*WON !!!!** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April **WON**

[Amethyst]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

I think we need to add a bit more about not intending to enter into an contract with a third party and only wanted to book an appt at the HMPO - not sure that comes across enough ? What do you reckon ?

Also thinking they will probably argue that in the first para of the ''contract'' it says the appt might not be in your name .... and that the choice of dates isn't guaranteed ...... so we need to push the not valid contract anyway as never intended to enter into it.

[Amethyst]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

EXHIBIT N

by the overwhelming amount of complaints on the internet and the scores of dissatisfied customers, that they were a well established “Copycat” Third Party Company who misled unsuspecting members of the public with their official looking website and charged large sums of money to make, what should have been free, Passport Office appointments for them. (Exhibit N)

It is heresay but I think it is worth including to demonstrate the the complaints are directly about BPS. Particularly as they say this in their witness statement in response to a similar point made in a witness statement

''Regarding the Defendants statements about forums, news articles and websites where other people are complaining. these comments are from individuals speaking about a range of different websites and do not represent the average customers experience with our company.''

Maybe not include all these, but a few might help combat their comeback.

WHICH? - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...6&d=1428773652

GOOGLE - http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...1&d=1428773957

Since going through the paper work that was sent to me from them, i have noticed that they have stated I was flying out on the 26th April 2014, and then they had booked an appointment at the passport office in London on the 29th April 2014, which would have been impossible for me to attend as I was actually out of the country on the 25th April 2014. I have received abusive calls from them and demanding txt to from early December 2014.

I went online and booked an appointment for a fasttrack passport at the Newport office on 31st December 2014 via the British Passport Services website. It was only after a couple of strange conversations that day that I figured this was a scam and cancelled my appointment online. It started with phone calls and text messages demanding the £117 fee. Then letters started arriving. I have now received an N1CPC claim form from the County Court Business Centre asking for a total of £202.60.

They also harassing me with calls text letters email. I instructed my bank to get money back I paid them because the next day emergency appointment they claimed to have provided me was under someone else name and they asked me to lie when I get into the passport office and say that person was me.

Back in October we needed a fast-track passport for my daughter as she hadnt enough left to get a visa, we googled HMPO help / contact and ended up speaking to British Passport Services who pretended to be HMPO and book us an appointment at Peterborough the next day, they sent us a link to pre apply to save time the following day and pay, we turned up at HMPO Peterborough with no appointment made and told we were scammed. I got onto my bank and successfully got the payment stopped, now Im in the middle of a court process with them trying to recover the money!

I thought it was the passport office. We feel victimised and sad that after a lovely christmas wedding and a surprise honeymoon we got badly scammed and a heavy cost.

I have been harrassed and hounded via text and email, advising that I am going to be taken to Court.

Like others got scammed by this copysite and now they are calling me and texting constantly about the outstanding money that I refuse to pay. In their text they said they emailed me but I have not receive anything.

Since then they have been aggressively harassing me threating court proceedings with emails, calls, text messages and letters

Then the harassment and threats we given phone calls e-mails texts then letters keep coming of examples of county court judgement's then i received the original document from them and today.....so really the best option would be to just the fee and it's all over with I have been really stressed over the past few months because of this at my age.

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

Hi Good morning...sorry i had to give up last night ....i work from 5-10 pm every saturday evening...The WS is looking great....i've written another couple of paragraphs to try to convey how i feel myself misled etc etc as well as another commenting on their debt recovery methods...Many thanks for all your help....this is totally overwhelming for me to be honest and i almost wish that i'd just paid up and got it out of my life once and for all....weeks ago...but....someone has to stand up to this idiot and i really appreciate what you guys are doing for us all....Regards Ivan

1. I'd like to make the point that I when I originally entered the BPS website I honestly thought that I was on the official HMPO/Government site and that all I ever wanted to do was make myself an urgent online appointment at the Peterborough Passport Office so as to renew my passport at short notice. I had no intention of entering into any contract/agreement with the claimant or for him to provide me with his “Appointment Package” (Exhibit ) and I consider that I was totally misled into “signing” a “contract” for “services” that I did not need. The only “service” that I infact required was an urgent appointment at HMPO and the appointment that BPS made on my behalf, and charged me £117.60 for, was utterly useless as it was for the morning of the day of my flight.
   
2. In addition to the the underhand way, that I feel, i have been consciously misled and fooled into entering into a contract, for a completely useless and unneccessary “Appointment Package”, I would just like to mention also that the manner in which BPS have gone about attempting to recover this perceived debt from me has been totally dispraportionate to the sum in question and ammounts, in my mind, to some kind of Psychological Warfare. To not have any contact for over 4 months and then to suddenly formally request my solicitors details and start to send out multiple daily emails and texts threatening me with court action as well as the farcial “Compliance Team” “Meeting”episode and then to send me, by registered post, a “Court Claim Form Example” (Exhibit ) with my details filled in, is systematic bullying and intimidation. I've had this constant harrasment now since the beginning of November 2014. This is not how a normal responsible legitimate company goes about conducting it's business.
   

[EXC]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

To be honest it does look like a bit of a rant. I know it's tempting to want to express how badly you feel you were treated and how outrageous you think BPS's behavior is but if you Google any 'how to write a witness statement' guide it'll tell you to stick to the facts and not include opinion.

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

"I think we need to add a bit more about not intending to enter into an contract with a third party and only wanted to book an appt at the HMPO - not sure that comes across enough ? What do you reckon ?

Also thinking they will probably argue that in the first para of the ''contract'' it says the appt might not be in your name .... and that the choice of dates isn't guaranteed ...... so we need to push the not valid contract anyway as never intended to enter into it."


Hi thanks for reply...you're quite right about the rant bit i guess....the 1st paragraph was in response to the above ideas from Amethyst....maybe we could use some of it? Regards Ivan

[EXC]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

"I think we need to add a bit more about not intending to enter into an contract with a third party and only wanted to book an appt at the HMPO - not sure that comes across enough ? What do you reckon ?

Also thinking they will probably argue that in the first para of the ''contract'' it says the appt might not be in your name .... and that the choice of dates isn't guaranteed ...... so we need to push the not valid contract anyway as never intended to enter into it."


Hi thanks for reply...you're quite right about the rant bit i guess....the 1st paragraph was in response to the above ideas from Amethyst....maybe we could use some of it? Regards Ivan

Yes we can use some of it, the first paragraph is not too bad. It's perfectly ok to say what your intention was and that you were misled as they are facts so I'd change ''and I consider that I was totally misled'' to ''and I was misled'' and change ''was utterly useless'' to ''totally unsuitable''. I'd also add this sentence at the end - ''As the online appointment application form I submitted included my date of travel the Claimant would or should have know that I could not possibly have attended''.

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

Hithanks for all your help....I finally got the witness statement and exhibits together and they'll be sent off this morning.....i'm now on way to Spain for 10 days.....thanks a million for all your help and guidance. ....fingers crossed etc....regards Ivan Barker

[EXC]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April .... directions/WS by 16th April

No probs.

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Hi guys I'm off to court tomorrow morning and I was rather hoping that I might have heard something about how things went from "car guy", who, I think, went to court yesterday. I was wondering if you've got a list of all the defendants who you've been helping or at least a reliable number that I could quote to the judges to demonstrate how much of a nuisance this firm has become to so many people please?..or any other fresh ideas that may help my case...regards Ivan

[Amethyst]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Have a read on Queen of Hearts thread for a bit of help with arguments against RH's witness statement.

We know there are around 170 default judgments listed on RH's website, and there are I believe around 42 cases being defended that we know about. One has been won in court and two discontinued so far. The next hearing after yours is the 6th May in Mansfield, and then 14th May in Croydon.

[EXC]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Hi Ivan

We haven't heard from CarGuy for ages so we don't know what happened.

On the list of defendants it's very unlikely that the court will permit you to introduce evidence that's not already referred to in your defence or witness statement I'm afraid. You can always just say though. I'm not sure of the exact number but it is around 50 who have actually received claims plus another 10 or so who have been threatened with them.

Have you called the court to find out if BPS have informed them that they won't be attending?

[Amethyst]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Speaking to Koujar - who won his case last week - it seems he only argued that he had not completed the form on the BPS site ( his wife had done it for him ) he evidenced that his IP address was wrong.... I think he winged it a bit as he hadn't expected to take it to court.

The Judge had said that he almost got caught out by a similar site, but it would have been his own fault for not reading - which makes me think you have to push the fact you thought it was the HMPO and didn't intend to contract with any third party to book an appointment and certainly didn't require or even know about these other services.

Did you actually get a Witness Statement from RH ?

And yes ring the court and find out if he has told them he won't be attending - if you haven't had a WS from him, ask them about that too.


If we can find out about these HMPO letters I'll let you know, it would be quite useful to be able to say with certainty if the letter from Kevin Walsh is genuine or not. We have numerous requests in with the HMPO to find out about the authenticity of the letters but they are sooooooooooo bloody slow.

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Hi thanks for the replies...I haven't rung Kings Lynn court yet but I will do it this morning. ..my main argument is going to be that I simply wanted an appointment that I could use for the passport office ...and that the appointment that they made for me was useless ....and that I really never intended to sign up for their complete package....and then the totally disproportionate amount of harassment that I received over their perceived debt

[EXC]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Yes I think that the fact that they knowingly booked the appointment on your date of travel is key. They'll argue that the terms say they can book you an appointment at any time of their choosing but you need to ague that it's an unfair term.

If the court tell you that BPS have told them they're not attending they still might want you to attend. Whether they do or not, at the end of the hearing you need to ask the judge to make a costs order for your time in dealing with the claim and attending the hearing.

Can you tell us if you received a witness statement from BPS? If not you need to inform the court at the beginning of the hearing as the court might strike the claim out on that basis.

Finally, would you mind giving me a call after the hearing to let me know how you got on?

[Ivanidea666]

Re: *** IVANIDEA v BPS... hearing 30th April GOOD LUCK !!!!

Hi I have received a witness statement from BPS .....I just rung the court and they told me that they wouldn't know until the time of the hearing whether anyone would show up or not. I'm still going to go just to have my say...the witness statement basically had a screenshot of their website along with disclaimers etc, their T&Cs pointing out that they couldn't guarantee me an appointment on one or other of my preferred dates and my signature on the contract...I'm also going to point out that a normal firm wouldn't harass people quite so systematically over a debt and that I consider that their business is not in fact providing passports but misleading and harassing people over spurious debts.