Help with Claim wording (refund)

[MEC1]

Good afternoon

I have recently discovered that my business has a County Court Judgment for an unpaid invoice (December 2015), despite having my never received the claim nor the Judgment. The court have confirmed my address to be correct on the court documents so I genuinely do not understand why I have never received these.

I now have two options: pay the Judgment within 30 days so it doesn't register against my business, or submit an Application to set aside the Judgment, paying the £255 fee and risking it not being or losing all/part of the argument.

As I would admit to part of the original invoiced amount, I have decided to pay the Judgment and submit my own claim (as it's too late to counter claim). Hopefully, my reasons are clear in my proposed claim wording below:

"The Defendant was sub-contracted as a specialist diesel repairer to diagnose and fix a fuel line fault on our customer's Alfa Romeo (registration given). The high pressure fuel pump was diagnosed by the Defendant as faulty, however this was incorrect as the replacement fuel pump did not fix the problem. The Defendant was advised that we would not pay for a fuel pump that was mis-diagnosed and our customer had decided to return the car to their car dealer for a refund so we would collect the vehicle. The Defendant failed to remove/ recover their new fuel pump when the car was collected. We refused to pay for the fuel pump that was not necessary and did not fix the problem, but have since been forced to pay the invoice. We therefore claim for reimbursement of a fuel pump and 50% associated labour."

I would appreciate any legal eyes being cast over this please to ensure that my wording is appropriate and that I am legally entitled to do this?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[CW Legal Services]

Looking at your claim wording I would advise that you will struggle as the contract agreed was based upon an instruction and the specilialst could not have known their diagnosis would not solve the issue. However, what happened afterwards? There must have been some discussion and what was the outcome? You must have received an invoice. The initial claim must have come after some exchange of paperwork and discussion. Your claim will need to rely on an expert that the diagnosis was not done in a professional manner and it seems you will be spending a lot of money on principle, which courts do not rule on. Your wording is fine, but your case does not look strong.

 

[MEC1]

Looking at your claim wording I would advise that you will struggle as the contract agreed was based upon an instruction and the specilialst could not have known their diagnosis would not solve the issue. However, what happened afterwards? There must have been some discussion and what was the outcome? You must have received an invoice. The initial claim must have come after some exchange of paperwork and discussion. Your claim will need to rely on an expert that the diagnosis was not done in a professional manner and it seems you will be spending a lot of money on principle, which courts do not rule on. Your wording is fine, but your case does not look strong.

Thank you for your view which is appreciated.

The diagnosis was carried out and, as it was an expensive repair for our customer, the specialist confirmed that all of the fuel system had been checked and the only thing that could be wrong was the fuel pump. This turned out not to be the case and the specialist then held their hands up n the air admitting they didn't know what was wrong. The customer decided to then return the car to the car sales place for a refund and we advised our sub contractor that this was happening so they could remove their new fuel pump and put the old one back in (as it wasn't faulty after all). They didn't do this.

We disputed their invoice and refused to pay for the fuel pump and part of the labour. There was an ongoing dialog/dispute which then went quiet. The next thing I know I'm getting a sales call from some random debt collection company advising me that I had a recent CCJ against my business. I called the court and discovered it was this matter. No claim form or Judgment ever received!

If I add the amount that we were willing to pay to the Application fee to set aside the Judgment it comes to just short of what the invoice total is. And I don't really want to risk the possibility that the Application wont be allowed and lose the 28-days payment/settlement time where no CCJ entry will be registered against me.

But equally, I was hoping there would be some recourse, looking at it this time as a paid for service that didn't work, albeit forced to pay!

 

[CW Legal Services]

I cannot comment on the process. I fail to understand how you did not receive any communication from the court at any point, nor how the other side did not send you the bundle 14 days prior as they knew your address to send the invoice and obvioulsy communication was enacted as it was a dispute. Having said that debt recovery agencies do not make sales calls and I assume this was from a collection agent. You have recourse in challenging a County Court Judgement, or issuing a claim but without looking at the timescales and the reports from the specialist I cannot comment further. You can contact us if you so wish.
My advice is that you satisfy the CCJ in full and investigate the matters set out herein.
.

 

[Newchodge]

If a CCJ has been issued about this matter and there has been no defence or counterclaim, and the CCJ has been paid, can the OP make a claim against the other party to the CCJ about the same matter?