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Having been sent half mad in my dealings with Egg, the time has now come to seek some sane advice and opinion from your kind selves.
The issue I'm wrestling with is as follows:
During a long (18 months) period of illness, I missed a couple of payments to Egg. Received a standard Default Notice mid October, informing me of their intention to default within 28 days unless payment..etc.
I contacted Egg Customer Services promptly, who, after some negotiation, agreed that payment for the arrears and current due payment would be made at the beginning of December (I actually made arrangements with my bank for this to happen), thus bringing my account up to date.
At the beginning of December Egg received their money and to my shock I received an account termination notice from Egg isued at the end of November! Surely some mistake?
After much scratching of head I attempted to communicate with Egg Customer Services (stupidly assuming that this was an admin error to be easily rectified). The initial sympathetic noises from Egg seemed promising, however, they got bored and gave up, advising me that I was no longer their customer and should only communicate with my new account holder - Credit Solutions......
Cut to today. Kept making regular payments to Egg and managed to scrape together a tidy sum to pay entire amount and close account. Credit Solutions were to told in no uncertain terms to get lost (I only made payments to Egg, never to the CS goons. I pity anyone who has been the subject of their attentions).
Current problem - big fat default notice on my credit file.
Egg have acknowledged in writing that though they agreed for me to make the payment in December;
This was outside of the 28 days terms (as printed in the standard default warning notice).
Their decision to wreck my credit rating, terminate my account and throw me to the mercy of Credit Solutions (note - without any warning and just before they received their money - as per our agreement) was in accordance with company policy.
Perhaps I am being naive, but if a customer reaches a payment agreement with a creditor, surely they can't act in this way. Why on earth would I have made a payment arrangement if during the intervening period I was going to be shafted and my account terminated? When Egg agreed payment terms with me, they cetainly neglected to mention that they would be terminating my account before they received the payment. As I have pointed out to them , what was the point of me arranging payment if it was not going to make the blindest bit of difference?
Sorry it's such a lengthy rant, but if anyone has an opinion of my chances of getting the default removed (I'm trying to forget the crippling cost of having to pay off my account unexpectedly) and whether the Financial Ombudsman might be worth a try, I would sincerely appreciate the advice.
Have you considered that the debt you paid may consist of unlawful charges? if so, I would suggest sending a SAR and reclaiming them. As part of the action, ask for the default notice to be removed as it was based on an account which consisted of unlawful charges.
All help is merely my opinion only - please seek legal advice if you need to as I am only qualified in SEN law.
What tiglet says is sound advice. There are several issues here and it depends which is the most important to you which way to go. If the main thing is how you have been treated, then go tothe fos. If you determine there ar unlawful charges you can add that to the complaint - ie rcalim tem through the FOS.
The FOS is not quick but it might be the best option.
If it is the default that is the most important, if there are unlawful charges, then what tiglet suggests is probably the best way forward. So long as you do not accept any offer they may send you, you should be able to get the defaut removed as part of the process. THis may be possible via the FOS as well.
Steven
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Received a standard Default Notice mid October, informing me of their intention to default within 28 days unless payment..etc.
I contacted Egg Customer Services promptly, who, after some negotiation, agreed that payment for the arrears and current due payment would be made at the beginning of December (I actually made arrangements with my bank for this to happen), thus bringing my account up to date.
At the beginning of December Egg received their money and to my shock I received an account termination notice from Egg isued at the end of November!
The DN stated the middle of November as deadline. The verbal arrangement with an Eggployee moved the deadline to the beginning of December. Unfortunately without further warning to you the sale of your debit balance to Credit Solutions occurred after the first deadline, not the renegotiated second deadline -- most likely due to muddle at Egg House, not conspiracy, with Egg's left hand failing to override the already scripted actions of the right hand.
The unfortunate part is that the first deadline has the force of inclusion in a legal document, the second does not. Do you have the second deadline in writing at all from an Eggployee? If not, if you request the fullblown SAR for £10 cost, the screen prints coming to you in about 6 weeks from Egg should show inhouse typed notes journalising the aforesaid agreement re the second deadline. Armed with such damning evidence from within Egg House, painting a picture so damaging to Egg's good faith or administration or service to customers, you will be far better placed to negotiate a satisfactory way out with Egg.
Forcing rather than negotiating a rollback of the DN which will damage your credit rating for the next 6 years will be a big and difficult subject. I shall start a separate thread on it tonight.
Many thanks to all for your kind advice. Am just sending off the S.A.R - (Subject access request), will see how things progress in the future. Suspect I'm in for a long haul, however, will post updates when I have something to report.
Thanks again.
Egg Default - In spite of payment agreement!
fans,
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Originally Posted by credithell
