Advantage Finance repro claim - ***i won & judge orders all payments returned**

[RCT40]

Hello RCT hope you are well. Actually this statement is not necessarily true Giving consent by way of giving keys etc doesn't necessarily mean you gave INFORMED consent, the 2 are quite different.

 

Hi Wannabe hope your well. Thanks for your input, it's very useful - I'm having proper fun and games with these guys...

[RCT40]

Today I received a telephone call from Advantage asking me how much I propose to pay every month of the supposed amount I owe them (still had no breakdown of how they come to this total as yet), I told them I proposed to pay nothing as this was in dispute and a letter is in the post.

 

I later received a an email from my employers HR department saying that advantage had faxed them a questionaire asking for...

 

• Job Title
  
• Length of service
  
• Full Time/Part Time
  
• Temp/Perm
  
• Average net pay per month
  
• Is the customer off sick?
  
• Is the employee entitled to sick pay?
  
• For what length of time?
  
• Are there any plans for redundancies?
  
• Address if different for above.
  

Thanks to the data protection act I needed to give my permission for my employers to release this information, which of course I refused to do. Our HR department gave me the fax, and to my horror it includes my signature taken from the HP agreement, and is done in such a way that it almost looks as if I gave my permission for this information to be released.

 

I contacted Advantage (by phone) as I was obviously pretty annoyed. They told me that as I refused to make any payments they were going to an attachement of earnings. Can anyone bring me up to speed, can they just request an attachement of earnings and get it irrelevant of the fact that this is in dispute and they clearly need to take me to court to resolve the issue once and for all?

 

Be hugely greatful for replies!

[jamielouise]

Hi there just noticed your thread i to am having problems with advantage finance i requested to vt the agreement as i had paid more than the 50% as the car was 10yrs old and wasnt worth the money left on finance dont get me wrong have had no problems with them until now in my case i dropped my car off to their agent and was handed a slip to say it had been dropped off and now it would go straight to auction 2 weeks later it was sold at auction and i,ve now recieved a letter saying that the car had been sold but didnt reach the £1165 they expected and that i owed them £499 my argument is were does it say in the agreement that the car goes to auction i have to pay the difference to my knowledge this only happens if they terminate the contract (vehicle surrender) due to arrears, it only says if you have paid 50% of total and car is in reasonble condition you owe nothing which my car was and have photos to prove if so i contacted trading standards straight away and their writing to them so fingers crossed

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

They are saying that the condition of the car resulted in the vehicle reaching less than book price at auction. I think they would be in some difficulty in proving that; did they do a condition report showing something way beyond fair wear and tear? And where does the £1,165 come from?

[jamielouise]

They are saying that the condition of the car resulted in the vehicle reaching less than book price at auction. I think they would be in some difficulty in proving that; did they do a condition report showing something way beyond fair wear and tear? And where does the £1,165 come from?

 

There hasnt been a report done by them when i dropped the car at their agents i was expecting someone to check the car over but nobody did i asked if the car went to advantage and tge told me it would go straight to auction so i followed it on the auction site and the listed a vehicle report which i printed off which stated there were dents on the car but i know for afact there wasnt any , no one has contacted me about any damage the just said the 499 was the shortfall and the 1165 was what they said was what the car should have made at auction i also noticed that they had removed the road tax and stated there was no keys

[fighting bull]

Hi, i have been reading all the posts on this , have you even considered this might be an illegal repo of your vehicle, if they took the vehicle back with out anything to justify why they are doing it, ie arrears or VT, or basically vehicle not been fit for the purpose it was sold for, you would be entitled to sue them to claim back all of monies paid and return of the vehicle, given they have taken and sold it already you could sue potentially for the value of the finance agreement or just the car. If however it was mutually agreed this may change things in there favour

[iconoclash]

Hi all - Advantage are part of the S & U Group and they have a wonderful time on 'fun events' raising money for charities to increase their fantastic profile for events organised by.....

TRADING STANDARDS - that's a nice cosy relationship then

[nish40]

RCT40, How are things panning out for you atm with Advantage?

[RCT40]

We're going to trial on 9th January.

[RCT40]

I'm not sure I would say that they are clever with their words, in my case they almost admit what their doing, but of course hide behind 'without prejudice' at the top of the letters making them pretty useless in evidence.

 

Don't know what will happen in court, but the bottom line is they can't take what you haven't got - and as long as you can prove your income and expenditure you can pay next to nothing meaning it would be a very long time before Advantage see the full amount.

[RCT40]

I already have a thread running but I have a feeling from correspondence that one of the contributors is actually the finance company.

 

Basically my question is that statements and documents had to be exchanged by 26th December, but the court advised me that due to holidays my information HAD to reach the company by 23rd December. But it seems that this has given the finance company the opportunity of writing their statement in such a manner that it undermines mine, it I now its based on my disclosure because it refers to comments made in my statement that had been made previously. It appears because they were sending to a residential property there was a big chance that someone was there to sign for a Xmas eve special delivery. Can they do this? Surely this places me at a disadvantage? I certainly feel at a disadvantage.

 

They also ask for strict proof of the conduct of the repossession company, I can provide statements from my wife and father as they witnessed what occurred, can I and is it worth asking the court to take these extra statements into consideration?

Edited December 29, 2011 by RCT40

[RCT40]

Could really do with some advice with this, we go to trial 9th.

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

On the first point, if there is something in their witness evidence that can only have been derived from your own witness evidence (and not, for example, from disclosed documents) then it is something for you to raise at trial. There is no point you refusing to accept the statements, it is highly likely the judge won't take issue with them being late and you could put yourself at a disadvantage. On the second point, you can bring any evidence you wish. As the circumstances surrounding the repossession appear to be relevant, you should definitely get your father and wife to do witness statements (remembering that they will have to attend the trial and be subject to cross examination too). Of course that will make your own evidence out of time, but again I can't see the judge taking issue with this.

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

Sorry given the date of the trial this appears to be a small claim - in which case it is not necessary for the witnesses to attend but it may in any case be wise to get them to go as live evidence is always better than paper evidence.

[RCT40]

Sorry given the date of the trial this appears to be a small claim - in which case it is not necessary for the witnesses to attend but it may in any case be wise to get them to go as live evidence is always better than paper evidence.

 

Gaston,

 

Thank you very much for the information.

 

Yes there is something in their evidence that could only have been derived from my witness evidence. This is in relation to receipts that I cannot find.

 

You are correct that it is Small Claims. I'm going to attempt to get the witnesses to court but its nice to know that I can use the statements should work commitments not allow them to be there.

[RCT40]

I have stumbled across something very interesting in the claimant witness statement. The person making this statement says that during a telephone call that they informed me that they required a full diagnostic report on he vehicle to validate the issues exist.

 

As it so happens I have a recording of this call given to me by the company as they tried to blackmail me with some daft comments I made even though the recording was made without my knowledge. Having listened back to the recording of the call again tonight I can say that they definitely did not ask for this report, and so have clearly lied in their witness evidence which I believe puts them in contempt?

 

This trial is Monday coming, and I haven't a clue what I can do, should I bring this up in court and ensure that the recording is with me on my iPad or should I approach the legal manager at the finance company who made the witness statement?

 

Could really do with some advice.

[RCT40]

I have stumbled across something very interesting in the claimant witness statement. The person making this statement says that during a telephone call that they informed me that they required a full diagnostic report on he vehicle to validate the issues exist.

 

As it so happens I have a recording of this call given to me by the company as they tried to [EDIT] me with some daft comments I made even though the recording was made without my knowledge. Having listened back to the recording of the call again tonight I can say that they definitely did not ask for this report, and so have clearly lied in their witness evidence which I believe puts them in contempt?

 

This trial is Monday coming, and I haven't a clue what I can do, should I bring this up in court and ensure that the recording is with me on my iPad or should I approach the legal manager at the finance company who made the witness statement?

 

Could really do with some advice on the best course of action.

Edited January 5, 2012 by ims21

[RCT40]

I am the defendant in a small claims case. The claimant witness statement says that during a telephone conversation between ourselves on 29/9/2010 they requested I obtain a diagnostic report on the vehicles condition which is not true.

 

I have a recording of this call provided by the director prior to the commencement of proceedings, having listened to tis this evening there was no requesr for a report. This proves that the claimant lied on their witness statements. I'm unsure how I should best deal with this, the trial is on 9/1/12.

[RCT40]

Today I've managed to get Advantage Finances claim dismissed in county court, and the judge has also given me leave to lodge a counter claim and get all of my monies back. This is the end of a very stressful eighteen month journey for me.

 

To all of you who have been in a similar position to me, stand up for your rights, don't give up - give them what they deserve!!

 

Thanks to everyone who have offerred me advice and guidance, you'll never know how much I appreciate the help you've given.

[dx100uk]

now thats very good news

 

and good new the judge is indicating you'll poss get your monies back

 

tell us more on that front

 

we have always believed it was possible too

 

dx

[RCT40]

now thats very good news

 

and good new the judge is indicating you'll poss get your monies back

 

tell us more on that front

 

we have always believed it was possible too

 

dx

 

Hi DX,

 

The judge has already said that Advantage have to refund every single penny, the only reason it couldn't be done today was that I need to file a counter claim first and then he will order a complete refund.

 

I'll keep everyone updated on progress, but this should happen in about 28 days.

 

RCT

[dx100uk]

brill i'll update the thread title

 

dx

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Absolutely brilliant! So good to hear of a judge that actually takes notice of consumer credit law I'm so glad it all worked out for you, bloody well done mate x

And a load of egg on the face for another finance company that think just because they are big they are automatically entitled to win!!

 

Now make sure you don't forget your costs...it's no less than they would do to you. LiP rates stand at £18 per hour these days

[RCT40]

Absolutely brilliant! So good to hear of a judge that actually takes notice of consumer credit law I'm so glad it all worked out for you, bloody well done mate x

And a load of egg on the face for another finance company that think just because they are big they are automatically entitled to win!!

 

Now make sure you don't forget your costs...it's no less than they would do to you. LiP rates stand at £18 per hour these days

 

Thanks wannabe, couldn't have done it without your encouragement at the beginning. You never did say whether you were successful in yours! The judge was absolutely brilliant, he ripped the Legal Manager to shreds - very impressive to watch!

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

I know all about impressive judges so I completely get where you are coming from!

Yes, thank you I was successful too. It took a trip to High Court and an appeal heard by a Lord Justice but we got there in the end