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.
I've read some of the other threads before posting, and my complaint is very small (just over £123.97) compared to the outrageous sums others have had to pay. But there are three points in my circumstances that may be of interest.
Last autumn I scanned my vanquis cc statement and saw a small charge for PPI. Picked up the phone straight away to inquire, because it simply is not the sort of thing I would buy. Must be a mistake, I thought.
The girl on the other end told me, No - you've been paying PPI for the past two years. What!
I checked my statements and found she was correct - not very clever of me, but my monthly use of the card is quite constant, so if it's in a particular range I don't go through the details. On top of that, I didn't carry a balance for a while after that, so no PPI was charged - in fact, the item didn't even appear on the statements again until a few months later, when I carried a balance again.
When I thought about it I recalled that in 2006 I'd found PPI on my statement and phoned then to have it taken off. So I told the girl about this, and she asked me for any phone numbers I might have used so they could check their records.
A month later I got a letter saying they hadn't been able to locate a record of the call, although they did assert that I had rung on a particular date in 2006 actually requesting the cover. The letter went on to say that in my latest call, when I rang in the autumn to complain, I had admitted that I'd requested the cover! Entirely the opposite of what I had said - a back-to-front misrepresentation.
So I rang again, got on to the original girl, referred her to the letter - and she agreed that the letter completely misrepresented what I had said when making the complaint. They'd look at it again, with more possible phone numbers I supplied in order to track down the call.
In the meantime, I located a vanquis letter dated after my original "alleged" call asking for PPI cover, which thanked me for my inquiry about PPI and offered me the option of taking up the cover.
I gave them the reference of this letter, and within a few days they wrote saying they'd give a full refund on to my card. They still hadn't located the record of the original call.
Three points:
1. PPI was placed on my card without my permission, and kept on when I'd asked for it to be taken off.
2. The fob-off letter twisted my words.
3. I'm not going to use the card again, so I want the refund in my hand.
Finally, is it worth going to the Ombudsman with this?
Vanquis
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