help please non paying customer. anyone understand the consumer rights act?

[se7enthdevil]

Originally Posted by se7enthdevil View Post

they did finally reply at 9 minutes left to the deadline.

 

they have offered less than half the money for me to get lost pretty much, i'm not interested.

 

OK this is some admission of their liability to settle the debt, it means when you serve the court papers on them they may pay this amount into the court. In normal civil cases on judgement if you were awarded this amount or less you would become liable for costs. If you were awarded the full amount then you could also claim costs. However unless there have been changes in the last 20 years the rules for a small claims action differ and as long as you wait until it is paid into court then it is yours immediately as long as you do dot accept it as final payment.

 

they are disputing the time that it was finished by.

 

the original job had just the items to make on it and no mention of a deadline.

 

that was introduced about a month later.

 

This is likely to feature in their claim for a lower (half) price, it could become complicated they would have to show that the delay caused them a cost, if a time was not mentioned in the formation of the contract then it's tort and open to interpretation. An therein lies the problem, the person appointed to deal with the case will have very little time to bone up on it so first impressions of them and you will mean a lot. I have never figured how a case would go right up to the last sentence of the judgement. A barrister I attended court with told me even with a watertight case there was only a 70% chance of success depending on the mood of the judge.

 

then they took two weeks to get the deposit to me (i gave many reminders) and i had stated it could take a month to produce from when i received the timber, then they expected all the hand crafted bespoke items within two weeks.

 

i got the deposit on 3rd aug, i got the timber on the 5th and got the lot made and delivered by the 22nd. the deadline was the 16th and i was only told that about a month prior.

 

This is evidence which you will have to prove

 

 

if they had paid the deposit on the 18th of july (when i sent the invoice) or even within a couple of days i could have stared the whole process two weeks earlier and got the job done well within time.

This is rambling and hearsay

 

i will carry on this dispute but i think it will go to a magistrate...

It's likely to go before a recorder. Magistrates are upstanding people from the community, ones peers, who initially hear criminal cases.

 

Do you or they hold the goods? If you cost in the stress and work you will have to put into a small claims case , forget principles you cannot afford them dictate your actions, will it be worth it?

 

IANAL ( usenet acronym which means this advice cannot be relied upon) in fact after 45 years I find myself surprised at being suddenly out of work for the first time

 

 

 

i can prove all the facts as they are in emails which i have.

 

 

why is the deposit not being paid soon enough "rambling and hearsay"?

i repeatedly asked them for the deposit so i could buy the timber to get on with the job. again this is in emails.

[eggsarascal]

sorry for the confusion gents, it should say somewhere in the thread that this is a second customer doing this to me.

 

after getting some advice i was told to drop the original dispute as it was not over £750 and yes i do still have the pins and balls which i can sell on.

 

 

this second customer (it happened roughly at the same time) has all the goods i made for them.

 

eggs,

the goods were sent to them as there was no dispute at the time they were collected and i expected to be paid in full.

 

 

as they have not paid for the goods in full they still belong to me.

 

 

sorry if this thread is confusing anyone.

 

 

I did read it wrong again, nothing new there.

 

I was indeed mixing up the two different clients.

[openspaceman]

i can prove all the facts as they are in emails which i have.

 

 

why is the deposit not being paid soon enough "rambling and hearsay"?

i repeatedly asked them for the deposit so i could buy the timber to get on with the job. again this is in emails.

 

Not the deposit bit but what you say you might have done if the deposit had been paid on time.

[se7enthdevil]

i see, well my point is that if they had of paid earlier rather than dragging their feet the job would have easily been done on time.

 

they paid 3rd aug, this money then allowed me to buy the timber which arrived on the 5th. the job was completed by the 22nd. if they had paid earlier i could have bought the timber earlier and all of this could have been avoided.

 

would this be discarded as just heresay?

[openspaceman]

i see, well my point is that if they had of paid earlier rather than dragging their feet the job would have easily been done on time.

 

they paid 3rd aug, this money then allowed me to buy the timber which arrived on the 5th. the job was completed by the 22nd. if they had paid earlier i could have bought the timber earlier and all of this could have been avoided.

 

would this be discarded as just heresay?

 

No not the facts just stick with them with no comment about what might have been, just the fact you could not buy the timber until the deposit had been paid is sufficient.

[se7enthdevil]

ok mate, facts it is from now on...

 

i've written any important event or request in the emails on a pad and put the date next to it so i'll get that into order and have it to hand when composing my responses.

 

rather serendipitously i have come into contact with a fellow woodturner who reclaims money for a living (for the music industry i think) so i am getting expert advice.

[MaxWheeler]

I've taken a few people to court and mostly on principle. I make my agreements by word of mouth and the way the judge presides over your case is very common sense.

 

I make custom joinery items like windows etc... this has happened to me four times, in almost an identicle way that has happened to you. The judge just believed me and said 'why would he make it for no reason and pretend you contracted his services and how else would you know each other if it wasn't work related?'

 

Another time the judge asked them to prove in law why they did not have to pay. After they answered he told them that if they agreed in any way to a custom order they had to pay unless there was a fault with the product or service. Since they couldn't prove it because it was all lies I was awarded the sum.

 

Of course I never saw a penny of it anyway on that occasion, apparently even a ccj can't always get your money!

[MaxWheeler]

I should add, I do things in writing now. You'd be mad not to... I detail any minor change and am always very specific. Customers don't always get it and think I'm being a bit anal but you need to watch out... people can be really sly

[se7enthdevil]

just a little update, i have had two responses from the customer as i said two weeks ago and in my responses to those letters i have countered any point they tried to say was my fault by stating the facts which are unavoidable as they are all in writing and can not be altered.

 

they need to respond by the 1st of november.

 

one thing that could go against them is the fact that the letters are very poorly written and it does not look like he's read through what he's written as he has sometimes put in words where they are not needed and has even put the wrong word in completely such as "delved" rather than "delivered" which is just daft...

 

they have also tried to manipulate the facts (which i can prove) so it could blow up in their face if a judge reads some of this gibberish.

[Mick Dempsey]

Sounds like a case for Judge Rinder.