DISCONTINUED Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

**nemesis45** · 25th August 2015, 19:50:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Originally posted by appledev View Post

Howdy all!

I will explain everything in detail as far as i possibly can, but i have Googled and read up on your forum and yet to find the same issue as me, but believe I've dropped myself in the poop and now panicking as time is running out!

Started off 18 months ago receiving phone calls from Lowell for a debt i knew nothing about (and still don't) dated approx 5 years ago. I ignored it and started receiving the letters in the post. Cut a long story short, i Googled it at the time and was led to believe not to worry and to ignore everything - the same circle repeated itself monthly (Phone calls, Lowell, Red, Bryan Carter and another company i can't remember off the top of my head) without fail and I've accumulated 50+ letters now, until they have finally taken action.

In short, they are saying i owe £195 (Now £270 including additional costs) to Tesco Mobile, for a mobile phone contract. I know nothing about this, nor have i ever had a contract with Tesco Mobile, nor have i ever received any correspondence from them saying i owe them any money - seems bizarre i know! Other than demanding letters to pay this debt, I've never received anything from anyone with any contract, paperwork, account numbers or any evidence basically, so as far as I'm aware its nothing to do with me!

Last week i received a letter from Northampton Court (Claim Form) and i started to panic. Ive never missed any form of payment, and have an outstanding credit rating

On Googling i come across this thread - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...m-discontinued

To confirm where i am up to, the claim form was issued 18 Aug, and received on the 20th Aug where i acknowledged i have received the paperwork online using the password provided. I then followed the thread above and sent off a CPR letter and CCA request, which i sent in a £1 PO to Lowell and copied BC Solicitors in, recorded delivery, as advised in post 5.

Today i received the following letter from them...

"We write further to your letter of 20 August requesting disclosure under Part 31 of the civil procedure rules. We confirm this matter will most properly be allocated to the small claims track as this is a simple contractual matter and Part 31 does not apply. In any even the Notices of Default and Assignment left the control of the Claimant when they were dispatched to you.

We confirm that this account related to a contract for service and not for credit and is therefor not regulated under the CC Act

It is our understanding that it is the original creditors policy to provide the agreement at the point of contract and statements throughout the duration of the account. In any event you can obtain a copy of the agreement from the store where you purchased the device.

We confirm our client is not agreeable to an extension for filing the defence

As you will be aware a claim was issued in the matter on 18 Aug 2015. Please respond to the claim using the response pack provided by the court. You should comply with the deadlines outlined by the court in order to avoid a default judgement being entered against you"

Now I'm stuck as I'm not sure what to do next, and worried by making contact last week i have dropped myself in it big time!!!

Any help, advice, guidance would be VERY much appreciated

THANK YOU

Hi Welcome to LB,

Ok they are correct the CCA 1974 does not apply to " service contracts"

If you are absolutely sure that you have never had an account with Tesco Mobile, that is your defence and it's up to the claimant to prove otherwise.

What exactly does the N1 claim form say ( Particulars of Claim)?

Once Lowell/Carter had stated that court action was going to be taken, you should have made written contact then.

Have you checked your credit files? if not try Noddle it's free online see if this account shows there.

I see you have a thread on this already it's best to keep to that otherwise it's very confusing.

I'll as the site team to merge them.

nem

**appledev** · 25th August 2015, 19:59:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Thanks for welcoming me and thank you for replying to my message!

I am 110% positive i have never had an account with Tescos as have been with Vodafone for the last 6 years...

Specifically what would you like to know about the claim form?

As stated above, i did make written contact with them by CPR and CCA requests, or have i mis understood what you said?

My credit file is clear (as far as i can see, even under the FAI section that shows my credit cards, bank accounts and Vodafone) - however a search was done in my name in July by Interlaken Group Limited (Sr Tac) Interlaken Group Limited (Bsb Api)

Just to confirm, I've never made a thread about this, and only signed up today. The other thread i posted is dated 2013, and simply just for reference to show everyone what i have followed

**nemesis45** · 25th August 2015, 20:10:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

I see Ok,
The Interlaken Group is a part of the Lowell empire.

There would have been one of Bryan Carters " we are issuing court proceeding within 24 hrs etc." letters that was the time to start making inquiries.
What date was the alleged debt assigned to Lowell?

nem

**appledev** · 25th August 2015, 20:24:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

I thought as much as I've never been in debt before and never owed anyone money and always paid my bills online! Even in the 'closed accounts' section, Tesco's (or anything i don't recognise for that matter) does not appear so I'm absolutely positive that this debt has nothing to do with me.

I never received that letter, it went quiet for about 3 weeks (Something its never done before) then i received the Claim Form on the 20th (dated 18th) - i keep all my paperwork and never binned anything

The later question i can answer as its written on the claim form, and states "This debt was assigned to / purchased by Lowell Portfolio on 13/03/2014 for £180.25. The 8% interest takes it up to £194.67, and with court and solicitor fees its now sitting at a tidy £269.97

I said the letters have been happening for 18 months :tung:

**Berniethebolt** · 25th August 2015, 20:59:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

So lets just be clear, you have acknowledged the claim online ?
It was dated 18th Aug so you have until 19th sept to enter your defence -assuming you have acknowledged.

You can use one of the generic non disclosure defences in the library but edited to your case as well as saying that you deny ever having had a contract with tesco mobile and putting them to strict proof. If you can find your bank statements from the time of the alleged debt so much the better as you could show no payments .
Meanwhile , I would be writing to Carters and telling them that you never had such an account, request proof and suggest that in the interest of saving costs they discontinue
I am not sure how tagging works but [MENTION=37786]FlamingParrot[/MENTION] will hopefully give her a peck

**FlamingParrot** · 25th August 2015, 22:23:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

You need to acknowledge the claim within 14 days of receipt and tick the box saying you intend to defend the whole of the claim. That should give you a total of 28 days (+ 5 extra days allowed for service), to submit your defence. You'll find full instructions here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...313#post499313

Below are the first steps to take upon receipt of a claim. I've removed item 2 because the CCA request does no relate to mobile contracts:

So, first steps (within 14 days of receiving the claim)

1: ACKNOWLEDGE THE CLAIM - you can do this online usually at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
You'll need your claim reference and password from the front of the claim form - this will extend the time you have to respond to the claim to 28 days from when you received it

3: Send a CPR request to the CLAIMANT'S SOLICITORS ( see here )
This applies to everything unless they happen to have supplied you with a bunch of paperwork to back up their claim (v. unlikely)

**appledev** · 26th August 2015, 07:50:AM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Originally posted by Berniethebolt View Post

So lets just be clear, you have acknowledged the claim online ?

I followed the other thread to the T, and yes i have acknowledged the claim. I have just logged in to verify and it says Latest document - Acknowledgement of Service

One of the generic non disclosure defences i think would be best, as I'm worried about tripping up somewhere as never had to do this before!

**appledev** · 26th August 2015, 07:54:AM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Originally posted by FlamingParrot View Post

You need to acknowledge the claim within 14 days of receipt and tick the box saying you intend to defend the whole of the claim. That should give you a total of 28 days (+ 5 extra days allowed for service), to submit your defence. You'll find full instructions here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...313#post499313

Below are the first steps to take upon receipt of a claim. I've removed item 2 because the CCA request does no relate to mobile contracts:

The claim has been acknowledged as said a few times above, and i have already done number 3 and sent a CPR and CCA request to Lowell and also copied BC Solicitors in, although i now understand that a CCA is not needed.

I have then this response yesterday, (It is above but i think my first message is very mixed up!)

We write further to your letter of 20 August requesting disclosure under Part 31 of the civil procedure rules. We confirm this matter will most properly be allocated to the small claims track as this is a simple contractual matter and Part 31 does not apply. In any even the Notices of Default and Assignment left the control of the Claimant when they were dispatched to you.

We confirm that this account related to a contract for service and not for credit and is therefor not regulated under the CC Act

It is our understanding that it is the original creditors policy to provide the agreement at the point of contract and statements throughout the duration of the account. In any event you can obtain a copy of the agreement from the store where you purchased the device.

We confirm our client is not agreeable to an extension for filing the defence

As you will be aware a claim was issued in the matter on 18 Aug 2015. Please respond to the claim using the response pack provided by the court. You should comply with the deadlines outlined by the court in order to avoid a default judgement being entered against you

**FlamingParrot** · 26th August 2015, 13:32:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

That's just Mr Carter's standard response, with a bit added about the account not being regulated by the CCA which doesn't matter for the purposes of CPR 31.14 which is not a request under the Consumer Credit Act. How would he know what the original creitor's policies are? He never sends any documents or agrees to an extension, he's nice like that! :sad:

**Berniethebolt** · 26th August 2015, 17:15:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

I imagine your defence will be that it is not your debt therefore as suggested above make sure you have written to Carters saying so (by signed for delivery) thus when you file your defence you can include a line asking for costs as you made them aware it was not your debt and they have acted unreasonably

**appledev** · 26th August 2015, 20:39:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Just like to say... a BIG THANK YOU so far for everyones kind help! Very VERY much appreciated!!

Am glad its just a standard response and nothing personal to me, as was worried i had dropped myself in it when i went ahead and mentioned CCA.

What exactly should i write? Im not expecting someone to spoon feed me, but at the same time I've never been in this position before, neither do i want to make any errors or mess up at this stage. Is there a template available that i could use and edit specifically for me?

You say when i make my defence i can add a line for costs? Postage you mean? But it is nothing to do with me at all!

**Berniethebolt** · 26th August 2015, 22:54:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...t-Court-Claims

A generic defence about non disclosure. Make sure you remove the bits about CCA

Expenses are those incurred by you in defence of this claim, post, telephone, travel, and time ( I think its about £18 ph . Normally small claims do not include these but if you can show that you have done everything to sort it out you may get something

**FlamingParrot** · 26th August 2015, 23:57:PM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Originally posted by Berniethebolt View Post

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...t-Court-Claims

A generic defence about non disclosure. Make sure you remove the bits about CCA

The example defence has an alternative paragraph 4 which is not normally meant to be used as the majority of claims are issued for accounts the defendant did have, however if would be appropriate in this case. I've tweaked it a little because this refers to a mobile contract not a credit agreement.

4. It is denied that the Defendant has previously entered into a contract with Tesco Mobile for provision of services.

**appledev** · 27th August 2015, 07:25:AM

Re: Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim

Originally posted by Berniethebolt View Post

Make sure you remove the bits about CCA

To confirm, remove lines 3, 7, 10 & 11 which make reference to CCA?

and change the number 4 line as above?

Also, at what stage can i put a counterclaim as suggested above to claim for relevant items?

DISCONTINUED Lowell / Bryan Carter / Tesco - Court Claim