Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

[Debita]

Hi all

I have received a 'claim form' which looks authentic on the surface of it from Northampton (CBBC) issued 24 Jan 2014. The claimant is Lowell and the address for sending payment is BW Legal and it is 'signed' in type from Sean Barton. The particulars of claim are similar to those I have seen people on here worrying about - the original agreement apparently being with Shop Direct etc and interest added on etc etc.

It appears genuine on the face of it - but then again, I have not seen one of these before - I decided to use the on-line option to respond to this claim - I registered on moneyglaim.gov.uk etc. Have my Gateway ID, MCOL number etc etc. Am fully logged in. However, when it comes to entering the claim number and password given on the claim form to respond it is not accepted. I have tried various combinations and it is definitely the password that is not being accepted. I have typed it in exactly as it is on the form - using lower and upper case etc as given.

I am unsure now of how to proceed - part of me wants to email BW Legal - Sean Barton - part of me wants to phone the court number to find out if it is a real document - and part of me wants to just go to bed and ignore it thank you very much!

My biggest concern here is that it is not a valid claim form and has been used to scare others, in more vulnerable situations, to respond to claims that are no longer legitimate under limitation laws.

I will phone the court number given on Monday to find out for sure if it is a valid claim or not but just wondered if any others had also tried the on-line response does not register with the court service?

Best wishes to all

Debita

[mystery1]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

It'll be genuine.

I was adamant a claim of mine had a duff password then spotted the j was J. I am 99% sure it's something like this.

Post up the particulars of claim.

M1

[Debita]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Thanks M1

There are 4 peices of paper - top is NICPC Claim form (06.12) It is printed but no other 'stamp' on it other than the printed one - do they not stamp these over with the official court stamp?

Particulars of claim:
The Claimant's Claim is for the sum of XXXX being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a Mail Order agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 between the Defendant and Shop Direct Finance Company Limited.

under account reference XXXXXXX and assigned to the Claimant on 30/12/2010 notice of which has been given to the Defendant.
The Defendant failed to maintain the contractual payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with.

The Claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8.00% per annum (a daily rate of 0.48) from the date of the assignment of the agreement to the date of issue (23/01/2014) being an amount of XXXX.

On the back of this page there is information - Please read these notes carefuly - they will help you decide what to do next.

There are 3 other peices of paper - Respnse pack N9CPC Response Pack (04.06), N9A(CPC) Form of Admission (specified amount) (04.06) and Defence and Counterclaim N9B (CPC) Defence and Counterclaim (specified amount) (04.13).

I am absolutely sure that I am entering the password correctly but it is not recognised at all. Three other people have also tried! None of the lower case letters could be mistaken for others - there is f t and g in there E L and 3 numbers. The date of assignment is wrong also.

Thanks,
Debita

[lozza]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

hi. we have the same form and are asking the exact same questions .......... any help would b appreciated thanks

[lozza]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

hi. we have the same form and are asking the exact same questions .......... any help would b appreciated thanks

[Nibbler]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Lowells sometimes use all sorts of dirty tactics, but I don't think even they are low or daft enough to issue fake claim forms. They issue plenty of genuine ones.

So I would presume there is some error here at the MCOL end, or something just as simple as not using the correct case for the pw. I recall for example a case sometime back where claim forms were issued but the MCOL site you can access didn't get updated with the case details quick enough so for a day or two after receipt of the forms it didn't recognise the case.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/nor...sked-questions

Defendant frequently asked questions

How do I file a response on MCOL?

You will need to register for a Government Gateway account on the MCOL homepage. Once you have logged in, you will then see an option to ‘Respond to a Claim made against you’ on the bottom right hand side of the page. Log into your claim here, using the claim number and password on your N1 claim form.
You must keep a note of your Government Gateway log in details, as you may not re-register and log into your claim from a different Government Gateway account.

My password doesn’t seem to be working – what should I do?

Ensure the CAPS lock key is off. Input the password exactly as it is printed on the claim form - it is case sensitive and it will not be recognised unless you input the exact combination of upper case letters, lower case letters and numbers. Ensure that you are reading the password correctly – e.g. if you see a character that looks like a ‘0’ (zero), it may be an upper case letter O.

Do I have to use MCOL to file my response or are there any other ways I can do this?

MCOL is only one way of responding to a claim. If you are having problems logging in, or would prefer not to use MCOL, you can fax, email or post your response to the Court instead. If you send your response by e mail please send it to MCOL@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk and ensure you quote “Claim response” in the subject field. If you are fully admitting to the claim then the admission form should be sent to the claimant directly and not to the court

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/nor...rt-bulk-centre

Money Claim On Line (MCOL) 0300 123 1057/ 01604 619402

[Debita]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Thanks M1 you were right it is genuine -aw:
I had input the Claim number wrong - got my O and 0 muddled! What a numpty!

Nibbles, thank you for your reply also. It was indeed their dirty tactics in the past that made me question its authenticity when I had difficulty logging into MCOL.

I've admitted it in part and am disputing the interest and have offered them £6 a month. My situation is dire, which Lowells well know and can't offer more than that as don't have it.

Sorry Lozza, looks likely yours is genuine too!

[rsp85]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Hi

I had the same form regarding Lowell and Shop Direct. I simply returned the form disputing the claim. The dates and figures do not add up. I asked Bryan Carter, acting on behalf of Lowell, to provide evidence of the debt that I owe. They replied saying my account is on hold until Lowell give them instructions on how to proceed. They have failed to provide me with anything and since then and offered to discuss payment options out of court, which I have denied. I have had a long on-going dispute with them as they seem to pick figures from thin air! I was paying them for a while and when reviewing my statements I was actually in more debt with the crooks. It is only recently I have looked further into Lowell and found so many people are getting ripped off by them.

[lozza]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Thanks M1 you were right it is genuine -aw:
I had input the Claim number wrong - got my O and 0 muddled! What a numpty!

Nibbles, thank you for your reply also. It was indeed their dirty tactics in the past that made me question its authenticity when I had difficulty logging into MCOL.

I've admitted it in part and am disputing the interest and have offered them £6 a month. My situation is dire, which Lowells well know and can't offer more than that as don't have it.

Sorry Lozza, looks likely yours is genuine too!

oh smashing. something else to worry about. thanku for your help. i have no ink in my printer so im going to email them the requests for credit agreements etc. will that b ok ? am rushing as the issue date on the claim form is 27th jan so i need to dispute the claim . do i go on mcol and then wait for lowells/bw legal to respond ? is it 7 days i give them ?

any help again would be appreciated. trying to sort this in between childcare and working . wish they would just bog off. :tinysmile_kiss_t4:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

oh smashing. something else to worry about. thanku for your help. i have no ink in my printer so im going to email them the requests for credit agreements etc. will that b ok ? am rushing as the issue date on the claim form is 27th jan so i need to dispute the claim . do i go on mcol and then wait for lowells/bw legal to respond ?

You have to acknowledge the claim on MCOL within 14 days of the date of SERVICE, which is calculated by adding 5 days to the date on the claim. That means you should acknowledge before the 15th , once you do that and state your intention to defend, you have a further 14 days.

Official documents such as CCA and CPR requests should be sent by recorded delivery. In the case of a CCA request, you also need to send the £1 fee so it probably pays to find a place where you can get them printed if you haven't already done so.

is it 7 days i give them ?

7 days for a request under CPR31.14, 14 days for a CCA request.

[Roy Clayton]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

Hi Debita
If you want to know what other dirty tactics you will encounter on the way to court I have several posts on LB that you may find useful. I won my case in the Appeal court, but I was amazed at the lengths Lowell will go to. Lowell have a standard procedure in all cases and it works well. Ideally go for a Section 7 DPA request by recorded delivery.
Good luck

[lozza]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

You have to acknowledge the claim on MCOL within 14 days of the date of SERVICE, which is calculated by adding 5 days to the date on the claim. That means you should acknowledge before the 15th , once you do that and state your intention to defend, you have a further 14 days.

Official documents such as CCA and CPR requests should be sent by recorded delivery. In the case of a CCA request, you also need to send the £1 fee so it probably pays to find a place where you can get them printed if you haven't already done so.

7 days for a request under CPR31.14, 14 days for a CCA request.

hi. i did the mcol thing. sent cca request to lowell on 7th feb .... no reponse....... cpr to bw legal response was they couldnt do anything unless i rang them to confirm data protection blABLA... told them no way i would be ringing them and what did they need to know i would all be in writing ..... and they also had a cheek etc.... no response. i had to do it by email as i was running out of time . im stuck . what next ? trying to work and juggle children and this is hardwork ! help
thanks

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

hi. i did the mcol thing. sent cca request to lowell on 7th feb .... no reponse.......

The have 14 days to respond to a CCA request so they're not yet in default.

cpr to bw legal response was they couldnt do anything unless i rang them to confirm data protection blABLA... told them no way i would be ringing them and what did they need to know i would all be in writing ..... and they also had a cheek etc.... no response. i had to do it by email as i was running out of time . im stuck . what next ? trying to work and juggle children and this is hardwork ! help
thanks

Normally you'd be advised not to ring anyone, however, when a claim has been issued and you are running out of time, you may want to ring them and say that if they can't comply with your request in 7 days as per the CPR letter, they should agree to an extension of up to 28 days under CPR 15.5. You can discuss that over the phone and then get them to send you confirmation by email, so you can notify the court.

If all else fails, you can opt for an unless order to force compliance, however, that's a last resort and you'd need to show the steps you've taken to get BWL to comply, keep a record of every letter, email and phone call. :thumb:

[Roy Clayton]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

I would urge anyone who has never received a Notice of Assignment from Lowell to make the ICO and OFT aware. I would urge anyone who has a default they did not know about listed on their credit file to report it to the ICO. I would urge anyone who feels that Lowell is obstructing Data Protection Act requests, CCA requests and CPR requests to report this to the ICO and the OFT. At some point this issue will be raised in the media and the ICO may act based on the numbers.

[Celestine]

Re: Is Lowell/BW Legal 'Claim Form' bogus???

I am aware of several very recent incidences of abuse of Litigants in Person making cpr 31.14 requests.

I've challenged them on it in recent days, flat denial, but it keeps happening. I think we need to encourage people to record any LIP calls to Lowell/BW Legal.

Claimants are being told they can't have the documents because the claim is now at court stage or similar nonsense.