Ok, fair enough rocky start and all that. I'll behave ;-) Thanks for your help so far. What is plink and is it something to do with Link? You've mentioned it more than once as though I should know about it. Why does their involvement automatically make it a cause to fight for??

here

No I don't. I need clarification on who exactly is supposed to be dealing with the debt which I am quite happy to pay, and I will then pay them. I'm not trying to evade a legitimate debt.

I'm sorry, I got a bit caught up in some personal issues since posting this. Thanks for the replies. To the people suggesting CCA's and SRA's, I do acknowledge this debt and have been paying it off slowly but surely. The tone used by Link, though, is leaving me cold. If I am forced to deal with them I'll probably be less co-operative (hah!) Just to clarify, I have received NO communication whatsoever from Fredrickson on this matter. They have continued to accept my payments (paid by a standing order set up by myself) and my account balance has been updated every month - the letters from Link both show my balance so somewhere, centrally, the three companies are sharing this. No fees have been added since the Co-op washed their hands of the matter, which is as it should be, I believe. I have kept all correspondence, which includes one single statement from Fredrickson, I think. They demand that you set up an account on their website which I did not do - I emailed my payment offer to their "enquiries" email and set up a standing order manually - they'd rather it was a DD!! No chance! It is on my credit file. And yes, something smells. My "account" has been sold on, but not by the party who I'm currently dealing with.. . Surely once I made an agreement with Fred, Co-op are no longer involved. I'll scan the letters and put them up, but I think citizenB's advice sounds like the right course of action.

Hi I defaulted on a Co-op credit card debt a few years ago. It was eventually passed to Fredrickson International, with whom I have an agreement, which I have never missed a payment on. The debt has fallen from over £6k to just under £5k, so my intentions are clear. I believe, but cannot be sure, that at one point the Co-op sent me a letter saying that they're done with me, no more contact etc. I recently received a letter from "Link Financial", with an enclosed letter from the Co-op, saying that the Co-op has sold my debt to Link, both agreeing that I should now be paying Link. It mentioned that if I was already paying a DCA, then they'd sort it out among themselves. I am fairly sure my contract with Co-op was terminated when I started dealing with Fredrickson. I heard nothing more for a couple of months, except Fred said I had missed a payment on Jan 1st, but I think that was a glitch in timing. In late Feb I got another letter from Link which told me to stop ignoring my debts and get in touch with them to arrange a payment plan. I emailed them a week ago detailing my confusion, and have not received a response. Today I did receive another letter from Link demanding that I sign and return a standing order form (no thanks, I can set that up myself thank you!) - the terms were all the same as my deal with Fredrickson except for the payment date, which states 30th of each month rather than 1st. Obviously this will be a major issue every other month, when I'm paid on 31st! In all this time I've had no contact from Fredrickson, who have been happily accepting my payments and updating my balance accordingly - each letter from Link has the account balance printed on it, and it has reduced according to my payments. So should I alter my standing order to pay Link instead of Fred? Won't Fred still be wanting the money? Why has Fred remained silent on the matter? I've already received a "non-payment" threat from Fred, SINCE the transfer Link claims happened, even though the payment was made on time as it is every month. Thanks for any advice - I've been a bit succinct because tbh, I don't know which details are relevant.

Trying to negotiate with the garage is futile, and Trading Standards just told me to write a letter to the garage, (although they did admit in their reply that they had estimated 6 hours, charged for 14 hours and not spoken to me about it in the interim). As things stand I'll just wait for the court to look at it. If they find me liable I will have to pay. I can't afford to take the garage to court so it looks like they've got away with it.

Hm I understand that but since the transaction was still "pending" when I notified the bank of the situation, they have effectively made a payment against my authorisation. If it's just a case of going to court I'm happy with that as I have no way of paying such a huge sum of money anyway. Sorry to have come across a bit short in my previous reply, I'm a bit stressed out about this as I am a victim in the whole thing yet now I'm going to be hounded like I stole the money or something.

I have not had a choice in how to "go about this". The WHOLE PURPOSE of the chargeback system is so that you can reverse transactions which were made without your authorisation. Do I want my car scrapped and my nose broken? No thanks. The only option is to enter my PIN. Police say talk to the bank, bank says talk to the police. In the end, it's not my money the bank has used to pay the merchant (without my authorisation). So I ask again, after the sinister phonecalls what will they try next?

I may be in the wrong forum because I couldn't find anything like this in the first few pages. I made a payment to a garage using Chip & Pin on a VISA debit card issued by Barclays. I made the payment in order to escape with my car and my nose intact, it was made under protest and under duress. The account I used was disused and empty - I had been banking with another bank for quite some time. I contacted Barclays and VISA repeatedly by telephone and in person. The branch said that C&P is irreversible, even though the payment was still "pending". I got them to put their refusal to cancel the payment in writing. VISA debit card services tried to help by cancelling my overdraft facility, saying that would cause the payment to bounce. They were either misinformed or lying, because the payment went ahead and incurred fees. Eventually I got onto Customer Relations who reinstated my overdraft and refunded the fee. By this time the £860 had been debited. After some persuasion I finally got them to admit the existence of VISA Debit Card Chargeback. The forms failed to arrive twice, and failed to be faxed to my branch twice. I did eventually get hold of them (obviously they don't like customers using this service!) They refused to action the chargeback because it was "between me and the merchant". My position is that I did not authorise the payment and they were aware of this at the time they debited my account. I went to a lot of effort to make them aware of the situation so the chance that I'm acting fraudulently is nil. Their position is that I entered my PIN so computer says NO. After several letters back and forth I lost patience and demanded that they produce any contracts which I have signed, stating that C&P overrides my explicit instructions, and if they could not do so then they should leave me alone or be reported for harassment. They have not responded. I also notified them that I considered our relationship terminated due to their breach of trust, and returned my card to them. I have received a few sinister phonecalls involving people who want me to confirm who I am and my address- at least two of which mentioned that they work for Barclays but they were like something out of Phonejacker so clearly not above board. I've not confirmed anything to these people. The last one was EXTREMELY cagey, I had to force him to give his name and when he did so I said I'd never heard of him, he said "you wouldn't have". When I told him to stop messing me about he said he had a letter for me and wanted to make sure it was going to the right address. I asked why he would have mail for me, and he said (triumphantly) "Ah so you are Mr XXXXX I'm from Barclays" at which point I had had enough and hung up. I wish I'd waited to hear what he wanted but I was extremely ****ed off. Just wondered if anybody can let me know what to expect next? As far as I'm concerned, since we can't agree who is liable for the outstanding balance I would be happy for the court to decide - I'm already in the red every month anyway and have no assets so any award would be a few quid per month - it seems Barclays are going all cloak-and-dagger which worried me a bit as I don't want to come home and find that debt-collectors have had my limited edition classic car away and auctioned it off for £50 I will probably transfer the V5 to my brother in law just to be safe. Are they wise to that sort of shenanigans?

Not sure whether I mentioned he advertises himself as a Saab specialist with 25 years experience His quote was based on his experience from the last time he did the same job, which he was kind enough to put in writing for me I'm pretty sure I have a good case, since his reply confirmed that he had quoted 6 hours and also that he hadn't kept me informed. Surely he's already lost if I take it to court? Though I've never been in this situation before and his attitude seems to be very confident, so maybe it's not so clear cut.

I knew those pictures would come in handy!! :grin: Well at least xmas gives me a few days to mull it over. Thanks for the info so far chaps, CAB advice amounted to about two sentences...

Interesting advice, thanks. Sorry Conniff I didn't realise you are a mechanic. The car is a Saab 900 (pre-GM) so you may be aware the engine is in backwards - clutch is at the front, gearbox is slung underneath much like a Mini. Very simple if you can get past the "weirdness" myth many mechanics cling to, but maybe problematic to a novice. This guy claims to have 25 years experience, but his employees - one looked about 16 and the other in his early/mid 20's and... disinterested? I'm not sure that another letter can serve any purpose since I have no new information to add, and demanding partial refunds in exchange for ceasing proceedings may be a bit close to blackmail? - It's a bit public to post the correspondence so far...

Thanks Conniff. No I didn't obtain an estimate on the box swap because I'm fairly competent with these cars myself. Although I'm aware that things aren't always ideal, I was phoning for daily updates he didn't mention the trouble he was having... I've received a response regarding my complaints. It turns out he can be civil after all! They agree that the initial quote was for six hours but claim that "the time spent is unclear until it's totalled up at the end of the job" and the time required on my car was "in excess of anything that could have been anticipated". Apparently all of the extra time was spent struggling with seized bolts. This seems a bit much for a well-equipped professional garage. He didn't mention the part where he obtained payment by threatening to relieve me permanently of the car. The car is worth about £2000 and the bill was almost £900. If I had been given this figure initally, I would never have authorised the work. I'm not sure whether I should reply. I'll give Consumer Direct another ring tomorrow, since they told me to write a complaint in the first place.

Yes I used recorded delivery and have a copy of the letter, which finished by asking for an explanation of the costs and a partial refund within 14 days. The invoice includes a breakdown of parts but labour is just "labour for attentions" I am interested in what the law states regarding confiscation of the car - I was not given any opportunity to discuss the matter - it was either pay the bill or lose the car, no other options. It struck me at the time that he couldn't do that, but obviously without knowing for certain I couldn't take the risk. The Police visited him yesterday and he said he was going to sell the car - his actual words to me were "dispose of" but aside from that he seems to have told the police something like the truth - the officer involved didn't seem to know the law on this, but I'm hoping when I mention it to TS, and back it up with the Police's incident number, he has put his foot in it?

Well, I have a written estimate from a specialist which quotes 6 hours to do the same job and I understand the manufacturers guidelines state a maximum of 10.4 hours. This doesn't change the fact that I was quoted 6 hours, then charged for 14 without at any time being asked if it was ok. Finally I was given no choice in the matter with regards to payment - no explanation, no discussion, either pay immediately or lose the car without recourse. Surely if a dispute arises, there is some consumer protection? This cannot be the first time something like this has happened. I have requested a breakdown (sorry for the pun!) of where all this labour was expended in my letter of complaint, however this man is not the kind of person who is likely to respond.