company has asked me

[Guest]

I’ll keep this quick but need advice.
Had a CCJ against me, and the company applied for a higher court writ. But it was served at an old address so only found out about it via the debt agency tracking me and making contact. It was way past the 30 days of the CCJ being given so the same day the high court bailiff made contact I completed a N244 form. Gave my evidence and payed the fee £255 I believe.

The court accepted my evidence and passed my case to the local CC. But this meant I would have to wait almost 4 months for my case to be heard. I’ve not been able to get any credit in these months due to the CCJ. I’ve had to put my mortgage application on hold, couldn’t even get a phone contract recently. Never had any issues with credits before.

3 weeks leading up to the court date I was looking forward to having my day in court against this large company this was served against me unfairly and has affected me. Anyway, I received a call from the company solicitor stating that they want to accept the set aside, remove the CCJ, and no fees need to be paid by me. They have asked me to complete a consent order. But as far as I’m concerned, and my evidence showed, I’ve done nothing wrong.

They went this far with a CCJ and a high court writ, that’s affected me now since October 2019 we are now in April 2020.

They know they have messed up and a large company like this shouldn’t be allowed to mess peoples lives up so easy with such things like a CCJ. I would like my money back for the N244 I paid and compensation as this has affected my life with negative credit report, I’ve had to postpone my mortgage application, couldn’t get credit, and now because they can see they have done wrong, they think they can just say ok. Let’s cancel it and nothing, when for months it’s affected me. Not forgetting the bailiff who has hounded me because they pushed it to become a high court writ.

What can I do?

[ploddertom]

Have you asked them for any recompense - at the very least the £255 fee.

[Benny_94]

Sorry I made the post before realising I had an account.

I made contact and asked them if they would consider reimbursing me the £255.00 fee for the N244 form application. But not heard anything back yet. My concern is id like this CCJ removes now ASAP and I think they know that following my chat with their solicitor.

[ploddertom]

Regardless it will still need to go before a Court either as a Set Aside application or by them agreeing to it without a Hearing but only agree with it if you are happy. There are others her more knowledgeable about the process, it's just I know a lot about the Enforcement procedures.

[Benny_94]

Thank you. If anyone would be kind enough to help me. That would be greatly appreciated.

[ploddertom]

Amethyst*
Celestine*

[Celestine]

Gahhh what a mess. What type of debt was this? Was there an actual debt and was it their service of the court documentation that was incorrect and led to CCJ or is the whole debt invalid?? Just trying to frame how this situation came about.

[Benny_94]

Celestine Thank you for coming back to me. I’ll try keep this brief.

I won’t name the company but they are a large company and they have their name on many different items such as internet, tv, and aircrafts.

This was for lease of a home water filter system.

They filed the order against a debt they believed I owed and filed the orders at an address I was no longer at.

However my evidence was not substantial, as you don’t always expect to be messed about by such a recognised. But none the less I had witness statements, letters I had sent them which I used.

Basically. Filters would arrive late or never at all so the machine would shut down meaning we couldn’t use it. Because of this I cancelled the contract meaning I didn’t want to renew after the year ended as we just couldn’t use the machine. After year ended they sent me an email saying my contract auto renewed. I called them, they had no information on my account that I cancelled. I hadn’t paid the last 5 months of the year anyway as we didn’t receive any filters either. So they said I had to continue. I told them no, sent them a letter explaining everything. I moved shortly after that and called no they to give them my new address as they still needed to collect the unit. I hadn’t paid for it for about 10 months now. Couldn’t use it as machine shuts down when filters are full. We left this in the shed at our new place and forgot about it. About a year later I got a call from a debt agency asking me to pay a debt for this water machine. I explained the issues, the filters, I had cancelled the in the first year. I’m not liable. They quoted my old address. So gave them my new address, same as I already gave the company when I moved. The debt agency said they will speak with them and pass back my information. I called the company and tried to speak with them. They told me the debt was with a 3rd party and wouldn’t talk to me. So I wrote to them explaining everything, from start to finish. I contacted the debt agency, they said, this wasn’t the first time they have heard my story from others they have contacted from this company. So would pass it back to them as this seemed to be a repeating issue with cancelling the contract.

I then about 2 and a half years later hear from a high court bailiff.

The evidence I submitted was witness statements from my partner and a friend. I also included my letters to them and the information about my interaction with the original debt agency from almost 3 years ago. It turns out they made the application in my old address and continued to send correspondence to there even though they had my current address on file that their solicitor admitted to me. Plus they was given my updated address by the original debt agent but no one updated the system notes there end.

No if I payed the 5 months i refused to as we couldn’t use the machine. I’d owe them £100 give or take: but they went after me for over £900 as they try charge me for a further two more years even though they was not getting any payments for well over that time:

Anyway following my evidence and them looking into things there side. They want me to sign a consent for the court that they accept the set aside, remove the CCJ and there are no fees for me to pay!

But as I said, i think it’s more of a case they have been caught out. Messed up and want to Brian this under the carpet.

[Celestine]

Hmmm blimey, what a palaver! Sounds like you have done everything right and been very clear in your communication which would stand you in good stead if this went to court.
Yes, they do seem to have realised they've messed up big time, so I'm unsurprised they want a drop hands settlement.
This is small claims track, so there is no real mechanism for costs recovery, so even if you successfully fought them in court, the best you'd get is the debt cancelled and no costs (same as what you're being offered). Judges do not like seeing cases come before them that could have been settled at an earlier point. Even though they get to walk away, having caused massive stress, there isn't much more you can do than agree to the consent order and continue with your life with a new found amazement at the crazy world of law. .