Or is it not worth the hassle/cost?

small claims is cheap and you get the costs back from the third party I think?

context?

Item lost in post with inadequate insurance (I am the recipient)

Doesn’t that depend on how principled you are and how important £200 is to you?

small claims is cheap and you get the costs back from the third party I think?

Assuming the 3rd party ever pays up – in my (limited) experience this is where the system falls down. I lost a couple of thousand on a custom electric bike, eventually the bailiffs were sent around and apparently if they’re told “Sorry, Mr Smith moved away last month” there’s nothing more they can do…

a client once kept on avoiding paying us until I bumped into him shopping in waitrose – despite him pleading poverty the cash machine outside seemed to cough up the £200 he owed us quite readily.

No you want the “what axe” thread.

Seriously – what the others have said – if the ‘debtor’ doesn’t give a shit about a CCJ you are throwing good money after bad.

Which I suppose leads you back to the “what axe” thread.

Did you pay by credit card ? If so I think you can claim on their insurance.

Whilst some people are scumbags who don’t care about county court judgements against them, other people will want to apply for a mortgage, open a bank account, or whatever in the future, so will pay up. If you think the person is someone like that (for example, are they the sort of person who owns a fancy mountainbike and probably doesn’t live with their parents), it is only £25 to take a court case for £200.

In a lot of cases, just sending a letter saying if you don’t pay in 7 days, I’ll go legal on your ass (you have to do this whatever, it’s called a letter before action), will produce the desired payment.

It is absolutely dead easy to do if you are sensible and persistent, and well worth £25 for a try.

Read this:
http://www.doyourselfjustice.co.uk/claims.asp

and write the letter before action today and send it off straight away. Put a reasonable time limit for payment on it (7 days is fine if it has been going on for a bit).

In a weeks time, put in the claim on moneyclaimsonline. Twenty five quid.

If they don’t pay up (including the £25) straight away, wait and you should get a judgement against them.

If they don’t pay the judgement, having a CCJ against them can be a big hassle, plus you can do all manner of things that cause them hassle, depending on how much you can be bothered (and how much money they’ve got, whether they have a job, or own a house), and how much you’re willing to risk in fees.

Assuming the 3rd party ever pays up – in my (limited) experience this is where the system falls down. I lost a couple of thousand on a custom electric bike, eventually the bailiffs were sent around and apparently if they’re told “Sorry, Mr Smith moved away last month” there’s nothing more they can do..

For that sort of money, you can send it up to high court enforcement if you’re in England, and they are paid by results, as opposed to normal court bailiffs who are salaried. In my experience, they are extremely efficient at getting money back.

Not true for £200, where I think you’re limited to county court enforcement like you say.

For that sort of money, you can send it up to high court enforcement if you’re in England, and they are paid by results, as opposed to normal court bailiffs who are salaried. In my experience, they are extremely efficient at getting money back.

Oh well, it’d have been handy to know that seven years ago 🙂 I was just told “there’s nothing more that can be done” – after lots of pestering. Didn’t help I’m at the other end of the country.

I also don’t have a postal address for them 🙁

I also don’t have a postal address for them

ah, that’s going to limit your options a bit then.

i’m just about to issue a european small claims against Paypal for £200, I paid someone with paypal fees (I paid fee) and the item turned out to be stolen – so I provided irrefutable proof of this to paypal and they told me that ‘on this occasion they couldnt find in my favour’. We will see about that.

I’d go down the small claims court route just out of principle, regardless of whether I expected to get my money back.

I also don’t have a postal address for them

Do you have a name and a town? Sure with a bit of Facebook/192.com stalking you can get an address.

Name – yes, town – maybe, e-mail/Paypal address – yes