This is the story of my experience of using Maxwell Daly, an estate agent in my hometown. Our dealings took place over half a month, but the legal ramifications lasted half a year.

5th April 2008

Albert and I went into Maxwell Daly to ask about properties to let in our area. After some delays, we were shown round a property we liked the look of. We agreed to let it and shelled out some cash to have ourselves security checked prior to renting the property.

10th April 2008

A weekend passed and we had heard nothing, so we went back to the estate agent to ask what the dealio was. When we got there, Mr Daly (of Maxwell Daly) told us the property was no longer available, and that our money was already spent. I asked for proof that the money wasn’t spent on new leather seats for his car. He said he’d accidentally shredded the security checks. I asked for the money back, he asked me to leave his office.

14th April 2008

I phoned Maxwell Daly, and suggested he paid me back 60% of the money, and I’d write 40% off, as a valuable lesson learnt (Don’t deal with knob heads, or something). He told me the only way I’d get my money back was in court. This sounded like a good idea, so I hung up and trotted along to the county courts website.

To find out what happens next, click "Part 2" on the left.