County Court Claim - Overdales

[Evie007]

Good evening everyone,

I'm sorry for the long post - I desperately need some help with a situation I've found myself in. I'll keep to the point as much as I can but here goes:

I received a Letter of Claim from Overdales on 28 February. It was for three debts and the letter states:

1) On 21.04.2015 you entered into an agreement with New Day Ltd to provide you with a Debenhams account numbered XXXX. You failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of the agreement, it was later terminated and subsequently assigned to our client on 30.11.2016. Notice of the Assignment has previously been give to you and you may request a copy of the agreement on the enclosed reply form.

2) On 10.06.2013 you entered into an agreement with JD Williams and Company Limited to provide you with a Fashion World account numbered XXXX. You failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of the agreement, it was later terminated and subsequently assigned to or client on 21.12.2016. Notice of the assignment has previously been given to you and you may request a copy on the enclosed reply form.

3) On 09.10.2015 you entered into an agreement with Sky UK Limited to provide you with a Sky UK Limited account numbered XXXXX. You failed to make payment in accordance with the terms of the contract, it was later terminated and subsequently assigned to our client on 16.10.2020. Notice of the assignment has previously been given to you and you may request a copy of the terms and conditions on the enclosed reply form. Despite our clients attempts to engage with you and agree a suitable payment plan there is a balance which remains unpaid.

On receipt of this letter, I sent a CCA request. The amounts claimed are as follows:

1) New Day -£744.74
2) JD Williams - £1247.65
3) Sky - £109.50

On 8 March I received a reply from Overdales:

"Thank you for your recent correspondence. The account is a consolidation of three Lowell accounts, the details are as follows:
Lowell reference - XXXXXX - original creditor New Day Ltd
Lowell reference - XXXXXX - original creditor J D Williams
Lowell reference - XXXXX - original creditor - SKY UK Limited.

We confirm that we have requested a copy of the Agreement for the New Day and JD Williams accounts. A response will be sent to you in regards to this upon receipt.

In regards to the Sky UK account, this debt does not arise under an agreement for credit and therefore it is not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This means that the original creditor is not required to retain a copy of the agreement, if it was in writing, and therefore we are unable to obtain a copy.

If the matter proceeds, we may ask the court to accept that there was a contract based on other evidence that may be available. Accounts of this type can obtained by telephone or over the internet and therefore it is possible that no signed contract ever existed, or that it was entered into by electronic signature online.

However else agreed, the terms and conditions would also have been provided in writing inside the box containing the mobile device and/or SIM card, under a seal drawing them to your attention and stating that use of the device or SIM card and phone line, would confirm your acceptance of them.

Please confirm your intentions with regards to payment.

Failure to contact us could lead to a claim being issued, with further costs incurred."

On 6 April I received a County Court Claim through the post. I am so shocked as I thought they were writing to tell me that they were waiting on their client to produce the CCA docs. I feel absolutely gutted as I have spent the last five years of my life struggling to improve my credit and improve both my own and childrens lives. We are finally getting there but now I am faced with this.

After receiving the Letter of Claim, I phoned Sky and spoke to a team member who told me that there was no outstanding balance due which I found odd. I explained to him that I had received a letter from Overdales and he spent a further amount of time looking through the system. He concluded that he still could not see an outstanding debt. He gave me his name and Employee ID number for my reference. I have had broadband with Sky in the past and an Ipad contract but I know for a fact that was paid in full and nothing remained outstanding.

With regard to the New Day account, I have had a several store cards from New Day including two Debehams cards. I cannot recall receiving any default notice or Assignment notification.

This is where it now gets tricky! With reference to the JD Williams account - I do have knowledge of this as I made an affordability complaint to them last year. I wont go into all of that now but they have acted deplorably to me over the years - During very difficult times, I had four open accounts and unfortunately at a very low time I found it difficult to keep up with the repayments and hundreds of pounds of fees and interest. Sadly,(but not surprisingly) JD Williams did not uphold my complaint (which I now understand is common practice for them), and I sent it to FOS to be investigated. I phoned FOS today as i referred it to them back in October last year and explained that I had received a Letter of Claim from Overdales. They have agreed to escalate my case and have it looked into next week. I am so grateful for this as I have a really good chance of winning. During my call to FOS the lady asked for Overdales email and the reference as she said she would email them to say they were looking into the matter, but now I kicking myself as I think this may be the wrong thing to do.

I am so down by everything now, thinking have I done the right thing contacting FOS...maybe it would have been better to see if Overdales could have come up with the info that I have requested. Can FOS even help if it has gone to court?

Can someone please help me. What is the best way forward. What do I fill out in the defence form and how do I request more time on the online claim form? Ive had a look but cant see where you do this. I am so sorry for this long winded post, I though it better to lay everything out to be clear.

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this.

[MIKE770]

coming up to statute barred date, they are having a last try?? do not rely on FOS they can take a few years as I well know. JD Williams they always side with i have found.

Pre-Action Letters read


they will have to supply agreements etc later, they will no doubt issue claim but then they have to supply some stage to get their house in order i,e, agreement (awkward ones are on line cross with a taken out after 20067(April)).

as far as sky goes you want letter of agreement to the service with the actual T & Cs at the time! (mention about the conversation to sky in a letter to solicitors).

Subject Access Request Letter = meantime send this letter to each supplier no charge and that will show what they have on file and can be useful later on. for lowells to do things last minute is to stop statute barred and pressure you to give up and pay for their next xmas party (Pun)., they tend to do court BUT can even at the last minute discontinue last minute before losing their deposit with the court, by then they hopoe people panok and pay up, proof posting keep copy on a file.

regardless of FOS investigation a court will continue = some judges wait FOS response but put a final date on case if not responded to you by then continue case, many judges know it means nothing as I found out the FOS say court case happening they will not interfere.

but the next thing they tend to do is issue claim form when they do come back here? try not panic. sure others will comment also. echat11 may take a look as well for you?

[Evie007]

Thank you so much for your advice…I feel slightly better now I have people to help me.

with regards to the claim form what do I write?

I am unsure what to put for the JD Williams one - When I spoke to FOS yesterday they said someone would phone me next week to look at the case. I am concerned as I read that FOS won’t deal with cases subject to court action but in fairness I put this case to them last year when there was no sign of any action.

they said they were going to email Overdales to try and stop the action on the jd Williams debt..perhaps I shouldn’t have given them the details but I was put on the spot.

Again, many thanks for all advice…,I feel lost at sea at the minute.

[echat11]

Firstly, you don't know the result of your recent interaction with the FOS. If Lowells was aware that the matter was with the FOS, then they shouldn't have commenced legal action. That is what you need to determine.

If they had commenced legal action and then you made a complaint to the FOS, they wouldn't look into your complaint as there would be proceedings started.

So don't beat yourself up about it.

'Complaints that involve court action


There may be some circumstances or situations where we won't look into a complaint, because it isn't appropriate for us to do so. For example, this might be where the subject matter of the complaint would be better dealt with by a court, or where court action is already ongoing.'


Fill in the following:

Received a claim? Yes/No:
Issue Date:
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?:
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000)
Claimant’s Name:
Solicitors Firm:
Original Creditor:
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) :
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?):
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

You need to do the following (remember these service agreements aren't covered by the CCA 1974, so you need to amend the templates accordingly)

a) What you need to do is Acknowledge Service online, that will give you an extra 14 days to work on you defence, so that 28 days in total, plus 5 days (post).

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ledge-a-claim/

b) Send Overdales a request for each account (if it's a service agreement, amend removing all CCA 1974 references, ask for a copy), they have 14 days to provide you with a copy of your original agreements (or in some cases reconstituted agreement). Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...etter-example/

c) Send Overdales a CPR 31.14 Request, they have 12 days to provide documents they are relying to make the claim. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/

d) Send Lowell's a SAR for the accounts, they have 30 days to provide all the details on the account. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

Make sure you get your defence in on time, so 28 days from the date of the claim letter, note it in your diary. There is an example defence on this site.

Raise a Formal Complaint with Overdales in writing, if they ignored PAP, follow their complaints procedure -

https://www.overdales.com/complaints/

[echat11]

Thank you so much for your advice…I feel slightly better now I have people to help me.

with regards to the claim form what do I write?

I am unsure what to put for the JD Williams one - When I spoke to FOS yesterday they said someone would phone me next week to look at the case. I am concerned as I read that FOS won’t deal with cases subject to court action but in fairness I put this case to them last year when there was no sign of any action.

they said they were going to email Overdales to try and stop the action on the jd Williams debt..perhaps I shouldn’t have given them the details but I was put on the spot.

Again, many thanks for all advice…,I feel lost at sea at the minute.

Because they've lumped all 3 debts together, they would have to amend their claim and remove JD Williams from the claim. To be honest, you'll need to wait to see how they decide to proceed. There seems no logic to their actions so far, they ignored PAP.

Just to add, you need to do all the stuff in post 4. You can leave out sending the CCA, as you've done that, they acknowledged but haven't sent the documentation.

[Evie007]

Do o need to make Overdales aware that the JD Williams account is with FOS (even though FOS told me yesterday that they would email them)?

[echat11]

Do o need to make Overdales aware that the JD Williams account is with FOS (even though FOS told me yesterday that they would email them)?

JD Williams would have given you a 'deadlock' letter, thus allowing to lodge a complaint with the FOS. So I'm fairly sure that the creditor knows, but I think it's a 'good idea' to let them know, do it in writing. Explain that a complaint was lodged with the FOS regarding JD Williams, that pre dates the commencement of legal action.

[Evie007]

Again, many thanks for guiding me through the process. I have just a couple of queries:

Who do I send the following to?

Received a claim? Yes/No:
Issue Date:
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?:
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000)
Claimant’s Name:
Solicitors Firm:
Original Creditor:
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) :
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?):
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

Other Queries:

1) With regards to the acknowledgement of service, I am doing this online. Do I fill out the defence at this stage - I thought we were sending out the CPR letters to enable us to then complete them on receipt of evidence from the clamant/solicitor? Or do I leave that empty for now?

2) I am still unsure how I can ask for more time on the online form.

3) With regard to the CPR 31.14 letter, do I mention that the JD Williams debt is subject to a FOS investigation? (for info, an investigator from FOS has emailed me to request further info about my complaint about JD Williams so I think they are looking to expedite matters now and conduct the investigation).

4) On the Court Claim form am I defending ALL of the claim (clearly if I mention my JD Williams account is subject to a FOS investigation then I am admitting there is a debt due)

5) Do I mention that I have spoken with SKY who have indicated they have no knowledge of any debt due.

Sorry for the questions, I want to make sure I get things right.

[Evie007]

Hi again,
ive just gone onto the MCOL site, I’ve completed the acknowledgement of service but it didn’t ask if I wanted more time!

Looking at other posts it seems that there should have been an option to click a box for more time but I’m at a loss .

Am I just being stupid!

[echat11]

Again, many thanks for guiding me through the process. I have just a couple of queries:

a) Who do I send the following to?

Received a claim? Yes/No:
Issue Date:
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?:
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000)
Claimant’s Name:
Solicitors Firm:
Original Creditor:
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) :
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?):
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

You don't send it to anybody, it's so that we know what's going on / what you've done or haven't done.

Other Queries:

b) 1) With regards to the acknowledgement of service, I am doing this online. Do I fill out the defence at this stage - I thought we were sending out the CPR letters to enable us to then complete them on receipt of evidence from the clamant/solicitor? Or do I leave that empty for now?

All you do is follow the instructions in post 4 (all we've said about the defence is don't forget it needs to be in within 28 days). Yes do the Acknowledgement of Service online. You need to start to prepare your defence with the information at hand and the requested information when you receive it, but in any case within 28 days. You leave the defence empty for the moment.

c) 2) I am still unsure how I can ask for more time on the online form.

When you Acknowledge Service, you get an extra 14 days. Within that time you will hopefully get information that you have requested.

d) 3) With regard to the CPR 31.14 letter, do I mention that the JD Williams debt is subject to a FOS investigation? (for info, an investigator from FOS has emailed me to request further info about my complaint about JD Williams so I think they are looking to expedite matters now and conduct the investigation).

You can do.

4) On the Court Claim form am I defending ALL of the claim (clearly if I mention my JD Williams account is subject to a FOS investigation then I am admitting there is a debt due)

Just because they are investigating, doesn't mean that a debt is due. Yes you are defending all.

5) Do I mention that I have spoken with SKY who have indicated they have no knowledge of any debt due.

This can go in your defence, but you need to get that in writing. The thing about call centers, you speak to person a, they could be bothered, will tell you nonsense, speak to person b, they are more clued up and are bothered will tell you different.

Sorry for the questions, I want to make sure I get things right.

Here's a good guide -

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdf

[MIKE770]

they are more likely to come back stating it is a court process decision as case is active - they did me. in fact they took so long the judge made a determination after 3 months as it took FOS to come back and state court judgment not their 9 months later.

[Evie007]

Thanks Mike…I’ve completed the Acknowledgement of Service - does that automatically give me the extra time (14 days)? Im sure I’ve seen other posts that get a box to click if they want more time.

I just need to be clear on this point otherwise my head will be buzzing

[MIKE770]

PART 10 - ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SERVICE - Justice.gov.uk

https://www.justice.gov.uk › courts › civil › rules › part...
The period for filing an acknowledgment of service ... (b) 14 days after service of the claim form in any other case. (2) The general rule is subject to the ...

[Evie007]

Hi again,
Just an update:

Thanks to your ongoing help I have prepared the following:

1) CPR 31.14 letter sent to Lowell and Overdales
I have added that the JD Williams matter is currently in the hands of FOS so goodness knows what they will make of that.

2) SAR to Sky and Lowell.

I have also emailed Overdales requesting a copy of the SKY UK Ltd Agreement referencing Terms and Conditions, and a full breakdown/statement of account including interest/charges and any default notices relating to the alleged debt. (I had sent the formal CCA request letter prior to receiving the court claim but they replied the SKY debt isnt covered under the CCA regs. I have mentioned that in their previous correspondence they have stated "terms and conditions would have been provided in writing inside the box containing the mobile device". This is strange as I have never had a mobile phone from Sky and I have also mentioned in my email that I have contacted SKY who have said there appears to be no outstanding debt under the reference number provided.

I am getting these letters posted recorded later today so if any of you helpful people get the chance to comment that would be grand.

As always, thank you for your help.

[echat11]

1) CPR 31.14 letter sent to Lowell and Overdales
I have added that the JD Williams matter is currently in the hands of FOS so goodness knows what they will make of that.

You only need to send the CPR 31.14 to Overdales, no point sending it to Lowell's.

2) SAR to Sky and Lowell.

That's finem send SAR to both.

I have also emailed Overdales requesting a copy of the SKY UK Ltd Agreement referencing Terms and Conditions, and a full breakdown/statement of account including interest/charges and any default notices relating to the alleged debt. (I had sent the formal CCA request letter prior to receiving the court claim but they replied the SKY debt isnt covered under the CCA regs. I have mentioned that in their previous correspondence they have stated "terms and conditions would have been provided in writing inside the box containing the mobile device". This is strange as I have never had a mobile phone from Sky and I have also mentioned in my email that I have contacted SKY who have said there appears to be no outstanding debt under the reference number provided.

Yep, it is strange, sometimes they use templated responses.

I am getting these letters posted recorded later today so if any of you helpful people get the chance to comment that would be grand.

As always, thank you for your help.