Please help! County court letter received.

[Amethyst]

Roughly.... I'm sure there were other letters so add those in ( apart from genuine settlement offers marked without prejudice )


1. On or around the **** May 2014, I received a claim form from the County Court Business Centre, Northampton, for the amount of £*******.
2. The claim is for a telecommunications agreement between myself and Vodafone Limited.
3. The last time I had any services with Vodafone they concluded in 2010. Therefore if there was any outstanding debt, which is denied, I would contend that it would be Statute Barred by virtue of paragraph 5 of the Limitations Act.
4. The particulars of claim fail to state when the agreement was entered into and I do not recognise the account reference quoted by the Claimant.
6. I have checked my records with the credit reference agencies and there is no entry relating to any debt with Vodafone or with the Claimant.
7: On xxxxxxxxxxx I made a formal written request to the Claimant solicitors requesting that the Claimant provides copies of all documents mentioned in the statement of case [EXHIBIT A]. I requested copies of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx .
8. On xxxxxxxxxx the Claimants solicitors replied [EXHIBIT B] to my written request without the requested documents.
9: On xxxxxxxxxx I responded to the Claimant asking xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
10.To date I have not received any of the documents mentioned in the claimants claim form.
11: I have been unable to find out anything further about this alleged debt and the Claimant has failed to provide any evidence that the debt exists at all.
12: I do not know whether the alleged debt is for airtime/data or involved any credit agreement for purchase of a device.
13: I have spoken to Vodafone however they were unable to find any records relating to me at all.
14: Therefore I am unable to plead any further than in my original defence.
15: The claim is denied and as no evidence has been provided by the Claimant, I repsectfully request the claim be dismissed.

[scoey1001]

Thanks Amethyst. I managed to get in touch with the court this lunchtime and Lowell have paid the fee :-(.

Do Lowell have to send a copy of their evidence to me aswell as the court in the 14 day before hearing timescale?

Or do we only find out whether they have the documents at the hearing now?

[Amethyst]

Bummer. Ahh well, how you getting on with your WS ?

Lowell have to send a copy of their witness statement and exhibits to you before the 14 days deadline so you should know at that point where you stand.

[scoey1001]

Bummer. Ahh well, how you getting on with your WS ?

Lowell have to send a copy of their witness statement and exhibits to you before the 14 days deadline so you should know at that point where you stand.

I know! My partner just wants to settle now but i said we may aswell wait and see, you never know. Guess they will want the full amount if they produce the documents now it's come this far though?

Witness statement coming along nicely. Will post out tomorrow, do i need to send a copy to Lowell? Cheers

[jaguarsuk]

I know! My partner just wants to settle now but i said we may aswell wait and see, you never know. Guess they will want the full amount if they produce the documents now it's come this far though?

Witness statement coming along nicely. Will post out tomorrow, do i need to send a copy to Lowell? Cheers

Sometimes they'll make an offer of settlement via a Tomlin Order, which can be done right up to the day of the hearing. See what their witness statement entails and what moves they make next.

But if you do decide to settle you want it by Tomlin Order.

[Amethyst]

Yip, I def wait till you get the WS - what evidence / documents have they actually provided?
£765.77 is a lot for a phone contract that didn't have a device.
And the Default on the credit file isn't necessarily the actual default date on the account or the last payment date - have you checked back on bank statements or anything ? Any memory why the contract was cancelled/stopped etc ?

[scoey1001]

Yip, I def wait till you get the WS - what evidence / documents have they actually provided?
£765.77 is a lot for a phone contract that didn't have a device.
And the Default on the credit file isn't necessarily the actual default date on the account or the last payment date - have you checked back on bank statements or anything ? Any memory why the contract was cancelled/stopped etc ?

They haven't provided any documents yet, however i suspect they have them. Also while she doesn't have any info on the original default etc. i suspect it is in fact valid.

I'm going to send the witness statement today as it has to be there by Tuesday, Do i have to send it to Lowell aswell? thanks

[Amethyst]

Yes you need to send a copy to Lowell ( at the address for service of documents - possibly their solicitors )

[scoey1001]

Morning all,

Well Lowell sent over their defence and it isn't good news. They have original statements etc. and details of when the debt was sold on.

They also quote the template used for my defence and state it is from the 'legal beagles forum' with a copy of the webpage etc. and ask that the defence be struck out due to plagiarism or something.

My partner is calling them later today to pay the debt in full (with help from her mum) :-(

Thanks to everyone for their help, i really appreciate your efforts. But luck wasn't on our side this time. Oh well, win some lose some.

[Amethyst]

Plagarism ? They really are getting quite narky about using ''templates'' - what webpage have they copied ? If you can do a copy of there 'defence' it would be much appreciated so we can see what their issue is and try prevent it in future. ( email me if you prefer - admin@legalbeagles.info )

The original statements all look correct and your partner recognises the amounts etc ? If so and there's no dispute remaining on the debt it is probably wise to get it sorted out, if she is calling to settle it then she should inform the court as well.

[Diana M]

They also quote the template used for my defence and state it is from the 'legal beagles forum' with a copy of the webpage etc. and ask that the defence be struck out due to plagiarism or something.

Have you received a Summary Judgment Application to strike out your Defence as having no merit?

Or is this issue raised in their Witness Statement with an Exhibit?

Di

[Diana M]

My partner is calling them later today to pay the debt in full (with help from her mum)

Your partner needs advice on how to do that before she picks up the phone so that it's not seen as an admission of the claim resulting in a CCJ.

Di

[Amethyst]

How would making payment in full result in a CCJ ??

[scoey1001]

I think it is just in the witness statement. I am so worried now about what you say about admission of claim? Please does anyone know how she goes about it?

Amethyst, i could post the document later today tomorrow, but how do i blank out personal details, can i do it using adobe?

[scoey1001]

p.s they have offered her a 20% discount which ended yesterday, she was hoping to ring them and ask if it could be extended to today as she couldn't get in touch with them due to the bank hol.