I've found myself in an on-going saga with a small but professional internet company. The situation is this - I purchased an item supplied in a show display case. The package finally arrived (late!) and the case was unfortunately cracked.
I reported the issue with the supplier and they promised a replacement case 'very soon'. It turned out that they waited for an insurance claim for the package from the shipper before even re-ordering a new case.
I was then told that the case would that it was being ordered from Canada - to cut a very long story short, they just keep keeping excuses and no confirmation of delivery date. I first reported this to them back in February afterall!!!
I've since found an alternative supplier for a new case and the internet company agreed to pay me the money they claimed with insurance from the shippers. This is just being dragged on and on now so I have threatened taking them to the Small Claims Court to force their hand in paying me.
They have now told me that they've sent me payment by Registered Post which has never arrived and that I was trying to steal from them by asking them to pay me again. They need only check with Royal Mail for proof that the letter has not been signed but the are being quite bloody minded about it.
Do you know how I stand on this? They haven't replaced the case and they now haven't paid the refund they'd promised. I'm at a loss as what to do.
I have asked for both proof of purchase and a tracking number but they say they won't send me anything. I have had an email today telling me to basically take them to small claims since small claims would see the £48 sum owed as an insult and would laugh me out.
It is a small amount of money but the principle is that they have not fulfilled their contract - is that correct?
The Small Claims Court will not laugh anybody out of court but will be extremely unhappy with a company who has wasted their time for this amount of money, do it, my guess is they'll pay up rather than stand up in court with a bad customer service record and no proof of delivery for the money.
You can claim back your costs too so you have nothing to lose, oh and once you file the claim, they have to pay the costs and interest whether it goes to court or not.
I have also yesterday received a letter from a 'solicitor friend' of their company suggesting that if I was to proceed to small claims she would make it her personal business to throw everything at me and my personal company. No payment or association was ever made from my business, it was a personal purchase - the item was delivered to my workplace and I had asked them to send their refund here but nothing else.
Can I just check with you that if I proceed to small claims that she couldn't try to cause trouble for my business? It is a limited company and I am a director and of course I don't want any bad reflection or retaliation on it.
Her intention was very much a threat.
Again, it's a small amount of money but this company are really just trying to get out of their obligations.
With regard to this I've just been informed by the company that they sent the postal order by royal mail and it was photocopied with its certificate of postage rather than by registered mail as first suggested.
Their 'solicitor friend' has written "if it is found your have ignored court rules, acted excessively, or have used material deemed likely to jeopardise fair judgement, proceedings may be brought against you for Contempt of Court under section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981.
Similarly if it is found that you have abused the Judicial Proceeding, you are likely to incur a fine or a warrant for your committal to prison.
Should you opt to file in the Small Claims track as per the contents of your email, be advised that I will do everything within my power to bring these proceedings against you. Your company will be liable for costs in the likely event that your claim will either be dismissed or referred to a Circuit Judge for Sanction".
Pretty heavy stuff for a minimal claim of £46 perhaps?
Anyone with half an inkling of how the British Judicial system works knows that solicitors costs cannot be claimed in the small claims court, all they would get, on the off chance they won, would be the cost of submitting their defence and AQ, oooh about £20 I think.
Their second mistake is that you only get a certificate of posting when you post something, therefore impossible to photocopy the postal order and the proof of postage.
Third mistake, Postal Orders are crossed these days and therefore can only be paid into a bank account, if one isn't received by the intended recipient, the post office trace the PO to see where and by whom it was cashed.
It is up to them to prove you received that money and the Post Office make it quite clear that any valuables should be sent insured, however I am pretty sure they have a tracing service for post that has 'gone astray' which they would have to prove they had also used to convince a court they had taken every step to recover the postal order.
I guessed perhaps they are just trying to scare me off with talk of 'abusing the Judicial Proceeding, you are likely to incur a fine or a warrant for your committal to prison'!
Their last email today said "So you'll have to spend money on filing the claim and similarly further money on your lawyer to issue one.
If you want to do that for such a small amount of money (bearing in mind that most county courts rarely deal with any claim lower than £250 then that is a decision you have to make yourself.
So thanks but no thanks,
In the meantime (the Solicitor friend) has advised me that she looks forward to receiving your claim form."
Again I found this threatening which put me on the back foot since I don't have the legal knowledge for a considered reaction.
If I press on with the small claims court I've read that since it's a small value and for a 'fixed amount' in that I'm not seeking compensation for my time etc, etc what is the likelihood of me having to go to their local court for this? They are in the North and I'm in the South of England so it would be hard to justify a day out of the office for this pain in the backside.
Is it all done online? I've been reading on the Small Claims website and it seems that it's all handled online unless the appeal or counter-claim.
I'm really sorry to keep asking questions but I think knowledge is a good thing when it comes to these matters and you guys seem excellent on that front!
In reply to your first message, yes, all basically garbage, it may be a small amount of money and perhaps in some circumstances you would shrug and put it down to experience but this company need to be taught a lesson.
There is no minimum claim and the courts are obliged to deal with each claim, they don't pick and choose which ones are 'worth' dealing with.
You can do it through money claim online, the first stage is just to complete your claim form, it asks for your personal details, name, address etc, the details of the defendant and a basic statement of facts relating to the case so you just put basically what you have written on here but without including any correspondence, the court send a copy of the claim form to the defendant with an opportunity to defend the claim.
If they don't defend in 28 days, you win, if they do, you are sent an allocation questionnaire which takes more detail and this gives you the opportunity to say why the case should be heard at your local court (all MCOL cases are dealt with initially at Northampton)
From there you will be dealing with whichever court is nominated, hopefully your local one and you will have to put together more detailed documentation of the case but somehow I don't think it will get that far.
Whatever you do, make sure you print off and keep those e-mails, preferably with the header information if you can.
Damaged Display Case - help! 
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