** DISCONTINUED *** County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

[charitynjw]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Seems ok to me.

At this stage, a defence should be a response to the claim particulars, rebutting any points which are disputed & bringing in any other arguments which may not have been mentioned in the particulars but which are pertinent to your defence.

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

I had a lot of £12 charges added to the account over the years, sometimes there was 2 x £12 admin charges in one month even though I was paying the amount I could afford each month at the time. It amounts to around £400, and that's only the charges up to 2012, so there are probably more too since then.

I have just read a defence statement on another site that said the following - I believe Penalty Charges may have been applied to the account and as such may be unlawful under the Unfair Consumer Contract Terms Regulations 1999.

Would it be okay for me to add something like that to my defence?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[warwick65]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Frankly I don't know. I think it may depend if these charges got you in a cycle of debt

If it's 400 for 2012 there must have been many months with 3charges

Had you told them you were in financial difficulty?
[MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] [MENTION=5553]charitynjw[/MENTION]

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Thanks for your reply warwick65.

The charges add up to around £400 for between 2007-12, not just for 2012, but that's only taken from the statements that I do have for that time period....I don't have them all. I also don't have the statements for between 2012-2015, so there are probably more charges on those too.

Yes they knew I had difficulties and yes it was the charges that escalated this debt severely....the original amount of items I purchased came to around £350, I have since paid back around £1300, and they now still want another £1500 almost on top of that.

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Just a quick question - should the notice of assignment I received from Lowell have been a true copy of the original assignment, ie: with JD Williams logo and footer on it? Thanks

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

After submitting the defence, is it a case of just waiting to hear from someone?

As it stands I've filed my defence. I've heard nothing at all from Lowell in regards to the CCA request, and nothing from JD Williams in regards to the SARS request yet and still waiting for the solicitor to provide copies of the agreement and default notice.

[warwick65]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Just a quick question - should the notice of assignment I received from Lowell have been a true copy of the original assignment, ie: with JD Williams logo and footer on it? Thanks

No not necessarily. In any event the assignee can send NOA

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Hi again,
I've just had a letter from the solicitors sending me a copy of the Directions Questionnaire that they have lodged with the court. I haven't had no response from Lowell in regards to the CCA request at all, but I know it was signed for. Also the solicitors hasn't sent me a copy of the default notice or agreement yet. As they are proceeding, does that mean they probably have those documents but just haven't sent them to me yet? Thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Possibly but not necessarily - have you had a directions questionnaire from the court yet ?

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Hi Amethyst,
No I haven't received my Directions Questionnaire from the court yet, but I'm wondering if I should have received it by now as Lowells have had theirs. Will it be logged on the moneyclaim site when I am sent a Directions questionnaire? There isn't anything showing there at the moment. Thanks

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Should the directions questionnaire that the solicitors have sent me a copy of be showing that it has been lodged on the moneyclaim site? It's been 8 days since they sent me it but nothing is showing on the moneyclaim site and I also haven't received any questionnaire from the court yet.

Also why do they say they have 0 witnesses on the questionnaire? Do they not need a witness to go to court with? Thanks

[MIKE770]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

0 always they state 0 witnesses means nothing at this stage, they can turn up anyway if it got that far,

[Mustbekarma]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Hi, please can someone advise me what to do in regards to the Directions Questionnaire and mediation as I have to send it to the court by the end of this week to ensure it gets there in time.

So far, I haven't received any acknowledgement to my CCA request that I sent to Lowell at all, not even a letter confirming they are looking into it. I sent it to their PO Box address and I know they signed for the letter I sent about 5 days after I sent it as I checked the royal mail site and printed out a copy of that signature.

I did receive a response from their Solicitor to my CPR Request and I am still waiting for them to send me a copy of the Agreement and Default Notice.

As I understand it, because I haven't got the agreement or default notice, I don't have enough information to enter into negotiations, so do I say No to mediation?

Also if I say No and have sent the questionnaire to the court, but they come up with the agreement and default notice before the date the questionnaire had to be returned next week, could I ask the court to change it to yes?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[charitynjw]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

Imho it is usually better to say 'yes' to mediation.
If you still haven't received documentation by the time Mediation Service contacts you, it will likely be deemed not suitable for mediation, in which case it is referred back to the court for allocation.
Courts are 'big' on parties settling disputes without resorting to formal litigation.
So that way you can satisfy the 'I tried to mediate' box.

[warwick65]

Re: Do I have grounds for defence? County Court Claim: Lowell - JD Williams

As Charity says, tick yes to mediation and yes to Small Claims , then also list any dates you know you will be unavailable , you don't need to give a reason . If you are going away you might want to add a day or two at the end of your holiday just in case there is a delay getting back- can you imagine say landing at 2am and having to be in court for 10 am the following morning!

As for mediation, well you may decide you just can't be bothered with the hassle and think £50 for example would be worth it to get rid, in which case you could use mediation to say something like
Although the claimant hasn't supplied any evidence I owe the debt I am prepared to make an offer of £30 as a gesture of good will in full and final settlement- you then have a bit of negotiating power by going up to 50.

This is what I always did when I had to do budgets for my store, I would tell the Regional manager that sales would be 200000 and labour 14% , he would argue so we would settle on 225000 and 13.5% and I would bring in 250000 and 13% - looked like a hero