybe write to the other person and say that you did not receive an LBA and you paid the debt, so there is a good chance that this will be thrown out, but, again, the time this will take, including a potential court appearance is a cost to you!

 

[NewKidinTown]

the idea that anyone would send a LBA on a £30 debt seems a bit fanciful, if not ridiculous. See Cyndy's reply at#2 above above for the most sensible reaction.

 

[Mark T Jones]

A bit late, but in response to your actual question, an LBA isn't a legal requirement but may well act in your favour as part of a due process defence (the courts always want to see what attempts were made to resolve the issue before going to them)

I always bang on about communication as part of the collection process. In reality it looks like you've both been a bit slack here. On the plus side, the sums are small and frankly, life is too short.

 

[fisicx]

I’d put money on there being no humans involved in the process. Emails are all automated and after x days if payment isn’t received the application for legal action is sent off. They aren’t going to call you because that requires a person to pick up the phone.