Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
Can anyone advise a friend of mine who has an Egg card.
She got a call out of the blue telling her that she owed £160 which needed to be paid straight away.
She said have you not been paid by my direct debit?
They said no
So she ageed to pay as much as she could afford and told she had to pay the rest within 14 days.
She then checked her bank statements and found that she had paid the monthly direct debits and had not missed a payment????
She was then told that at one point several months ago she went over her limit and ever since they have been charging her £16 per month which was never covered by the direct debit that she had setup.
To add insult to injury she only got bills online and her online system stopped letting her log in last year (we have now found out that this was because she went over the limit then and thats when the charges started and the online system stopped letting her log in to check her account)
They are now calling her 4 times a day to try and collect money that is 100% for penalty charges that she does not have. On the 19th Nov she sent a SAR about the charges but they have still not got back to her.
What should she do? She does not want bad credit refs, but she believes that she does not owe the money and they will not listen to her explaining that the account is in dispute!
Subject access request response is required by law within 40 days, so the response to the request sent on 19NOV is due by 29DEC. Presumably your friend forwarded £10, otherwise Egg is not obliged to comply. A one-inch thick pile of paper will eventually reach her, much of it manually extracted by Eggployees, hence the long delay. Alternatively she could also send £5 to Egg requesting just a listing of her penalty charges with dates and amounts, this should take less than a week, but Egg will require photocopy of passport or drivers licence, and the original of an utility bill at the address.
Once the exact reclaimable items are to hand, she needs only send a letter in English to reclaim same. This drill has gone on for 2.8 years and Egg knows all letters by heart. They will send back a computer-generated template letter claiming £16 is lawful. She can then reply with a CAG letter refuting same (see V-E Day thread page 5 January 2008 success fo this template letter). Egg management do NOT have the heart to resist this, not if your friend knows the drill. Full refund of penalty charges plus 8% p.a. should be forthcoming from Egg fairly quickly.
The trouble with cyber card Egg is that they send out no statements ever, so if the cardholder does not check her statement online all kinds of errors could take place unchalleged. Your friend ought to DEMAND urgent restoration of logon privilege. Going overlimit should not cause suspension of logon privilege, more likely password violation three times etc.
Egg have over 2 million cards and are now themselves hard up big time, hence persecution 4 times a day. Your friend needs to WRITE to Egg and refuse to deal with telephone monkeys. Tell Egg managers that any more persecution and you will complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which will cost Egg £400 win lose or draw.
Remember the children's game of cowboys and indians? The cowboys chase the indians, but if the indians turn and stand firm, the cowboys will run. The law is on your friend's side.
Good luck.
PS. Once your friend's reclaim letter reaches Egg the dispute becomes evident as is the amount. Until then she lacks credibility. If the telephone monkeys sound truly on the verge of action as opposed to barking, i.e. applying Default Notice, it may be better to pay a small amount to calm their frantic urgency. She will get all charges back, 100% no question. But in the short term discretion may be the better part of valour. Damage to Experian record is no joke. This is a race as to who gets in first, her demonstrable reclaim or the telephone monkeys throwing a fit and acting precipitately.
EGG asking for unpaid Penalty Charges
card.
Reply With Quote
Re: EGG asking for unpaid Penalty Charges
