TheTurfBurner

Brief update. I went back to the County Court in Somerset on 5 December advising that, as Dunn’s address is also the address of his business Cooper-Craft, these were business premises which the bailiffs could enter. I had a ‘phone call this morning from the Court. Unfortunately, as the building is a bungalow it is classed by the Court as a private dwelling which they cannot enter without the owner’s permission – irrespective of what may actually be going on within. Accordingly, the route of the Small Claims Court has come to the end. I had a long and friendly talk with the Court official and got the distinct impression he had the distinct impression Dunn knows how to play the system. The officials tried, on two visits, but simply could not persuade him to pay up. Two things he did confirm – first, there is no known connection between Dunn and the adjacent market garden business on the same road. And second, there were no cars or other vehicles outside Dunn’s house. The official also thought the property was originally owned by Dunn’s parents. While I would still encourage anybody on this board who is owed money by Dunn to pay the £25 and lodge a Small Claims Court claim, there is no point going beyond that stage. I am still waiting to hear what action, if any, has been taken by Trading Standards and/or Action Fraud and will follow that up in the New Year. A response to my second letter to World Pay dated 29 November is also still awaited. The web site provider, Sinclaire Knight, do not respond to e-mails – even innocuous ones (under a different name) simply asking for their address! They may be a shell business and not actually trade. Nothing will happen until the New Year. Then, in the absence of action by Trading Standards, Action Fraud and World Pay, I may start to get nasty. If you are reading this Dunn, it’s not over yet.

We could also try a review of Cooper-Craft on Trustpilot:https://www.trustpilot.com/evaluate/www.cooper-craft.co.uk?stars=1 ​Probably make no difference.

I have had a letter from Worldpay – which basically says “Nothing to do with us, mush!” This is wholly unacceptable as Dunn is clearly in breach of Worldpay’s conditions, which sate at section 3.2 “. You shall: refrain from doing anything which we reasonably believe to be disreputable or capable of damaging the reputation or goodwill of us, or any Other Financial Institution, Other Payments Organisation or the Card Schemes". Worldpay are in effect aiding an alleged fraudulent trader in facilitating Dunn taking money from customers for products which those customers will never see. I intend to respond to Worldpay along those line. This saga has become an object lesson in how difficult (if not impossible) it is for an ordinary Joe to take any meaningful action against an alleged rogue trader. Sadly, it may also influence our willingness to deal on-line with the 99.9% of wholly honest traders. For anybody reading this thread, there will always be that nagging feeling, on placing the first order, “is this another Dunn?” Pity there is no trade association which the honest traders could have Dunn ejected from.

Yes - both reports included links to this site. However, posts here are anonymous hearsay and cannot be actioned or used as evidence. It requires in person reports before anything can be done. If everybody here who has lost money to Dunn reported him to Trading Standards and/or Action Fraud, his web site could be gone and nobody else would pay hard earned cash for items they will never receive. Reports to Trading Standards and Action Fraud are not difficult, the web sites are quoted above, the process is painless - and FREE.

Brief update - I have reported Dunn/Cooper-Craft to Action Fraud at: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-a-fraud-including-online-crime-questions Report made on 21 November and I have a crime number and pro forma reply that they will contact me again within 28 days with information on what action they have taken. I have also reported him to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice web site as well as writing again to Worldpay and his web site host Sinclaire Knight: http://sinclaireknight.com/services/printing/ - in both cases quoting the crime number and suggesting, for the sake of their reputation, they should not be doing business with an alleged fraudulent trader. I will keep you advise of developments (if any).

A valid point, Jason. But if the folks on here who have lost money with Dunn all contacted Trading Standards, they would have more than enough complaints to take action. One complaint - they do nothing. Ten complaints - they may act.

A consumer cannot contact Trading Standards direct, but must go through Citizens Advice Consumer Service. It's a very simple process using an on-line form which can be found: https://ssl.datamotion.com/form.aspx?co=3438&frm=general&to=flare.fromforms

At the risk of bringing this back on topic, Citizens Advice Consumer Service have responded this morning. They advise: "We will notify Trading Standards and the case details will also be placed on a central database that can be accessed by all other Local Authority Trading Standards Services throughout the UK. Although we work closely with Trading Standards departments, we are a separate organisation. Individual complaints do not necessarily lead to immediate enforcement action as, sometimes, numerous complaints are needed before effective action can take place. The information is, however, valuable intelligence for Trading Standards Services and other Government departments. Trading Standards will only contact you if they need further information or feel they could be of further assistance. We cannot make any commitment that Trading Standards will definitely contact you." ​The important comment here is "numerous complaints are needed before effective action can take place". Rather than reading about Ian Kirk kits or the complexities of copyright law, I would much prefer to see someone else indicating they have taken action against Dunn. Or am I ploughing a lone furrow here in my efforts to get an allegedly dishonest trader off the web?

OK, this is what I have done. Letter to the Worldpay Customer Complaints Department outlining the situation and suggesting they protect their good name and reputation by withdrawing facilities from Cooper Craft. Filled in on-line form to Trading Standards (the web site reads like “don’t contact us and we won’t contact you), but may be worth a try. Filled in on-line form to his web site provider: http://sinclaireknight.com/contact-us/ - again, worth a try. If none of this brings any result, I have a couple of other options in reserve, one of which is nuclear and could cause Dunn much trouble. I will reveal all if I have to. Please, if you have lost money with Dunn, give me support by contact Worldpay, Trading Standards and his web site host. We MUST get this site taken down to prevent others sending this cowboy money and never seeing the ordered items or their cash again. I will let you know what happens. Finally, while I wish nobody ill-health, it should be noted that, in the event of Dunn’s demise, Judgement creditors will have to be paid by his Executors before Grant of Probate can be issued. It may well be years but, spend the £25 and get a Small Claims Court Judgement against Dunn. There is a reasonable chance you may get your money back in time.

I will try them anyway - but am surprised if they are getting any money from Dunn for a web site which has not been updated since 2014 (last list of exhibitions he was attending). Hopefully event organisers will see these posts and act accordingly.

I tried Wordpay at the very start - they did not reply. Their web site states they take no responsibility for anything and action against them will get me nowhere.

Lots of good and helpful comments there – much appreciated. As for bankruptcy petitions, freezing orders or taking a charge over property – first, the amount owed is really not worth it and second, these would probably involve the expense of a Solicitors – which again is simply not worth it. I am annoyed I have thrown good money after bad but take the positive view that I have exposed Dunn for the unsavoury character he clearly is. Anybody dealing with Dunn through the Cooper Craft web site can now be in no doubt he is a person lacking in any conscience or moral compass. He will take your money and give you nothing in return. Getting the bailiffs to approach him at a show may well be the best option – subject to knowing he will attend (the web site has not been updated for years, so it’s a question of trawling through show web sites to see which he is attending) and then giving the Court enough notice so they can take action. In the end, I’ll probably find that bailiffs do not work on Saturday! What I propose to do in the short term is contact his web site provider, acquaint them with the situation and suggest this is not the sort of business they should be hosting. You will know if I am successful if the web site disappears.

More on the saga of me v Paul Dunn. On 2 October I requested a “Warrant of Control” and this was issued on the following day, being passed to the County Court at Taunton for execution. This morning, I received the following from the Court: “The bailiff has visited the debtor’s address and spoken with the debtor who has refused to allow the bailiff peaceful entry. The bailiff manager has also visited the address and met with a similar response. The debtor is entitled to refuse the bailiff entry to domestic premises and in the circumstances, the bailiff has not has an opportunity to establish whether the debtor has goods which can be taken into control. The bailiff can take no further action unless you are able to provide further information to re-issue the warrant (for example, giving a description and location of other goods which belong to the debtor). You may have to pay a fee to reissue the warrant. The warrant has been returned to the Court which issued it”. I think it is abundantly clear than Dunn, far from sticking his head in the sand, is well versed on how to avoid his business liabilities. He is nothing less than a crook, a shyster and a con-man and anybody dealing with him, other than face-to-face, will never see either the goods they ordered or their money. And if he wants to sue me for libel and defamation, I will be delighted to hear from him.

Good Heavens - I'm having to sit down after seeing that! 1957 is some 14 years before I joined IRRS, so that Journal is not in the collection. Nevertheless, you learn something new every day. Strong drink may be required to aid recovery.

Just want to mention that is a Denis Grimshaw shot and NOT one of mine.

Excellent work as always. One very minor thing - I do not recall ever seeing a photograph of a B101 with staff exchanger fitted - even back to introduction in 1956. They were elusive beasts, so it is possible - but any I saw from 1971 on did not have it fitted.

Yes, I accept that can happen with smaller suppliers. I have no issues with Dart and will happily buy from them again.

Yes, please - but ONLY if you have seen them recently on his stand at shows.

Don't know. I'm only speculating, if Dunn has no cash or valid credit/debit card available when the "repo men" call, they will take assets to the value of the debt. IF I have that choice, I'll probably take kits as I suspect the moulds are just scrap iron.

At the risk of dragging this thread back on topic - Me v Cooper Craft (Paul Dunn) – the story so far. The first step in this protracted procedure was to issue a pro forma “Letter before Small Claims Court claim”, which was sent to Dunn on 9 April 2017 and gave him 28 days to respond. For various reasons, I gave him much longer than 28 days but eventually paid my £25 and Judgement was entered on 5 July 2017. There was then a problem as the Registry of Judgements queried Dunn’s address – only telling me this on 27 July. After much searching on the web, I found his full address appears to be “Willows”, Broom Lane, Oake, Taunton TA4 1BE and this was advised to the Court on 2 August. I then felt I had to wait a month in case any more queries were raised. With no further contact from the Courts & Tribunals Service, I wrote to Dunn on 31 August giving him until 18 September to pay what I am owed plus Court costs to date. I advised Dunn that, if I did not hear from him by 18 September, I will proceed to enforcement. Up to today, there has been no contact from Dunn. Enforcement costs £77 (for which Dunn will be liable) any will likely involve Court Officers calling at his home to obtain payment in cash, or to seize assets to the full value of the amount owed. The enforcement fee is no small sum (which I can ill afford to throw down the pan), but having come this far, I feel I have no option but to carry on regardless. Chances are, he will plead he has no money or assets – but I know from posts here he is still trading and has stock. If he tries a “sob story”, he will get no sympathy out of me! I really do not understand this guy. He is either very stupid in ignoring debts, or feels he can get away with his actions as the amounts are small and we are unlikely to take the time, trouble and expense of Court action. However, I feel somebody must take a stand – and I’m drawing the short straw. Looks as if I may well find myself with several dozen Cooper Craft kits – or even the moulds for the Slater’s GWR clerestory coaches! E-Bay will be busy. I will keep you all informed.

I'll give you a full update tomorrow when I get home. Judgement has been issued against Dunn, but still no money. Will be moving to enforcement next week.

E-mail this morning apologising for delay with rest of order to be posted today. All is right with the world again.

Part of the order arrived this morning. Hopefully, the rest will follow - but no note or e-mail to indicate when!

Reviving this topic as I ordered some items from Dart on 3 August, which have not arrived and I have had no reply to 2 e-mails. Previous orders were all OK, so I'm disappointed this has gone astray somewhere. Before I get "nasty" and start involving PayPal, does anybody know of any problems with Dart which may be holding this up?

Just filed papers against Dunn at the Small Claims Court. We will see what happens next. Throwing good money after bad - but sometimes it is the principle that matters.