Comet store card scam

[employee]

Last year my partner and i brought a tv from comet!

While going through all the paper work with the man that was serving us, we were told we would recieve the bill in 5-6 weeks time.

and to my dismay in the 6 weeks we did recieve the bill, which had been put on to a comet store card that charges 28.9% APR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now luckily as we paid it straight off we did not have to pay any extra interest
and recieved an apologetic letter to the complaint we made!

But surely this must be illegal without the persons consent??

[dw190]

Originally Posted by employee

Last year my partner and i brought a tv from comet!

While going through all the paper work with the man that was serving us, we were told we would recieve the bill in 5-6 weeks time.

and to my dismay in the 6 weeks we did recieve the bill, which had been put on to a comet store card that charges 28.9% APR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now luckily as we paid it straight off we did not have to pay any extra interest
and recieved an apologetic letter to the complaint we made!

But surely this must be illegal without the persons consent??

My son had a similar experience with a major store a few years ago.

Went in to make a purchase and was offered 10 or 20 percent off the price if he placed it on a card. Then the trouble started. He received a letter and store card but had to phone an 0870 number to activate the card which he did.

Within the call he was asked if he would be interested in payment protection, to which he replied "yes but first send me some details". His bank account was debited £6.00 per month for eighteen months (the whole of the purchase had been paid on month one). He was having dificulty and ask me to assist.

I contacted the drawer requesting a refund and was offered half as a goodwill gesture which was unacceptable. They said they didn't deal with the sales company that sold him the protection plan and could not send a copy of the conversation. I concluded the call telling them full refund or further action.

Now the best part was writing to his bank asking them to credit his account under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. (Instantly credited with all eighteen months)

Two days later a cheque arrived for the half that they had offered as a goodwill gesture, this was banked. A cd of the telephone conversation was also enclosed.

Another letter arrived requesting repayment of their goodwill gesture as the bank had charged back. Ignored, heard nothing since.

Do you have the contract you signed?

Were you charged anything extra that you were not told of?

[seylectric]

My initial feelings are that this is a classic scam; you think you are signing a sales agreement when really you are signing a credit agreement (if you haven't signed anything it's unenforceable anyway).

I'm not going to waffle on about this one but the answer is to always read through the paperwork you have signed, and cancel immediately if you are not happy (the law allows a "cooling off" period to give you chance to check what you have signed up for, the retailers know that most people just don't bother reading it).

ALWAYS be suspicious if they are offering an incentive for deferred payment, think about it, unless they have something to gain by you not paying in full at the point of sale ther must be a reason and the only reason as far as these companies are concerned is profit. Nothing else makes sense.

[clairus99]

Same thing happened to us when we bought a fridge freezer on 0% interest. Actually, we didn't end up paying interest because we didn't use the card until we needed a washing machine, but my point is we didn't ask for a card and wasn't expecting one.

I was on the phone to them today, funnily enough, because we'd missed last month's payment and they charged us £15 - which I got them to take off (at least for the time being).

We also found that the minimum amount each month (on the fridge) was something like £12pm - we used to pay at least £20 - and one month, thinking we were ahead because of it, I didn't pay it - and then got this bloody charge again! They removed it, but it seems it doesn't doesn't matter how far ahead with your payments you are, you still need to pay the "minimum payment" per month.

I dunno, it wasn't obvious to us anyway. But I thought I'd mention it in case it happens to anyone else.

I hope I haven't hijacked your thread, if I have, sorry, just ignore me then!!!

[seylectric]

Yes it's worth bearing in mind too that with most credit agreements if you miss a payment it will show as a missed payment on your credit file regardless of the fact that you may have paid exrta earlier on and be "ahead" with your payments.

Unless you are paying a lot of interest (if you're on interest free for example) the best thing to do is set up a direct debit for the minimum payments and keep your money in an interest paying account.