Thread: HELP M&S taking me to court in SCOTLAND

This morning's post included a citation from M&S for the full amount of their credit card. I had CCAd them on the 20th March and they replied on 29th April saying that I had signed up for the Chargecard (in 1984) and that any balance from that could be transferred over to the new credit card (ie as far as the credit card was concerned they didnt need anything - and wouldnt have anything). Interestingly they never produced the original Chargecard agreement. So they simply produced the the T&Cs for the credit card, a sample letter advising of "the new product";, sample of the "card carrrier"advising of activation procedures and statements over the last 6 years.

I replied on 11th May by making a Civil Procedure request for a signed copy of any agreement between us. Probably not unreasonably I havent heard back yet.

Anyway the postman today brought a citation for our local sheriff court seeking full payment. it says that M&S have no reason to believe the agreement is broken, or that there are any other actions between the parties and that the court has jurisdiction. More interestingly it goes on to say that on or about 1st December 1984 I entered into a credit card agreement with them and that they will produce this. Two things here -
1. first of all it wasnt for a credit agreement but for their Chargecard (and therefore quite different t&cs I would guess) and
2. secondly it wasnt included in the bundle of papers they sent me on 29th April.

The citation goes on to say that I have failed to maintain payments and they are looking for the full sum.

The papers included allow me to apply for time to pay or to defend this action. Its all headed "Form of citation where time to pay direction or time order may be applied for in the cause of" M&S against me.
Any suggestions about what I might do about this
Should add I live in Scotland (probably apparent from Sheriff Court ref)

I am no expert mate, but I too have a chargecard from M&S, I got it checked out and I was advised yesterday that it had a major breach and two infringements.

I am waiting for the report, but pending this I believe this will make it unenforceable.

The issue was around interest/APR for cash advances (apparently you can get £50 emergency cash advances with this card: was news to me).

You need to take advice mate, CCCS or CAB, chances are they are bluffing but you need to be brave to rely on that, and you need to be able to defend their action in court.

This link might help; maybe even pm the guy.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.c o.uk/forum/legal-issues/173201-why-you-shouldnt-use.html

Sorry I cannot help more, hopefully some one who knows more will help you.

This is Civil Procedure and doesnt apply in Scottish law. I have though (in another thread) been guided to a similar procedure in Scottish law and will be writing to them in those terms.
However, i was interested in your view that M&S cards have a major breach and two infringements . Its been suggested to me that by sending Chargecard holders a Mastercard they could be said to be in breach of section 51 of CCA 1974 which prohibits sending "credit tokens" without the request of the debtor. M&S launching their credit cards in 2003 would certainly seem to fall foul of that. On the other hand, we did use them so it could be said there was implied agreement. This, it seems to me, could be the way they are approaching things in my case, as they say in the citation that they will produce the Chargecard agreement.
So it probably moves to whether they can simply transfer my agreement to the Chargecard T&Cs to another Mastercard agreement without any further signature - in other words there is a Chargecard agreement, which they claim to have transferred to Mastercard. Can they do this?
I dont know if either of these were what you referring to, but, particularly if they are NOT, I would be very keen to learn.
Wouldnt like to rely on it being a bluff as they will have incurred additional costs taking it this far.
Thanks for your help and advice.

Seriouslyfedup I have sent you a pm read it urgently, please.

nope - not heard a thing about this one since i was pmd (cant remember now what about and deleted the pm since to make necessary space). Following this, i put in a defence to the court claim M&S had issued on me - a couple of weeks later they said they wanted to have the case dismissed; I said no, that I wanted a motion of absolvitor (Scottish procedure saying the defender has won so they cant bring it back) and my credit record wiped clean (at least in so far as it was M&S who had besmirched it. They agreed - in fact I still think I should have asked for a year's free shopping - I might have got that as well .
You can get the whole thing here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-papers-m.html