*** WON *** Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

[Maude123]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - defence sent waiting court date

Morning all. Confirmation received of the change to local County Court!

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - defence sent waiting court date

court date yet ???

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - defence sent waiting court date

COURT DAte 6TH august [MENTION=62957]Maude123[/MENTION]

Just check the hearing notice from the court for any special instructions for witness statements / docs to rely on etc - most likely 14 days before but DOUBLE CHECK xx

[Tools]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - claim issued 24th Feb defence due BY March 29

Which court is it in?

[Maude123]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15

Manchester Civil Court. Managed to get through by phone this morning and they've confirmed 14 days. She's received Tricky's submission but didn't want to give him too much in advance, although he'lol be a little 'preoccupied' at the moment!

maude is off to Spain on Monday so it'll be left to me to sort in her absence. What's my next move please?

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15

Next step is to prepare the witness statement and evidences to go to court 14 days before the hearing. There is a basic outline http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...utline-for-BPS and if you have a look through some of the other threads - particularly the cases that have finished, you'll see what others have put together. You'll want to bring up the revised ASA adjudication in it of course. If you have a go and post it up we can check it over and make any suggestions for additions/amendment xx

[Maude123]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

Could you run your eyes over this attempt please. Needs the dates sorting and a few bits amending but it's basically correct. Can't finalise it till Maude gets back off her jollies! Thanks.


IN THE MANCHESTER COUNTY COURT
BETWEEN:-
UK SERVICES AND SUPPORT LTD
Claimant

and

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Defendant

________________________________________
WITNESS STATEMENT
________________________________________


I, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ofxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
will state as follows;

1: I am a Support Worker and the defendant in these proceedings. I make this witness statement in support of my defence in this case.
2: On Thursday 5th June 2014 having booked a holiday to XXXX I looked at my passport and noticed that I didn’t have very long left on it. I decided to search the internet for the Passport Office website with the intention of booking a fast track appointment with them to obtain a new passport.

3: I turned on my ipad and searched on Safari, entering ‘Passport Office’ in the search box. I clicked on the site which was at the top of the result list which I believed to be the British Passport Office official site.

4: I began to enter the information required in an attempt to book an appointment at the Liverpool office, giving my preferred dates of either Monday 9th June 2014 or Tuesday 10th June 2014 as I would not be in work on either of those dates and I needed the passport before my departure date of14th June 2015.
During this process I received a telephone call from my sister in law who had worked in the travel agency business and she informed me that I actually had sufficient time left on my current passport and so I left the website without ever encountering a transaction page or entering any financial details.

5: At 1942 hrs that evening I received an email stating that ‘BPS will book my appointment at Liverpool Passport Office’ signed by Sam Harris. This left me confused as I had not completed the application process on the website. Later that evening I received a further email from the same person stating that an appointment had been booked for16th June 2014 at 0930 hrs. I also received a text message to the same effect from an address marked ‘PASSPORT’. This date was of no use to me as it would have been out of the country for 2 days. Contained within the text message was the option that if I wanted to cancel then I could text back ‘CANCEL’ to cancel the appointment. This I immediately did and received a reply stating that the appointment had been cancelled on my behalf. I went on my holiday and heard nothing further on this matter until 4th November 2014.

6: On 4th November 2014 I received a telephone call which I did not answer as I was driving at the time. On completing my journey I looked at my mobile phone which displayed that I had missed a call and that an answerphone message had been left. I did not recognise the sender as the number was displayed as unknown. XXXX. Further, at 1508 hrs I received an email from British Passport Services which began ‘Following on from your conversation with my colleague a few moments ago…’ that they understood that I was not willing to pay the sum of £117.60 for the appointment package provided and which contained many grammatical errors, spelling mistakes badly worded and signed Amanda Kirkman. I had had no telephone conversation with anyone that day, let alone a conversation regarding an alleged outstanding debt. The email also claimed that I had been provided with ‘services highlighted in the above receipt’ but no receipt had been added or attached.
At 1631 hrs the same day I received a further email with the subject ‘Overdue Invoice Notice’ beginning ‘Following on from our conversation it has now been some XXXX since we provided you with the appointment package’ which went on to give me 3 days to pay the sum of £117.60……and signed Sam Harris. It was at this point that I realised that I had been duped into thinking I was on the official passport site and that in fact I had not been and I was being pursued for monies that I did not owe.

7: The following day 5th November 2014 I informed my parents of the situation and how upset I was regarding their claims. I was totally confused as I thought I was on the official website and the British Passport Services was very confusing, misleading and I had been contacted by two different people. My mother emailed them on my behalf at 08:49 hrs that day informing them of how upset I was and that the appointment had been cancelled the same day, although she was also getting confused by it all and stated that it had been cancelled by email when it had actually been cancelled by text message. She then received a reply at 11:42 hrs saying that they had no record of my cancellation and attached a link to an alleged contract between them and myself. This email was not signed.
Additionally the email stated I still owed the money as they gave me an opportunity to cancel by sending the first email saying they were going to begin the work.

8: My Mother sent a further email after contacting the Official Passport Office and ascertaining that they had no record of an appointment having been made and being advised by them to ignore this company as it was not an official site. This further email informed British Passport Services that she had reported them to the official office. British Passport Services again replied to my Mother’s email but addressed it to me. It contained various links to TV videos, Police reports, letters from HM Passport Office and a list of questions as to why I believed this was a Police matter. This was again signed by Amanda Kirkman.


9: I received another request to pay, with a three day extension and an invitation to speak to Sam Harris personally on a premium rate number.

10: I received another email from Sam Harris stating that today was the final day to pay and another invitation to call.

My Father contacted British Passport Services on my behalf on 2th December in an attempt to clarify the situation as requested. He informed them that I had entered the website by error, mistakenly thinking it was the HMPO site and that their website was very confusing as was stated by the Advertising Standards Agency’s ruling against them in complaint reference no. A14-273276 (an appeal by British Passport Services against this ruling has recently been overturned and the ruling currently stands). Also that by leaving the site early and before I had proceeded to any payment section then I had completed no transaction. He also stated that their only methods of cancellation made it impossible to cancel the work they claimed to have done.
Also that their claim of having a ‘contract with the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013’ allowing this was void as they came into force on 13th June 2014 but as I dealt with the company on 5th June 2014 then The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008 applied.
As I was becoming very stressed with the whole situation my Father made the one time offer, without prejudice to my case, to pay £20 to settle the matter, this reflecting the cost stated to make the appointment. Mr Mercer never replied to this correspondence.

11: I received an email stating that my details were being passed to the Overdue Invoices Team who would begin the collection process. They also stated that they would be contacting the Tyldesley Citizens Advice Bureau the following day to explain the situation on my behalf, even though this office does not exist. This was signed by Sam Harris.

12: I received an answerphone message from what sounded like a drunken man with a West Indian accent who introduced himself as what I deciphered as Albert from British Passport Services who stated that he called me to discuss XXXXX but then said that there was no point as I would be receiving a letter in the morning.

13: I Received an email from Charles Mercer of British Passport Services Collections Team informing me that a meeting had took place and unless I paid the £133.60 still due within 14 days then court proceedings would be taken against me. It also stated that a draft of this claim had been sent to me in the post and it also included information that going to court would escalate the charges plus interest and adversely affect my credit rating. I considered this very threatening.

14: I received an email from Charles Mercer offering a final chance to pay the £144.10 outstanding. It also included a link to a long list of names and details who the company UK Services & Support Ltd had won claims against and that they had never lost a case. It was a Register of Judgements at County Court level. It then said that I had until ^pm that evening to pay or ‘be on the lookout for the Court documents’. I again found this extremely upsetting and threatening and thought that the publishing of these people’s names and details must surely breach their rights to confidentiality. This link has recently been changed to direct you to a .GOV.UK page detailing County court judgments for debt and how CCJs affect your credit rating.

15: I subsequently received documents from Money Claim Online which I completed and returned.

16: My Father emailed Charles Mercer acknowledging their court claim against me, informing him that I did not wish to speak to them by telephone and that he would be advocating for me and directed them to direct any questions relating to the case through him via email or letter. Charles Mercer never responded to this request.

17: I received an email on 8th April 2015 from Charles Mercer thanking me for acknowledging their court claim and requesting me to book an appointment with them to discuss a few questions they would like to ask me despite being in receipt of my desire not to contact me except through my Father as this was causing me extreme stress. It also offered me another option to pay the outstanding sum of £202.60

18: I was contacted by Russell Watkinson of York Trading Standards Office with regards to my dealings with British Passport Services and requesting a personal interview with him to convey my story. We did in fact meet on 11th June 2015 and I gave him my story and handed copies of all emails and letters I had received from this company. Mr Watkinson said that they would be very valuable to him in his investigation into British Passport services and its owner Richard Howard.

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Signed________________________________
Dated_________________________________

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

That's very good I don't think you will have any problems at all - I would add on the ASA adjudication and other court cases too

something like this

41. On researching how to deal with a County Court claim I discovered the Claimant also owns other websites that are very similar to www.britishpassportservices.co.uk, including www.ukpassportoffices.co.uk, which was the subject of an Advertising Standards Authority adjudication (ref A14-273276) (EXHIBIT X) which found that the website breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Qualification) and 3.17 (Prices). The ASA required that the site be removed or changed.

42. That website is still live and at the time of the adjudication looked the same as the website BritishPassportServices (EXHIBIT F). The Claimant appealed the ASA Adjudication and asked for an independent review. On 1st July 2015 the ASA published their findings and the original adjudication was upheld (EXHIBIT X)


43. Since submitting my defence I have become aware of a number of other consumers who have been sued by the Claimant. The Claimant published a list on his website of over 170 consumers who had either settled or received a judgment by default.

44. I am aware that the Claimant brought over 770 county court claims against consumers between November 2014 and March 2015 (EXHIBIT X) A majority of these claims appear to have been settled or resulted in a Judgment by Default.

45. The Claimant has only appeared in one hearing, UK Services & Support v Alexander Yates, and I have attached a copy of the Judgment given in that case (EXHIBIT X).

46. This was case B7QZ6275 at Cambridge County Court on 7th May 2015 before Deputy District Judge Raggett .(Exhibit X) The Judge found against the Claimant due to his website being misleading.

47. I am aware that there have been a number of other unreported cases in the County Courts which have been dismissed by the Court or found in favour of the Defendant (EXHIBIT X)

48. I am also aware that the Claimant has discontinued a number of cases shortly before the hearing.

Also add in (EXHIBIT A) etc where you mention emails and letters and attach those as exhibits.

[Maude123]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

Thanks very much for taking time to wade through all this it's really appreciated!

[Maude123]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

OK so all arranged in the correct order, copies sent to UKSAS and the Court special delivery. Time to wait and see!

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

Excellent Well done xxx

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

[enaid]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

ah Rebeecca ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Maude123 v UK Services & Support - Court date 6-8-15 Manchester

Nope, that's the other one

****************** MAUDE123 WON !!! **************

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