Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

[baggyboy]

Hi,

I'm posting on my dad's behalf.

In May 2015, he had damp repairs to his caravan done by a sole trader caravan repairer.

Fast forward to, last December, he had a damp check and inspections carried out, only to find that damp still remained and a poor repair was carried out. The repairer also provided my dad with a verbal 12 month warranty, and 12 month warranties for repairs are still stated on his website.

We sent a letter before Christmas enclosing, damp reports, and quotations, asking him to repair our caravan, or we would get another repairer to repair it, and invoice him the cost. We received no response.

As we got more and more quotes, the shocking state of the work was revealed to leave us with more complex and expensive repairs than first thought. We now have a situation where we need the money back from the rogue repairer in order to pay another repairer to bring the work up to the correct standard.

We sent a letter before action on the 5th February 2016, giving him until the 20th February to refund us for the repair, or we would take action via the small claims track.

I now really need advice on my particulars of claim. I have chosen to use MCOL online and I am limited in what I put. In saying that, the rogue repairer has all the damp reports I have done anyway so he knows what evidence we have.

I have something drafted out and wondered if anyone could check it over for me before I process the claim.

Please read below.

In May 2015, the defendant, Mr ****
****** of ****** Caravan Repairs carried
out damp repairs on my Bailey Pageant Vendee
Caravan. Following recent damp tests and
checks, damp has been found to be still
present in the areas he carried out repairs.
I find the repairs to be in breach of section
13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act of
1982, regarding repair work completed without
the necessary care and skill. Mr *******
also provided me with a verbal Twelve month
warranty, so by ignoring my attempts of
contacting him he is breach of contract,
on the promise he made. I have made several
unsuccessful attempts over the telephone and
in writing to contact Mr ***** since
finding problems with the repair. I sent Mr
******* a letter dated 5th February 2016,
giving him until the 20th February 2016 to
send me a refund, and I haven't a received a
response. I am requesting a full refund of
£1600.00 so I can commence with the necessary
repairs needed to my Caravan.

Thanks

[R0b]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

I can help you with this in the next hour or so, but in the meantime some initial points to note:

- Presuming this was an oral agreement start with something like "By an oral agreement between the Claimant and the Defendant on [DATE], the Defendant carried out ...

- Change " I " to the Claimant

- You are entitled to interest at a rate of 8% per annum, you may wish to consider including this

- Take a screenshot of the website stating that it offers a 12 month warranty. If you have a phone or software which can timestamp the photograph even better this can be used as evidence


I can tidy the rest up for you later

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Thanks very much rob. Much appreciated..
I did before Christmas print out a copy of the website stating the warranty, dated at the bottom. I'll see if my dad can take a screenshot of the website again later., if we can't then would the print out do?

Be back online later.
Mark

[R0b]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

1. By an oral agreement on or around May 2015, the Defendant in the course of his business agreed to carry out damp repairs the Claimant's vehicle at a cost of £ .

2. The agreement included an express term that the damp repairs would be warranted for a period of 12 months and it was an implied term that the Defendant would repair the vehicle with reasonable skill and care.

3. In performance of the agreement, the Defendant carried out repairs to the vehicle in May 2015. Following the Defendant's repairs, damp tests revealed further damp which was present on or around the areas repaired by the Defendant.

4. The Claimant attempted on several occasions to contact the Defendant to arrange further repairs however the Claimant has been unsuccessful.

5. In breach of the express and implied terms above, the Defendant has failed to repair the vehicle in accordance with the warranty period and/or failed to carry out the required repairs with reasonable skill and care.

6. As a result of the matters set out above, the Claimant has suffered loss and damage.

7. The Claimant also claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 on damages due to the Claimant at a rate and for the period that the Court decides is appropriate.

AND the Claimant claims:
(1) £1,600 in damages
(2) interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 to be assessed.


------------------------------------------------

The above should do, little formal but should set out clearly your agreement and how they have breached it. Not sure if that will all fit on the MCOL claim if not you can just amalgamate some of the numbered points together to fit it in there.

[charitynjw]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Imho

Before I would claim via court, I would try & make some 'enquiries' as to the state of the prospective defendant's finances.

If he/she is potless, I don't think I'd bother.

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

I've taken on board your comments, and adjusted the particulars as below.

Something to note, my dad dropped his caravan off at the defendants business premises on 12th May and paid a deposit, but the work wasn't completed until 20th May, when he paid the balance outstanding..

I'm using MCOL online, and they restrict you to the amount of lines and characters, so we were going to not claim interest, and use the extra space to put a strong case across. However, if you feel you can trim down what I have put, and think we are within our rights to claim interest, then I will do so.

I thought that if perhaps, if my dad had to have repairs carried out earlier and incurred a loss that way, then, it would be ok to claim interest.

Can we also claim back damp report costs, quotation costs, postage costs etc... It's cost my dad an awful lot, not taking into account the mobile phone bill.


By oral agreement on 12th May 2015,
the Defendant carried out repairs on
the claimant's Bailey Pageant Vendee
Caravan. Following recent damp tests and
checks, damp has been found to be still
present in the areas the defendant carried out repairs.
The claimant finds the repairs to be in breach of section
13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act of
1982, regarding repair work completed without
the necessary care and skill. The Defendant
also provided the claimant with an oral Twelve month
warranty when the claimant collected his caravan on
completion on 20th May 2015,
so by ignoring the claimant's attempts of
contacting him, the defendant is in breach of contract,
on the promise he made. The claimant has made several
unsuccessful attempts over the telephone and
in writing to contact the Defendant since
finding problems with the repair. The claimant sent
the defendant a letter dated 5th February 2016,
giving him until the 20th February 2016 to
send him a refund, and he hasn't received a
response. The claimant is requesting a full refund of
£1600.00 so he can commence with the necessary
repairs needed to his Caravan.

- - - Updated - - -

Imho

Before I would claim via court, I would try & make some 'enquiries' as to the state of the prospective defendant's finances.

If he/she is potless, I don't think I'd bother.

Thanks very much.. I have already done that via the land registry, and he does jointly own his home with his wife.

[R0b]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Imho

Before I would claim via court, I would try & make some 'enquiries' as to the state of the prospective defendant's finances.

If he/she is potless, I don't think I'd bother.

Yes, I forgot to mention that, and also the address of the defendant. You need to reasonably ascertain that he is living at the address you are going to be sending the claim form to, so if the website stipulates an address make sure he is still resident there. As he is a sole trader, the address can be the place of business or his home address.

You should be making the claim against the individual as well as the trading name

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Thanks very much Rob. That looks great,, Need I change the word "vehicle" to "caravan" or is just vehicle ok? Turns out our posts crossed..

I just hope I can squeeze it all on MCOL now.. I'll be back online later and enter it on MCOL to find out.

[charitynjw]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

What was the method of payment?

Receipt?

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

I do know his home address, but am sending the claim to his business premises.

For example I have put: Joe
Bloggs T/A
The Bad Caravan Repair Co.

[R0b]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Thanks very much Rob. That looks great,, Need I change the word "vehicle" to "caravan" or is just vehicle ok? Turns out our posts crossed..

I just hope I can squeeze it all on MCOL now.. I'll be back online later and enter it on MCOL to find out.

I'd say a caravan is a vehicle with wheels but sure you can replace vehicle with caravan to be precise.

For example I have put: Joe
Bloggs T/A
The Bad Caravan Repair Co.

That's fine

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

I do know his home address, but am sending the claim to his business premises. As I far as I am aware he still trades from there. However, my dad has heard because of the complaints over his work, he was considering moving on.

For this reason I am putting for example: Joe Bloggs T/A The Bad Caravan Repair Company.

Payment was made in Cash. My dad does have an invoice stating the amount he paid yes.

Thanks for all the advice, i'll be back online later.

If he defends the case, we are going to ask the court if we can get an expert's opinion on the caravan.. We have it on good authority that it's a right bodge job.

Cheers
Mark

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Ok Rob,

I couldn't squeeze the bit on about interest unfortunately. I'm nowhere near close, so just amalgamating the numbered points, wouldn't make an awful lot of difference.

I have also left no space in between the final numbered point at the bottom and the line that reads "and the claimant claims £..." but it's on there so that's one thing.

Looks like forgetting about the interest then.. I do know that I can submit extra particulars, but it seems to me like there's a lot of work involved. The added point is, I can't see the defendant responding anyway, so I could be wasting my time spending more time and effort in adding and getting the particulars more accurate.

Thanks again Rob.. I'll leave it an hour to see what you think before submitting.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

Does MCOL add the interest bit on for you at the end or make you do it within the character limit?

[baggyboy]

Re: Help bringing small claim against caravan repairer

[QUOTE=Amethyst;626168]Does MCOL add the interest bit on for you at the end or make you do it within the character limit?[/QUO

As soon as I tick "I want to include interest" that trims 6 lines off the particulars box.. and I lose what I have put on those 6 lines. It's unfair how it reduces the space like that.