Customer problems, small claims court, serious replies only please! small business?

[broehain61]

Okay, so a lady bought her laptop to me for the damage to be inspected, I did this and told her that the problem was with her motherboard, this was a week before christmas, (busy time for me with 2 kids) the repair was going to cost £180 but she told me she would just drop the laptop and claim on her insurance, anyways no phone calls or contact from her and she called unexpectedly and her laptop wasnt ready I hadnt put it back together, 5-6 weeks later she calls again unexpectedly and her laptop was ready but i had a problem i had misplaced her CD drive cover but i told her that i would replace this, anyways, 2 weeks later she called me for a receipt, no problems, she came and collected it, now 2 weeks later ive received a letter from her saying shes got a serious problem and shes willing to take me to a smalls claims court. She said she had her suspicious about the laptop and that id been tampering with it, no such thing! She said shed taking the laptop to another computer store to be looked at and theres screws missing, the hard drives been replaced and the ram has been taking out, shes blaming me for this which i haven't done. She said shes phoned the Sony to verify what specs of the hard drive and the ram, obviously doesnt match whats in her laptop! shes saying she has all the evidence to take me to a small claims court, none of this is true, where do i stand and what can i do? Thanks for you time.

[garwyli91]

you are fine. Its her word against yours. She has no witness, but neither do you. Simply state you did not touch the hard drive or the ram and all screws were in their proper place.

[curney13]

The truth always wins. You know what you did or didn't do. If you wrote down on the receipt what problems there were and what needed to be replaced and what parts were missing, you won't have a problem. Good luck.

[han]

She will need to provide hard evidence to the court. She says she has it, so politely ask her to provide it.

Something along the lines of: "I am suprised you think your laptop has been interfered with by ourselves. I can assure you it hasn't, but if you can provide us with evidence of the condition of the laptop when it was submitted to us, and its condition upon collection, then we will re-assess the situation."

You are unlikely to hear from her again.

If (and it's a big if) she does take you to court, the judge will decide what is fair. If he believes her, you won't get a CCJ if you pay up within 14 days and request a certificate of satisfaction.