another astonishing BAYV story, they forced entry, police later arrested me for theft - help.

[Blondmusic]

I had been a customer of Buy As You View since the year 2000 when I originally bought a TV from them. Over the years I bought more items steadily increasing the amount I was paying every 8 weeks.

 

In early 2007 I moved house and informed BAYV by recorded delivery letter. I also followed this up with a telephone call to ensure they had my new address. On the day I moved the TV I had from BAYV got broken and I telephoned them to ask them what I should do. They told me to cut the meter off and dispose of the TV which I did.

 

I kept telephoning BAYV to ask when they were coming to collect and was constantly told they would have someone with me within a week. This never happened and after 2 months I decided to let them get on with it.

 

In August 2007 a Representative from BAYV came to my house telling me I had to pay him the balance or he would have me arrested for ‘Absconding’. I told him I did not have that amount of money and he shouted at me frightening myself and my 7 year old daughter in front of my new neighbours. He then pushed past me and into my house where he removed the tumble dryer from my house and tried to put it in his car. After about 10 minutes he realised he could not get the dryer in his car and he left it in front of my fence. I went out to my parents as I was scared of what this man would do to me.

 

The following day I telephoned the local CAB and they told me to write to BAYV explaining the situation and they sent me a copy of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines highlighting the points that they BAYV Rep had breached.

 

I sent a letter to BAYV by recorded delivery which they replied that they would investigate and get back to me.

 

In September 2007 2 police officers came to my home on a Saturday night at 9pm wanting me to go down the station with them. I asked what it was concerning and they replied I had committed theft against BAYV and they were going to arrest me. I told them I had no-one to care for my daughter and they replied that I should leave her with a neighbour. As I did not know my neighbours well I was unhappy at this so the officers arranged for me to attend the station the following night.

 

I attended the police station as requested and was questioned for several hours under caution with a duty solicitor present. I was bailed to re-attend the following month until BAYV provided evidence of their claims and was told not to contact BAYV in the meantime. On the day of my first bail the officer called me and said he had got no reply from BAYV so he was extending my bail by another month. I accepted this and a new bail date arrived by post. The day before my second bail date I received a letter from the police officer stating they had re-arranged my bail again as BAYV had still not provided evidence so I did not have to attend until January of 2008. By this time I was getting very depressed and not sleeping so I went to see my GP who prescribed anti-depressants once I explained my story.

 

I attended bail in January where the officer wanted me to accept a caution even though they still had no evidence but my solicitor had told me not to accept the caution at all. I was re-bailed again until the end of February. Approximately a week before that new bail date I received a Bail Cancellation Notice through my letterbox very late one night. I telephoned my solicitor the following morning who told me that the CPS had decided not to prosecute as there was no evidence.

 

I then started to write to BAYV asking for a full breakdown of the amount they were claiming I owed them but they did not reply. I continued to write and request this several times but BAYV only replied once asking for the previous letters I had sent. As I had not been getting any response from BAYV I contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service to ask them to investigate. I received a letter from the FOS on dated September 2008 saying they would investigate my complaint. Unfortunately BAYV did not respond to any of the letters from the FOS Adjudicator. In early February 2009 the Adjudicator telephoned BAYV and finally got a response. The Adjudicator telephoned me stating BAYV had made an offer to settle the dispute. BAYV offered to write off the outstanding balance on my account in settlement of my dispute and I was very happy with this. The FOS followed this conversation up with a letter which I have kept.

 

I received a letter today from BAYV stating that they have sold my account to MKDP LLP in early September. It also states that MKDP LLP have appointed MKRR as their agent to manage my account and gives me the contact details for MKRR. They have included the amount they state outstanding.

 

Now as far as I was concerned BAYV wrote the debt off over 2 years ago, there has been no payment on the account since January 2007 (thank you to BAYV for attaching a Statement of Account) so it will be Statute Barred in 2013.

 

Does anyone have any advice on how I can deal with this?

[dx100uk]

yep sue them!

 

the bayv guy had no right of entry etc etc

 

dx

[dx100uk]

send the fos letter to the dca

you owe NOTHING

 

dx

[Blondmusic]

You really think I should sue them DX. I was happy to let sleeping dogs lie but now they have really annoyed me with this. I am still waiting for the new DCA to contact me.

[42man]

If it was me in your position I would report this (along with the full course of events) to the FOS, OFT, your local MP, Watchdog and one/all of the readers champions in the national newspapers. If you have the means then do also have a chat with a solicitor. This kind of behaviour is verging on 'loan shark' territory.....please keep us posted.

[Blondmusic]

Thanks 42man. I was willing to let sleeping dogs lie after BAYV told the FOS they were writing off the amount I owed as full and final settlement of my complaint. I did phone BAYV on Friday asking for someone in charge to call me back. They haven't bothered to call me so I think I will chase them up today and give them one last chance to sort this out before I start reporting them to all and sundry.

[BAYV]

Hi and thank you for your enquiry. I have read through your note and I think it is important at this stage to let me know who you are by private messaging me your contact details and if you have it, your account number with us.

If there was an issue with your TV, a service call should have been arranged to assess the damage to your TV. I am very surprised at why you would be told to remove the meter and dispose of your TV.

You have also mentioned that you informed us of your new address by post and by phone. It would be useful if you could provide a receipt for the recorded delivery so I can track who signed for it at our end. We normally would scan a copy of the letter on to your account details. We also record our calls in to the customer service centre so again, there is a possibility that I can trace that call.

I can assure you that it is not in our interest to ignore your attempts to contact us. We do make every effort to resolve any customer issues that arise.

If a customer's issue is not resolved in the first instance, it will be reported to a director who will take immediate action.

It would be useful to know what your case number was with the police and the name of the officer involved and copies of the communication between FOS and you

By collecting all of this information, I can piece together what happened.

 

All letters issued to you by us are recorded on our system.

 

As I mentioned earlier, you should private message your details. I can also let MKDP LLP that you have been in contact.

 

best regards

BAYV

[Blondmusic]

I will send you a private message with account details. I have not kept the recorded delivery receipt after moving almost 5 years ago but I do have 2 letters from the Financial Ombudsman Service stating that BAYV are willing to write off the full outstanding balance as Full and Final settlement of my complaint.

 

Your inbox is full and I am unable to send you a message.

 

Quick question though is it standard practice for BAYV Reps to contact police and have customers arrested with no evidence?

[BAYV]

Hi, thanks for your quick reply. You should be able to send me a message now.

It is not standard practice to contact the police. However, it does happen under certain circumstances depending on the situation.

 

I will drop you a private message with my email address. You can either send me a scanned copy of the FOS letters or if possible send a copy through the post.

 

many thanks

 

BAYV

[Smileymiley]

What a bunch of clowns lets all club together and get this company struck off.

 

This company has lodged huge losses on their accounts (available from Companies House) might be worth getting in touch with Philip Jones (Company Secretary), Adrian Hill (Director), Graham Clarke (Director). They can be contatced at the Registered office address of the company. It will be interesting to see what their views are on the experiences of numerous consumers who have had forced entry, false inprisonment by police, poor service (understatement), lied to etc etc etc

 

Best bet might be Mr Hill mightbe the best bet as he is also a director of The British Credit Trust as well as Tesco Personal Finance Plc

[Blondmusic]

I would still like BAYV to explain why they would not answer any of my letters which were sent by recorded delivery and why they contacted the police when they had NO evidence.

[BAYV]

Hi and thanks for the detail you sent to me last night.

I am sorry that you have been contacted again regarding this as you are quite right, we made an agreement some time ago regarding your account.

I will contact the agency and instruct them not to contact you again.

 

Best regards

 

BAYV

[May Fly]

What about compensation for the illegal entry into her home, the attempted theft of her tumble dryer, and for the misery and distress and damage to her heath those actions caused her, and have exacerbated by your actions since?

 

Personally, I would pursue a complaint with the FOS MPs Trading Standards and everyone else mentioned because I am sure this cannot be the only time they have behaved like this. They have shown by their actions that their word, that they gave to the FOS cannot be relied upon. I would not be surprised if the whole thing starts up in a few months time with another debt collector chasing the debt.

 

This company needs at the very least tighter regulation of not putting out of business. Letting them off the hook will just allow them to do it again with others.

 

Its interesting how you got nowhere with them until you came here - they know that we know our stuff and don't pansy around.

[Blondmusic]

Thank you for the reply May Fly. Their rep took the dryer and left it on the street. As he had repossessed it I left it there as it had nothing to do with me anymore. They caused me great distress in having me arrested and on bail for 6 months with no evidence. The letter from BAYV informing me that they had sold the alleged debt on shocked me and distressed me again.

 

I did complain to the FOS and it was their adjudicator who told me that BAYV were willing to write off the outstanding balance. Obviously BAYV didnt write it off and sold it to make money.

[May Fly]

thats why you should complain to as many as you can. start with the FOS as a continuation of your previous complaint, and ask for compensation for the distress this has obviously caused and will continue to cause for some time

 

I notice their 'representative' hasn't been back to respond to my post. as a subscriber he will have an email with the contents of my post..... obviously has nothing to say, and I bet he hasn't answered all your queries either

[jabace]

i suggest you look up the powers the bailiffs have cos i had this problem n did just tht, they can nok on ur door as much as they want but unless u INVITE them in they have no rite to do so but once u do let them in nthen they can gain entry thre next time anyway they like, u can oopen the door to them n not let them in , if they, which some do, push past then ring the police asap cols they r committing an offence, they r not allowed to break in nor r they able to force there way in, as for ur debt by law if u get took to court and u offer them 50p a week lets say they have an obligation to except it cos u r not refusing to pay wot u owe, dependin on ur income the judge may say 50p is too low and wouold u b able to afford £1.50 lol but like i say they have to take it, as u or someone else said it best to take a payment no matter how small than not to get a payment first and iIF they do take ur stuff then i;m sure u have no more to pay cos again the law states u dont have to pay for somethin that u dont have, think about it look up ur rights and u wont go far rong!!! i hope this helps, oh i not sayin u would but dont let them intimedate u stand ur ground (baillifs i mean)

[dx100uk]

i seriously suggest you READ the thread properly!!!!!!!

 

they ARE NOT BAILIFFS

 

they are employees of the company

THEY HAVE NO LEGAL POWERS AT ALL.

 

BAILIFF only come after a debt goes to court

they get a CCJ

you fail to pay the judgement ordered.

 

also

this is a forum

please refrain from using TXT speak.

 

dx

[jabace]

and every letter u recive is costing u from £50 -£120 which is alot for a letter not forgettin the stamp!!! which gets u in more debt and so it continues.... loanin monjey in a legal way is a very profiable business

[Blondmusic]

The man who took the dryer was an employee of BAYV and he was not a bailiff.

[Hacked_Off]

The man who took the dryer was an employee of BAYV and he was not a bailiff.

 

How did this one pan out?

[Blondmusic]

I have heard nothing more from Buy As You View. They have kept their word and I have heard nothing more from the Debt Collection Agency either. I am happy that BAYV have finally seen sense and sorted this out.

[Hacked_Off]

I have heard nothing more from Buy As You View. They have kept their word and I have heard nothing more from the Debt Collection Agency either. I am happy that BAYV have finally seen sense and sorted this out.

 

 

I wouldn't let it go. Have you reported them?

[Blondmusic]

At the time I reported them to FOS and OFT. OFT said they would look into it. I never received a reply. I was happy enough that the FOS managed to get BAYV to sort themselves out and put an end to the matter.