Vanquis Bank / Impact Collections

[adridude]

Hi,

 

I stupidly took out a Vanquis bank credit card (only £250) credit to see what they were like. Woah betide me, they are a bunch of moronic imbeciles!

 

I opted to pay by DD, which they said was the norm... Come the first payment, they took it out (as agreed) but it took 3 working days to reach their account. Because these 3 days were 2 days overdue, they charged me: £12.00 'failed to meet arrangement charge' and another charge of £12 for 'late payment fee'.

 

I know they broke their charges up into 2 x separate £12 as £12 is the max a bank/whtaever can charge in terms of fees.

 

- THEY took out the DD, so can they do this? Surely their late request isn't my fault.

 

Furthermore, I made the £11 payment manually and lodged a dispute, I also requested that the account is put on hold and that the card is frozen whilst it's investigated.

 

To my astonishment, several weeks later, I get more charges for the same thing despite my requests. They never did write back about the request.

 

I wrote back again, explained that I won't be paying default charges when they are responsible for collecting payments, explained that no payments will be made until they sort the account out.

 

Next thing I know, I have impact collections contacting me stating that the account is now in collections and they want the full amount.

 

I explained the situation, but they were extremely rude and said 'full payment now'. I told them that this is now becoming a legal matter and that I won't be discussing my account over the telephone.

 

Since that day, I get between 3 - 10 calls a day to my mobile, home phone and own business number! I wrote a letter to the chairman or CEO.

 

I wrote them this letter (which I put together some years back): http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?24016-Harassment-and-Phonecalls-(Can-Stop-Them)&p=187303#post187303

 

They wrote me back, apologised and said that it would take up to 56 days to investigate and that all communication would be done by mail.

 

This was a month ago, since then, they've stepped up the calls! I've explained to the staff that they CAN'T call my business 084*** number as my customers need it to be free and that when they call that line, they could be costing my company £1.50 + VAT / minute which a customer could be paying.

 

The staff told me, 'unless you resolve this over the telephone, we will continue to call you'. I explained that this was harassment, they ignored this and said 'do you want to resolve this now, or shall we keep calling you'.

 

What can I do about this? SHort of going to the call centre up the road from where I live, I have no idea what to do.

 

1) I can't barr their numbers, as they call from any one of a list of 30 numbers, which keeps growing

2) They're blatantly ignoring all requests

3) During all of this, they keep charging me interest, as well as these silly charges

 

Is there any way to put a stop to this?

 

Cheers,

 

Adridude

[letsgetitsorted]

hi there,

Impact collections is actually part of Vanquis, its their in house collectors.

to stop the calls you will need to send them a letter by Recorded Delivery stating

", 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."

 

that should stop the calls.

 

please be aware that Vanquis ARE NOT very help full at at, charges will be added every month, why, because thats what they do.

 

hope that helps a bit

 

cheers

lets

[letsgetitsorted]

this is where i am with them

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?302729-Is-It-Possible-to-go-to-County-Court-To-Get-Paperwork-from-OC

[adridude]

I already have, I wrote them this letter some time back:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?24016-Harassment-and-Phonecalls-(Can-Stop-Them)&p=187303#post187303

 

They continue to call... I told the last call-center ape that they have to stop calling me and his reply was 'either we resolve this now or we carry on calling'.

 

I told him that I've already emailed [email protected] who is the CEO.

 

The call centre guy replied with 'I don't know who Peter Crook is, and that is besides the point, we are discussing your account now.'

 

That made me laugh Needless to say I got their name and promptly reported this to [email protected]

[letsgetitsorted]

the managing director for Vanquis is Michael Lenora web search and from companies house.

their email addresses @vanquisbank.co.uk.

 

as for ignoring the letter, (did you send recorded and was it delivered ok) this will now need to be reported to the bodies mentioned.

[laineynic]

I have had major problems with Vanquis bank and have even gone to the FOS - but they were useless. Today I received yet another call from them and a not too nice letter. I have been in contact with the Cusatomer Care team and again they are useless. But today was just to much to handle. I am seriously ill and have been for over 18 months. I returned the inocme and expenditure form, proof of income and a letter from my doctor. the letter from my Docotor has some very personal things about me. Today 1st Credit wrote asking me to provide all this information all over again. They claim Vanquis do not have it. I sent it recorded delivery and it has been signed for. But I am not waiting anymore. I got the email address from a and they gave me this as the CE [email protected]. I hope you get somewhere as I am getting nothing sorted from these idiots. I wish I had never taken the card out wither.

[laineynic]

http://www.ceoemail.com/ I got his email address of this site which I found when I was looking for something else.