Bit of advice needed

[GC-Terrazzo]

Looking for some advice, I priced a set of old terrazzo stairs around two months ago they needed re polishing and a few cracks filled in, so told the guy it was only a polish and patch up job he would still see the cracks, and if he wanted a perfect set of terrazzo stairs he should lift the old ones and have them re done, even gave him the number of a company in glasgow who supply terrazzo pre cast stairs. So got a call last week asking if i could polish them up and fill in the cracks, did the job yesterday and he said they look great but i can still see the cracks, I was like are you serious i told you this two times now that i was only filling them in, so he then started to say he thinks im over charging and he things i should take something off the price, after talking to him i said what the hell ill take £50 off the bill just to get away from him, then he gave me a check and i then payed the boy who was working with me cash, and today i get a voice mail saying hes really no happy with the cracks and hes stopping the check, were do i stand with this, i want a bit of advice before i call him back ?

 

[DHTiling]

He is not allowed to stop the chq.... if a chq is issued in good faith then he cannot stop payment.... making payment is like saying he was happy, hence he paid you...

Tell him if he stops it , he is breaking the law and you will sue his ***..

You can check this info via google..

 

[Gazzer]

As Dave says, giving and stopping a cheque puts the ball in your court.

 

[DHTiling]

Like i said, if he was satisfied and wrote the chq in good faith but had intentions of stopping then you can have him...

loads on it on google..

one lot of info here>>> Cheques

 

[GC-Terrazzo]

Thanks guys, a had a bad feeling about this guy, trying to get money off and he also said that his friend had had 3 quotes for his stairs, so i think he must of had a few quotes and i was the cheapest, hate people trying to get a job done for free.

 

[DHTiling]

This is a better example... http://www.bankruptcy-insolvency.co.uk/ltd-companies/bad_cheques.php




Quote from that link :

So, if your customer’s cheque is not honoured or is stopped by the customer (for example, because they are unhappy with the goods or services you supplied to them), you can immediately sue the customer and there is virtually no defence that the customer can raise to that claim. You can claim not only the amount of the cheque, but also interest on that money and payment towards the costs you incur in chasing up payment.In most cases, where you sue on a cheque in this way, you will get an early judgement against the customer, with no need to go through the expense and rigmarole of a full Court case.​

[h=3]Is there anything the customer can do when you sue him?[/h]

The problem for the customer is that even when they are unhappy with the goods or services you supplied, this is no defence to your claim for payment. There will only be a defence to your claim in two situations:​

1. If the customer can prove that they received absolutely nothing from you in exchange for their payment, this may legally justify their stopping the cheque. If, however, they obtained even very deficient goods or services from you, this removes this defence from them and you will still get judgement against them (it might be different if you failed to supply any goods or services at all)
2. The only other defence they can raise is where the contract with you was illegal or you obtained the cheque from them in a fraudulent way.

If neither of these two defences can be raised, your claim will succeed, you will get judgement, and you can then proceed to enforce that judgement if the customer still does not pay you voluntarily.​

 

[GC-Terrazzo]

OMG just called the guy there, said hes stopping the check tomorrow as hes just not happy with the cracks, says he knows his rights so ive just to go and take legal proceedings, I get the feeling this guy has had a few jobs for free before. Should i put the check in the bank tomorrow and wait for it to bounce ? then after that who should i contact a lawyer ?

 

[DHTiling]

I would seek legal advice, you might be able to CCJ him, he will not want that against his name or sell the debt onto a debt collection company

 

[GC-Terrazzo]

the checks only for £250 will i end up with high legal costs if i take him to court, ave never had anything like this happen to me before.

 

[Olz]

This happened to me, said happy, paid cheque, cancelled cheque, said not happy.

You just need to;

Send her notice of dishonour giving opportunity to pay

If no payment go on money claims online (online county court website) and file claim for amount sighting bill of exchange act

Print and send to him giving opportunity to pay before you submit to court (this step is optional)

Submit claim and pay fee which is approx £50

Probably won't get a hearing as the only defences are;

Cheque obtained fraudulently

Zero goods or service received in exchange for cheque

Contract is illegal

None of these apply in your case.

Result you will get a judgement for the amount plus daily interest and court cost. Which will result in him having a registered ccj.

You can go further and enforce the payment with a count court bailiff or pay a bit more to have it transferred to the high court and have a private bailiff firm enforce it at the debtors expense which is what I did. From an 800 ish debt I ended up with about 1400. The court process took a few months but one the private bailiff had the writ he had the money in my bank within a week.

I'm on the iPhone at the mo but later I'll post up the exact wordings I used. Given to me by a solicitor acquaintance who said it was so simple to do he would just email me the wordings for me to put on the letters and forms and not even charger anything.

No hearing was needed they sent her the claim forms outlining the case and asked for a defence she couldn't raise any of the three possible defences and the judge just awarded me by default.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Olz]

the checks only for £250 will i end up with high legal costs if i take him to court, ave never had anything like this happen to me before.

You posted this well I was typing the below. Clearly he doesn't know his legal obligations at all.

Don't give in I will post the wordings all you will have to do is open word and copy and paste from here. And add his name and the date. It's really that simple. You will have to pay the initial court fee if he doesn't pay up before but it will all be added to the judgement. All it cost me was the price of a few stamps and the ink and paper in the printer. Seriously it's ridiculously simple.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GC-Terrazzo]

Thanks very much oli

 

[Olz]

Right, here we go. The key point you need to understand is that this has NOTHING at all to do with the quality of your work, or if he is happy with it or not, it soley revolves around the bill of exchange act which makes it unlawfull to cancel or bounce a cheque unless one of the specific things have happened.

1.) You get nothing - no good or services in exhange for the cheque
2.) The contract was illegal
3.) The cheque was obtained fruadulantly

In your case NONE of these apply, or can apply. The law was developed to prevent people getting things and paying by cheque and then cancelling to duck out of payment due to the risk assoiciated with a cheque not being a payment there and then.

This is the first letter you need to send, do it now and do it by recorded delivery.

John Smith
123 JOHN STREET
ANYTOWN
NORTH YORKSIRE
AA1 1AA

4[SUP]th[/SUP] October 2009

Dear John,

Notice of Dishonour

I give you notice that cheque number 101593 dated 17/9/2009 account no.11111111 of HSBC Bank drawn by you to pay your arrears of £877.27 Has been confirmed dishonoured on 21/09/2009 by reason of non-payment and that you are held responsible.

Payment of the aforesaid sum is required in cleared funds within seven days of the date of this letter. Failure to pay the same will result in Court proceedings being issued without further notice.


Yours faithfully


SST Tiling Services

Obviously Ive changed the details to post it here but apart from that this is the exact letter i sent.

 

[Olz]

This was the exact wording I used on the claim for on Money Claims Online, which is Northampton County Court, Used as the court for the online service which is much much easier than going to your local county court and filing papers offline.

If the case involves a hearing, which I very much doubt given he cant raise a defence, it will transfer to your local couny court, I have copied and pasted this directly from the claim form which I still have, the fee was £60, which is added to the amount you claim so you get it back anyway.

A large amount work has been done at the
defendants property, between the 31/08/09 and
the 14/09/09,returning on the 17/09/09 to
meet the defendant at the address after she
delayed payment claiming not to be happy with
the work. On the 17/09/09 the defendant
attended the property checked off the work
and paid the invoice in cash and two cheques
One was honoured, the other was returned to
myself from my bank on the 24/09/09 marked
return to drawer, having been cancelled by
the defendant. Some minor elements were
redone which was damage not
caused by me at her request as good will. The
defendant then refused to pay the full amount
and as a means to and end was offered £177.27
discount. She accepted and issued another
cheque for £700 on the 24/10/09 which again
was cancelled two days after issue. I seek to
claim £877.27 under the Bills of Exchange
Act, and associated court costs due to the
illegality of cancelling the cheques under
the afore mentioned act.

I even offered a discount like you did, this didnt matter as you can see I claimed the pre discount amount.

 

[DHTiling]

Top advice Oli....


I might make a sticky thread out of those posts for others to go to..

 

[Olz]

I got the judgement without having to lift another finger.

I then spoke to the county court bailiff who said they were a bit of a toothless tiger when it came to personal debtors, as they would visit three times only, and if they didnt get the money they gave up. The fee was £100 again which was added to the debtors debt so I moved straight to the high court route.

They recommended tranfering up to the high court, I used a firm called National Enforcement. I sent them the info and a copy of the judgement from the county court and they drafted the application for writ form for me, sent it to me to check and sign, I returned it with a cheque for £50 (the high court fee) and they submited it to the high court to have it 'transferred up' producing a writ.

A county court judgement cant be enforced by a private bailiff, it has to be a high court writ.

Once they had the writ, (which took a couple off weeks to be rubber stamped by the court) they went round to her house and clamped her car, knocked on the door and said, no payment no clamp removal, she paid there an then, the £877 debt resulted in a payment to me of £1117.01.

It cost me £110 to do so i made £130 in interest on the debt for my troubles.

 

[Olz]

I still have the papers, and still get a great sense of enjoyment reading through them every so often knowing she tried to get one over on me and failed massivley. She lived in a very small village and word soon got round that she was a con merchant, she also tried to rip off the plumber, oil boiler installation company and window and conservatory people.

I was back in the villiage a while back doing a qoute for someone else and the lady said "if you ever get a call to that house dont go, she tried to rip aload of traders off by not paying and ended up nearly having her car towed away". I laughed and told her I was one of them and she told me that whenever they see a trades van they tell them not to work for her. Its a nice well to do, honest country folk type place and her bringing down the reputation didnt go down at all well with the locals....lol

 

[Olz]

Top advice Oli....


I might make a sticky thread out of those posts for others to go to..

lll try and remove personal details from the form which is in PDF format and that can be posted up as an image dave.

 

[DHTiling]

I have kept it to the tilers forums arms Oli... you can edit the post direct here>>> http://www.tilersforums.com/tilers-forums-arms/54165-what-do-if-customer-stops-cheque.html

 

[GC-Terrazzo]

Just an update, after the guy saying he was going to cancel the cheque i dont know what happened but it cleared the other day and not heard from the guy again, guess he was just trying his luck, thanks to everyone for the great advice.