Small Claims courts - experiences please
 

I guess I should of listened to the advice on the msg board but to start with I bought a set of non-standard Wavey discs from a 'seller' on Ebay at the beginning of the year.

They were very cheap and seemed reasonable quality when they arrived but sadly, would not fit my 900ss properly; the offset was completely wrong on one disc. Seller offered a replacement but I wanted a refund which he said he was happy to do.

Yep - you guessed - discs sent back; weeks of stalling - no refund - Ebay not interested as over 60 days - post office not interested as it seems the item was properly delivered.

So, even though this whole episode irritates me no end - do I now spend even more money (£50?) and take the muppet to the small claims court or simply chalk it down to a bad experience.

I might just disable the swear filter for this thread :mad:

Cheers - Frank

If you have his address-which I guess you do since you posted the items back to him-maybe worth paying him a visit.:devil:

John

E bay
 

Hi Ya,
I take that you didnt pay through paypal? as you would be able to claim through them as i did when a Muppet a bought a phone didnt send it,

On the small claims court, i have also used these before over a car accident and found it surprisingly informal and satsifiying as i got a positive result although i was getting quite stressed at the thought of it!

I guess you have just got to ask yourself is it worth all this....but like you i just hated the thought of these idiots taking the p~ss all the time!

Good luck to ya in wot ever you decide...and make sure you give really s%hit feedback to the muppet,

Well, you could always give Mav a call :lol:

Seriously though, I think the reason that people get away with things like this is the lack of accountability from all the people in the chain. As you've pointed out it's too easy for eBay and the like to just wash their hands of it.

As for the small claims court, well, it's alot of hassle to go through and if somebody is unscrupulous enough not to refund your money they may be equally defiant of the court. Also, the value of the claim may not justify all the hassle.

The last time I had anything like this it was a holiday advertised by a major travel company as a 'cruise and stay' holiday - 7 days cruising the Greek Islands on a small 40 passenger boat followed by a 7 day stay at a 5 star in Lindos, Rhodes. The whole thing was packaged as a top end luxury holiday and the boat was described so that you had visions of being under sail half the time and mooring up in a little cove to swim ashore for a barbeque. So when we pitched up in Rhodes harbour to find the boat was an old tub with communal areas that would make a run down 1960's transport cafe look plush, cabins that were made out of strawboard (and below deck when we had paid extra for a deck cabin). The engine ran all night even when moored, because the boat wasn't equipped with any type of 'umbilical cord' to plug into harbourside power and so ran the engine to keep the generator running and it filled this little rabbit hutch strawboard cabin with eye-watering diesel fumes. It was impossible to stay choking on diesel fumes so we went up into the communal area again to find all the crew sleeping on the bench seats in their string vests. Real luxury huh? Anyway, we only stayed there for one night and jumped ship for the 5 star hotel. Did I ever get any compensation? Nope...months of trying later the company tactics of dicking you around until you give up paid off.

I just wrote it down to experience and learned that instead of writing a cheque out to pay for the holiday it would've been cheap insurance to pay the 4% extra handling fee and to have paid by credit card.

I really, really like the idea of John first option and a baseball bat.

Surprisingly - I did pay by Paypal - but, as I didnt report the problems within 60 days Ebay are just not interested, I just keep getting standard form replies.

Not surprisingly - the seller is no longer registered with Ebay and they would not even tell me if he had any similar complaints against him.

Thanks for the replies guys - I need Caffine !!!

F

mail me his/her addy frank and I'll pop in and see what I can retrieve (nicley)

you have my nimber !

mav

I think it cost me £75 to take some one to court a few years ago. You may win the case but even then it doesn't guarantee he will pay up.

It can take ages and include bayliffs, going back to court, tracing the bast**d et etc.

I wouldn't recommend it for £50 even though it has probably pi**ed you right off as it did me

Payment by Credit Card
 

I just wrote it down to experience and learned that instead of writing a cheque out to pay for the holiday it would've been cheap insurance to pay the 4% extra handling fee and to have paid by credit card.[/quote]



Jools. Good point about using a Credit Card. Many people must regret not having done so when these sort of situations crop up.
Pehaps we ought to just consider the surcharge as an insurance premium payment rather than as an imposition. One of my cards pays 1% on all purchases anyway which would help out a bit.

Having gone down the road of the small claims court I did find it hard work,four time I had to have time of work to go to court 25 miles away because the bloke failed to turn up each time,all though the bloke owned me about £400 it eventually cost him double that when I won the case,I felt that the courts come down on the side of the one being done,that said he was going to pay me back at a £5 a month taking 53 years to pay it I wonder if it would be worth arsing about, better get Mav on the job or even a nice letter saying you would be prepared to go to court over this issue. 4D