Various catalogues

[berrylover]

yup, sit back, they might send you another load of letters/statements about this, but they cannot enforce the debt without the CCA. They will probably assign the debt to NDR which is their in-house debt collector, but you just need to say that the account is in dispute with Littlewoods. Keep fighting them, I am!

[emmaf01]

I've just received one of Wescot's special red letters regarding a catalogue. This account has been through at least a couple of different DCAs already.

 

So, what are Wescot like? As bad as the rest.

 

I know the only thing I ever signed was an application form at a shopping precinct, not a CCA as far as I know.

 

So I thought a CCA request would be the way to go?

[42man]

Yup CCA request in the first instance Emma...

[Pinky69]

If you have CCAd the other DCAs and they have not produced an agreement then you don't have to CCA Wescott - there is no agreement and that is it and it is just a question of informing them. If not, then CCA them. Their response varies. They can be tenacious, especially harrassment by phone, but a friend of mine got asked for a debt that wasn't hers and they never contacted her again after she told them. I have had an apology from them for pursuing a debt that had no agreement.

[emmaf01]

No, this is a new one- the other DCAs- Fredricksons, Brian Carter etc- were during my "burying my head in the sand" phase, unfortunately.

 

As far as I know, they haven't got my phone number...

 

CCA it is- I've also got a JD Williams to do as well.

 

Does this never end? It's not as though we are heavily in debt, just smallish amounts to a lot of people!

[Pinky69]

Yes. it does end but usually after it has been passed to a few DCAs - eventually it doesn't get passed on anymore and just disappears.

[emmaf01]

Today I got a statement from NDR- Admin charges added on 18th and 30th August- they don't say what for!!!!

 

They didn't ring me, apart from the "we have no agreement" letter, they haven't written to me. So what the hell have they done that is worth £24!!!

 

I'm not paying it, but they shouldn't be charging it.- Someone will be paying this and for what?

[zazen.warrior]

I heard from NDR today, regarding an allged account with Littlewoods.

 

I have FIVE letters from Littlewoods confirming there is no CCA available for this account and they will therefore not be pursuing it.

 

Three of those letters arrived last week in the same post as if some panicking unfortunate was dealing with a backlog of complaints.

 

Littlewoods don't know their a**e from their apex!

 

Bogof letter sent to NDR, no doubt some other slimey set up will be contacting me next to no avail.

[babble]

Littlewoods keep trying to pursue me but will not get anything, they have sent me another blank agreement saying they can't find my original one!

 

Just writing them a letter now to tell them for the final time to go away.

 

As an aside if you do a check on companies house webcheck service NDR comes up as a dormant company and has therefore not submitted tax returns etc. If you are receiving letters from NDR then they are not dormant and as such are breaking the law. In my current round of action I am contacting littlewoods to tell them that unless they comply with my statutory request and produce a signed agreement then they better send me a letter confirming that the account is closed and the balance written down to zero otherwise world war three will erupt on them. As well as reporting them to trading standards and the oft I will also report them to the ico and claim compensation for them sharing and processing my data illegally. I will also report NDR to companies house and HMRC for fraudulent status claim. I'm sure littlewoods won't like HMRC coming to visit them.

 

Anyway ignore all the charges they add because if they don't have an agreement it means nothing.

[surprise]

According to my Trading Standards office NDR are not dormant. I had a lot of trouble from March 07 with them. Very, very long story, they said they would not pursue the debt on 14th May 07, however, every month they were adding £12.00 charges. On 7th July received a letter enclosing a signed agreement which had been posted 5th July but the letter was dated 15th May, the day after they had written and said they were not going to pursue the debt. I know for a fact that the signature on the alledged agreement had been scanned in from one of my letters sent to them in March. It was at this stage I went to see Trading Standards. This was a waste of time. On the advice I received on here I wrote to the Chairman and Chief Executive and was told to advise them of Possible Fraudulent Activity and that as they had said that they would not pursue the debt this still stood unless they took it to Court. During this time NDR issued a default notice, again postmark and dates were erroneous.

 

What I would say to everyone dealing with Littlewoods and NDR, keep your envelopes, check the dates of the correspondence received and dated, don't let them have your signature at any cost.

[emmaf01]

I've received a response from "Debt Managers" regarding the La Redoute account- here's a copy of the agreement you would have signed- er no- and apparently I "acted in a way which indicates that an agreement was signed" as I "conducted the account for some time by placing orders, receiving goods, returning goods within the approval period and making payments."

 

But my favourite bit is:

 

"I must, however, correct your statement that we are under an obligation to provide a facsimile copy of a signed agreement. The regulation only requires us to provide a copy of the agreement and it is not necessary to provide a signature box. I refer you to Regulation 3- Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notices and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983 (S.I. No. 1557).

 

I look forward to receiving an offer of payment on the balance outstanding.

 

Anyone got an opinion??

[KER]

the reply is something like "well if you take me to court you will have to provide the original with signature, which you are threatening to do, so why can you not provide this now?"

[mr.ton]

All have threatened court action- as yet no court action though,

 

Oh isnt that a suprise

[emmaf01]

Well this could get complicated in a moment!

 

Redcats finance are the company behind La Redoute and Vertbaudet. So, can I SAR Redcats with one SAR for all three accounts (two La Redoute and one Vertbaudet) to get a list of charges?

 

Cause I am going to claim them all back- that should make their £30 debt pale into insignificance!

[emmaf01]

Due to other more argumentative DCAs, I haven't got around to CCAing this one. Today I got a FINAL NOTICE (well that's how they wrote it in a lovely, dip-dyed pink background).

 

I almost wish our scanner worked.

 

Anyway, CCA off today.

[emmaf01]

Has anyone got an address for Wescot that isn't a PO Box so I can send it recorded/special delivery?

[berrylover]

You can send recorded delivery to PO box numbers. I sent three on tuesday.

[palomino]

You can send recorded delivery to PO box numbers. I sent three on tuesday.

 

But do they get signed for? Mine (to BOS) weren't.

[harlequin10]

Hi

 

I sent 9 CCA's yesterday to various DCA's and a lot of them were to a PO Box as they were the only addresses I had.

[Dorabell]

Hi Emma yes you can send recorded to po box i did last week:)

[emmaf01]

Bump- if the one finance company run both catalogues, can I get away with a SAR naming all three accounts?

 

It would seem like if you had three accounts with a bank- you'd put them all on one SAR wouldn't you? (well I used to!)

[emmaf01]

One of my many debts is one to Simply Be catalogue. They are threatening to pass on my account to an external DCA (Reliable Collections- but I thought they were inhouse?).

 

I finally went through their statements and various threatening letters they have sent since I became ill. Now I have all of their statements, which are numbered, and all the letters I can find, but the numbers just don't add up.

 

The statements are irregular- here is what I mean.

 

Statement 1 is date end December 2007 and has transactions from August 2007 onwards.

Statement 2 is dated end January 2008.

Statement 3 is dated end of April 2008 and there is a difference of over £25 between the closing balance of Statement 2 and the opening balance of Statement3!

Statement 4 is dated end of May 2008.

Statement 5 is dated middle of July with £26 added on from last statement.

Statement 6 is dated middle of August 2008.

 

The only interest rate I can find gives an APR of 39.6%.

 

Only two admin charges are listed on statements but I have letters saying I'm being charges perhaps eight separate £12 charges. But I'm not sure as the accounting is so confusing.

 

I don't know whether to do a SAR as I have all of the statements, they just make little sense! Application was on the net- digital signature job as far as I know.

 

At least they have stopped ringing since OH told them the only time I was available to speak to them on the phone was "for you, never".

[42man]

If it was me...i'd send a CCA request...(if they don't provide it then it goes into dispute).....

 

SAR if you feel you can claim the charges back....

[emmaf01]

But how do I adapt a SAR so I can get information which makes sense? (the charges now make up over half of the account balance)

I don't want to spend £10 to get the same illogical, bad accounting back with no explanations! It is madness to conduct business in this murky and opaque manner.

[42man]

A SAR should come with an explanation of all terms that anybody working outside the industry would understand.....if it doesn't comply and you don't understand it, then a request after the SAR is sent to you asking for clarification should be sent to you....

 

Read here....

 

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/subject_access_-_guide_for_data_subjects.pdf

 

Data Protection Act 1998

 

Subject Access Request

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx (or multiple numbers if more than one account)

 

Please supply me with all data that you hold on me. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, the following:-

 

1. The original signed, executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.

2. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor

3. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with ORIGINAL CREDITOR.

4. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

5. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

6. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

7. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

8. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

9. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

10. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

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