My partner took out a welcome finance personal loan about 2 years ago. He lost his job about 6 months into the repayments so had to stop paying; he had then been making smaller payments on a DMP (with a fee charging agency). About 2 weeks ago we cancelled the DMP with the intention of him either getting a DRO (if he couldn't find a job) or setting up a new DMP with CCCS. He's decided to set up another DMP as he's had a few job offers. He recieved this letter from WF this morning: Page 1 Page 2: Now, if anyone can please help me I would be so grateful. We don't even know what this extra £7000 is for, or if they are allowed to add it. And we certainly don't have any idea on how to handle the situation. We can't pay it, at the moment we're struggling to keep the roof over our heads so there is no way we can afford to hand any money over to them right now.

You can get OSC taken off. It is optional, put it in writing that you want it removed from your contracts and they must do this. You can only have DLC taken off on the condition that you have home contents insurance that covers hire purchase, BH will need to see copies of your contents insurance for it to be removed. If you have had your TV for more than half of the time your contract is due to end, you can request (again in writing) that they take the TV back and cancel the contract, however you will be entitled to no refund on payments already made. BUT the easiest way to sort this out would be to go into BH with a letter stating that because you have being paying OSC on your contracts, and you can no longer afford repayments, you need them to come pick the TV up as you want the contacts removed. Again, no refund for payments already handed over.

Glad it worked out well, could you let me know exactly what happened as my OH is having problems with WF regarding an unsecured loan that he took out. Lilywhite

Could you not post the box back to them along with a letter stating you expect a refund for your postage costs as they had ample time to collect it and never bothered?

If you have paid more than half of the original contract you can give them their goods back (they may try and tell you otherwise, but you can) however you won't receive any money back that you have already paid. Lilywhite

A while ago I had an account with Halifax, I was working at the time and so they offered me an overdraft. I accepted it as at the time I could afford to pay it off. The overdraft was for £300 and it stood at about £200 when I lost my job. Over the months it accumulated interest and as there was nothing going into the account fairly quickly it was over the £300 limit. At that point they started charging me higher rates of interest and £38.00 a month fees for being over my agreed overdraft limit. Every time they sent me a reminder out added another £25.00 to the balance. When I was about 6 months pregnant, me and my partner decided to try and sort out all of our debts (we have about £10,000 in total). We went to CAB and the first meeting was brilliant. We took all of our details of debts down and they came up with a repayment plan, it then took us a further 3 months to hear anything back from them. Being rather hormonal at the time I decided I couldn't be bothered waiting around for them and instead signed up with DFH Financial Solutions. I now pay them £100 a month (£35.00 of which is their fee), but I don't mind that so much as I am due to get access to a trust fund that was set up for me when my Grandma passed away and the amount will cover our debts to be paid off in full. It's just a case of keeping the debt collectors off our backs until then. Anyway, I signed up with DFH in December 2009 and they have been great so far. They managed to get all of our interest/charges stopped, except for with Halifax. A few months ago, Halifax' T&C changed and the charges went up to £5 per day for an unauthorized overdraft. I recieved a statement from them showing that my balance (which when I first ran into problems was £200 or so) is now closer to the £800 mark. Simply because of charges that they put on even though they were aware that I was in financial difficulty. I contacted DFH straight away and they managed to get Halifax to agree to stop those charges finally, so now any payments that I make to them are actually coming off the balance instead of just being sucked up in fees. But I was wondering, is there any way I can go about claiming back even some of those charges to try and reduce the amount of the debt I owe them. Thanks in advance Lilywhite

For starters, contact BH via letter (send it recorded delivery which is 74p I believe) and inform them that the insistent phone calls and visits are harassment and you will be viewing them as such. If they continue you will be going to the police. If you have paid more than half of your contract (which it sounds like you have), they MUST take that TV back if you ask them to. You won't be reimbursed for payments made, but you won't have to pay anymore either. OSC, which you said you had, however, should cover the cost of a repair, and if it cannot be repaired it should be replaced. Even if you did not have the OSC this would still be true as per the Consumer Credit Act 1974. DLC which you are also paying should cover the cost of the rest of your contract should anything happen to your TV which would be classed as accidental damage, such as your son accidentally cracking the screen.

Sorry it took me so long to get back on here, my internet was turned off due to a problem with Virgin Media (another dispute waiting to happen). I purchased a TV with Brighthouse a little over a year ago, I was forced to take out DLC as I didn't have adequate content insurance, but I had the Optional Service Cover removed (as it's a waste of money). Me and the partner were sat watching the TV in question one night and it blew up. I went into my local Brighthouse store the next day, to ask them to repair it. When they realised I didn't have the OSC, they said no, because it was obviously an electrical fault (even though nobody had seen my TV at this point, let alone taken it apart to see what the problem was). I was then informed that if I had thrown my TV down the stairs the DLC would have paid the remainder of my contract, but as that wasn't the case there was nothing they could do. And according to BH my manufacturers warranty was null and void as well. I sent letters of complaint to my local store and the head office to no avail, and finally got in touch with Trading Standards (who have apparently had a lot of complaints about Brighthouse). TS informed that that Brighthouse would most likely back down as soon as they realised I had been serious with my threats. They were right. I send a further letter to Brighthouse on the advice of TS stating that I had continued to pay my contracts, and would continue to do so, so that I was adhering to my side of the bargain, however I was 'Paying under protest' whilst I waited to hear more from TS. I send this again to my local store and head office by recorded next day delivery. Within 48 hours a member of staff from Brighthouse was on the phone informing me that as a 'goodwill gesture' they had a brand new TV sat there for me, and asking me if I would be in later that afternoon for it to be delivered. I was quite dissapointed that they backed down as I was looking forward to seeing what would happen between them and TS. However, lessons learnt, I am paying off my remaining contracts as soon as I can and will not set foot in another Brighthouse store as long as I live.

This is a very informative piece. (CAG BrightHouse Factsheet) I have been a Brighthouse Customer for 3 years now and up until today have had NO problems whatsoever. Although I have just found out when they do decide to be obnoxious, they really take the biscuit. And unfortunately for them, I have been forced to contact Trading Standards. I'm guessing they won't be wanting me as a customer once I've finished. Shall keep you informed of how it works out. Lilywhite