Much later than I had hoped (busy again today), here's a reminder that we're in the Cutter in Ely tonight from 1830 and the Fountain from 2000. I'm picking up a penguin and going now. Might see you at the station around quarter past, too.
If you are a Demon ADSL customer, read on ....
In April Demon reduced their ADSL charges. However they have still been billing many of their customers at the old rate.
I discovered today that I had been overcharged since April and so phoned Customer Services. They agreed to reduce my bills from now on, but refused to refund the overcharge since April. I called Trading Standards at the local council and they said that they had had a fair number of complaints about this. Their advice was to write Demon a letter, sent recorded delivery, saying that unless I received a refund within 7 days I would commence court proceedings.
For the relatively small amount involved this would go to the small claims court, where there are no barristers and no court costs.
On Fri, Aug 22, 2003 at 05:22:38PM +0100, raph@panache.demon.co.uk wrote:
For the relatively small amount involved this would go to the small claims court, where there are no barristers and no court costs.
<pedant>
There are court costs involved with the small claims court, you have to pay them up front but if you win your case then the defendant has to pay them for you. I know this from bitter experience that once you win a case in the small claims court it can be almost impossible to get your money. When you have won a case and after a year the baliffs are so useless that they can't get your money back it is a bummer to see the ex-employer who owed you over £2000 file for liquidation and you end up over £200 further out of pocket for the court costs.
Of course if it is someone with real physical tangiable assets like demon then you stand a good chance of getting your money back.
On the upside you can use an online service here to fill in the forms electronically http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/mcol/index.htm but istr it is windows only.
Adam
On 22-Aug-2003 abower@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
On Fri, Aug 22, 2003 at 05:22:38PM +0100, raph@panache.demon.co.uk wrote:
For the relatively small amount involved this would go to the small claims court, where there are no barristers and no court costs.
<pedant>
[snip] On the upside you can use an online service here to fill in the forms electronically http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/mcol/index.htm but istr it is windows only.
It seems to work for me on Linux/nutscrape but everything is terribly slow at the moment.
More seriously, if you have trouble collecting on a court awawrd you should not use the bailiffs; ask for a 'garnashee order'. This effectively blocks the debtor's bank accounts. He cannot receive or pay any money until your claim is settled. It can be great fun when used against a major utility or a public company - your money will arrive at supersonic speed.
On Fri, Aug 22, 2003 at 06:08:26PM +0100, raph@panache.demon.co.uk wrote:
More seriously, if you have trouble collecting on a court awawrd you should not use the bailiffs; ask for a 'garnashee order'. This effectively blocks the debtor's bank accounts. He cannot receive or pay any money until your claim is settled. It can be great fun when used against a major utility or a public company - your money will arrive at supersonic speed.
Thing is that when the company have effectively disappeared this gets a bit tricky, I knew employees who were working there but they got paid (sometimes) via a cheque posted to home at the end of the month and only went to client sites. It was all very dodgy, equally so when Customs and the Tax man stepped in....
But of course if I could have found a director to have him summoned to reveal the details of accounts then I would have gone down that route. What annoyed me the most was the baliffs taking several weeks to do anything when they were supposed to call around after a couple of weeks, the missed the company still having an office by around 4 days :-/
Anyhow its a bit of a mute point for me now, the company was dissolved, and I hope that the tax man prosecuted them for fraud and that they are are now at her majesties pleasure. :)
Adam
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abower＠thebowery.co.uk -
MJ Ray -
raph＠panache.demon.co.uk