FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

[Amethyst]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hiya, Here's the basic example defence for no documents - http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...t-Court-Claims - you can start having a work through that - you can't use the CCA issues though but you can bring up the CPR 31.14 request and no evidence of agreement, assignment, default or the debt at all has come from the claimant. You should also put in there about the issues with the contract and how you tried to terminate due to their failure/breach of contract. If you have a start on a draft and post up - don't worry about wording too much just get the facts in - we can give you a hand to polish it up a bit xxx

Has Lee managed to find anything for you about your account ?

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi Lee,

Thank you for replying to this thread, I have done as requested, and the automated email response has the following no for your reference: #12743279

Hi FrogsLegs,

I've got your email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi Lee,

Did you manage to look into the account?

Thanks

Hi FrogsLegs,

I've got your email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi FrogsLegs,

Thanks for your time yesterday.

If you need to speak to me again, let me know.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

I've finally managed to compile my defence ready for submission to MCOL, [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION], [MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION], [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] would you kindly review this for me and let me know your thoughts (It has to be submitted in 48 hours uersmiley

I received the claim XXXX from the Northampton County Court on 10/02/2016.

Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

This claim is for a telecommunications contract with Vodafone.

The contract was entered into by Vodafone and myself in 2008, and was later renewed in April of 2010 for a further period of 24 months. At the point of renewal, a new handset was sent to me by Vodafone.

The handset began to present problems after a few months of use, becoming unfit for the purpose of a “mobile telephone” as described by Vodafone and the contract.

After several calls between Vodafone technical support and myself over a period of many months the handset was finally taken in for repair later in 2010.
The mobile handset continued to present the same sluggish, unresponsive behaviour and was again taken in for repair in February 2011. Vodafone refused to admit fault with the handset, and would not allow me to terminate the contract after being returned to me in the same, unusable state for a second time. At this point Vodafone were in breach of the contract for failing to provide the services agreed, and for not agreeing to termination of the specified contract due to their failures mentioned above.

As a result, and according to the Claimant, Vodafone then assigned the account to Claimant - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.

The Claimant's statement of case states that the alleged account was assigned from Vodafone to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd on 30th of August 2013. I, the Defendant do not recall receiving any notice of assignment.

On 11/02/2016 I sent a (recorded) request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Lowell Solicitors. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment. I sent a further request to Lowell Solicitors on 25/02/2016 requesting a copy of the aforementioned documents, again Lowell Solicitors failed to respond.
Lowell Solicitors have not sent any of these documents to me.

I have asked the Claimant if we may agree to extend the time period allowed for filing of my defence pending receipt of documents (as allowed under CPR 15.5), the Claimant has also failed to respond to this request.

Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

I request the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for me to fully plead my case else the Claim should stand struck out.
In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.
It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth
...

Does that make sense, and is there anything stupid that perhaps shouldn't be there?

Thank you all for taking the time xx

[Amethyst]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hiya xx

Think we need to put what the contract included - handset, text messages, airtime minutes etc

Then the handset is not fit for purpose, thus rendering the airtime and SMS bits useless.

Also that you paid monthly until the breach of contract ( ie them failing to repair twice and refusing to help further or replace )

And that you informed them you were terminating the contract ( do you have copies of any comms for use later in witness statementS?)

Also dates a a tad vague - any way you can narrow down the ' few months' - ie when you contacted them, when they first took the phone to repair, when they returned it and when you sent it back again etc.

What was the outcome with Lee btw?

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Thank you [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION], I'll work on those points and post an update shortly. Lee was very helpful, mainly in giving dates when the contract was taken out, last payment date (15th Feb 2011), upgrade date (April 2010), when the account was sold to Lowell (August 2013). There is only a log of when the the phone was last taken in for repair (27th Feb 2011), Vodafone keep no previous records.

Lee also stated that Vodafone only keep contracts for six years and that there was no signed contract between myself and Vodafone, only a signature on receipt of the phone. Not too sure if there's anything else I should have chased Lee for?

Many thanks

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

[MENTION=19723]Lee Vodafone Company Rep[/MENTION], I have a few more questions I'd like to ask you if possible. Can you please call me tomorrow or as soon as you're available?

Thank you

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

[MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION], I have updated my Defence to include the points you mention. I will try and contact Lee to discuss dates in greater detail tomorrow.

How does this look to you?

I received the claim XXXXX from the Northampton County Court on 10/02/2016.
Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.
This claim is for a telecommunications contract with Vodafone.
The contract was entered into by Vodafone and myself in 2008, and was later renewed in April of 2010 for a further period of 24 months. The renewed contract included a Nokia mobile handset, call time minutes and text messages to use as a part of the contract.
The handset provided under the contract began to present problems within weeks of use, becoming slow and unresponsive. Eventually the handset became unfit for the purpose of a “mobile telephone” as described by Vodafone and the contract. I called Vodafone technical support on several occasions to discuss issues with the handset, during which I followed instructions to reset the phone to factory defaults. Each time, consequently (and inconveniently) losing all data stored on the phone. The handset was eventually taken in for repair in November of 2010.
The mobile handset continued to present the same sluggish, unresponsive behaviour when it was returned to me in December 2010. And was again taken in for repair in February 2011. Vodafone refused to admit fault with the handset, and would not allow me to terminate the contract despite it being returned to me in the same, unusable state for a second time.
The phone was in such an unusable state it did not allow me to utilise the agreed call time minutes, or text messages Vodafone agreed to provide under the contract.


I believe Vodafone were in breach of the contract for failing to provide the services agreed, and for not agreeing to termination of the contract due to their failures mentioned above.
Until the breach of contract, I had paid monthly (since 2008) for the services as agreed under the terms of the contract.
I called Vodafone in February of 2011 to notify them I would be terminating the contract with immediate effect, from which point no further correspondence from Vodafone was received.
As a result, according to the Claimant, Vodafone then assigned the account to Claimant - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.
The Claimant's statement of case states that the alleged account was assigned from Vodafone to Lowell Portfolio I Ltd on 30th of August 2013. I, the Defendant do not recall receiving any notice of assignment.
On 11/02/2016 I sent a (recorded) request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Lowell Solicitors. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment. I sent a further request to Lowell Solicitors on 25/02/2016 requesting a copy of the aforementioned documents, again Lowell Solicitors failed to respond.
Lowell Solicitors have not sent any of these documents to me.
I have asked the Claimant if we may agree to extend the time period allowed for filing of my defence pending receipt of documents (as allowed under CPR 15.5), the Claimant has also failed to respond to this request.
Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.
I request the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for me to fully plead my case else the Claim should stand struck out.
In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.
It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Again, thank you xx

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

[MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] do you think there's anything I should add / remove from my defence before filing to MCOL? I'm reading this back and wondering just this is going to stand up in court...

Many thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

That looks good

Add a bit to the front of this -

In order to check the terms of the contract, On 11/20/2016.....

On 11/02/2016 I sent a (recorded) request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Lowell Solicitors. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment. I sent a further request to Lowell Solicitors on 25/02/2016 requesting a copy of the aforementioned documents, again Lowell Solicitors failed to respond.
Lowell Solicitors have not sent any of these documents to me.

then at the end...

and I have been unable to confirm the terms of cancellation or service.

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Thanks [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION],

Do you think this will have a chance of standing up in court given I can't prove anything in my defence? Will they simply not look at it and think "the defendant has admitted to contract therefore owes the money, case closed"!

Just a bit worried at this stage.. I'll be filing in a few hours.

That looks good

Add a bit to the front of this -

In order to check the terms of the contract, On 11/20/2016.....



then at the end...

and I have been unable to confirm the terms of cancellation or service.

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi FrogsLegs,

Thanks for keeping your thread up to date.

Regarding your post on 7 March at 10.52pm, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

[FrogsLegs]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi All,

Just a quick update (been a while I know). I've heard absolutely nothing back from these clowns since submitting my evidence. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad.. Any idea if the court will update me on the case at any point as I know Lowell only had so long to reply back to court after my evidence was submitted..

Many thanks

[nemesis45]

Re: FrogsLegs - Court Claim - Lowell / Vodafone - 8-2-2016

Hi All,

Just a quick update (been a while I know). I've heard absolutely nothing back from these clowns since submitting my evidence. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad.. Any idea if the court will update me on the case at any point as I know Lowell only had so long to reply back to court after my evidence was submitted..

Many thanks

If you have filed a defence and had no response then the court may have stayed the claim, you will have to phone the court office to find out as you are Not informed when this happens.

nem