Grattan Buy Now Pay Next Year

[Guest mediaseller]

Help wanted please.

 

My wife has had an account with Grattan for many years with even the sniff on a problem but just recently they are getting rather stroppy.

 

Last year she bought us a new fridge freezer from the catalog on a buy now pay next June basis. She's done this before without any issues however recently she was sent a new credit agreement which she refused to sign. Now today she was sent what looks like a credit card statement with interest applied to it.

 

The option offered is to pay the full balance.

 

Are they allowed to do this?

 

I don't recall that she ever had any kind of agreement in all the time she has been with Grattan which she has signed.

 

Please help us with this.

[Conniff]

She needs to read the terms and conditions stated in the catalogue. In there she will see somewhere that it says by useing their service she is agreeing to the T&Cs.

 

Buy now pay now is usually interest free but buy now pay next year usually has interest added, and quite steep interest at that.

 

If at the time of ordering the terms were pay in instalments from next June, then I don't think they can demand full payment as they must also stick to their own T&Cs.

[buzby]

Do also be aware the many firms that offer this, still actually get their money - they cost is paid by a finance house, who then take on the customer as their own for the loan. Usually the 'interest' is nominally always added, but provided you repay in FULL by the due date, the interest is removed, if you don;t or miss the day even by 24hours, the full interest is charged, NOT just the amount after the expity of the 'free' period.

[Guest mediaseller]

Surely though, this cannot be legal since under the Consumer Credit Act an accurate credit agreement for goods supplied on credit terms must be supplied, signed by the customer & returned to the lender. Just passing the loan on to a third party for collection is challengable. Since if no signed agreement is in place then the debt cannot be enforced in law.

 

Am I correct or just barking up the wrong tree?

 

She informs me that a credit agreement did turn up and she refused to sign it or return it since she was under the impression that once the year was up she would just carry on paying as normal on a 36 or 52 week basis. I think she has thrown away the agreement which arrived.

 

In the past she has bought things on a buy now pay later basis from Grattan and has not had to pay loan repayments to anyone. Just normal catalogue terms.

 

Regards to all.

Mediaseller:)

[buzby]

Because consumers now no longer have to 'sign' anything to indicate agreement of T&C's (it is sufficient for them to makr a single payment to confirm formal acceptance), it is not assured that you can escape sanctions for non compliance - it did hear in one case a court ruled that as the consumer 'had benefit' of the goods and could not reasonably expect to do so without a formalised commitment. You really need to refer to the iriginal mail order T&C's, and what the (now loast) agreement required.

[tiaposy]

My mum has an Empire catalogue and this is something they have recently intoduced. She has been a customer for years and I have spent a fare whack on there too and I think its disgusting that should do this to loyal customers - they have already got their interest by wildly over inflating their prices. I too received a credit agreement, which I have never signed, so I will see what happens.

If you pay them off before the due date, then they won't add interest, however the are 'hoping' you will forget.!