In the UK the Money Claim Online (MCOL) allows businesses and private individuals to claim money owed by a business or private individual. It is most commonly used for small claims up to £10,000, but it is possible to claim more significant amounts.
Why I Used Money Claim Online
Where I live, a company called SGN is responsible for maintaining the gas main pipes. One evening all the houses on my road started having problems with the gas pressure dropping.
It turned out that water had somehow got into the gas mains. SGN came out, pumped the water out, and restored the gas pressure. Unfortunately for me, the water had made its way to my boiler and broken it beyond economic repair.
After much back and forth with SGN they agreed to pay £600 towards the boiler replacement.
I had been quoted a lot more for a new boiler, and I didn’t see why I should pay for it when SGN were entirely responsible for the damage.
SGN refused to pay more, saying the boiler was old and that any more would be ‘betterment’. My big fat hairy arse, it’s ‘betterment’. It’s fixing what they broke.
The only way to get SGN to pay for a new boiler fully was to use the Money Claim Online process.
Money Claim Online Process
From what I had read online, the Money Claim Online process sounded relatively straightforward and was something I could do without the help of a solicitor.
As it was all online, there was no (or negligible) physical paperwork, and it’s an easy-to-follow step-by-step process.
Registering for Money Claim Online
The Money Claim Online is a UK government website to which you may already have a login if you’ve previously used UK government services. If not, registration is a fairly pain-free process.
Tip: I strongly recommend using a password manager like BitWarden (free) to manage your passwords. It makes life so much easier.
![Russell Hobbs 4L Rapid Digital Air Fryer [7 Cooking Functions |10 Programs] Energy Saving, Max temp 220°C, Easy clean, Touch screen, Use without oil, Grill, Bake, Roast, Reheat, Frozen etc. 27160](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31A0WTkX92L._SL160_.jpg)
Cost Of Money Claim Online
Sadly, there is a cost of ‘Court Fees’ for using the MCOL service. The cost depends on how much you are claiming. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees
Completing ‘The Claim’ Form
Once registered to access the MCOL website, the first step is to complete ‘The Claim’ form. This is basically where you enter all the information about your claim. Why you believe you are owed money, the amount owed and all the evidence you have to support your case (emails, quotes, reports etc)
My Tips On Completing The Claim Section
- Information – Don’t hold back on the information you enter in this section. Ensure you add all the information you can think of related to the claim.
- Resolution – Be sure to show you have done everything you can to try to come to a resolution directly with the defendant and that the MCOL is the last resort.
- Review – Ask a friend or family member who knows nothing about your claim to read through what you have written. Do they clearly understand the situation?
- Professional – As tempting as it is, this is not the place to slag off the person or business you are claiming from
- Negotiation – Add as many costs as possible relating to your claim. For example, I included electric radiators I purchased while my boiler wasn’t working. I didn’t really expect SGN to pay for the radiators, but it put me in a better position to negotiate.
The Defence
Once your claim has been submitted, the defendant will have a response deadline.
Hopefully, the defendant will accept the claim and agree to cough up the dough. Unfortunately, in my case, SGN got their solicitors to respond, which made things more complex.
For some reason, the SGN solicitors were able to take the process offline. No one at MCOL was able to explain to me why my Money Claim Online was taken offline.
The status of my case on the website changed to ‘The claim will continue by post’. Although it says by post, it was actually by email that I had to continue.
The SGN Defence
The defence I received from the SGN solicitors was via a formal letter. It was full of law language and referencing stuff that I had no idea what it meant.
When I received the letter, I thought twice about pursuing the claim. But, the fact was I knew I was in the right and that there was no way SGN could wriggle out of paying for my new boiler.
My Response To The Defence
Before I could respond to the SGN defence, I had to understand what the defence letter was saying. To do this I used AI.
How I Used AI to Understand The Solicitor’s Letter
I used Microsoft’s Copilot AI to translate the letter from legal blurb into layman’s language, which I could understand.
I did this by doing the following:
- Went to Microsoft’s Copilot
- Asked AI to give me a summary of the solicitor’s letter in layman’s language.
- Copied and pasted the solicitor’s letter into Copilot
The output from Copilot clearly explained what the letter was going on about and gave some helpful links to things referenced in the letter.
Note: As a security precaution, I ensured no personal information was submitted to AI.
How To Respond To The Defence
The output from AI explained that the letter was primarily saying I hadn’t jumped through all the right hoops to show that SGN were at fault.
For example, they said that the plumber’s report on how the boiler was damaged didn’t conform to some standard, so it wasn’t valid……. What a load of old bollocks.
So how do i respond to them? I have no legal knowledge and wasn’t going to take on an expensive solicitor to help.
Again, I turned to AI. I gave Copilot all the information i had submitted as part fo my claim and the defence I received. I then asked AI to write me a letter responding to the Solicitor’s letter. It pumped out a pretty decent reply. I needed to do a bit of editing, but that only took a few minutes.
Responding To Correspondence
One thing I had seen a few times when researching money claims was not to respond straight away. In fact, it was recommended that you leave as late as possible.
This is because it makes the business \ person you’re claiming against feel uneasy. They might change their mind and decide that the claim isn’t worth fighting.
I followed this advice, and a few days before the deadline by which I had to respond, the SGN solicitors sent me an offer letter for an amount that would cover the cost of a new boiler.
Run-Up Time And Costs
One way I thought of getting SGN to pay was to try to run up their legal costs as much as possible in the hope that once the solicitor fees start exceeding the amount I’m claiming, SGN will call it a day and pay up. After all, they are a business, and businesses are all about making money, not losing money.
My plan was to ask the SGN solicitors as many questions (one at a time) as I could about their defence. For example, in the defence, there was a reference to an SGN work order, I was going to ask them to provide a copy of the work order. I was also going to ask how to communicate securely (email is not secure) as there was a lot of personal and confidential information going back and forth.
Fortunately, I never got to a stage where I needed to use this cunning tactic.
N180 Form
The N180 form is used for claims under £10,000 and is completed by the claimant and defendant. It’s pretty straightforward to complete. It asks a few simple questions about completing mediation and going to court.
I was sent this N180 form to complete by MCOL soon after SGN had submitted their defence.
Claimant And Defence Negotiation
Once I had submitted my claim, I was expected to try to negotiate a deal directly with the SGN before the court organised official mediation.
SGN made an offer, which I accepted, so I didn’t have to do any negotiations.
Mediation
If SGN and I have been unable to agree on a settlement, then the next step is phone mediation organised by the court.
Court
If the mediation doesn’t work, the next step is to go to court.
Getting Help For Money Claim Online
It is possible to email and phone MCOL for support, but unless you enjoy pain, I would advise avoiding contacting them if at all possible. Try and find answers to your questions using online documents or post your question somewhere like Reddit.
Phoning MCOL For Help
Don’t do it! You will regret calling them.
I called MCOL for help on 7 different occasions. The automated phone process is just awful. I don’t think I’ve experienced such a frustrating system in my life.
Once you get through the automated bit, you will sit in a queue for an hour. If you manage to make it through the queue, you will speak to a complete f*cking moron who has no clue what they’re talking about.
I was sent the wrong form, given bad information about sending information securely, hung up on twice! (not sure if it was deliberate), one guy, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, and he wouldn’t forward my call to another operator.
Emailing MCOL For Help
You might think emailing MCOL for help is a better option than calling. Well, you’d be wrong. Sending them an email can take up to 28 days for a response!
You can bet your bottom dollar any response by email would be of no use.
What I learnt Using Money Claim Online
- It was worth my while putting in a claim
- The MCOL service is absolutely rubbish. It is slow and very frustrating.
- As long as you’re submitting a genuine claim, it is very doubtful you’ll pay the defendant’s costs.
- If a solicitor is representing the business \ person you’re claiming against (aka the defendant), don’t be put off by all the legal crap they spout.
- I found that communication with solicitors was always subtly threatening. for example, ‘you may be liable…….’, ‘we recommend you get legal representation’, ‘we are highly experienced and respected…..’
This seems to be a common tactic solicitors use to make people worry they are out of their depth. I experienced the same thing when I was going through my divorce.
Conclusion: Online Money Claim
In my experience, the online Money Claim service is absolutely rubbish. But, if you are owed a relatively small amount of money and don’t want to pay for expensive solicitors, then MCOL is really your only option.
Don’t just take my word for how rubbish MCOL is. If you take a look on TrustPilot you’ll see an average rating of 1.2 out 5!
I was fortunate that SGN relatively quickly offered me most of the money I claimed. If they hadn’t, I can only imagine that continuing the money claim process would have been hugely time-consuming and stressful.
