eviesmummy1984 v Brighthouse

[eviesmummy1984]

Please please help me, i am new to this website so not sure if i am posting this on the correct page. I am 4 weeks behind on my brighthouse payments as i have been made redundant.

I am being bombarded with calls, 30 calls a day, and am ignoring the calls. I know this isn't the right way to go about it, but to tell the truth i am frightened of the manager of my local store and feel very threatened. Previously i have missed the odd week or so and he has been really nasty to me.

I have about 1 year left on my 3 year agreement and my payments are 30 per week. I have since moved address and not told the store i have moved.

I do want to sort this out, i am scared that they will come and smash my door down and take my goods. I cannot pay my arrears until i recieve my redundancy payment, which will be in about a month.

Please help me as to where i stand with them.

Thanks

[clemma]

You really do need to tell them you have moved as the goods still belong to them. Trust me, they cannot come to you house and smash your door down - in fact they have no rights to come to your house at all. There are a couple of letters you can send to them - one to stop the telephone calls, and the other to tell them that they are not to come to your house. Keep a copy of the no visits letter by your door, to give to them if they do come round. Just open the door (or letterbox), give it to them, and tell them to sod off. If they refuse to leave, you can call the police (non-emergency) and tell them you are being threatened by someone at your front door and they are refusing to leave!

 

-HARASSMENT WARNING-

 

 

WARNING;PROTECTION FROM HARASSMENT ACT 1997;

 

 

WARNING; COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2003, S127.

 

 

TELEPHONE NUMBER

 

 

Re: Harassment by telephone

 

 

 

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

 

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls.

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

and the "no visits" letter:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account Ref xxxx

 

Please be advised that I will only communicate with you in writing.

Should it be your intention to arrange a "doorstep call", please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you.

 

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that

 

I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Ok, now for your arrears. Brighthouse are not the most helpful of companies when it comes to this. They do not seem to understand that if you cannot make one weeks payment, you have no way of finding 2 weeks worth in order to catch up. The OFT clearly states in their guidelines that it is unfair to demand more than a person can realistically pay (which of course BH are doing). No doubt they are now telling you that you have to pay 5 weeks payments in order to catch up.

 

You have one of two options - you can either send a letter, recorded delivery, to both the head office and your branch, outlining your situation - i.e - you will make the payments up in full when you receive your redundancy pay OR you could ask them to re-write your agreements, meaning they put the arrears to the end, and you effectively start paying them the normal weekly amount. Be careful if you decide to do this route as they can sometimes "forget" to include all previous payments made towards the item, therefore re-setting your repossesion rights. There is a letter you can take with you, to get the manager to sign, should you wish to do this - this would ensure that your rights remain intact.

 

Also, I would just add that as you have clearly paid more than 2/3rds off your agreements, BH would need to obtain a court order to cease your goods. They would need a court order to gain access to your property as well - Brighthouse, rarely, if ever, take anyone to court.

 

You really need to start your own thread, but as I have replied here, I am going to ask the Site Team if they can move your post and mine to a new thread for you.

 

I apologise for being so long in replying.....Please try to remain calm - I will answer any questions you have.

Edited July 9, 2009 by clemma

[saintly_1]

Posts moved to a thread of its own

[clemma]

Thanks saintly

[sunsh1ne]

post moved where?? can i not reply to eviesmummy here?

[clemma]

You can - it was originally started on someone elses thread - I asked the site team to move the posts to a new thread of the OP's own......that way advice does not get lost.

[sunsh1ne]

oh i see lol!

 

eviesmummy, you must get in contact with the store as soon as possible if this is to be resolved. I understand that you may feel threatened by the manager, however this cant be a reason not make the remaining payments on your account, please phone the store and speak to one of the account reps and tell them how you feel about the manager they should be able to help.

Dont forget that it is in the stores interest to have this issue resolved too.

The field account reps will absolutely not bash your door down.

I cant stress enough hows important it is to call the store asap and be completely honest with them, if you look at it from the stores point of view at the moment you must look to hem like you have "skipped" and have no intention of paying, im sure this is not the case?

perhaps call the customer care line that is listed on your agreement (on the page where you sign all the initials) and explain how you feel to them about approaching the manager but that you want the issue resolved? They will refer your call back to the store manager to deal with, but your call will be logged and the manager must report back to he careline team when things are resolved - so again it wil be in his interest to sort out the problem.

Do not be threatened, take the matter in hand, you will feel better once it is resolved.

Do not agree to any item being taken back if that is not what you want and you can afford your normal weekly payment - if you cant then it may be worth doing a pick up and hold on a less essential item until you get back on your feet. The store may be able to re-write your account.There are many ways of helping but you must take the frist step and contact the store.

good luck x

[clemma]

Hmmmmm - my advice has always been to do everything in writing - especially with Brighthouse (whom I have had many, many dealings with). There is no point in phoning again, to just be bullied and intimidated AGAIN. Write to Head Office (or email) and send a copy to the store. That way, you can put your say across without interruption.

 

Sorry sunshine, but I do not agree with your view of Brighthouse "getting the issue resolved". Their way is to make you pay extortionate amounts in one go, as they will accept no less.

[sunsh1ne]

Please please help me, i am new to this website so not sure if i am posting this on the correct page. I am 4 weeks behind on my brighthouse payments as i have been made redundant.

I am being bombarded with calls, 30 calls a day, and am ignoring the calls. I know this isn't the right way to go about it, but to tell the truth i am frightened of the manager of my local store and feel very threatened. Previously i have missed the odd week or so and he has been really nasty to me.

I have about 1 year left on my 3 year agreement and my payments are 30 per week. I have since moved address and not told the store i have moved.

I do want to sort this out, i am scared that they will come and smash my door down and take my goods. I cannot pay my arrears until i recieve my redundancy payment, which will be in about a month.

Please help me as to where i stand with them.

Thanks

any news on this eviesmummy? x

[eviesmummy1984]

Hi Everyone,

I am really stuck as to what to do....i am too scared to speak to the store as i know they will shout and bully me....i am willing to make payments, but cannot afford to pay the arrears, but as i have left it so long i don't think they will do a rewrite for me.

I worked out i have paid 3000 quid so far for a tv that is worth 1000 quid, surely i am within my rights to keep the tv, provided the payments are sorted and i can make my normal payment....i'm so frightened, all this money will be lost?

[reorete]

i agree with clemma . brighthouse are not easy to deal with

[sunsh1ne]

Brighthouse may not be easy to deal with, but you seem to have got your situation blown a little out of proportion in your own mind. In all seriousness do you think they really would be stupid enough to get physical with you? Break into your home??

 

Have you done anything to help the situation? You have come on here for advice and we have done our best with you - have you sent any of the letters Clemma suggested at least? You must be 2 months behind by now, I dont think the store would expect you to pay £300 in one go esp if you have been laid off! So perhaps they would consider a rewrite after all? The only way to find out is to speak to them and the only person who can do that is you.

 

I Dont really know what else i can say to you evies mummy, im not tryin to be mean here but the bottom line is that the goods need to be paid for whether you are worried about speaking to your store or not - otherwise it is theft.

[clemma]

Hmmmmm - sunshine, you have obviously never dealt with Brighthouse:

 

In all seriousness do you think they really would be stupid enough to get physical with you? Break into your home??

 

They threaten this - I KNOW they do as I have been on the receiving end of it. Before I knew any better I believed them - why would Brighthouse lie? So coming on here and saying this does NOT help someone who is absolutely terrified.

 

The only way to find out is to speak to them and the only person who can do that is you.

 

Again, DO NOT phone them. Send the letters I have posted on here earlier - that way they cannot threaten you. Phoning them is a big no-no sunshine.

 

im not tryin to be mean here but the bottom line is that the goods need to be paid for whether you are worried about speaking to your store or not - otherwise it is theft

 

The goods do need paying for - but on the OP's terms NOT Brighthouse. As for stating it's theft - that is a strong accusation and would only be true IF the OP was not trying to resolve this/had taken out an agreement with the intention of never paying/sold the goods. If Brighthouse wanted they could take this to court to repossess the goods. We all know BH will not do this.

 

Eviesmummy - send the letters, ask them in writing for a re-write on your agreement stating WHY you are having difficulty in making the payments. If they demand the £300+ then tell them they are in breach of OFT guidelines (Unfair Business Practices)- namely:

 

Physical/Psycological Harrassment:

2.6 examples of unfair practice are as follows:

a - contacting debtors at unreasonable times and at unreasonable intervals

f - pressurising debtors to pay in full, in unreasonably large instalments, or increase payments when they are unable to do so.

[sunsh1ne]

I have indeed have had many dealings with Brighthouse and other debt companies.

 

eviesmummy - Im sorry if i sound heartless in my post, im sorry you are feeling scared, truly. I have been in a similar situation a few yrs ago with a few companies (some of which were really nasty scotcall, and surprisingly Lloyds tsb!) after a marriage breakup, I stuck my head in the sand and was afraid to call the companies much like yourself. Situations escalated and the longer i left it the worse it got - until i finally but the bullet and phoned all of the companies in one morning - I was so nervous i thought i was going to pass out! But I started the ball rolling to get it all in order - it was a weight off!! I sound heartless because thats what you need to do however hard it may seem - you need to cut off your emotions!

Clemma I am entitled to my oppinion, this forum is very much dominated by you and you often give good sound advice however your word is not gospel and not always completely correct. You won your battle and thats great but that doesnt mean that nobody elses thoughts and advice matter but your own!

 

Some Brighthouse employees may very well "threaten" etc - but do they ACTUALLY ever do this? Not as far as I am aware. Its no good to wrap evies mummy in cotton wool here she needs to be encouraged to be strong. Companies are not interested in what they would most probably call "a sob story" they are interested in facts - give them the facts - i can afford £xx, i am offering £xx and this is an income and expendature form drawn up with the C.A.B. to show this is true. iF YOU REFUSE THIS PAYMENT THEN THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO GO TO COURT - we all know BH doesnt do court!!

 

In my mind - goods arent paid for - they are stolen! I dont think that is what eveies mummy is intending to do, however sticking her head in the sand wont resolve anything.

[cmf118]

Please please help me, i am new to this website so not sure if i am posting this on the correct page. I am 4 weeks behind on my brighthouse payments as i have been made redundant.

I am being bombarded with calls, 30 calls a day, and am ignoring the calls. I know this isn't the right way to go about it, but to tell the truth i am frightened of the manager of my local store and feel very threatened. Previously i have missed the odd week or so and he has been really nasty to me.

I have about 1 year left on my 3 year agreement and my payments are 30 per week. I have since moved address and not told the store i have moved.

I do want to sort this out, i am scared that they will come and smash my door down and take my goods. I cannot pay my arrears until i recieve my redundancy payment, which will be in about a month.

Please help me as to where i stand with them.

Thanks

 

 

 

hi ive been in similar situation and ive just this minute got of the phone to brighthouse,who have offered to give me 2weeks grace,which trust me i was not expecting,they say they will bridge my account for me in 2weeks and have took off the insurance to help lower the payments which is a great help,i hope you get somewhere with them,but i think not answering there calls will just make them ring more,thats prob why there apr is so high,with all the calls the make ,try not get stressed over them as there as important as the window cleaner is knocking at the door,i know this is easier said then done but its just not worth the stress,good luck to you with bh.