Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

[WendyB]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

But without sight of the grounds on which they have not pursued this, then we can only assume that TS are under the illusion that they have done their job.

[Paule]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

Lets start from scratch

Can you post up all your correspondance from your dealings then we can see thwe papertrail and wht process you have done.

Remove your personal details though first.

[3guesses]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

PKea:

Ugh... so I can't sue TS through Small Claims for my time that they have wasted by refusing to do their job?


Amy:

OK, if I forget about TS and go after the retailer myself, can I sue them for the time I wasted trying to get TS to get the refund for me?


Wendy B:

Using TS to get my refund - which is, after all, their job - was supposed to be the easy way. Having wasted so much time on TS, I don't see why they should be able to simply ignore their stated duty of enforcing consumer protection legislation. In addition, I wanted a statement from TS that the retailer had failed to comply with the DSRs to strengthen my case if I had to take the retailer to court, but they have refused to do that but cannot justify their position.



natties, WendyB, PKea:

I don't have access to the correspondence at the moment. I might be able to get hold of it at the w/e. I really just wanted some informed opinion on my suing TS through the Small Claims Court for my time that they have wasted by refusing to do their job. They may be under the illusion that they have done their job, but they haven't and I'm confident enough to let a judge rule on that, but only if I can do it through Small Claims!

[Amy]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

Amy:

OK, if I forget about TS and go after the retailer myself, can I sue them for the time I wasted trying to get TS to get the refund for me?

You may include Litigant in Person costs in your claim, which I believe are £9 odd an hour, but I fail to see why the retailer should be expected to cover you for the time you have spent attempting to have Trading Standards deal with this.

[Amethyst]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

Re Trading Standards - you need to go through and exhaust the complaints process then take it to the Local Government Ombudsman. Whether compensation is involved or not will depend on them.


Re Moneyclaim against company - (tho I don't understand why you don't do a sec 75 claim/ chargeback on your c/card to get the refund) Will be quite straightforward small claims using DSR to show you acted correctly and the company do owe you the money. You can add reasonable costs in dealing with the issue but probably not hours and hours of time spent on dealing with Trading Standards.

Sometimes something gets to you like this and it can be darn frustrating...unfortunately the courts can only be of limited help in this kind of case and you have to go through the complaints channels and ombudsman.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

[quote=3guesses;113694}


natties, WendyB, PKea:

I don't have access to the correspondence at the moment. I might be able to get hold of it at the w/e. I really just wanted some informed opinion on my suing TS through the Small Claims Court for my time that they have wasted by refusing to do their job. They may be under the illusion that they have done their job, but they haven't and I'm confident enough to let a judge rule on that, but only if I can do it through Small Claims![/quote]

The reason to see the correspondence is to be able to see how they have made their decision and on the evidence the firm has presented. No one is necessarily saying that you cannot sue TS(apart from me) but it would be handy to know how they made their decision otherwise, you can lose. Confidence is good but there is nothing that is a dead cert once a case is in court. Can you post up the documents at the weekend and I am sure we can try and see how the pieces fit together. Thanks

[3guesses]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

You may include Litigant in Person costs in your claim, which I believe are £9 odd an hour, but I fail to see why the retailer should be expected to cover you for the time you have spent attempting to have Trading Standards deal with this.

For a start, I warned the retailer in my final email to them that if they refused to refund my money that I would pursue all relevant courses of action, including referring the matter to Trading Standards, and that I would charge them for the time I had to expend on the matter at a rate of £20 per hour. I would also argue that if they hadn't failed to comply with their legal obligations under the DSRs then I would not have spent hours and hours trying to get TS to enforce my rights.

[Amy]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

You can threaten anyone with whatever you like, whether a court will enforce it is another matter entirely. You will also need to show the court that you have exhausted every avenue possible before embarking on court action.

As I've said previously, LIP costs are currently £9 odd an hour. It is not a way of making money, it's to allow you to reclaim your costs and is at the Judge's discretion.

[3guesses]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

Amy:

I wasn't threatening anything: I was advising them what the costs would be if they continued to refuse to comply with their legal obligations and I consequently had to expend time and effort to get them to do so: it should not be necessary to have to take a company to court to get them to obey the law, and if you have to, they should have to compensate you for the time and effort involved. They did not dispute or disagree with my statement, so I would argue that that constitutes their tacit acceptance. I'm not trying to make money, I'm simply seeking compensation for my time and inconvenience in pursuing something completely unnecessarily.

[Amy]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

I'll be interested to see how you get on then.

[argentarius]

Re: Suing Trading Standards for Inaction

This is a surreal thread and I cannot believe it has got to 40 posts.

It is RIDICULOUS to consider taking TS to court "for not doing their job".

Their job is NOT to take individual traders to court to save you the trouble, or the up-front expense, of doing so.

Their job is to ensure that action is taken over repeated offenders to prevent them offending in future.

Seeking compensation from publicly funded bodies on spurious grounds is simply a waste of every other taxpayer's money.

Shame on you!