Money Claim going to trial as i disputed all of it , customer full of lies

[Lipsy1982]

wow where do i start
i will try and keep this short somehow haha.
firstly hello and thankyou in advance for any information regarding my issue .

Last year in december 2022 a customer google searched and got my limited company to remove and clear her flat local to me in surrey.
we also arranged a deep clean and the customer was satisfied and very happy .
she was talking to me and required a few bits done to the property before she rented it out after christmas at the end of january 2023.
i took on the job and sent her a quote from my ltd company invoice.

i said i need to come and measure but she was going to let me know when , i recieved a whats app picture later that night with a floor plan and it stated the size in square meters so i based her rough quotes on what she provided

the works requied was to remove all carpets and flooring throughout the 2 bed large flat and toilet vinyl and kitchen ect and replace with nice high end wood flooring ect
also retile 2 missing tiles in baathroom.

i sent a good quote with 3 different options and used her flat showing what it would look like for each option when completed.
her word big it up on the price and went for the most expensive.

i think the quote was around £5400 and i stated rough quote in the email.


she went on to say that her property to rent has failed its epc assesment and she needed certain bits done before she could legally rent it out so i tried helping and she emailed me the assesment of whats required and i spoke to my electrician friend and he said there is a lot involved and expense and a gas engineer ect .

the next day i said i need to measure but forgot my tape in the van and she was saying how busy she was and just needs it done and that she sent me the floorplan so i just agreed but stated rough in the quote .
i met her at the property to collect £4200 deposit in cash but she never got my other email she said or missed it so she only had £1000 on her so i explained i needed the rest then she said meet her at her house at another location later for the rest in cash.

also not to worry about the epc assesment as she is just going to rent it out a bit cheaper to the council to a friend who will ask no questions and shes not paying out anymore money if she dont have too.

then she said actually my new tennant is on his way no to sign the tenancy can you just be a witness which i agreed to stand there while he signed.

i explained to her due to chritmas peroid the delivery of materials would be around jan the 5th ect so we agreed a start date i think on the 6th of jan 2023

i missed a call from her over christmas not sure when maybe on the 27th then

on the 27th of december i posted a christmas picture of me and my fiance on facebook and she commented on that saying that we both are thieves and that i have conned her of £4200 and got her flat keys

very harsh so i quickly removed it and deleted it then emailed her , i asked why she did that and slandered me and my fiance and she ignored the question and basicilly said thanks for getting in touch and re assuring me ( i should of walked away then ) so acting proffesinally i carried on with the project .

i got an email saying the materials delivery was delayed until the the 10th of jan upto 10pm so i let her know and as we was past the start date i said i would load it all up and bring it up to her 1st floor flat , it arrived at 8pm so i did do what i said until late that eveing .

originally i said 5 days to complete as she was moving the new tennant in on the 17th

i was there the next day working a bit later in the morning as was there the night before until midnight and i did say to her that i will work late but my children will be seeing me in the eveing and asked if i could bring them over to help me as it was an empty flat she agreed.

i had a young worker with me ( mixed race boy 16 years old )

via email and texts she kept on and on throughout the whole time about this that telling me about how she takes everyone to court and sues them about how bad people are ect

then the next morning before i arrived took lots of pictures of the waste we was going to dispose of and moaned about that it was put neatley on a used bed frame in one of the rooms ( thin carpet and packaging ) telling me to remove that 1st thing before anything which wasnt a problem. ( ps i think she used these pics for evidence to show judge how we left the property which is not true )

i forgot she asked me to put up two beds

then i walk in and boom the new tennant had starting moving all his stuff in slowly so one room half full of furniture and new items so we had to then move all that into another room and again.

next day the next door neighbour was there witha mate to look at the plumbing

so many distractions but still loads of grief to get done on time even tho were on only day 3

it was a friday night late and 60 percent was done and i worked out that we was going to be around 8 packs short of flooring plus vinyl payment required was still needed to complete on time so i explained over text or call out of the £1100 or so remaining could she transfer i think £800 please as its underestimated or floorplan wasnt acurate and it will be done for monday as i will work throught the weekend sat and sunday ,

she initially agreed and said as long as you promise me it will be complete on the 16th so i said yes and i would take the hit on the extra materials needed.



then 2 mins later she turned saying no way complete the job then i will pay

then went on the simpathy part

telling me shes been burgled and dont need my stress either and that its all my fault for going off a floor plan and not measuring but then the lies as in her claim she stated that it said on the floor plan rough size which i have the picture and it does not say that at all.

also that i have ripped her off and she knew she would have to sue me even after 2 days to her tennant aparently

she also said im effecting her tennant now whos in remmision from cancer

lots of horrible stuff

also that she has no money to pay me and that she would have to borrow it so that then worried me even more that she in fact wouldnt pay at the end even if i did complete it .

that i should borrow the money and or sort it as its my problem

so i tried all i could as i dont want this lady to destroy me or my company i called a friend at the time to borrow the money with no luck to be honest i think he enjoyed that i was getting all this grief , we no longer talk as on another matter his true colours have shown , but he more than likely made it a lot worse for me .

so i told her that i would take my tools as i cant carry on and if and when we can sort the rest of the materials out ill finish it as agreed.

i emailed her that night giving her 2 options and she bassically told me not to go back.

i left one tall box of off cuts and underlay in the hallway and one in the bedroom but made sure it was all tidy , at least 70 percent was completed plus i left the 8 new boxes of flooring .

i was £1100 out of pocket too

i had the young boy hounding me for wages contantly with no money to pay him.

extra notes, me and my fiance got engaged on my 40th birthday 9 august 2023 when we collected togehter the depoosit from her home we just spoke about things and showed her the ring , this is used in her statement saying that must of used the money on the ring . but the job was 5 months after haha,

she sent me emails after she knew i want going back telling me about items being installed and that it may damage the underlay

that im holding poor trevor her new tennant to ransom as i kept the keys

to sum it up quickly

she has lied throughout making out im a bad person before i have even gone to court and acted fruadulantly by renting out her property , she playing on the amazing character card stating she is a retired austistic health worker , that i effected a ill man

and really she is a stuck up horrible lying woman who seems to sue everyone and treat people like rubbish caus she has a bit of money .

please note before i started the flooring i cleared the waste and i sold 3 kitchen appliances on ebay as she was too lazy to clean them and she somehow found them on ebay not sure when during the job and now using that against me saying they wasnt pat tested so i shouldnt of sold them.

i have all texts and emails and a lot of pictures .

also that she got her friend who does flooring too finish it at an additional cost of £3200 and that he ripped it all up and then also that he never ripped it all up just corrected and finished and she said he said it was herroundous haha

also she sent this to court against me personally and to an old address so i luckily i got the email and done it online , i defended it as i stated that it was issued to the wrong entity as i own my ltd comapny and she never sent me any info to tell me her intentions and i thought it was dropped then got an email saying the judge has given a chance for her to change it .
i never heard anything then now got a trial date and that she is continuing with the case

total amount is for £10k

so she wants me to pay for her new flooring too

i have screen shots of her leaving horrible reviews online to a few companies
proof of her epc assesment thst failed
proof of abuse
proof of the original quote that said rough quote
trying to get the deleted comment back off facebook for the slander

i might have proof of racism towards the young worker i had with me
all emails
all photos
all sms messages

i do suffer with adhd and ptsd which i stated she said im lying

proof of engagement and ring

i am loosing sleep now as worried she will win again so what shall i do now my court case is the 13th of december thanks lee

[R0b]

Hi,

Sorry to hear you are going through this, and is exactly the reason why all businesses should have written contracts in place to protect themselves if things go wrong, even if the terms are basic.

I don't think there is much we can help you with since you are so far down the line and you have provided a defence as well as a witness statement presumably (or the time to file one must be coming up), so it's all in the hands of what you do and say on the day.

It's difficult to say what format the judge will take but you will have your turn to say something and when you do, you need to go through it in a methodical order and explain that you will be referring to various parts of her claim and statement as well as your own evidence to prove why she is not entitled to the sums being claimed and why you think she is lying.

Many litigants in person get hung up on the wrong things trying to say the other side is nasty or its unfair or something totally irrelevant to the claim. The court is not concerned with how nice or bad someone is, their job is to decide whether the claimant is entitled to the money they are seeking and whether they have proved their case. For example, you say you have evidence of her being racist towards your worker, and however atrocious that may be, is that really relevant to the claim for not doing a good job? Equally, what has you having ADHD and PSTD got to do with the claim? You agreed to do a job and either the job was poor or not as agreed and she should be entitled to her loss of money or not. You need to decide if these things are relevant or not but if it isn't, don't waste your breath as you have very limited time to argue your case.

All I can suggest is you read through the particulars of claim and any witness statements from her or those supporting her claim and do it line by line, seeing if you can discredit what she is saying through your own evidence and use that information to argue your case in court. You may also want to raise the point about whether or not she has mitigated her losses e.g. has she tried to minimise losses by repairing the problems rather than ripping everything up and starting again? If she failed to do that then she may only be entitled to loss that would have been incurred in repairing the issues.

Also on a separate note, giving someone a quote is capable of being legally binding against the parties once accepted and thus forming a contract. You would be wise not giving a quite unless you are confident of contracting with a customer for that price. I know in your post you said rough quote but that will be up to the court to decide what is meant by that. If you have an idea of a cost but think there may be other costs involved you just are not sure, then you should provide an estimate.

It would also be sensible clarifying with customers that the quote/estimate is based on what you have seen or the information provided to you and there may be additional costs incurred by the customer if there are unforeseen issues or delays in performing the services which are caused by the customer, and you should get that agreed in writing before you start any work. That would give you at least some protection against some of the issues you have encountered.

[Pezza54]

Did you receive a revised claim form N1 with your company name on it instead of your personal name?
If not your defence that the claimant is suing the wrong entity may still stand.
You said you got an email to say that the court had given her a chance to change it. Who was the email from?
You should phone the court and ask the latest position about the name of the defendant.

[islandgirl]

Absolutely. Also I would write a very very simple version of the first post above for the day so you have it all logically and easy to understand. eg 1. date...customer requested a quote for.... 2. date customer agreed quote etc
I understand the emotion behind it all but you have to strip it out and get the detail into understandable order in my view. Good luck.

[Pezza54]

To change a defendant's name on the claim form, the claimant has to file Application Form N244 along with the appropriate court fee and 3 copies of the amended form N1.
Re-service of the amended claim form is not necessary if the original form was sent to the correct address. You stated that the claim was sent to an old address so you should have received an amended form at the correct company address.

[Lipsy1982]

Thanks guys can I post on here the actual claim forms and responses ect , if so do I need to blank out any specific information
thanks lee

[Pezza54]

Yes you can.
Blank out:
case number
claimant's name and address
If your name is stated as the defendant, delete this and type "personal name" Blank out your address
If the defendant is named as a company, delete this and type "correct company name" or "incorrect company name". Do the same with the company address.

[Lipsy1982]

This is the latest one

[Lipsy1982]

Claim

[Lipsy1982]

My claim response

[Lipsy1982]

Claimants hearing requirements

[Lipsy1982]

The bit I don’t understand is , even tho she named me as the defendant with all my new details she put my name then trading as my company name and then wrote ltd after

[Lipsy1982]

Also I ticked the box for mediation and she didn’t and I have received an email forwarded from herself and mediation email address with the claimant saying please forward this to the defendant so I know he will turn up to court and not waste any more of our time .

So not sure if she has turned up to mediation and I haven’t been informed to again make me look bad for missing something I would of turned upto

[Pezza54]

Thanks
Can you please post the quotation you provided to the claimant, with names and addresses blanked out

[Lipsy1982]

Hello pezza
I have just realised I sent the quote via email originally and most of all other communication
but sent invoice later on to include vat

I did originally send a company invoice for the cleaning and clearance before we started the flooring job
so all my business details was on that