Thread: CDiscount's 3discount scheme

Hi all,

This is my first post here, although I should probably go and introduce myself in the introduction forums at some point as there seems to be a good sense of community around here!

I'm looking for some advice concerning the online store cdiscount.co.uk. I bought an LCD monitor and LCD TV from them about a month ago using their 3discount scheme. This basically allows you to pay for items in three installments using a card. There's no credit check for this whatsoever, as long as you have the money for the first installment at the time of purchase, you will be accepted and the item will be delivered within a day or two. If you order before a certain date of the month, you then have to pay on the 1st of the following month and again on the 1st of the month after that. If you order after a certain date in the month, you have to pay on the 15th of each of the two following months.

I had the money for the first installments and ordered, under the impression at that time that I would have some money coming my way in time for the second payments on May 15th and would be able to save up enough for the 3rd payments on June 15th. This is not the way it turned out.

However, I ordered these just before I moved home. I had everything delivered to my previous address and then took it with me, with all good intentions. When it transpired that I wasn't going to have the money for the second payments quickly enough, I panicked. I'm on Income Support and LHA and what I don't need is to have my rent payment go into my account and then suddenly lose half of it to CDiscount, as my rent obviously is the highest priority. Anyway, the 15th passed last Friday and there was no e-mail, no phone call, no nothing. Today they tried and unfortunately successfully locked the second £45 payment for the monitor, which I can actually just about handle. Luckily, they didn't get the second TV payment in time as that would have screwed me for rent. I then got an automated call today from my bank asking me to answer some questions concerning possible fraud on my account. It listed a number of transactions and asked me to confirm my knowledge of them. There were two in the last week from an 'Irish Department Store' (which I know is CDiscount because of the amounts and facts that their phone staff are all clearly Irish)- however it said one of those had been approved and one hadn't. I can't see how one was approved as that amount hasn't been in my account this week and there's no other card payments currently waiting to come off my account.

Anyway, under the veil of 141, I decided to phone them today and ask what would happen theoretically in my current situation, as there is absolutely no explanation that I can find on their site as to what happens should you fail to make any 3discount payments on time. The guy explained to me that if that happened, the only course of action is that they take the product back, refund you 20% of what you pay and keep the other 30% on account of the item going back to them second hand. I'm not happy about that as I fully intend to pay the full balance remaining, I just can't do it immediately.

There's still nothing in my account details on the site to say there's any problem, the orders don't even show anything about your remaining payments, just the total cost of the item and that you 'made your first payment by debit card'. Obviously they are trying to take payments from my bank but that's really not helpful to me right now as I'm on tenterhooks about removing any money that enters my account asap at the moment.

Is what they're saying about taking the product back and refunding me 20% legally sound and enforceable? Unfortunately, I also bought a microwave from them a couple of days before I moved but there was no next day option on that so I had it delivered to my new home. They have the billing address for that down as my old place but obviously if they look into it, they may work out where I live now. (That's another odd thing, I find it weird that they were able to take money from my account today when the billing address they have is incorrect.) The microwave broke the first time I used it and I have spoken to them today to arrange a replacement. They said they don't replace usually and instead just refund. I said I still need a microwave and the bloke said that after they pick up the broken one on Tuesday, they'll sort it out for me to get a replacement. I'm now thinking I maybe should have just left that for the time being though...

Anyway, I could afford to give them £50 a fortnight at the moment and I'm waiting for £260 to come through from quidco, which could take another month to a month and a half. I can resolve things within 2-3 months and that's what I intend to do. I have no intention of giving the TV back and losing money, especially when I still intend to pay in full, albeit late. The total amount I owe is approximately 2 x £166.xx payments for the TV and now one more £45 approx for the monitor.

Sorry for the length and complexity of this post, but if anyone could give me some advice here, I'd be ever so grateful. I appreciate that regardless of my being under the impression I had money incoming which didn't come through, that it is still my responsibility/fault- so I don't need telling that!!

Anyone?

I don't know the specific company you talk about but did you get the goods on HP or under some sort of credit agreement? I cant see anything on the site that implies an HP or credit agreement so im guessing it's just a straight forward purchase.

I don't believe they would try and take the goods back. They might ask you to send them back but thats all they can do. I can't see anything in the terms for taking goods back and even if there were they would need a court order.

I personally would try and pay it off with what ever you can comfortably afford.

I couldn't find a business or registered address on the wesite (which is required).

If you are having problems with them trying to take money off your debit card tell the bank youve lost it and they will send a new one with different details so you don't have to worry about the rent going missing.

Originally Posted by Nagasis

I don't know the specific company you talk about but did you get the goods on HP or under some sort of credit agreement? I cant see anything on the site that implies an HP or credit agreement so im guessing it's just a straight forward purchase.

I don't believe they would try and take the goods back. They might ask you to send them back but thats all they can do. I can't see anything in the terms for taking goods back and even if there were they would need a court order.

I personally would try and pay it off with what ever you can comfortably afford.

I couldn't find a business or registered address on the wesite (which is required).

If you are having problems with them trying to take money off your debit card tell the bank youve lost it and they will send a new one with different details so you don't have to worry about the rent going missing.

Thanks for the reply, it's much appreciated. Basically, there's no HP or actual credit agreement that I'm aware of. You just place an item over their set threshold (was £75, now £100) and you have the option at checkout to pay outright or to pay via 3discount. If you choose 3discount, you simply pay the first installment and there is absolutely no credit check, no nothing. They just take you on your word that you will make the other installments when you're supposed to and deliver the item the next day. To be honest, it's a bit of a [problem]mer's paradise really.

I got this email from them on the 11th:

"Dear customer,

RE: 3Discount™ payment failed or declined by your bank or card issuer

Despite previous attempts to contact you we are still yet to receive a response.

Please contact our payments team immediately on 01707 290629. Our payments department is open between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

Alternatively if you are aware of the amount outstanding you may pay funds into the following bank account, ensuring your order number is quoted:

Cdiscount Retail Ltd
Bank of Ireland
Account Number: 93741851
Sort Code: 90-23-38

Thank you for choosing to shop with Cdiscount.


Kind regards [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Cdiscount Credit Control

A: 3A Falcon Gate, Falcon Way, Shire Park, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1TW
T: +44 (0) 1707 290 629
E: creditcontrol@cdiscount.c o.uk
W: Cdiscount UK


This is an automated email - Please do not reply to this email address"


This is their first attempt by email, presumably their previous attempts were by post to my old address as I've had no phone calls either. To be honest, they must be a bit of a shambles as I've called them on the phone previously to try and sort out my microwave with them. I bought it outright and it died the first time I used it, so I returned it about three weeks ago now and was promised a refund. This has never materialised in my account, so whatever the case, that £55 can come off whatever I owe them now. I imagine this is a bit of an odd case as I don't think I've ever heard any company doing something like this without an actual credit agreement.

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I just thought I'd update this to see if anyone might have anything to say about it.

Basically, I've been ignoring this for a while as they contacted me about 3 months ago to ask if I could pay, and I said not at that exact moment in time. I asked if I could propose some kind of repayment scheme with them for the TV and that I could pay the final £45 for my monitor in about a week's time. They said they would call me back in a week's time to take the £45 payment and to arrange a repayment plan. They never called and I had quite honestly forgotten about it until last night.

When my bank cleared last night, CDiscount had somehow managed to take ALL the money I owed them (£326 for my TV and £45 for my monitor) all in one go, over two transactions. This, despite the fact that there was a 0 balance in the account. As such, this has now sent me almost £370 overdrawn and means my account is now being closed down as it was on a final warning after a couple of instances where I'd been a few pence overdrawn (unauthorised, there is no overdraft facility on a cashminder account). I'm just lucky I had two cashminder accounts otherwise I'd presently be without one. I spoke to their money management team this morning who said they will be contacting me in due course to arrange repayment and then that account will be closed. They said that CDiscount may have gotten authorisation at the time I originally ordered and can claim it as much as six months later. This seems like some underhanded practice- I had absolutely zero warning of this and while I admit to owing the money, this is a bit of a poor way of going about it. They were the ones who didn't bother to call me back last time we spoke.

May sound harsh but that scheme sounds perfectly legitimate and definitely not underhand. It does seem that your tag name is fairly appropriate!!
Ignoring problems rarely means they go away.

I was never implying that the scheme itself was underhand or illegitimate, merely that the way they conducted themselves left a little to be desired (and obviously the same can be said for myself). I've engaged with the CCCS now so I'm on a dmp and I'm facing up to all my debts.

Thanks for the input though

well its not some dodgy deal at all. i work in card payment and authorisation systems. look like 3discount rarely used card authorisation for later dates when you first bought the item. once a company got the authorisation they can capture and settle the amount within a specific period. This is normally used for hotel bookings - they get authorisation on card and capture the amount later when you actually stayed in the hotel and checkout or they charge minimum if you havent turned out at the hotel at all.

i guess due to the failed collections, cdiscount have stopped doing 3discount payments now.