In litigation with 3

A question about : In litigation with 3

Having been a customer of 3 (Hutchinson 3G UK limited) for several years, I recently entered into a dispute with them. This related to the fact that there was a continuous mix-up with my two mobile accounts (one my daughters and the other my own) and the IMEI numbers belonging to each handset. The mix up meant that when calling customer services myself and my daughter faced confusion and were unable to communicate clearly with the customer services staff due to language barriers.

In the end I was left without a handset and literally could not converse with customer services in ways that proved in the least bit helpful. I felt that due to their failure to address outstanding issues my contract with 3 had come to an end. I informed 3 of this but they said that the only way that they would stop billing me was if I paid early termination fees. Faced with no other option I paid the early termination fees (Ј370) but told 3 prior to payment that I would be seeking to be recompensed through the courts, as I felt that I had been forced into taking such action.

I have since taken out a claim against 3 through MoneyClaimOnline.com. They have failed to defend the claim made against them and so I have recently entered a judgement. My issue is that I cannot believe that 3 would allow it to go this far and I am now left wondering if I am missing something. I am worried that for some reason the case will be dismissed out of hand on the basis of some legal technicality that I have overlooked. I mean why would a massive company like 3 risk having a county court judgement enforced against them??

Best answers:

• Judging from the number of inaccuracies and mistakes in your post, you probably have missed something in your claim. For example:
• 3G is a technology; 3 is a company.
• What is "letigation"?
• MoneyClaim.com is registered to Bill McIntosh in the USA, and is nothing to do with the UK courts.

Did you send a letter before claim to 3? If not, you will have problems.

• Both sides usually receive the court's decision when you request judgement by default quickly.
  As you apparently have not done so, contact the court and enquire into the progress of your application.
  Read up on setting aside a ccj to see there are opportinities for defendants to wriggle out of judgements by default.
• They were, without any doubt, the worst company I have ever had the mispleasure of dealing with.
  From top to bottom, a complete bunch of imbeciles.
  My dispute with them ended up with me going to their office in Glasgow (an office, which according to their Mumbia call centre did not exist) to hand deliver a letter to them.
  Best of luck in your court case with them. Take them for as much as you can.
  Dunree
• To be honest, with a company making as much money as they do, they probably won't even bother contesting the case.
  You genuinely have nothing to lose here.
  If they don't contest it, you will very likely win the case out of hand.
  If they do eventually get a lawyer sorted to answer the case, which I suspect they probably won't if the rest of their service is anything to go by, you probably have reasonable grounds in your claim anyway as their service did not meet your expectations and they failed to deliver in several areas key to the contract.
  I was in a similar position and being young and naive, simply cancelled my direct debit to them with my bank (though they actually owed me more money than I owed them due to overbilling on another account).
  Regardless, they were by far and away the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with and I second the comment that I hope you take them for as much as you can.
• I still have the letter I hand delivered, I wish I could post it on here, but I'd be the one in court
• You did serve the claim on Hutchison's Registered Office? Only if you did this could any further action be legitimate. Even then, they could insist the case is re-run and then you have to justify your monetary claim.
  In the scale of things, a CCJ is nothing to large firms - you need a bigger cliam and the High Court to make it worth bothering about. That said, assuming you did use the RO, you now need to seek payment, and if this is not forthcoming, instruct bailiffs. I'ts a long road ahead!
• do you like taking companys to court or something