Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need help

[Tzvetkov]

Hello there,

I have received a court claim form from Lowell. I have also received a letter from Brian Carter solicitors advising me to expect the Claim Form in question. Both are dated 11/02/2014. Now I do not recall having an outstanding amount with Vodafone as I never had a contract with them. Having said that my previous partner had taken so much advantage of my trust in our relationship that I am still having to pay outstanding bills nearly two years since we split. She had full control of my cards and accounts that I will not be surprised to find she had made an application for a mobile phone account. It has been 2 years since we split and I am still paying big time for what is ultimately my mistake to trust someone so much.


I have done some reading on the other posts and I have actioned the claim form immediately. I logged on to the government gateway and acknowledged it. I then sent CPR 13.14 to Brian Carter and CCA along with £1 PO to Lowell. Both were sent the very next day since I received the claim form which was 15/02/2014. Both were sent Recorded Delivery. I have not had any response so far therefore I need help as to what my next step should be. Do you think if I had never signed for this account that I am standing a chance of getting it written off.


Many thanks in advance. Any help will be appreciated as I don't want to run out of time.

Regards
Nick

[Amethyst]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Sounds as though you are on top of things, well done

Unfortunately the CCA request isn't applicable in this kind of account debt but the CPR request should bring up the information to show what the debt is and any contract /agreement it is founded upon.

If you have not heard anything then you could give Bryan Carters a call asking when to expect a response to the CPR request - and explain you know nothing of any debt to Vodaphone so need the information to be able to either deny or admit the claim.

If they refuse point blank outline to them that you will be applying to the court to ask that they comply with the request, if they say they will sort documents but it will take some time, then ask them to email you agreeing to an extension of time for you to file your defence or admission after you have seen the documents.

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Many thanks for the quick reply. I will call them and keep you posted of their reply as I will probably need more help to get me through this. Especially when it is time to respond to the claim. I have not done this before and will need some guidance. I don't want to submit wrong info to the court.

Regards Nick

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

As you've got doubts over the legitimacy of the account I'd be happy to get things looked into further for you.

To enable me to do so, could you email me with your details via the Contact us form here and quote the code WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line?

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. To make sure it reaches me could you update the thread with this and I'll get back to you as soon as I can?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hello Lee,

I have done everything as requested and my reference number is: 6312618

Please let me know what have you found as I need to submit my response to the court soon

Many thanks


Regards Nick

[Amethyst]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick

Have you still had no response from BC on your CPR request ?

What date is your defence due in ?

Sharon
xx

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hello Sharon,

I just got off the phone to Bryan Carter where I spoke to a gentleman who said they have moved the defence due date to "at least 25th of March 2014" but he said I need to be checking!? He also said he will not be able to send anything in writing to confirm that, claiming a letter was already sent to me (I have not received anything). Maybe it is me being paranoid but this all sounds a bit vague coming from a lawyer.

Meanwhile I received a letter from Lowell in response to my CCA request, returning my £1 PO and saying they have no legal obligation to provide a signed agreement. They have also advised me that although they are the legal owner of the account if I need any information I need to contact Frederickson International Ltd. (I am now getting really confused).

So to sum up: my initial defence due date was 28 days after I received the claim, therefore the 11th of March but now I am told it is 25th of March (this is without any written confirmation).

Sharon I really need your help please as I am totally lost.



Many thanks.

Regards Nick

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick,

Thanks for coming back to me.

I've received your email and will get back to you as quickly as I can.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

[Amethyst]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hello Sharon,

I just got off the phone to Bryan Carter where I spoke to a gentleman who said they have moved the defence due date to "at least 25th of March 2014" but he said I need to be checking!? He also said he will not be able to send anything in writing to confirm that, claiming a letter was already sent to me (I have not received anything). Maybe it is me being paranoid but this all sounds a bit vague coming from a lawyer.

Meanwhile I received a letter from Lowell in response to my CCA request, returning my £1 PO and saying they have no legal obligation to provide a signed agreement. They have also advised me that although they are the legal owner of the account if I need any information I need to contact Frederickson International Ltd. (I am now getting really confused).

So to sum up: my initial defence due date was 28 days after I received the claim, therefore the 11th of March but now I am told it is 25th of March (this is without any written confirmation).

Sharon I really need your help please as I am totally lost.



Many thanks.

Regards Nick

Hi Nick

Okay don't worry, all is normal. What Bryan Carter have done is allowed you a 14 day extension on filing your defence. (Hence extending to 25th March from 11th March).

What you need to do - send an email to the court centre Defendant Enquiries: ccbcdefendants@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk - Quotiing your claim reference in the subject line and inform them of the agreement between the parties ( Bryan Carter/Lowell v Your name ) to Extend the period for filing the Defence to 25th March 2013 as allowed under CPR 15.5.

The letter from lowell is correct if this is a mobile phone contract debt as the CCA does not apply in such cases, however the claimants should still send information to you under the CPR, so the extension is to give them time to supply that and you to defend based on the information received.

Lee might be able to find out what the debt is which might help your decision whether to defend or negotiate a payment arrangement.

If they don't come back before the 25th with the relevant documents then you'd either apply to the court under CPR 31.14 for an 'unless order' - where they must supply the documents or their claim is struck out - OR - enter a defence based on the information you know and obviously being unable to admit or deny the debt due to lack of information, which can lead to a judge making an order along the same terms.

Just ask if I'm not clear enough, I do tend to ramble a bit xx

Best wishes

Sharon

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hello Sharon,

First of all let me apologise for the delay in my reply but I have been very busy workwise. I also want to thank you once again for all your support. I have sent the email as per your advise. So far nothing back from Bryan Carter/Lowell. Lee on the other hand phoned me and I explained the situation again to him. He was helpful and said he will get back to me if he gets more info which will help me with my defence.

I will need your help again once we get closer to 25th if that is ok. I will keep you posted. Many thanks in advance.


Regards


Nick

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick,

Thanks for updating the thread following our conversation last week.

As promised, I'll get back in touch with you as soon as I have more news.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hello Sharon,

I believe today is the last day of the extended period in which I can submit my defence. As of today I had no communication neither from Lowell/Bryan Carter nor from Vodafone/Carphone Warehouse. I need your advise on how to apply for CPR 31.14 for an 'unless order' or if this is not needed what my next step should be.

Many thanks in advance

Regards Nick

[Amethyst]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick,

The basics of the unless order application are in this thread - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...ic-information - just shout if any questions and if you want to pop a draft up for checking over before sending in.

Sharon

Xx

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Hi Nick,

Rest assured that I'm still dealing with this for you.

As soon as I have an update, I'll let you know.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Comms

Vodafone UK

[Tzvetkov]

Re: Received letter from brian carter solicitors and a claim form from lowell - need

Many thanks Sharon,


I read through it, unfortunately however I think I have missed the deadline as my defence was meant to be submitted by the 25th I think (This is how long BC extended for) Can you therefore advise me what I need to do now. I am sorry to keep asking but I travel a lot and time I have is very limited. I was also hoping I will receive what I asked for. Is there anything I can do to fix things now or it is too late and I have too pay?

Thanks

Regards Nick