Bright house of horrors

[N.P]

Bright House Arrears Collection Tricks

I don't know if anyone else has experienced how Bright House, pester you when your are in arrears with them.

 

Having been a customer for 2 years now, I have been a little erratic, with my payments, but have always made my payments up, a long with their "Administration Charge".

 

Currently, I am 3 weeks in arrears, but have told them I can bring all the acccounts upto date, next week, when my husband gets paid.

 

So what does Bright House do, they starting phoning 3 - 4 times a day, they call out to the property, everyday, saying they want the goods back.

 

As far as I am aware, the tv and hifi are well into 3 quarters of the agreement, so they will have to get a court order to get them back. The only thing they can take back is the computer, which they let me buy a couple of months ago, knowing my payment history.

 

Staff at the store, are also phoning the people I had down as references, saying that they are no gurantors for my agreements. There was no mention of this, when I first applied to the store.

 

They are harrassing ourselves and other people for the payment, despite knowing my finacial position, and that they always get there money, when my husband gets paid.

 

I have stopped answering the phone to them, at the local store, and have e-mailed a complaint to head office. They have read the e-mail, but as yet no response.

 

As for the "optional service cover and DLC", I was not given the opportunity to say i did not want it or need it as i have home contents insurance, it was just added on tot he agreement as a matter of course.

 

I have just recently found out that I have paid £1700, up to now for a telly that was only £699, and i still have another £400 outstanding. Do the staff get paid on a commission basis?

 

Has anyone else had similar problems, or any advice that can help me?

 

Northeastlass

 

 

 

 

Hi Northeastlass,

 

I know what you mean about hits extortionate, ripp-off company. My girlfriend stupidly got a 2 piece suite from these knob jockeys, she is paying over £3,000 for it. I didn`t know about it untill she had got the thing.

 

If their are charges on the account, you cold start a claim with them. Also for the extra covers, I don`t beleive you HAVE to have them, if you don`t want them. I went in an argued with some muppet in the shop and eventually got one cancelled, but they never removed the other one, saying I MUST have it as we don`t have any house insurance. I would have thought it would be up to us wether we wanted insurance or not.

 

I also read somewhere that the morons at Brighthouse buy goods VERY cheap from the manufacture without any insurance of their own. So that is why they say you MUST take out their own extortionate insurance.

 

I keep meaning to scan up our agreement for someone to check out, as I beleive there may be a couple of things not right with it, but I haven`t got around to it yet.

 

As for the Harrassment, if you could send them the Harrassment letter floating around on here, there are a few versions, and if they ignore that, you could put a Court claim in. I think you would have good grounds for success there, based on what you have said.

 

Anyway, you should really start your own thread on this, if your going to take things further. If you do then paste your link on here so I can check it out. Perhaps we could all attack these empty heads together.

 

Regards

 

 

N.P

[themightygrim]

I went in to my local store which is the store located in Dewsbury West Yorkshire and purchased a Playstation 3 bundle pack and a Phillips 42 inch ambilight television on the 15th of July 08,Once purchased I asked when these items would be being delivered and was told that I could pick up my Playstation 3 bundle on the following Friday but could not give me a delivery date for the TV as it was new and would be coming from somewhere else and I would have to wait until I received a phone call to confirm the delivery of my new television. On the Friday I rang on numerous occasions to find out if my Playstation 3 bundle had been delivered to the store, I just kept getting the same answer each time that it had not come in yet but promised it would be in store before the end of the day and could go down and wait for it being delivered. I did this and got told that it would not be in the store till the following Monday, the staff apologised and I was a little disheartened but thought these things do happen and went on my way.

On Monday the 21st July my television arrived at my house and I thought it strange that for one it did not come boxed and second it did not come with a remote control or a manual but was told by the delivery driver that it must have been left at the local store so I returned once more to the store at Dewsbury and to my surprise there was no remote or manual for this so called new television I had purchased and they gave me a remote control that wasn't even for my television and could not produce a manual for the television either, then I noticed something really odd that the display model of the television I had bought had gone from the store.It turned out that it was a display model that they had sold me instead of the new television i signed for in my contract and after weeks of complaints i finally got my new television on sat 23rd August but i am still seeking legal advice after this bank holiday week end to get back all the money i have paid them to date for the second hand Tv and try to claim some kind of compo from them.I will get back on here and tell more as things go on.

[mickus]

:evil:About 18 months ago i bought a Samsung 32 inch lcd tv, I took out cover which i thought was a to make sure that if anything went wrong that it would cover me.

Then a mark apeared on the screen, so i phoned Bright House and they sent someone out to have a look and they took the tv away. They left me a Philips tv to watch in the mean time, with the wrong remote so i could not retune so only had 7 channels. This went on for 6 weeks being told that they had to send it to two places... so i kept paying for it.

And 2 weeks later it came back with the mark gone so i thought ok took its time but then two days later mark came back on the screen. I phoned them up again and the bloke came again to look at it and said to me its no good we will have to get you a replacement. I thought troubles over till he told me that they would replace it with a tv of same age and condition ......wtf........ extra cover for what? The manager says like for like so after really getting ****ed off with them i had no choice but to accept this so i waited to hear from them to tell me when i would get this tv. Months past no word, still paying for the tv. Then i went into the shop and asked manager and he said i forgot about it will get on to it straight away. So he phoned me up saying cant get you a Samsung but we have a Philps tv i said no way i payed for a Samsung and that is what i want! So he said i will have to ring up area manager to get a new tv,so he rings up and says it is ok to give him a new tv.

So i thinks thank god this is sorted he said we will have it for you next week Waited still no tv, and then he phones me and says we have found you a replacement talk about messing me about so he says to me phone me monday and i will give you a date for when it will come, as he is going away on hoilday. So i phoned him Monday and he says still dont know but i will defo have it with you this week.

He is now on hoilday and no tv,so i rang up today and spoke too someone else and they looked into my details and said there is nothing on your file about getting a new tv. Nothing has been update since you had the mark fixed.

That is it i am not paying anymore! I have phoned up head office and waiting to speak to the bloke at the top and im going to take legal action against them this has been going on since March its now September so i have been treat like crap and is very ****ed off...................... .:evil::evil::mad :

 

 

anyone else had the same problem with brighthouse blackburn store

Edited September 3, 2008 by mickus

[angry annie]

hello im new to this site but i have been having a bad time with brighthouse its making me ill and dont know how to start to tell you

[julie1961]

hello im new to this site but i have been having a bad time with brighthouse its making me ill and dont know how to start to tell you

 

Hi Annie, welcome to the site, just take your time & just say it the best way you can, we all started somewhere & we like to help each other if we can.

[angry annie]

hi thanks for that well here goes. I went to my local brighthouse shop that had just opened in kettering if im allowed to name the place i went in for a hoover but they didnt have any so i opted for a music system so far so good when it arrived it sounded **** the bass speaker was horrible so i went back in and changed it for another which was the same make but the same problem again.I Decided to put up with it. When i had the moneyi decided to get a corner suite brand new as i could afford to do so. They sent it out but the sofa just did not feel right.I went in to complain and they sent someone out to look at it surprise surprise the corner piece had collapsed and could not connect together l didnt the delivery men notice when they put it together anyway went in and chose a two and three seater which was a refurb and much cheaper or so i was led to believe when i asked what was wrong with it. I was told nothing was wrong with it just been picked up as previous owner changed their mind i had it for two weeks and the arms was loose and leather didnt match up between the two yet again someone out sorted it out then decided to get a baird telivision and stand when i went in to get it was told it had freeview and yes could get freeview through my cable provider as i havent got a roof aeriel got telly and stand surprise surprise the telly was the wrong one any way three tvs later should have stuck to the first one then decided to get a fridge and a freezer was told brand new when they delivered had the freezer but no fridge cant remember how long i had to wait had freezer for about a month then the digital display was playing up went in someone came out said the modular was broken had to be took away but would send me a like for like replacement my freezer had five drawers the replacement had two nearly xmas with four kids their having a laugh but nothing they could do, in september last year when all this was going on my children lost their father and we had to be away from home for the funeral becau se i didnt appear in the shop on the day of the funeral i was constantly phoned i tried to explain to them that i was not in a position to get there and would go in when i could when i went in they told me they wanted x amount of money and i them all i had was the money that was outstanding they then decided to tell me i owed this that and all the other and untill that was sorted they wouldnt fix my freezer i told them in no uncertain terms i could not afford the amount they wanted i was crying i had my children with me who had just buried their dad then they said they would do a re write more fool me i signed and all they said it would be added to the end i then got freezer back which was brand new when i got it when it came back the only place it was fit for was the local skip it had dents holes door not shutting and i went in shop and done my nut demanded a new one as that was not what i got in the first place and i was not going to pay for it untill i got what i had they decided they could find me one at another shop and deliver it asap while all this was going on i had caught up with my account and it was my dau ghters 18th coming up so decided to get here a phone from them this was in october it came to two hundred and something over 33 weeks with every thing else my total amount each week is 40 pound which i can afford i to pay for the phone i sent the music system back so i was still within my budget anyway since april this year due to my ill health in and out of hospital etc they have decided to do three more rewrites one of which i did not know anything about i have been on on track with them till 7 weeks ago i went in and said i can give you 40 pound and come in on the monday to pay a bit more they would not take part payment they called me in office

[angry annie]

sorry its so long but will continue if someone can help me thanks

[julie1961]

Wow Annie you have had it rough with them haven't you. I don't really know what to suggest but I am sure someone will be able to advise you.

Is there anything you have that you could return to bring your payments down, they will save it for you as you know but to be honest I wouldn't have kept getting more stuff off of them if everything you were getting was faulty.

Good luck with it Annie, I am so glad I don't have to worry about BH anymore & even though my hubby has just been made redundant I certainly won't be going back to them, ever.

[E crellin]

Hello.

We have had no choice but to work with brighthouse as we werent able to get credit when my husband returned to the UK. We had to get a cooker, washer etc through them.

While for the most part is has been bearable, we have had issues of fraud with "new items" that werent. We have had issues with being told a set of items agreement was suppose to be up this past august and now suddenly it is janurary for them to finish(over three years for a cooker and fridge).

We got an xbox360 from them for the kids, we were told it was new. We have had it just a few weeks over a year, paid off, last night the "red lights of death" happened to it. We thought no problem we will call microsoft as it should still be under warrently. We called, gave the serial number to find out it was registered to a "steve". it is not covered and we wasted 400£ on the xbox for nothing as we cant afford the repair cost.

I contacted bright house to ask why we were told it was a "new xbox360" when it wasnt and they say they can not send us a copy of the information on that item because it is paid off.

And yes while you are in arrears your insurance coverage doesnt apply...you still pay for it. they keep tacking it on when you are in arears but you cant use it. Not only that, but yes we were told point blank, we couldnt get an agreement on any appliance unless we purchased the insurance with it. That was on top of the "warrently coverage".

that doesnt sound like it is optional to me.

[steven4064]

Hi E

 

Welcome to CAG. UNfortuately, your experience with BH is fairly typical

[mumoftwo xxx]

Hi all,

 

As I have only got my electric cooker fourish weeks ago i havent had many problems (yet). The problem i had was delivery, they didnt deliver on the day the said they would ( although i and my family have had problems with other companies like this before), also there were no instructions left with it so i have no idea how to turn my grill on??? i also had to chase the delivery guy down the street in his van because they did not tell me how to turn the fan oven on!

 

When we went into our local b/h store we asked about the price and the 'optional cover' and were told just that...it was an OPTIONAL extra.

Luckily when we went into sign for the cooker my partner read through the agreement there and then. The advisor with us kept pushing him to sign saying ' oh you can take a copy of the contract with you and read it at home', we did not think anything of her pushyness until my partner questioned why the contract said £8+ instead of £4.22 per week:confused:. We were told that it was for the cover, as we dont have any house insurance we had to take out the other insurance and although they pushed the cover they did not force us, but we did have to wait for a new contract to be made. I think it is so terrible and bordering illegal that they draw up a contract doubling the price for the itam without giving u the option first, why is it called OPTIONAL COVER i ask ?? Is it not illegal for them to put an optional extra on your contract without your consent and not informing you before you sign...it doesnt sound right to me!

[pjstone32]

hi there iam with bright house and have dissapointed with them to we got a washer and dryer and was told delivery was the next seven days that was nt the case after three weeks we received the dryer and no washing machine i was phoned by bright house and was told the date so me thinking our new items was coming we sold our old ones when delivery finally came there was no wash machine to top all that off the dryer is second hand and does not dry the clothes properly after speaking to the store manager he said that he would send some one to repair dryer and that they had to re order a washer my payments are upto date i have dryer that doesnt the way it should and two weeks with no washer spent more money travelling to the wash house its not fair to people to be treated like this every time i phoned i was fobbed off and was told some one would ring me back but that phone call never came

[Blondmusic]

I have been a BrightHouse customer since April 2007. I originally got a new sofa (unable to sit on the old 1) and a refurbished TV.

 

Within weeks the sofa was making an awful creaking noise whenever i sat on it. Brighthouse sent an engineer out who had to fix it. The supports were not fixed to the frame of the sofa!! The TV has never had any problems at all. I got a Tumble Dryer a few months later and i have never had any problems with that either. I also got a Acer laptop for my sister (My mum makes the payments).

 

As i had received good service from Brighthouse in Feb 2008 i signed an

agreement for a new washing machine (mine was 7 years old, on it's last spin & i am unable to wash items by hand due to skin problems) so i got a Quality Refurbished one from Brighthouse. Within 2 months it would get so far through spinning then 'reset itself'. An engineer came out and said it was the way i was loading the machine. I followed his instructions but the machine still did it on the same day. They were supposed to send another engineer out 2 days later but they phoned me on the day, told me he was ill and asked if i could wait another 2 weeks. I said you must be joking so they arranged to pick my machine up and leave me a loaner which they did. I got my machine back the following week and it was fine for another month then the same problem came back. Engineer came out again and said it needed a new motor as it sounded like the motor was struggling. It took 3 weeks for them to order and fit the new motor. I tested the machine after they fitted the new and i still had the same problem. I realised that it only did it on the 1600 spin speed. They arranged to send out an engineer and as i knew he did not believe that the machine had a problem i set my camera phone up to record what the washing machine was doing. He replaced the mainboard and i showed him the video i had recorded onto my phone. I still have problems with the door of the washer as i have to press it in to make it start a wash cycle and have to push the door in again to release the door. Apparantly it's just something those washers do.

 

 

The Laptop has been in for repair twice. 1st time the keys came off and 1 of the USB ports would not work. 2nd time the sound stopped working and it took them 5 weeks to repair and return it to me.

 

In October 2008 i signed an agreement for an Acer 19" Widescreen Flat Monitor for my pc. I had to wait for them to request it from another store (non in stock) which took nearly 2 weeks after they 'forgot to put it on the van'. I had the monitor only 2 weeks and when i switched it on it came up with a grey screen so i phoned Brighthouse and they immediately blamed my pc but i told them i had my old monitor working fine. They arranged a Service Call but instead of sending an engineer out they just picked it up and took it away. So now i am paying for a monitor i cannot use and am stuck using the old 1. I am just glad i did not get rid of my old 1 now.

[clemma]

In January 2007 and purchased a television from BH. On the 18th October 2008, there was a popping noise, and the tv stopped working. As it was a Saturday night, I had to wait until the Monday to speak to BH. When I did, they shrugged it off by saying i did not have OSC on the product, therefore it was not their problem. I came on to here for advice, sent off a letter that Trading Standards recommended and then waited. After three weeks I had not had a satisfactory response, so I emailed Anne Healey (customer services) to explain that I was not happy etc. etc. The next day someone phoned from my local BH store to say that an engineer would be coming the following Monday. He never arrived so were given Wednesday (today). Well, the engineer came and he knew what was wrong straight away. Because i have a back projection tv, the lamp tends to only have a short life. I already knew this, but didn't let on. When the engineer opened up the tv, the lamp was actually shattered. He removed it and replaced it with a brand new bulb......success - the tv now works. I think we were lucky on this one though. We never received a remote, even after asking. Because of this we were not able to put the tv onto standby before turning off (apparently the lamp has to cool down first). Therefore, it was BH's fault.......Lucky - yes.....very.

 

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those that gave advice. Because of CAG I have also removed OSC and DLC off all agreements saving me money every week!!

[woodywhite]

Hi I Got Offered A Job With Brighthouse,it Was Debt Collecting Or Returning Of Goods,on Asking Various Questions I Asked The Manager What Was Involved ,he Said Getting Cash Or Returning The Goods What Customers Have Purchased On Finance,i Asked The Question Do You Need A Court Order To Retake The Goods,he Replied We Dont Go To Court,and If The Customer Refuses To Give Them Back They Write The Goods Off Because They Never Go To Court For A Return Of Goods Order,if They Are Hounding You Try It Out,dont Let Them In They Have No Powers To Gain Entry,not Bailiffs ,they Are Only Debt Collectors,you Have Nothing To Lose And A Lot To Gain.bye The Way I Did Not Take The Job Up They Are Very Un-proffessional

[beck_2008]

hi im new to this site today so not sure if im doing it right. i am having problems with brighthouse right now due to there lack of sympathy and general understanding of everyday occurances. well me and my ex split up and it was decided that instead of paying maintanence he would pay my 40 pound a week brighthouse agreement, as i moved away from the area (which i did not tell brighthouse till friday, as my ex was paying) i then get 7 missed calls on my mobile from another mobile number i call back and its the store manager who very rudily informs me that my ex hadn't paid for 10 weeks and i owed 230 pound that has to be paid asap or they will repocess the goods even tho i have paid well over three quarters of the agreements. she also informed (threatened) me that these debt collectors are not people to be messed with especially when im pregnant and have 2 young children. i am now to scared to leave the house or answer the door and this is making me physically ill! please can someone advice me on what i should do as i wont let them take things when ive nearly finished paying them off i just cant afford to pay the arrears or weekly payments as i had to leave my job and am now only on basic benefits with no help from the childrens father should. please please help if anyone can thank you

[clemma]

Hi, i have started a new thread with your problem, and have included a response. You are more likely to get help this way. I have put it under new thread named

"beck_2008-help-being-threatened"

 

Thread here.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/brighthouse/169899-beck_2008-help-being-threatened.html

Edited November 23, 2008 by MARTIN3030

[MARTIN3030]

Thank you Clemma.I am sure one of our BH posters will respond with some help.

[graeme_was_here]

While i never actually had dealt with brighthouse as a customer i did work part time as a salesperson for 2 months where i did witness a unethical company which would prey on the weak and poor.

 

I was asked to leave the company after 2 months due to the reason that i was a poor sales rep and never got many sales. Before you guys think i was just being crap the main reason i never had many sales was purely because i tried me best to filter out people who would become victim or stuggle in a ncie way as possible.

 

I did this by asking would be be customers that if they were on benefits i wouldn't reccomend buying here unless you needed something urgent like a fridge. I dont mean to be nasty i just know what the company is like with people who struggle and i wanted to keep in line with me ethics.

 

The second reason i was apprantly fired was because i often forgot to add the extra insurance which we were suggested (forced to force on people) i knew that the insurance sucked so i just didnt bother adding it unless people wanted it and even then i suggested that home insurance would be better if you have it or extended warranty from the product manfacturer.

 

After i was fired i was quite glad to be away from such a unethical company i only worked as long as i did cause i needed the money meself but after jumping into a job at mcdonalds which some people see as a step down i'm much happier lol.

 

So my advice is this keep away from brighthouse and if you work there find something else cause to enjoy working there you have to be either uncaring or just stupid as i look back i would often see myself as the odd one out or as my manger called me "the underachiver".

 

Brighthouse is evil they prey and the weak and poor and we need to stop them by power of the people and our wallets.

[clemma]

 

Brighthouse is evil they prey and the weak and poor and we need to stop them by power of the people and our wallets.

 

Well said....

[plumberjon]

Well lets face is BH is just a pack of lies, and yes when I worked for them, I had to lie too!

 

I can relate to Graeme's comments, funnily enough not only when dealing with new customers, but also in interviewing new sales staff.

 

I turned down many good prospective employees because I thought they would have been too good for BH and the experience there would have thwarted their career's. It could have put them off retailling for life, and I didn't want to be responsible for that.

 

The only problem is I was was just one person with a conscience making a small difference. Which is why forums like these are so important, because all of our combined efforts can really make a HUGE difference!

 

PJ

[mandimedina]

I went into my local Brighthouse store to have a look round and to ask exactly how i could go about purchasing a fridge freezer i had seen in the window ....I asked them how they could provide credit without the standard credit checks that other companies use ....the answer was " It was based on trust"...I told them i had my own household insurance , but i was told that many policies dont cover HP goods....Where they got this information from im not entirely sure!

 

When I asked what would happen if i got into financial difficulty and missed my payments...the reply to this was......." We have our own instore baliff " , then the sales person went on to say that he was 7ft tall and didnt speak to women "..What that was supposed to mean i havent a clue ...I walked out in total disbelief....

[clemma]

WTF - if they talk like that to a potential customer then it just shows exactly how BH feel about their exsiting customers. Brighthouse never fail to surprise me!

[plumberjon]

Usually we put a funny caption on a picture!

 

But this is a funny caption looking for a picture!!!

 

Outstanding

 

PJ

[N.P]

You should have said your partner is 8ft tall and snaps bailifs in half and buries them inside a fridge, except empty headed ones from S*i*house who get snapped in 4