Victory in county court

[shovel leaner 7,648]

This year at Easter my wife and I rented a large holiday home so that all the kids and grandkids could spend a week together. There were 9 adults 5 kids and 2 dogs . Online the place looked fantastic, snooker room , bar , large dining room , different living rooms , on suite bedrooms. On arrival however the owner told us that the soil pipe was blocked and only one bathroom was in use . And being Easter the earliest it could be fixed was Tuesday after the bank holiday. He said “there you have it , are you staying or not?” We said that seeing as we have all traveled from all over the country and all taken time off work to be there we had little choice but to make do . We contacted the booking agent Sykes cottages , who tried to find us an alternative, but as you can imagine there was nowhere available to accommodate us all .Also the place was generally a bit dusty and dirty, I know places that accept dogs aren’t going to be the Ritz , but even so , it wasn’t up to an acceptable standard.  On Easter Sunday the heavens opened and water started to come through the back door . When I tried to clear the drain , toilet paper and shit started to bubble up . I found a spade in the shed and dug a trench down the side of the property to take the rain water away . On Tuesday the maintenance man turned up and unblocked the drain . The soil pipe that was blocked was buried in the wall in the dining room. He had to knock a hole in the wall and put a plastic collar on it . We couldn’t use the dining room cos it smelled of sewage. Apart from all these problems we managed to enjoy our time on holiday and spend time together , it was like Fawlty towers, and we were laughing and thinking “what next “? During the holiday I had been in contact with the agent and had made it clear I was not happy, we paid £2200 for the holiday and wanted a fair refund. They said that they thought a 50% refund would be what they would like us to have , I said that would be acceptable. They said that they would contact the owner as they could only give me 20% and they would have to try and ask him for it . He said he would not be refunding a penny . This left us with no option but the government online small claims....no response!! I then applied for a county court judgment (CCJ ) . He made a counterclaim against us , claiming that we left the property dirty and damaged... utter bollocks !!! Anyway this Friday I had to drive 200 miles to Truro courthouse, armed with photo evidence and all my paperwork, i represented myself and felt like Rumpole  of the Bailey . To cut a long story short , I won and was awarded my 50% refund and costs and dismissed his counterclaim. He now has to pay £1650 . He was furious . Victory tastes sweet I can tell you , he now has 2 weeks to pay . I’m not holding my breath , I bet I have to get the can’t pay we’l take it away boys in . Watch this space !!!

[walshie 2,804]

Well done. A lot of people couldn't be arsed, which is what people like this are relying on. 

[bob.243 7,526]

Well done, take my hat off to you.

My son's going through similar at the moment for unpaid wages.

 

 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

When the judge said how much do you want for travelling expenses I said well I put £60 worth of diesel in this morning and I should be able to get back on that . He said we pay 45 pence per mile you traveled 200 miles here so that’s a 400 mile round trip so that’s £180 . I looked at the owner as his head went down and thought “ I wouldn’t mind doing this every week”!!!

[shovel leaner 7,648]

6 minutes ago, bob.243 said:

Well done, take my hat off to you.

My son's going through similar at the moment for unpaid wages.

 

 

Tell him to have faith in the court , the judge was as sharp as a tack and dissected the evidence with the wisdom of Solomon. He was able to see that we were entitled to a refund and were trying to be fair and he was just trying to weasel his was out of it . If your son has a genuine case he should win . 

[riohog 5,621]

result ...   good one  

[Jonjon79 13,340]

Good result mate

 

I bet seeing how pissed off the owner was was the icing on the cake

[bob.243 7,526]

22 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

Tell him to have faith in the court , the judge was as sharp as a tack and dissected the evidence with the wisdom of Solomon. He was able to see that we were entitled to a refund and were trying to be fair and he was just trying to weasel his was out of it . If your son has a genuine case he should win . 

Thanks for the advise, my son's got him by the bollocks, he is due payment for leu of notice and overtime worked, he has the signed timesheets, and pay slips to prove he has not been paid. His employer has even lied to his own solicitor saying my son had never ever worked overtime for him, when in fact at one time he was called out on a Sunday night and worked 81/2 Hrs. during this time his boss worked along with him for 3Hrs. In that occasion he was paid. I think he will settle out of court, as when timesheets and payslips are presented to his solicitor he will bottle it. ( The Sherriff has ordered his employer and my son to swap evidence to one another  before it goes to court to see if it can be settled amicably.) I think that when his employers solicitor see's my son's evidence he will not be amused with his client.

Like yourself my son is representing himself. 

[stealthy1 3,964]

2 hours ago, bob.243 said:

Well done, take my hat off to you.

My son's going through similar at the moment for unpaid wages.

 

 

A mate has just been through this, his employer went bust, ACAS sorted most of it to get it to court.  Got paid all he was owed, and costs awarded to the employer, so your son should breeze it with a bit of luck.

[jiggy 3,207]

Andy dufresne. He swam through a river of shit and came out clean the other side. Shaw Shank Redemtion. Good film.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

7 minutes ago, jiggy said:

Andy dufresne. He swam through a river of shit and came out clean the other side. Shaw Shank Redemtion. Good film.

I wouldn’t compare what I went through to that , for a start we didn’t have the “showers” . It was a great film though.

[j j m 6,481]

well done bud

[shovel leaner 7,648]

1 minute ago, Balaur said:

Good for you. It's a fair outcome by the sounds some people shouldn't be in hospitality full stop. 

I’ve tried to be fair from the outset. We used his heating oil and electric, his bedding . We enjoyed the holiday in spite of everything that was wrong and below standard. But if you advertise 5 bathrooms and only have one working and all the other issues then you have to at least discuss a refund, and that is something he would not do . 

[riohog 5,621]

4 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

I’ve tried to be fair from the outset. We used his heating oil and electric, his bedding . We enjoyed the holiday in spite of everything that was wrong and below standard. But if you advertise 5 bathrooms and only have one working and all the other issues then you have to at least discuss a refund, and that is something he would not do . 

does he have a website?  reviews?  maybe a negative review to warn otheres.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

13 minutes ago, riohog said:

does he have a website?  reviews?  maybe a negative review to warn otheres.

It’s called the copper house in Gwennap near Falmouth. It was on Sykes cottages. We didn’t want to rock the boat with Sykes because they have been quite helpful, they backed me up as much as they could .