Peoples experiences of small claims court

[devon deer stalker]

As an absolute last resort I am considering taking a trader in the motor industry to court.
It's been with the ombudsman for over 12 months and whist they agreed it should be allocated an adjudicator it still hasn't, and from what I understand they tend to come down on the side of the trader in their solutions.

My concern is cost if it goes against me, I know what I have to pay to raise a case, but would I be liable for their costs if they win?
I can't afford a solicitor so it's down to how I present my case and never have done it before I am a little worried.

I have found a advice service for people going down this route, I will contact them soon.


Any advice/experiences would be gratefully received

Thanks Richard

 

[B&W FOX]

I won and claimed back ALL my costs, wages, time preparing my case, travel, everything I could.
Treat me like a moron and your going to pay.

 

[Donkey Basher]

On the occasions I’ve had to resort to this, Money Claim Online now not small claims, I’ve recovered all my costs as well as the initial claim. That’s no guarantee that you’ll also be successful though - only you know the details of the situation.

That said, if the ombudsman recognises there’s a case to answer then clearly something is not as it should be. If the trader has acted unreasonably, has deliberately delayed or obfuscated things, hasn’t engaged with you or the ombudsman or simply failed to respond then the courts are likely to take a dim view of this as their actions will be seen as bringing the case to court when it could otherwise have been resolved.

Get whatever advice you can from the service you mention & make your decision based on that.

Just a thought, does your house insurance cover you for legal fees arising from disputes such as this?

 

[devon deer stalker]

Thanks for the replies, I have the answers from above and via pm's

 

[enfieldspares]

I damaged a tyre and its wheel in a pothole. The local council refused to accept liability so eventually I sent an email asking where service of documents could be made to begin a claim in the Small Claims Court. By return of email an offer to settle was made. So sometimes the mere threat will produce a result. And, in any case, AFAIK, you need to make that "threat" in the wording that unless you receive an offer of £xxx to settle the matter you will begin legal action. This needs to be done by a proof of delivery service. Now Royal Mail offer "tracked but not signed for" service where they take a picture of the letter being put through the letterbox. Good news as the old trick of refusing a to accept a signed for letter can no longer be used. Hope it helps the OP.

 

[timbrayford]

A word of general advice.
Prepare a narrative account and timeline of all that has occurred since your first contact with the other party, backed up any documentation that you have, including text & email messages. Courts are interested in evidence, not how offended that you may feel.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

I won my small claim case against a letting agent but the sheriffs had no luck in tracking him down to collect so on top of the loss I was another £500 down court costs.

 

[Gunner223]

A friend of mine went down this route , the other party agreed to pay what was needed , he never did get his money back ,
so good luck

 

[Donkey Basher]

A friend of mine went down this route , the other party agreed to pay what was needed , he never did get his money back ,
so good luck

This is actually a good point & one to consider.

A friend of mine was in the motor trade & he explained to me how traders work. In simple terms, they rent a premises - so no asset to seize there. They also buy their stock using finance that is secured against it - so again no assets to seize there. They then lease office equipment such as computers - guess what, no assets to seize there either. The only option then would be a payment plan.

Another thing you should consider is whether they already have judgements against them & if they do what the likelihood is of you getting anything back even if you get your own judgement against them. You can get this information from specialist companies, who charge a fee for it - can’t recall who I used but last one was about 10 years ago & it was very enlightening as it listed assets owned by the debtor as well as several other judgements they had. This helped me recover circa £20k from them by leveraging a particular asset that had previously been unknown.

 

[nocturnaldave]

Tread with extreme care….. I have seen a lot of people represent themselves in court and often it does not end well. Even if you win you have limited chances of the monies being paid unless it is a major company. I suspect it is not or they would have resolved the issue.

 

[Julian S]

I helped my daughter go this route for expenses she incurred repairing a car she bought from a sole trader under guarantee which he didn't honour, claim was about 800 and he offered 550 after the process was started which we accepted as the case was going to be heard his local area ,150 miles from us. well worth trying.