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Hi All,
I'd like to say I'm pleased to be here. but considering this post is relating to me being taken to court, that sadly isn't the case.
I have a few questions regarding my next steps but It would also be good to an non biased opinion on the subject.
Whats the case is in relation to
I'll try and be as brief as possible but I'm afraid there's quite a bit to go through
In January this year my Fiance and I went to a jewelers to have a diamond engagement ring handmade with a halo around the inner diamond. This was a month after we almost ended up in court trying to retrieve £4,200 from a separate jewelers who had sold us a poorly made ring which had no hallmarking and so was illegally sold to us. We ended up retrieving that money and as you can imagine we were pretty careful about ending up in a similar situation with this new jeweler. With the new jeweler, we clearly asked before commissioning a new ring, what their company policy was in terms of payment and what would happen in the event we were not happy with the finished product. They told us on a number of occasions that if the ring was badly made and not what we asked for, then we would not have to pay. We did not sign a contract although since then they have admitted via email that this was the agreement.
We were informed that the whole process would take 2 weeks which included consultation and alterations to the ring to make sure it was what we wanted. We also have on an invoice that a drawing of the ring would be shown to us before production. My fiance rang after 3 weeks to be told that the drawing was not to be done as it was now claimed to be an add on and that we could come in the following week to see the ring. When we attended the week later (4weeks after production was meant to start) the ring had just been started and was just the bare metalwork. We were fobbed off with excuses but told the ring wasn't far off completion. The ring itself was much bigger and unrefined then we had requested and we made it clear that we were not happy with the ring at this stage. After a couple more meetings the ring was in their eyes completed after 8 weeks, 6 weeks longer then had been agreed initially. The final ring was still too bulky, unrefined and the requested alterations had been ignored. As we had the agreement in place, we went away for a couple of days and thought about the ring but after such a huge delay and such a poor experience we informed them that we were not going ahead with the ring. The jeweler said this wasn't a problem and told us if there was anything he could do just say.
We felt that this was the end of the saga but unfortunately not.
A week later we received a letter in the post requesting £1000 + VAT for labour costs. We couldn't believe this as this had never been mentioned before or agreed. We responded that this was not the agreement and that that we should not be chased for any money. We also asked a number of times why they had never mentioned this, to which we never received a reply. Over the last few months we have exchanged emails detailing why we couldn't continue with the ring as we felt it was poorly made and not to our specifications. Whenever we have raised a point that they do not like they have simply ignored us and demanded the payment. We have a full timeline of events in email, invoice, photographic and letter form. Throughout the last few months they have continued to claim that they have done everything in their power to solve this issue while blatantly ignoring our questions and statements. We made it clear that we were happy to defend ourselves in court if it came to it but would have preferred a form of ADR beforehand.
We have now received a court claim stating that they are demanding £5000 because they claim that they would now have to "pay for the stone". Again, something that they never relayed to us throughout the process. They also claim that the reason we didn't continue with the ring was that my Fiance changed her mind about it. This is a lie and something we feel we can easily prove through our evidence.
Questions
1. Do we include all our evidence when we return the defence form to the courts? I know it says that you can include more pages but would that include evidence or is that requested at a later date?
2. We were informed by the citizens advice bureau that we should definitely put in a counterclaim as the jewelers have breached their own contract in demanding money from from us. As we are not at a financial loss we were a little confused as to whether we should put in a counterclaim and for what amount? Would it look bad on us if we did or didn't put in a counterclaim?
3. Is there a chance that they have now requested £5000 simply in the hope that the court tries to find a middle ground in which case they would get something close to their initial figure of £1000 +VAT? We obviously feel this unfair as the initial agreement was we would pay nothing.
Any help or advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Andy
I'd like to say I'm pleased to be here. but considering this post is relating to me being taken to court, that sadly isn't the case.
I have a few questions regarding my next steps but It would also be good to an non biased opinion on the subject.
Whats the case is in relation to
I'll try and be as brief as possible but I'm afraid there's quite a bit to go through
In January this year my Fiance and I went to a jewelers to have a diamond engagement ring handmade with a halo around the inner diamond. This was a month after we almost ended up in court trying to retrieve £4,200 from a separate jewelers who had sold us a poorly made ring which had no hallmarking and so was illegally sold to us. We ended up retrieving that money and as you can imagine we were pretty careful about ending up in a similar situation with this new jeweler. With the new jeweler, we clearly asked before commissioning a new ring, what their company policy was in terms of payment and what would happen in the event we were not happy with the finished product. They told us on a number of occasions that if the ring was badly made and not what we asked for, then we would not have to pay. We did not sign a contract although since then they have admitted via email that this was the agreement.
We were informed that the whole process would take 2 weeks which included consultation and alterations to the ring to make sure it was what we wanted. We also have on an invoice that a drawing of the ring would be shown to us before production. My fiance rang after 3 weeks to be told that the drawing was not to be done as it was now claimed to be an add on and that we could come in the following week to see the ring. When we attended the week later (4weeks after production was meant to start) the ring had just been started and was just the bare metalwork. We were fobbed off with excuses but told the ring wasn't far off completion. The ring itself was much bigger and unrefined then we had requested and we made it clear that we were not happy with the ring at this stage. After a couple more meetings the ring was in their eyes completed after 8 weeks, 6 weeks longer then had been agreed initially. The final ring was still too bulky, unrefined and the requested alterations had been ignored. As we had the agreement in place, we went away for a couple of days and thought about the ring but after such a huge delay and such a poor experience we informed them that we were not going ahead with the ring. The jeweler said this wasn't a problem and told us if there was anything he could do just say.
We felt that this was the end of the saga but unfortunately not.
A week later we received a letter in the post requesting £1000 + VAT for labour costs. We couldn't believe this as this had never been mentioned before or agreed. We responded that this was not the agreement and that that we should not be chased for any money. We also asked a number of times why they had never mentioned this, to which we never received a reply. Over the last few months we have exchanged emails detailing why we couldn't continue with the ring as we felt it was poorly made and not to our specifications. Whenever we have raised a point that they do not like they have simply ignored us and demanded the payment. We have a full timeline of events in email, invoice, photographic and letter form. Throughout the last few months they have continued to claim that they have done everything in their power to solve this issue while blatantly ignoring our questions and statements. We made it clear that we were happy to defend ourselves in court if it came to it but would have preferred a form of ADR beforehand.
We have now received a court claim stating that they are demanding £5000 because they claim that they would now have to "pay for the stone". Again, something that they never relayed to us throughout the process. They also claim that the reason we didn't continue with the ring was that my Fiance changed her mind about it. This is a lie and something we feel we can easily prove through our evidence.
Questions
1. Do we include all our evidence when we return the defence form to the courts? I know it says that you can include more pages but would that include evidence or is that requested at a later date?
2. We were informed by the citizens advice bureau that we should definitely put in a counterclaim as the jewelers have breached their own contract in demanding money from from us. As we are not at a financial loss we were a little confused as to whether we should put in a counterclaim and for what amount? Would it look bad on us if we did or didn't put in a counterclaim?
3. Is there a chance that they have now requested £5000 simply in the hope that the court tries to find a middle ground in which case they would get something close to their initial figure of £1000 +VAT? We obviously feel this unfair as the initial agreement was we would pay nothing.
Any help or advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Andy
