Can someone explain this draft summons please?

eamon11

just wondering as I have just received a draft summons. I dispute the bill wholeheartly and have proof in my favour but have gotton nowhere talking to them. Without going into details, I even agreed to partially pay "their" bill as a goodwill act if they met me halfway but got only a staunch refusal.
Funny thing is, it says on the draft summons "if u dispute the claim you are hereby required to" and I am given 3 options, 2 of which are to pay. The third is "not later than 7 days before the under-mentioned date of sitting of the court to detach and complete the 2 notices of intention to defend attached to this civil summons and to give or send by post one of them to the districh court clerk"
Thing is there were no notices attached to the summons and also there is no date of court!!
Please explain?

Thanks a lot,

Eamon

NoQuarter

Does the summons have a stamp on it? An ink stamp like a seal.

Dr. Ego

Speaking from experience, I've received 2 of these in the past, they are an aggressive scare tactic used by debt collectors to shake out low hanging fruit.
They have most likely bought your debt for a fraction of the amount owing from the original company.
The solicitor agency who sent the draft summons are most likely part of debt collection company.
If what you say about debt is true then you've nothing to fear.
Neither of mine every resulted in any escalation as I also had grounds for dispute, I also asked for a copy of my original signed contract which they were unable/unwilling to produce.
Unfortunately they have your address so expect more communication, get a number blocking app for your phone at least to eliminate the hassle of the automated calls.
Make sure that the original company is not registered with the ICB, if they are you might want to check your credit score & raise an appeal if necessary.

eamon11

many thanks lads for the quick replies.

no, there is no stamp on the summons. In fact even my address is wrong but the letter still got to me.

There letter says "we enclose herewith a DRAFT CIVIL SUMMONS" from a solicitor company in Dublin. Also says to contact the debt collection agency for any quieries.

ResearchWill

eamon11 wrote: »

many thanks lads for the quick replies.

no, there is no stamp on the summons. In fact even my address is wrong but the letter still got to me.

There letter says "we enclose herewith a DRAFT CIVIL SUMMONS" from a solicitor company in Dublin. Also says to contact the debt collection agency for any quieries.

Draft means it is exactly that a draft not the final summons. If you don't owe the money write back say you don't owe the money, that if they put you to the cost of defending the matter you will be seeking your costs. Also of interest is section 11 non fatal offences against the person act 1997,

11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(a) the demands by reason of their frequency are calculated to subject the debtor or a member of the family of the debtor to alarm, distress or humiliation, or

(b) the person falsely represents that criminal proceedings lie for non-payment of the debt, or

(c) the person falsely represents that he or she is authorised in some official capacity to enforce payment, or

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

While putting Draft on it may allow a defence if they keep this up keep letters and makes complaint to AGS.

eamon11

thanks will,

what is AGS?

"we shall issue proceedings against you unles payment is made on foot of the enclosed DRAFT CIVIL SUMMONS Once judgement has been obtained we will seek to enforce to enforce the judgement against you

If you wish to avoid the enclosed we strongly recommend you to contact this office with proposal on how you intend to discharge owed by you to our clients"

that last line is the clincher. How can they say I owe money? Do they really know the facts? Or care?

ResearchWill

eamon11 wrote: »

thanks will,

what is AGS?

"we shall issue proceedings against you unles payment is made on foot of the enclosed DRAFT CIVIL SUMMONS Once judgement has been obtained we will seek to enforce to enforce the judgement against you

If you wish to avoid the enclosed we strongly recommend you to contact this office with proposal on how you intend to discharge owed by you to our clients"

that last line is the clincher. How can they say I owe money? Do they really know the facts? Or care?

An Garda Siochanna,

They may very well believe you owe money if they wish to issue a real summons, that is their right, it is also your right to defend the proceedings. To get the order they will have to produce some evidence you owe the money that can be paper or verbal, of course paper is better. You can give your own evidence that you don't owe anything. The judge decides on the evidence before him.

eamon11

thanks will,

I am now writing to them with all kinds of threats of my own for defamation of character etc. However should I tell them the details of why I dont owe the money? or just state that I don't owe them money? Should I provide them with the evidence I have or just state that I have the evidence?

Thanks a lot,

Eamon

ResearchWill

eamon11 wrote: »

thanks will,

I am now writing to them with all kinds of threats of my own for defamation of character etc. However should I tell them the details of why I dont owe the money? or just state that I don't owe them money? Should I provide them with the evidence I have or just state that I have the evidence?

Thanks a lot,

Eamon

If you want any advice on what to put in a letter seek legal advice from a solicitor. No one here should advise you and the most important reason they don't have all the facts.

Carawaystick

This wouldn't be legal advice, but if you owe them money, that's a civil matter. If you think they are breaking the piece of law quoted upthread, that's a criminal matter, any you are clearly not breaking that law.

Don't bother with the debt collectors.

Reloc8

eamon11 wrote: »

"we shall issue proceedings against you unles payment is made on foot of the enclosed DRAFT CIVIL SUMMONS Once judgement has been obtained we will seek to enforce to enforce the judgement against you

They're threatening to sue you. What they're doing in showing you the draft summons is sort of telling you take them seriously, i.e. that they've gone as far as getting proceedings prepared without taking the step of issuing them. They're quite clear in their letter that the proceedings are only in draft form. There could be no question of them having falsely represented the document as having an official character.

Go and get legal advice OP.