Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

[OliviaBowie]

Hi everyone,

I really need advice on how to deal with this.

Back in the summer I had a flea infestation, I rang a pest control company and booked a chemical treatment, they quoted me £1000 roughly.

Before the day he was due to arrive for the treatment, I solved the problem myself.

During in the phone call to the company they told me I would receive an email confirming the booking, and with details of how to cancel if I needed to, I looked for that email hoping to cancel but they hadn't emailed me.

I forgot all about it.

I received a phone call on the day of the booking saying that they would be arriving in two hours, I had forgotten totally about it, and told him on the phone that I no longer needed the treatment, I apologised, and he said don't worry about it.

Over the past few months I have been constantly bombarded by this company with voice mails, letters through the post, they've threatened to come to my home. I have been totally stressed about this, but to be honest I have buried my head in the sand. I have a disabled 4 year old Boy and I am always very busy with him that things can build up.

Today I have received a court claim from them, they are charging me £298.80 as a cancellation fee. With the court costs added it comes to £323.80.

The court address it is from is:

County Court Bulk Centre
St Katharines House
21-27 St Katharines street
NN1 2LH

In the 'particulars of the claim' is says:

Payment of invoice.........for Flea chemical treatment at (my postcode)
the claimant claims interest under section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 08/08/2016 to 12/12/2016 on £298.80 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement of earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.06

So it the particulars it states I owe money for chemical treatment, I didn't receive any treatment.


I really don't know how to handle this, or what to do next.

Any advice would be great, thank you :-)

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Hi and welcome

First thing is to acknowledge the form and indicate you will be defending the claim in full.
This extends the time you have to organise your defence.

Where did you obtain the name of the pest control firm?
Was it from the internet?
Did you ever see their terms and conditions ?
What is the name of the firm?

[Arcadian]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

In all of the pestering, did they ever send you a proper "letter before action"?

[OliviaBowie]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

I did receive a letter saying that unless I responded soon, they would have to escalate.

I found the company online, and being perfectly honest I didn't read any terms or conditions. The company is called JG Pest control. At no point did I sign anything.

I will defend the claim today online, thank you for the advice :-)

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Their CANCELLATION and DEPOSIT POLICY (see below) would seem to be an unfair contract term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
IMO their policy is unfair in three respects:
1)it was not brought to your attention when booking via phone (a later email, which would probably be insufficient anyway as the booking had been taken, was not received) The cancellation term was not prominent
2) Unbalanced rights ie the trader incurs no penalty if he cancels the contract, whilst the consumer is heavily penalised
3)excessive cancellation fee ie if the consumer cancels , all the trader can claim for is administration costs, marketing and loss of profits.
They quoted you "roughly £1000", want £298.80 for cancellation, but if they actually turn up for a call out that is not required they charge £95 +vat.
Now that indicates they are charging you in excess of what is permitted

Deposits are NON-REFUNDABLE.

All cancellations incur a charge of 50% of the treatment price.
Making an appointment over the phone or by email is a binding contract between the customer and JG Pest Control, in order to cancel you must do so by either email or over the phone with more than 24 hours’ notice. Last minute phone calls or emails will not be accepted and cancellation fee of the full amount of the job will apply.
Please note our current minimum call out charge is £95+vat.
If we arrive and you do not require our services, this includes if the problem is not a pest or it has been wrongly identified, this call out charge is payable.
We understand that at last minute things can change and you may not be able to make the appointment, so we are happy to wave the cancellation charge providing the job is re-booked within 7 days (please note: this does not apply for free of charge follow-up visits. You will be charged cancellation for follow-up visits if we are notified of cancellation later than 24 hours before the booking).
**Heat treatments and other deposit jobs with any remaining fees will be taken after treatment automatically unless agreed otherwise**

These terms and conditions are binding and JG Pest Control will invoice cancellation fees if necessary. Failure to pay cancellation fees within 7 days will mean the debt will be passed to our debt recovery specialists, in this case, the third party recovery agents exercise the right to also recover their costs which will increase the charge significantly.
Cancellation fees apply to the following:

• No show by customer at visit date/time of technician.
• Non-compliance with preparation list as supplied by company.
• Customer cancellation.

Making an appointment over the phone or by email is a binding contract between the customer and JG Pest Control, in order to cancel you must do so by either email or over the phone with more than 24 hours’ notice. Last minute phone calls or emails will not be accepted and cancellation fee of the full amount of the job will apply.
Emergency jobs must be pre-paid in full or part paid if agreed. The full payment acts as a deposit and the full fee is therefore NON-REFUNDABLE in any case. (Note: Unless for unforeseen circumstances we are a fault for not attending in the allocated day).

[OliviaBowie]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

I hadn't noticed that.

Does that mean they can only charge me £95?

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

No,
They have to justify any charge they make. which basically can realistically only cover admin and loss of profits.
They will need to show that on a charge of approx £1000 their admin + profit would be £298.

On the claim form they refer to an invoice.
What was the wording on that invoice, as that may be te syarting point of your defence?

[OliviaBowie]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Hi des8.

Sorry, I didn't mean to disappear for weeks, it's been a very hectic few weeks. I hope you had a lovely christmas and new year.

I am going to have to try and find that invoice, if I can't find it I wonder if I can ask them for a copy?

I have sent back the acknowledgement of service, issuing that I intend to defend in full.

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Hi Olivia

Your defence will need to be filed at court within 33 days of the claim issue date (28 days +5 allowed for 'deemed delivery' of the claim). The issue date is on the front of the N1 claim form.
I'll give [MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] a nudge for you.

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Thanks Charity,
I'm just about to go out, but will get back later this weekend.
Feel free to chip in!

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

During in the phone call to the company they told me I would receive an email confirming the booking, and with details of how to cancel if I needed to, I looked for that email hoping to cancel but they hadn't emailed me.

19. A Contract will be formed for the Services ordered, only upon the Supplier sending an email tothe Customer saying that the Order has been accepted or, if earlier, the Supplier's delivery of theServices to the Customer

https://www.jgpestcontrol.co.uk/wp-c...f-Business.pdf

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks Charity,
I'm just about to go out, but will get back later this weekend.
Feel free to chip in!

Lol

Des-erting, eh! :taunt:

Chipped!

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Not deserting.. just sorting family....again!
looked in here quickly and found that interesting link from [MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION] which doesn't tie in with te terms and conditions of JG Pest Control here https://www.jgpestcontrol.co.uk/terms-conditions/

But in any case although imo their T&Cs are unfair and so unenforceable, their POC are inaccurate (if full wording has been supplied by Olivia) in that they are claiming for work which was never done.

Is there any chance [MENTION=95627]OliviaBowie[/MENTION]you could post up a copy of the PoC, first removing your name & court details?

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

Not deserting.. just sorting family....again!
looked in here quickly and found that interesting link from @charitynjw which doesn't tie in with te terms and conditions of JG Pest Control here https://www.jgpestcontrol.co.uk/terms-conditions/

But in any case although imo their T&Cs are unfair and so unenforceable, their POC are inaccurate (if full wording has been supplied by Olivia) in that they are claiming for work which was never done.

Is there any chance @OliviaBowieyou could post up a copy of the PoC, first removing your name & court details?

https://www.jgpestcontrol.co.uk/terms-conditions/

"For consumers, click here"

So I clicked.

[des8]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

..... and I continued down the page! lol

Paras 55 & 56 of your T7Cs make interesting reading compared to "Cancellation and Deposit policy" I found further down.

I'm waiting to see the PoC to see who is named as claimant (PGpest control aren't a limited country) & confirmation they are claiming for work not done!

[Arcadian]

Re: Received a court claim for non Cancellation of services.

..... and I continued down the page! lol

Paras 55 & 56 of your T7Cs make interesting reading compared to "Cancellation and Deposit policy" I found further down.

I'm waiting to see the PoC to see who is named as claimant (PGpest control aren't a limited country) & confirmation they are claiming for work not done!

JG Environmental are a limited company, and they appear to be the parent of JG Pest Control.