small claims
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- indian_pole
has anyone ever had trouble not getting paid by a client (its been a year now!), client owes a couple of grand. I'm wanting to take them through the small claims court, but am unsure of how much hassle it is.
anyone had any experience?
- jamble0
I've threatened it a few times as a last resort and they've paid up.
In terms of hassle, it's no hassle these days. You can do it online and I think it's about £80 to submit a claim (which you get back if your claim is approved). It's easy and worth doing if you're owed a few grand as it's cheaper than hiring a solicitor.
Here's some links.
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/cs…
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.…
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.…
- indian_pole0
cheers man.
- jamble0
no worries, good luck! If it's been that long, you really should take strong steps to get your money back.
I had a client end of last who took nearly 5 months to pay up and I figured as they were local, I'd go down and knock on the door and demand a cheque or tell them I'd be calling in via my solicitor on the way home (even though I don't have one). They paid up.
- indian_pole0
the client is actually a friend of my father in-laws, which has made it a little harder! hence taking so long to take these steps... real pain in the arse tho!!!!!
thanks.
- moth0
I've used the small-claims court to get money back from a landlord. You just need to send them the details, or go and meet with them. I was waiting for something to "happen" after that point, but all that happened was the money arrived from the landlord via the court.
More's the pitty for him - I already had my "revenge". He'll have have trouble getting piano tuition jobs from now on.....
- trooper0
yeah to be honest my terms are 50% on order and 50% on completion prior to publication (website) or sign off pre-print (gfx) if a client has a problem with that i dont work with them... its that simple.
- Spookytim0
indian_pole,
Unfortunately small claims only covers up to about £1000.00. Not sure of the exact figure but its around that mark. Any more than that and you have to go to court properly with proper representation and that's very expensive. Small claims are done through county court, large claims through crown.
You would need to get some of the leaflets mentioned on this site (link below) to be sure of your position before you start mentioning legal proceedings to anyone. Once you've taken it to that level, even conversationally, its very unlikely you will pull back and if it will cost you 8k to take him to court for 2k, you will probably have to consider writing it off or hiring a breaker of ankles.
- indian_pole0
poo.
might have to try and get the grand at least! - (and maybe just break one ankle!)
can't write that off, that's too much money to lose for me!thanks.
- Spookytim0
Yeah, a way round the limit is if you can justifiably break down the fee into different payments and take the person to small claims once per fee. You can;t just retro-actively do this though, you would need some kind of paper trail that shows you were charging eg (payment1) for a website (payment2) for a brochure etc.
- rasp0
did you ever get this sorted?
- TREBIO0
I won a small claims case against a screenprinter. The $1400 he owed me was collected by seizing $4000 of his property and auctioning it off. It totally f****ed his life up. Tit 4 tat!
Justice was served.
- robco0
i sued my last roommate/LL like 6 months ago and i havent seen a dime. I did everything as far as tracking him down, sending letters, winning the case and then doing a payroll deduction. it is a hastle, but if i ever had to do it again i would be prepared.
i say go for it. you'll sound like a lawyer after its all said and done.