Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

[Jamesw]

Received a claim? Yes
Issue Date: 12-12-2014
Amount approx: £770
Claimant: Lowell Portfolio I Ltd
Solicitor: Bryan Carter Solicitors LLP
Original Credit: Vodafone

Particulars of Claim:
This Claim is for 591.17, The amount due under an agreement between the original creditor and the defendant to provide finance and / or services and / or good.

This Debt was assigned to / purchased by Lowell Portfolio I Ltd, On 06/07/2011 and notice served pursuant to the law of property act 1925

Particulars
RE - Vodafone
A/C No xxxxxxxxxx,


And the Claimant claims 591.17

The claimant also claims statutory interest pursuant to S.69 of the county act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment of the agreement to date but limited to a maximum of one year and a maximum of 1000 amounting to 47.30

Stat Barred? No

Have sent:

Other Info:
From an unpaid vodafone contract around 2008, i paid first 2 months and missed the next 2 payments, vodafone cut the phone off and demanded the rest of the line rental for the remainder of the contract (24months). last payment i made to vodafone was 8/6/2009.

had letters from a number of DCAs, sent a letter to one called Fredrikson or something similar stating would offer £200 payment for closure of the account, with no response... then passed onto another dca. Made 2 payments of £10 to Direct legal & col, the last being on the 16/04/2010. Have had no contact with anyone regarding this since

having heard, nothing from anyone until today when this claim come throught the door. with claiment n solicitor names on that I dont know. Im unsure as to which letters i should send to who and if there is anything i can do. I know I have to acknowledge the service but its the defence im confused about.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Hi,
Lowell Portfolio 1 is a trading style of debt purchase Group Lowell.
Bryan Carter is a "solicitor" with a core business of debt collect associated with the Lowell group and other debt purchase/debt collection companies.

You need to make a CPR31.14 request to Carter this provides for production of documents mentioned in the particulars of claim.

Phone accounts are not regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 as they are service contracts.
Acknowledge the claim via money claim online asap.

What you are saying it seems is that there is no defence i.e. no dispute that the money is owed or is there some discrepancy in the amount claimed.
Without knowing if VF gave you the opportunity to remedy the missed payments prior to ceasing the service and what the terms & conditions of the contract were it's difficult to offer advice.

Are you in a position to make any offer of payment?

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Thanks for your reply,

I have a CPR31.14 ready to send via recorded delivery to carter on monday.

What you are saying it seems is that there is no defence i.e. no dispute that the money is owed or is there some discrepancy in the amount claimed.
Without knowing if VF gave you the opportunity to remedy the missed payments prior to ceasing the service and what the terms & conditions of the contract were it's difficult to offer advice.

Are you in a position to make any offer of payment?

Tbh i have no way of knowing what the amount should be as is a while ago. Back in 2008 VF gave me no option to remedy the missed payments, they stopped the phones service sending me a bill for the remainder of the line rental. after i stated i could not pay it, i heard nothing untill a dca contacted me, the first of about 6 different ones.

I am not currently in a position to pay this, im self employed, have no income coming in and living off family kindness at moment. have cc debt of 1500.

[Vodafone Company Rep]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Hi Jamesw,

If you'd like me to take a look at the account, 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. Post back with this and I’ll check I've received it.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Comms

Vodafone UK

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Sent 2nd Cpr letter, received a letter back from Bryan carter stating that they will not provide documents again, refering to there first response for CPR request on 17th Dec and reiterating its contents.. small claims track etc...

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Update. Help needed.

Having the same response back from Bryan Carter, I have sent a request to the court for an order for the claimant to provide the documents..

I followed the information I found here http://legalbeagles.info/cpr-31-14-r...c-information/

I have now received it back from the court saying they are returning my application because i need to include the £50 fee, also a copy for each party. I pressume this means 3? 1 for the court, one for the claimant and bryan carter?

I am not sure on if i need to include the fee as i did out on the application that the claimant should pay the defendants fee?

Any help be very appreciated as i need to get this ready to send off by Monday 19th.

Thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Yes you need to pay the fee, and you claim it back from the other party when it comes to the issue of costs, that's why the sentence is included in the docs. I'll add a bit to the example to make that clearer. Also yes if you are sending it on paper there will need to be three copies ( you, court, other party) - I'll add that on to the example as well and clear the split between the end of the letter process and the beginning of the formal legal process.

Looking at the case I'm not sure I would go down the route of a formal application, the amount is low and the only document mentioned in the statement of case really is the agreement/contract. which they would need to provide to evidence the contracts existence anyway.

eg. This Claim is for 591.17, The amount due under an agreement between the original creditor and the defendant to provide finance and / or services and / or goods.

I think possibly just go with a defence on lack of documentation rather than fork out now the app fee and risk any costs being added to the debt if the app failed.

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Thanks for your reply.

So I understand you think the best would be to file defense online on lack of documentation. As I can not really afford the costs for the app, I think i will go with the defence. I dont have really any idea on how i should word this. I will do a search, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. all this is a bit scary for me. Thanks.

[Amethyst]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

I've got your PM... few amendments to make.

As the claim is for an old mobile contract we can't use the CCA s.77 - 78 CCA. So just as a draft - of course I'm not totally certain of the facts of the case, so just use this as a guide ok.

---------------------------------------------------------------

1: I received the claim xxxxxxxxxxx from the Northampton County Court on 12th December 2014

2: Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3: The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable me to properly assess my position with regards the claim. The claim alleges an agreement between Vodafone and myself to provide finance and / or services and / or goods. I can only make the assumption that this is for a mobile telephone as this is what Vodafone do. It seems strange that the claimants do not know themselves what the alleged debt is in relation to.

4. The particulars of claim fail to state when the agreement was entered into, I believe I had a mobile telephone with Vodafone back in 2008, however I do not hold any records of the alleged contract/agreement in place with them. I have had no contact with the company at all since 2010. I put the claimant to strict proof of the terms of any contract/agreement between myself and Vodafone.

5. The Claimants statement of case states that the account was assigned from VODAFONE to LOWELL PORTFOLIO l LTD on 06/07/2011. I was unaware of this and have not received any notice of this assignment. I have not had any communication from Lowell Portfolio prior to receipt of the claim in this case.

6: On the 15th December 2014 I sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimants statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to BRYAN CARTER SOLICITORS as they are acting on behalf of the claimant. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the Agreement.

7. BRYAN CARTER SOLICITORS or Lowell Portfolio have not sent a copy of the agreement to me, therefore I have been unable to ascertain the validity of their claim. I have also not received any information as to how the amount claimed has been calculated and have not received any statement of account.

8. Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a moneyclaim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegationrelating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore It is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

9. I would request the court orders the Claimants to provide the agreement and details as to how the amount claimed has been calculated in order for me to fully plead my case, else their Claim should stand struck out.

10. In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Thanks alot Amethyst. I will add the details and use this. thanks for a quick reply also

[Jamesw]

Re: Court Claim - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd / Vodafone - 12-12-2014

Recieved Directions Questionnaire. filled in with the answer no to mediation