How to defend a claim in the small claims court

[theenquirer]

Hello,

I have received a claim form form a firm of solicitors, of all people, for fees, for bad service, that I have refused to pay. I did not ignore their letters claiming the money and I made clear the nature of my complaint about their services. However, the claim is for £1400, including costs so it may not be worth hiring a solicitor to represent me as it could cost me more, especially if I lose. I have defended and made claims myself, before, but I do not want to make mistakes.


I paid the solicitors a good amount of money but I refused to pay more because they were abusing.


So that is why I am here asking for advice. Under these circumstances, what would be the best way to work on this one? Get advice from someone, but who? get a solicitor on a fixed fee, get a MacKenzie friend?

Does anybody know people who can help on this kind of thing without charging people as if they were a corporation.

I have forgotten how long the court gives to reply.


BTW, the claim is personal, not related to business.

Thanks

[MIKE770]

• Acknowledge a Claim
• Check Your Dates
• CPR 31.14 Request for all detail mentioned in the claim form to solicitors

[MIKE770]

nore real detail needed

[echat11]

As you were disputing the solicitors fees, you could have got a final response / deadlock letter and lodged a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, but because legal proceedings has started, that option is no longer available.

[theenquirer]

As you were disputing the solicitors fees, you could have got a final response / deadlock letter and lodged a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, but because legal proceedings has started, that option is no longer available.

I see. I was going to complain anyhow, maybe after the court process.

[theenquirer]

nore real detail needed

I have not done here as I was first asking from whom to get help. I would have to put all the documents here and I cannot do that. It will have to be in private.

[MIKE770]

Sorry open question answers no documents unles asked without any knowledge without personal details and references is all we ask so that responses may be afforded

[MIKE770]

Celestine may able to look in here

[Celestine]

The process of defending the claim will be broadly as per our guides, but you will need to draft a defence setting out clearly why you dispute these fees and the processes you have explored thus far to resolve the problem.
Ultimately, if your concerns and complaints are valid, the court could actually sort them out for you, so I'd start jotting down a fairly detailed timeline of what happened, when and why.
You need to think whether you need to request any documents from them to defend your case.

[theenquirer]

The process of defending the claim will be broadly as per our guides, but you will need to draft a defence setting out clearly why you dispute these fees and the processes you have explored thus far to resolve the problem.
Ultimately, if your concerns and complaints are valid, the court could actually sort them out for you, so I'd start jotting down a fairly detailed timeline of what happened, when and why.
You need to think whether you need to request any documents from them to defend your case.

We'll do, thank you.
Yes, I will need their documents. They claim they are charging for hours on days in which I claim they did not work for me. Also, in their final letter, they did not attach anything like time sheets, which makes me think it was not a proper letter before action.