Small Claims Recorded Delivery

[tali1]

I 'm overdue a large refund from travel agent.I have sent emails(they responded to 1 email assuring of refund) and made several phone calls.It has been 3 MONTHS
Given this is a unreasonable time i now wish to pursue thru small claims court.
Do i still have to send them letter by recorded delivery giving them a 10 day limit?

[Buenchico]

You must make a formal written demand for payment. That demand must include:
Your name and address ;
The name and address of the person whom the claim is being made against. (Assuming that it's a limited company, the letter needs to be addressed to 'the Company Secretary, xxxxx Ltd', not to any named individual) ;
The date of the letter ;
A clear statement that it is a demand for payment ;
The exact amount being demanded ;
The reason for that demand ;
A statement that, if payment is not received within a specified period, legal action will follow. (There is no set period but a court might rule that 10 days is too tight a period; I'd suggest 14 or 21 days).
Your signature.

There is no legal requirement to send the letter by recorded by deliver but, in case a court needs to see evidence that such a demand was sent, it would be wisest to do so.

If payment is not forthcoming, use the online claims procedure here:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

[Peter Pedant]

God that is a bit formal

Get onto MCOL and register - you will do it thro the new exciting gov gateway

The MCOL bit is but one thing available - you can claim for cows in Pembroke (if you have / had any that is )

You will find that you will have 1000 letters to do your claim

and they ask you to check the box if your claim is longer - 1000 letters is hardly eough to ask for a cup fo tea

so then do the more formal claim - and send it off by enail to the claimant

That usually shakes them up. You can save your half entered MCOL claim and come back to it

Literally the only thing you have to remember is that your user name fot he system is not John Smith but the 16 digit nimber they igive you....

The small claims procedure is designed to be easy to use
and tends to be less formal

So get started now

You must use MCOL now - it is only confusing if you are old and have used the older one

Any probz - repost - I used it last week (kinda shows really innit ?)

[tali1]

Thanks i am aware of MCOL .However, i assume, i still have to do recorded delivery first ?
Also....
Can i actually claim any compensation at this stage such as the 8% interest -or is that only once MCOL proceedings start?
Or what if company pays refund on my letter request- can i still claim compensation thru MCOL ?
Does the final day deadline have to be at end of business hours at say 5.30pm?
What if company pays whilst proceedings are been issued? -are they liable for my court costs?
My other great concern is that company will respond - but merely use this to simply stall and waste time(as they have done this before repeatedly).What if they say they will pay- but some time after deadline? is my deadline date non negotiable ?

[Buenchico]

You can't use the small claims procedure until such time as
(a) you've made a formal written demand ; and
(b) the company has failed to pay up.
If you go straight to MCOL, without evidence available to show a court that you've actually tried to get your money first, the claim will be thrown out. (While MCOL is usually thought of as a wholly 'online' system, a court still has to hear the case. Such cases are actually dealt with by a court in Northampton).

Where you set a deadline for payment, (such as within 14 days of receipt of this letter) the debtor has up until midnight on the relevant date to pay. However if he actually delays payment by a few more days there's no point in pursuing him for interest (unless he owed a vast amount of money to start with).

Interest can only be charged on a late payment. If your original contract with the debtor didn't include a timescale for repayment, the payment can't become 'late' until he's ignored a reasonable deadline set by you.
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/work-out-interest

[tali1]

Thanks -they stated 6weeks for refund -that was on the phone , so i don't have actual proof
The refund due is in thousands

[Peter Pedant]

hubba hubba - get threatening baybee !

sooner demanded - sooner you will get your money