UKC

How did you get on? Did the offender pay up? I have been on the small claims website and it looks easy enough to lodge a claim, just curious as to what results others have had.

Basically, a specialist 4x4 garage that I visited last November carried out a full inspection/assessment of my Landcruiser after my Africa trip. The idea was they would spend most of the day poking around my car before providing me with a full report as to its condition as well as a list of recommended servicing / works that needs to be carried out to bring back to A1 condition. I was billed for this exercise and sadly have not received the report (yes, I should have withheld payment until I had received said report but this bloke came with very good across the board recommendations from the 4x4 world). My repeated email and calls have been ignored so he has pretty much forced me to consider this action. A personal visit is not practical as said garage is up near Hereford and I am in London.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

I've used it 5 times and won every time. In my experience the other side usually backs down and pays up as soon as the action gets lodged so as long as your case is strong you should get a positive result. Good luck !

In reply to Cú Chullain:

The problem with small claims is enforcing the judgement in my experience.
My advice would be to send the garage a letter by recorded delivery. Make the letter well written and grammatically correct. Phone calls are often a waste of time at this point and emails are lite weight, easily ignored and often sent to spam folders, whereas a letter on paper has meaning.
Make the letter firm stating unemotionally what you want and saying that if you do not get it you will small claim it.
Taking small claims action online is very easy, but and this is very important, write down any log in`s and passwords and reference numbers because if you lose them the courts service does not have a system to let you reset.
To reiterate the procedure is easy, it`s the enforcement that can be difficult.

In reply to SCrossley:

Agree with letter. Small claims court will expect you to have written before taking case to the court. This is called a letter before action. In the letter restate the situation, include any evidence you might have, make it clear that you want your report within 10 working days (or a refund if that is your preferred option), and then state that if you don't hear back you will take the case to the small claims court.

As mentioned above send it recorded delivery to the owner of the garage (use his/her name) and keep a copy.

This is usually pretty effective - I do this quite a bit for clients (volunteer at local CAB).

However some folk just don't give a shit and even taking them to court and winning may not get you what you want, so be prepared to take it even further!