I was looking for some help to make a complaint against

I presume you are a consumer and not a business. Either way, if the company is in breach of contract then you have a legal remedy which is to use the courts to claim your money back. Unless the reimburse you voluntarily. If you are a consumer then the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies and the company must carry out their service with reasonable care and skill. The service must be fit for purpose and as described. You should not be misled or induced to sign up based on a false promise either. If you have a business contact then you have fewer rights but contract rules still apply nevertheless. You can still demand a refund if they are in breach of contract.

I would recommend that you send them a formal letter before action to demand payment within 14 days and say that if they do not pay you, you will issue county court proceedings against them. See attached template as an example of what to say. Please let me know if you cannot see the letter which I have uploaded. You will need to tailor this letter to your situation.

You may also want to threaten a report to Trading Standards (who can be contacted on 0808(###) ###-####.

You will need to register at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome so that you are ready to issue the claim in the event they dispute the claim and do not pay you. The website is very user-friendly and you would not need a lawyer to use the money claim site. Claims with a value of under £10,000 are classed as a "small claim", so legal costs are not recoverable and the matter may be dealt with on paper by a Judge, not at a hearing. A hearing may be necessary if the court thinks that oral evidence is required to dispose of the case.
Here is a user guide for the money claim online site: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/762843/mcol-userguide-eng.pdf

The court will then issue the claim and they will send you "notice of issue". The papers are served on the defendant who then has 14 days to acknowledge the claim - they do this by filling out an acknowledgment of service and they post it to the court. They indicate their intention when they do this, i.e. whether they admit the claim in full or partly, or if they deny the claim. If they want to defend the claim then their defence is due by 28 days from the date the court served them with the papers. The central court processing centre then sends the claim to the defendant's home county court for case management and directions - the directions will give a list of dates which you both must comply with. If there is no settlement then the claim will be dealt with at a final hearing which takes anything from 9 to 12 months from when you start the claim - longer if the claim is higher value. You can pursue the claim yourself or use a law firm. For the hearing you can use an advocate if you wish, though it's not compulsory. I have details of law firms and advocacy agencies if you would like those. Though in a small claim you won't be able to recover their charges from your opponent. A small claims hearing is easy to do, it's quite informal and no lawyer is required.

You would claim the sum for the loss, the court issue fee (details of the money claim fees are listed here at page 5:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/904862/ex50-eng.pdf) and court interest which is 8% calculated on a daily rate from the date of loss to date of court judgment.

So for example if you were owed £10,000, interest would be £2.20 per day, which you can also claim.

The site allows you to calculate the interest and add it to the claim. If a hearing is required then there is a fee for this too - see page 7 of the previous link for details. Again, that fee is recoverable if you win.

If you are on a low income or have low savings (or in receipt of benefits), you can ask the court for a fee remission so you do not have to pay the court issue fee.

If you are eligible, let me know as you cannot use the online money claims site – you have to use the paper method, which is an N1 claim form sent to the County Court Money Claims Centre (I have a copy, let me know if you would like one).

If you win then once you have the CCJ from the court the defendant has 14 days to pay in full. If they do not then it gets registered with the credit agencies after 30 days. You can also enforce the CCJ with the county court bailiffs or transfer the debt to the High Court for a small additional fee assuming the total amount owed is at least £600 and you can use the high court enforcement officers who have greater powers than county court bailiffs. The transfer fee is added on to the debt and payable by the defendant.

There are other enforcement methods which I can help with, including bank account freeze, charging order on their property (and then apply to force a sale), application to wind up the company if £750 or more is owed (if suing a limited company), apply to summons them to court for questioning, all of which can ensure you are actually repaid the money.

You may find they just pay you after receiving the letter before action – hopefully they will want to avoid litigation.

Finally, if you need a lawyer to act for you then there are pro bono (free of charge) lawyers who could assist you. You can try this firm for legal representation (they are a charity who connect you to pro bono lawyers) : LawWorks

I hope this helps and answers the question - my goal is to ensure you are happy with the answer and have the information you need. If you have any follow up questions then please let me know. I will reply as soon as I can to help with any further queries.

Many thanks,
Jim

Please let me know if the answer helped or if you need me to cover anything else?. I am happy to clarify the answer or if you have any follow up questions. If so, I’d be grateful if you would let me know. I am free most days, including weekends, so feel free to ask me anything you are unsure of.

Best wishes,

Jim

Yes, if they are in breach of contract then you should claim the money spent - they may well defend the claim and they may refute your allegation of breach of contract against them. If so then you may have to issue a claim for your money back. However, if you had a good service from them up until the point you wrote to them to terminate - and they took further payments - you only claim those extra payments from them. I will copy and paste the letter shortly

Dear Sirs,

Ref: [description of contract]

On [date] I purchased a ........ contract for the sum of (£).

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires sellers to supply services which are “carried out with a reasonable degree of care and skill”. (insert details of why they have not done so here...).

I therefore allege that you have breached my consumer rights and that the contract is void given the misrepresentation. You are therefore in breach of contract.

I am legally entitled to reject the service and to be reimbursed for the full purchase price of [£xx]. I look forward to receiving your cheque for this sum within 14 days.

Your attention is drawn to the Pre-Action Protocol which also states that the parties must attempt to avoid litigation wherever possible. If you simply reject your obligations to me under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 I will refer your conduct to the Court upon the issue of costs should proceedings be necessary.

If you fail to reimburse me I shall have no alternative but to issue a claim against you in the county court for recovery of the money without further reference to you. I therefore give you 14 days to reimburse me failing which I will proceed to issue a claim in the county court. Finally, a report will be made to Trading Standards due to breach of my consumer rights.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name and signature]