# How to respond to solicitor's letter demanding payment?



## keepon

I've received a solicitor's letter demanding payment from a big bad telco threatening the usual - legal proceedings, judgement mortgage, liability for costs, sheriff, public humiliation etc.

I had switched providers and am disputing liability for the balance because of the simply rubbish service received. The amount is small - less than €650. 

I have gone past the debt collection agency sabre rattling stage and this seems to be taking it to a new level, in spite of my explaining that I was disputing the charge. 

I would have thought there would be some sort of support for consumers in this situation, but all I can find is quango websites with platitudes and infantile primary colours. 

What should I do? How much will their lawyers try to charge in costs if I lose? What are my chances if I take them on? Should I let it go?

I want to fight them, but I'd love to hear a realistic broad assessment - I appreciate that the detail will make all the difference - from some wise heads.


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## Time

What they can claim in costs is strictly limited by the courts. They will only get scaled costs which are in the region of around €50. It don't matter how much they actually spend they can only get what the court will allow. As the debt is small I doubt they could be bothered going to court as they will lose out anyways i.e. they would need to spend far more than they could ever hope to recover.

I would be inclined not to engage them further and see if they quietly go away.


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## Vanilla

Time said:


> I would be inclined not to engage them further and see if they quietly go away.


 
Except if they serve court proceedings, in which case you MUST engage or they will get a judgement against you.


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## itsallwrong

Businesses who are owed money are very keen to get rulings against people these days. 
I would tread carefully here keepon.

Disputes about the service is one thing but if a genuine debt is owed to a company,
they are well within thier right to chase you for it.

Ask yourself this.
What do you stand to lose if you get a judgement against you?
How will it affect you financial standing?
ballpark legal costs (which go on your bill) are €700 for a judgement ruled against you.
Not to mention the interest which is yearly.

There are other threads that deal with the topic in detail.

If you want to fight them - do so.
But the arguement you want to make is not for a debt court.
It's a small claims case.
If you let it get to the wrong court, don't expect a happy ending.
Don't rest easy with the amount being small - The company might have 1000 people who owe them €650,
and are only too willing to chase every last one of them.

I have to disagree with Time. Too many people adopted to head in the sand approach to legal debt letters.
Given how much the nation owes in unsecured debt, I would not hope too much for them to leave you alone.
Get your facts together and make your case.


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## Time

Speaking from personal experience being in the industry, debts under €1000 are very rarely litigated in court. The only reason you would bother was if you were 110% sure they had the money. From a business point of view it is pointless throwing good money after bad. and for small debts 99% of the time you are on a hiding to nothing.


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## ABank

I would reply directly to the solicitor setting out the reasons why this has not been paid. Solicitors only want to hear from other solicitors as this is how they earn their fees and they will be unlikley to respond if you have a good reason for not paying as this complicates their normal operations and they would prefer straightforward operations ie payment or court. This tactic is frustrating for them and provides you with a complaint forum.


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## Vanilla

ABank said:


> I would reply directly to the solicitor setting out the reasons why this has not been paid. Solicitors only want to hear from other solicitors as this is how they earn their fees and they will be unlikley to respond if you have a good reason for not paying as this complicates their normal operations and they would prefer straightforward operations ie payment or court. This tactic is frustrating for them and provides you with a complaint forum.


 
Untrue. If you set out your story to the solicitor, they will simply take instructions from their client. It makes no difference to the solicitor except that they will hear from you why you think the debt shouldnt be paid and will be able to advise their client if there is any validity to your claim. If their client tells them to pursue it, they will.


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## keepon

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. It seems that more than anything this is down to how bloody-minded the client is. But I'll certainly be responding and making my case in no uncertain terms if they serve proceedings. 
Question: does it make sense to make an offer of part-payment in settlement?


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## itsallwrong

*Offer a settlement*

Absolutely if you can offer a settlement figure that wins you huge points if you ever go to court (mixed opinion on that ever happening)

Very high chance they will take it.  It's up to you what to offer.


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## UFOman

i Come from the other side on this, i was awarded a judgement of 20k against a private person, after my award my solictor sent me a bill for 8k!, and i've not been paid a penny and know from previous experience the sheriff etc dont work for people like me, they only take items when sent out by the revenue, so always in my experience tis a waste of time private people suing private people in Ireland


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## allie12

I'm in the same boat with telecomm company, I disputed a charge of €527 (plus vat) and spend 6 moths chasing them to try to get a resolution. In all that time my bills etc were paid. I wrote to head office etc attaching all my correspondance and no response so I left them and moved to another network. 
I have recieved the same solicitors letters, two - one demanding payment in 14 days and a second with all the threats etc. 
I am choosing to ignore these- as if it comes to it I will fight my case in court. I am not offering any information to their solicitors prior.


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## mf1

"I am choosing to ignore these"..."I am not offering any information to their solicitors prior. "

I do not understand this. Why not just make a copy of what you already sent , send it to the solicitors with a cover note and ask for confirmation that the matter has been resolved( or whatever) , failing which you will use the correspondence in Court in order to fix them with your costs. Why would you let the  problem fester and remain unresolved?  

I would hate to have these issues hanging over me  and I would not be  looking forward to a day out in Court to fight for Justice, freedom, liberty etc.,etc. If you've ever sat through  a day in the District Court, you will see an over worked, under resourced system. 

mf


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## Bronte

UFOman said:


> i Come from the other side on this, i was awarded a judgement of 20k against a private person, after my award my solictor sent me a bill for 8k!,


 
That's a heck of a bill to try and get back 20K.  what did the work of 8K involve?  Did you know it would cost this much when you decided to go to court?  Does the person who owes you the 20K have any income or assets?


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## UFOman

hello Bronte, he has a house with a wife, and is still operating a business, but this guy has hidden anything he can, i know of someone else he owes money to and he told the sheriff that the items in the house belonged to his wife and there fore the sheriff can't touch!!

the work involved was over months,


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## Bronte

What kind of a judgement did you get?  

There are very few people who would have anything of real value in their houses.  The sheriff will only take items of value, this mean's a Picasso, not furniture and fittings and white goods.


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## UFOman

can you send you a private IM on this ?


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## mf1

"so always in my experience tis a waste of time private people suing private people in Ireland "

As someone who actually does work for people who are owed money...................

First things first - people should always try and limit their exposure. So if you run a business, keep a tight rein on credit. That way you can at least limit the amounts. 

If you employ someone to do something try to limit the payments so that, if anything goes wrong, at least there is money there to try and fix the problem. 

Don't ever get into a financial situation with someone who has no assets to attach or not reputation to protect. Easier said than done. I currently act for a landlord  who is owed money by a tenant - a solicitor. I believe that ultimately the landlord will have no option but to register ( i.e. make public) the judgment. This will shut the solicitor down - put him out of business so then how does he earn anything to pay the landlord? Catch 22. 

But - if you are owed money and the debtor won't or can't pay? You either write it off or you issue proceedings. If you issue proceedings, you should have ascertained whether there are assets that  can be attached ( i.e. a property with sufficient equity) or whether the debtor has a reputation he wishes to preserve. You cannot expect a solicitor to act unless they will get paid. And , no, it is not the duty of the solicitor to fund the litigation - but they should outline the costs and the likely outcome before taking on the work. 

mf


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## Bronte

Yes you can send PM's (private messages) but I don't want PM's.  Nobody knows who you are, just outline what happened in court.  The more details you give the better the advice you'll get on here.  Just change the details ever so slightly if you are afraid of being identified.  For example use Sligo instead of Galway, use 19K instead of 20K.  etc.


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## rustbucket

Would it be worth contacting the Consumers association of Ireland if you are in dispute. If your dispute relates to the service that was provided it might be worth a try


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## Time

What use is a non statutory body?


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## capnhand

Op

If it is a telecoms company get onto Comreg. Outline the facts of the case and the dates that you wrote to them querying the bill. Once Comreg gets involved they must respond to you within 10 days and deal with your query properly with a response that deals with your query. If not they are in very serious trouble.

Usually if the debt is small they will just write it off as it is not worth their time going through it back and forth with you. I was in a similar position and just got nowhere with the complaints dept who just seemed to want to ignore anything that I said and proceed against me with a debt collector for I debt I simply did not owe.

Good luck with it.

Regards

Capnhand


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## jom booth

*constant emails from landlords solicitor demanding answers*

My Aunt is facing eviction, after living in her apartment for 22 year the landlord wants to increase the rent from 142/mo to 800/mo-   142 she agrees is very little, but the place is in a very bad state. The landlords solicitor is emailing me at least three times a day demanding to know if she is going to vacate or pay the new rent.  I have appealed to the PRTB arbitration service, they have yet to get back to me, and i have placed my Aunt on Dublin CC housing list, despite being sympathetic they have no housing to offer right now. 

I think the landlord's solicitor is trying to get me to answer his endless emails so he can use my answers in some way. I have tried to be vague and ambiguous, but can he demand answers when we are still tying to find a solution for my Aunt. Specifically he wants to know when my Aunt will vacate, or does she accept that she will have to pay 800 from now on?
I am out of my depth here and would appreciate some advice.


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## leroy67

Went though this with 3. Kept getting phone calls from India and Debt collectors in Manchester. Reckoned I owed 50 euro , I didn't. Anyway answered every phone call and kept copies of all email correspondence. Finally received demand letter from AB Wolfe I think. Emailed solicitor involved and attached all email correspondence received and told him I would love to go to court and was instructing my solicitor to counter sue for harassment etc. He emailed back, told me he had reverted to his clients and would correspond in due course. 2 weeks later received email correspondence saying his clients had decided not to pursue the matter and as far as they were concerned the matter was closed.Tough it out if you don't owe the money, if you do well you know what the right thing to do is.


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## AlbacoreA

jom booth said:


> My Aunt is facing eviction, after living in her apartment for 22 year the landlord wants to increase the rent from 142/mo to 800/mo-   142 she agrees is very little, but the place is in a very bad state. The landlords solicitor is emailing me at least three times a day demanding to know if she is going to vacate or pay the new rent.  I have appealed to the PRTB arbitration service, they have yet to get back to me, and i have placed my Aunt on Dublin CC housing list, despite being sympathetic they have no housing to offer right now.
> 
> I think the landlord's solicitor is trying to get me to answer his endless emails so he can use my answers in some way. I have tried to be vague and ambiguous, but can he demand answers when we are still tying to find a solution for my Aunt. Specifically he wants to know when my Aunt will vacate, or does she accept that she will have to pay 800 from now on?
> I am out of my depth here and would appreciate some advice.



I wouldn't like to be a LL trying to evict someone who's in a place 22yrs. I would track all correspondence especially the frequency of it. Because when you get to the PRTB it would be useful to demonstrate the pressure being applied. Is it a reasonable rent for the area?

I think I'd try to establish what is the going rate for similar apartments in the same area.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/rent_increases.html?tab=



> Under Section 19 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (pdf) landlords cannot charge more than the open market rate for the apartment or house. (See 'Rates' for more information on the open market rate). You should note that the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act only apply to mainstream private rented housing - local authority tenants are covered by different laws. You can find out more about local authority tenancies here and about your landlord’s rights and obligations here. Your landlord cannot review the rent more than once a year unless the accommodation has changed substantially. This might, for example, constitute a complete refurbishment or another major change. You can ask your landlord to review the rent if:
> 
> You think it is more than the current market rate for the property or
> You want a new review and more than a year has passed.
> Your landlord has the right to review the rent annually. However your landlord must give you at least 28 days notice (in writing) before increasing the rent. If there is any dispute about the amount of rent or about arrears of rent, either side can refer the dispute to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB). You must contact the PRTB before the date the new rent comes into effect or within 28 days of getting the notice, whichever is later. Read more about the PRTB and dispute resolution here.





> The law (Section 19 of the Private Residential Tenancies Act 2004) defines the open market rate as "the rent which a willing tenant not already in occupation would give and a willing landlord would take for the dwelling". One of the PRTB’s functions is to monitor and research trends to find out what this market rate is in relation to cases taken to the PRTB.


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## amtc

ComReg will not and do not get involved in issues of contract.


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## WizardDr

@keepon - the Telco may have Sue, Grabbit & Runne (Solicitors) on retention and this may be conveyer belt stuff. I would note @vanilla comment and not be inclined to ignore as whats being indicated is if they get instructions and you have no defence they will get judgment.


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## Time

Actually the telcos sometimes only have a solicitors letterhead on retention.

There is a certain solicitor that allows certain companies to issue "legal letters" in their name without them ever seeing a file.


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## Time

Again, how do you propose sending said postcard? By post or in person?


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