Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BIZ SCAMMERS IN COURT OVER FEES
Those parasites that exploit hard-working small businesses, RVA Surveyors Limited, have lost another court battle.
As regular readers will know, this outfit claims to be able to get cuts in business rates for small firms and has sued some clients who have refused to pay after realising that RVA does little work for its 45% slice of any savings.
RVA took outdoor pursuits store Surface2air Sports to court after its director Angelo Couchman refused to pay £2,739.
Mr Couchman said that an RVA rep turned up unannounced at his shop in Poole, Dorset, and claimed that getting rebates for past overpayments was “a complex matter and could only be obtained by a specialised business rates firm”.
In fact, the court was told, all that Mr Couchman needed to do to was send a rebate request form to the council.
The County Court in Manchester threw out RVA’S demand.
“I was disappointed that we did not get costs awarded to us,” Mr Couchman said after the hearing. “These companies should be closed down by the Government for preying on small businesses like mine, especially in such hard times.”
In a separate case, publican Vladimir Nasadovich of the George & Dragon pub in Portsmouth has launched a Crowdjustice page to raise money for an appeal.
He lost an earlier hearing, despite denying ever signing a contract with RVA and was ordered to pay £5,000.
“The previous judge ordered an adjournment because RVA did not produce the original contract,” he says.
“Yet at the reconvened hearing before another judge, RVA again failed to produce the all-important contract.
“I need to appeal, I need help to pay for expert legal representation so that I can hopefully save the George & Dragon.”
RVA Surveyors of Denton, Greater Manchester, did not comment.