Being brought to Smalls claims court - Is this Valid?

booooonzo

Hi All,

I have just received a solicitors letter (1 month after it was sent as it was sent to an old address) saying I'm being taken to the small claims if i don't refund money i was given(about 300 euro) to make cd copies for someone i kind of know.

Now I did not make the copies, this was a company that charged about 200+p+p
I charged for my time to author the disk and artwork as it needed to play both audio on cd players and video on pc's/macs and for getting it all together and delivered.
All this was done, on time and delivered.

I am not a company or anything btw.

The issue he has, is he has very little understanding of technology and seemed to think he was getting DVD's that would play on any device and play music in any device.
I explained to him numerous times (before and after) this was not possible and it was quite difficult to get near 100% compatibility on all computers.
When I received the discs, the quality was good and they played in every pc(win7/win8/vista) and a mac i tested
His pc is an old xp machine(i think, he's not sure himself) and he says it wouldn't play so wanted a refund.

I then tried it on XP machines and it played on one and not another.
I myself was disappointed in this but knew it may happen and had warned him of this. He was still annoyed and wanted a full refund, i said i would refund my part but couldn't refund the price of duplication (i have invoice for it)

he refused and now wants to bring me to small claims.
I'm not sure where exactly i stand but don't think i'm liable.

any help much appreciated.

cheers.

Gloomtastic!

Do you have any correspondence in writing about your initial compatibility concerns or was it all verbal?

booooonzo

I'm just looking at emails now, unfortunately i don't think i do as he usually rang man but im going to check my phone now too.
I don't know if it matters but i do have some abusive messages also after the fact!

I guess its my word against his if i have no written communication but the solicitors letter, directed bu him is full of inaccuracies from a technical perspective, would this count as showing his expectations were misplaced?

booooonzo

Ok so i have an email where i state that thought there might be compatibility issues but id try and get it as universally playable as i could but he never responded or acknowledged that issue.

where would that leave me?

thanks for any help

Gloomtastic!

Once it's in writing, it's fact!

Write back to the solicitor and explain the situation as you did here and emphasis the warnings about the compatibility issue. Try and give specific dates etc as opposed to saying 'loads of times'. Include the email where you have stated it in writing.
Finish by stating you have done nothing wrong and that you will defend any action vigorously.

Good luck!

Beano

who sends a solicitors letter for a small claims court matter? surely solicitors fees would outweigh any money possibly recovered? can you recover legal fees via the small claims court?

booooonzo

Ha if only you knew the fella, you'd know the type!
anyway. thanks for the help.. gonna work on the reply tonight.

billy few mates

You could also bring a couple of different laptops with you to the small claims court so you could demonstrate that the discs actually work and that the problem is more of a compatability issue with the customers equipment rather than a defective product, you could then show the email you sent warning that this might be a possibility. You could then argue that the customer could have acted on this warning and cancelled the order but obviously chose not to....

Yawns

or tell him to install some codecs to allow him to view/listen to the cds. Kazaa lite code pack should have all he needs. http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=7344&s=775&r=

newmug

He employed a solicitor to do SCC stuff? I thought the whole point of the SCC was to cut out legal costs?

galwayjohn89

Yawns wrote: »

or tell him to install some codecs to allow him to view/listen to the cds. Kazaa lite code pack should have all he needs. http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=7344&s=775&r=

That's what I was thinking. I have never had a DVD that wouldn't on a laptop once I got the codecs installed.

testicle

I wonder if this XP machine has a DVD drive at all, and just a CD drive.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Beano wrote: »

who sends a solicitors letter for a small claims court matter? surely solicitors fees would outweigh any money possibly recovered? can you recover legal fees via the small claims court?

Well as far as I can recall a solicitor's letter costs around 50 quid. It's possible he took a gamble and was hoping the OP would cave in on receiving the letter, thus saving yer man some time and hassle. Or her could have a relative/friend who is a solicitor.
I'm 99% sure the small claims court can't/won't award legal costs! You don't even get awarded the court fee if you win as far as I know

The Muppet

I'm no legal expert but I feel he's bluffing,

Small claim courts are for business not private transactions AFAIK. My guess is he's been told he doesn't have a case that would succeed in the small claims court hence the solicitors letter threatening small claims court instead of taking the action which would have cost a lot less than the letter.

Did you issue him with a receipt? How did he pay you?

booooonzo wrote: »

Hi All,

I have just received a solicitors letter (1 month after it was sent as it was sent to an old address) saying I'm being taken to the small claims if i don't refund money i was given(about 300 euro) to make cd copies for someone i kind of know.



I am not a company or anything btw.

.................................................................

.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

The Muppet wrote: »

I'm no legal expert but I feel he's bluffing,

Small claim courts are for business not private transactions AFAIK. My guess is he's been told he doesn't have a case that would succeed in the small claims court hence the solicitors letter threatening small claims court instead of taking the action which would have cost a lot less than the letter.

Did you issue him with a receipt? How did he pay you?

You don't need to be part of a company to have a consumer claim taken against you. The OP has supplied goods in the course of business - he was making money from it.