Well, the bunch that did not refund for my blu-ray player order have now refunded the original amount. It arrived yesterday (27th Jan).
Now, the question is, can I get my £35 court fees. To be honest, whether I get them or not, the outcome is a very cheap training course in the practical application of the law and the county courts, so this will be interesting and well worth £35 to know.
The timing is interesting. The law says they had to refund "as soon as possible", which would have been late December (Order was cancelled 24th Dec). They refused to do so.
I gave them a deadline of the 8th Jan else would issue a county court claim.
I waited until the 25th to issue it which is 17 days after my deadline and 2 days after the other deadline in the law which is "not exceeding 30 days".
Now, money getting to my account on 27th probably means they sent the refund on the 25th which is also after the 30 day limit, but they are definitely well after the "as soon as possible" requirement by many weeks. However, they almost certainly sent the refund before receiving the claim. And who knows if the law means "send a refund within 30 days" or "refund must have arrived within 30 days". I don't know!
So I think I was completely valid to issue the county court claim as they missed my deadline and the legal requirement (twice).
What will be interesting is if they file a defence to the claim, and what it says. I'll wait. They have 14 days. If they do not, then I can simply request judgement on the basis they have not paid the whole claim. If they do, it will have to admit their original liability for the refund, and that should mean I can ask for judgement for the balance (my £35 court fees) without any hearing (as they admit they owed the money).
The question comes if they somehow convince the court I raised the claim too soon.
Probably not worth actually going to a hearing over this.
As I say, even if I do not get the £35 court fees, I'll learn something.
And trading standards will be on their back as well anyway.
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> Probably not worth actually going to a hearing over this.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope they're not reading this then.
Does the other party still have the right to request the hearing be moved to their local court or has that changed with the introduction of postal representation?
I am a consumer, they are a business. AFAIK that means I get to choose the court :-)
ReplyDeleteThe annoying thing about going to court is the loss of earnings you can't claim for - The maximum you can claim is £50 (I think) and whether you can claim the whole lot seems to be at the Judge's discretion. The first time I went to court, the judge said "If you were billing for this time, you would have billed more than £50, so I'll permit costs of £50". The second one said "The case has taken half of your day, so I'll permit £25".
ReplyDeleteTravel can only be claimed at second class rates, so despite the fact that I only travel first class on trains (so I can work/eat while I travel), I have to travel second class and therefore lose even more time/money.
Ho hum.