Progressing a CCJ set aside

[slybee]

Hello all , this is my first post in the group.
I'm just looking for a little pointer in the right direction, any help or advice would be great.

I had a CCJ made against me, very unlawfully by a membership management of a gym.
They were taking membership payments from me and at some point decided to take 2x lots for a number of months.
I claimed them back with an indemnity claim from the bank and left the club pretty promptly however i was refused credit on a loan recently which surprised me as my credit score is usually high.
They've given me a CCJ for basically taking my own money back.
I have statements of the double payments and i also have a letter dated from feb2017 from them, to my new address but for some reason the CCJ was sent to my old address in May 2017. Perhaps this is so that I cannot defend myself.

I applied for a set aside which has been granted and I received a 'General form of judgement or order' from Blackpool court, It tells me that i have to file and serve a fully pleaded defence within 14 days.
What does this mean and who do i serve it to? The court and the company involved ? Im pretty confused and the 14 day timescale means i need to get my act together or risk missing the deadline, im 5 days in now and cant seem to find a finger in the right direction.

Thanks guys.

[Amethyst]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Hiya, Well done for getting the judgment set aside

So yes you need to file a defence - have you actually got a copy of the claim at all ? Were the gym using a solicitor to bring the claim - it might be worth calling them and asking if they can send you a copy of the original claim.

The claim could be for those payments you reclaimed through the bank due to their mistake, or it could be for the remainder of your membership contract ( if it was for 12 months and you left after 6 months etc --- there's arguments against that too) from when yoou cancelled.

The letter they sent you before the claim, did that detail exactly what they were after?

QUick outline re gym membership contracts - https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/ashbour...ship-contracts

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Hi Amethyst, thank you for responding so fast.

I was well out of contract when the claim came through, I contacted the court to find out who the CCJ was filed by and discovered it was Ashbourne management. First thing I did was ring to ask them why, they were really rude with me over the phone telling me I went about it the wrong way, even though I'd battled for a fortnight to try get my money back from the double payments.
They want the money back from me from the indemnity claim. Its quite shocking really considering I was wrongly being charged 2x per month.

I was 3 years in to my original membership which was only 12 months to begin with.

I received nothing, I only knew of the CCJ through checking my credit file. All info was sent to my old address, purposely, they claim I never game them my new address however I found a letter from them addressed to my new address in feb 2017, the CCJ was created may 2017 and sent to old address.

[Amethyst]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Oh so it is actually Ashbourne management... that was a good guess lol. Who was the actual gym ?
Do you have that letter they sent you, and do you ( long shot) happen to have a copy of the contract?
Do you recall what year you signed up with them? ( might be able to find a copy online somewhere)
Did you keep any copies of letters from the bank ? You have your statements showing the double payments so that's good. They can't reclaim the money from you just because they'd rather have dealt with it than have it removed from them by the bank. They'd have had an appeal period with the bank originally.
How long before Feb 2017 was the refund processed by the bank?

We should ask them for information but we'll have to do it pretty speedily ( to post on Monday) and state we have done so in the defence, the defence should be pretty straightforward based on what you have said;


you had a contract which started on xxxxxxx and was for 12 months then continued on a monthly basis, with terms on one month cancellation ?
you stayed with them for 3 years
then in xxx dates xxxxxxx they took double payments,
you complained and they ignored you,
you claimed through the bank under the DD guarantee ( ?),
the bank refunded you,
ashbourne wrote a letter in Feb 17 ( what did you do in response to that letter?),
you discovered in June ? they had obtained a court judgment in May 2017....

it would be much easier to see their actual claim if you can get a copy.

[MENTION=332]EXC[/MENTION]

[EXC]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

I agree with Amethyst, it's crucial that you get hold of the particulars of claim before you can file a defence.

Do you know what court the judgment for the claim was issued at? Or was it Northampton Bulk Centre? I'm wondering that rather than relying on Ashbourne to provide the claim, if you could get it from the court quicker @Amethyst ?

I was well out of contract when the claim came through

At what point of the contract did you stop paying them? I know they told you (I think) that they sued you for claiming back the double payments but I wouldn't take that as read.

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Haha that was brilliant, i even checked your post to see if it had been edited to reflect that I had mentioned Ashbourne!
I dont actually have a copy of the contract but I do have a copy of the letter they sent to the new address earliar this year.
I also have a copy of my bank statements reflecting the double payments.

My first payment went out on 17/11/2014. The first of my double payments went out 17/07/2015.
I think that the indemnity was around a October 2016 - I have moved bank since then and no longer have my online statements from barclays however I did at the time save the double payments and still have them.

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

I agree with Amethyst, it's crucial that you get hold of the particulars of claim before you can file a defence.

Do you know what court the judgment for the claim was issued at? Or was it Northampton Bulk Centre? I'm wondering that rather than relying on Ashbourne to provide the claim, if you could get it from the court quicker @Amethyst ?

At what point of the contract did you stop paying them? I know they told you (I think) that they sued you for claiming back the double payments but I wouldn't take that as read.

Hi EXC , my contract began 17/11/2014 and the final payment was made on 17/10/2016 - the double payments started 17/07/2015 all the way through to my final payment.

The set aside order was made on 14/08 and they've given me 14 days so I'm just hoping that I have enough time to collect info and build something.

[EXC]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Hi EXC , my contract began 17/11/2014 and the final payment was made on 17/10/2016 - the double payments started 17/07/2015 all the way through to my final payment.

The set aside order was made on 14/08 and they've given me 14 days so I'm just hoping that I have enough time to collect info and build something.

Ok thanks. I'm assuming the contracts were for durations of 12 months, I think they must be because the OFT/CMA ruled that was the maximum. Can you remember if there was an auto renew or did you have to sign a new contract every 12 months?

[Amethyst]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

I agree with Amethyst, it's crucial that you get hold of the particulars of claim before you can file a defence.
Do you know what court the judgment for the claim was issued at? Or was it Northampton Bulk Centre? I'm wondering that rather than relying on Ashbourne to provide the claim, if you could get it from the court quicker @Amethyst ?

Can give the court a try - it really depends who answers the phone though... some will just email a copy over, some will say you have to go back to the claimant for it.

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Ok thanks. I'm assuming the contracts were for durations of 12 months, I think they must be because the OFT/CMA ruled that was the maximum. Can you remember if there was an auto renew or did you have to sign a new contract every 12 months?

I signed with a 12 month contract.
It wasn't a rolling contract, was curious as to why double payments started 9 months into the contract but Ashbourne are anything but helpful.

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Can give the court a try - it really depends who answers the phone though... some will just email a copy over, some will say you have to go back to the claimant for it.

I'll certainly try to obtain that on Monday. Would you recommend I start to draft my defence in the meantime, I do have the original letter that I sent to have the CCJ set aside.
I kind of thought that was some sort of defence however its quite apparent now that they were pretty much trying to asses if there was any point in granting it too me.

Also is 14 days the norm because I've seen others in the forum that have been given 21.

The court is Northampton originally but is now Blackpool

[Amethyst]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

14 is pretty normal yes I expect the actual claim was just for payments due under a contract and not paid but it's better to get a copy if possible.

Any chance you can do a copy of the letter they sent you in Feb 17, and your set aside app would be helpful too, remove all identitfying details though.

Did you reply to their Feb 17 letter at all btw?

Blackpool will probably have a copy of the original claim from when the set aside application was transferred. If they don't try Northampton CCBC.

Sometimes the court gives an order the claim has to be re-served, but doesn't sound like they have in your case.

[EXC]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Would you recommend I start to draft my defence in the meantime, I do have the original letter that I sent to have the CCJ set aside.

Can you post the letter up please as any defence will have to be reflective of it to some extent. Let's see if you can get hold of the claim by early next week first. It's tough drafting a defence when we're not sure of the details of the claim. Once we have the claim the defence should be relatively quite quick & easy to do.

[slybee]

Re: Progressing a CCJ set aside

Any chance you can do a copy of the letter they sent you in Feb 17, and your set aside app would be helpful too, remove all identitfying details though.

Can you post the letter up please as any defence will have to be reflective of it to some extent.

The court letter will certainly provide much more in depth info about Ashbournes involvement I've deleted the address and reference but left my name in there.

Also the letter from feb 2017 is a welcome letter. I rejoined the Gym but they closed down 2 months after and contract was automatically ceased by them, I have letters to support that too.

Thanks again for the time your putting into this, I'm really greatful for the help.