Argos Store Card. AilxPartners report.

[carrbags]

I think I posted this in the wrong forum originally so I'll try here. Hopefully someone might be able to give some advice.

 

 

Hi all,

I'm a first time poster who has finally got around to reclaiming late charges & over limit fees from credit & store cards held now and in the past by myself or my wife.

 

We have kept the majority of statements going back years and as a resulttwo credit cards have settled after the first letter asking for charges back, actually paying us the contractual rate, rather than the standard 8% we asked for.

 

We are at varying stages with four other cards & Argos.

 

After asking Argos for charges & interest we received a letter rejecting our claim. They have three separate listed points for rejecting the claim, extracts of which are as follows.

1. "You are responsible for making the required payments on time and for keeping within the agreed credit limit. If you fail to meet these obligations, we are entitled to recover the costs incurred by us.

We have recently commissioned AlixPartners UK LLP to undertake an independent assessment of the costs attributable to contractual default by our store card customers. The report AlixPartners have produced clearly demonstrates that the costs we incur when customers default exceeds our default charge of £12.

Our default charges therefore reflect a genuine estimate of our costs.

"

 

2. This point states that £181.50 of the default charges were longer than six years ago, although we weren't claiming for anything over six years

3."Further and in the alternative, we reserve our right to set off your claim (which is denied for the reasons set out above) against any debt owed to us."

 

Has anyone come across anything like point one before ? At first we found it a bit of a worry, but then after rereading the letter a couple of times, point three seems to suggest that they're not that sure of the validity of point one. Also this account is closed so there is no debt owed to them.

 

The letter finishes with "

Under the terms of our Complaints Procedure this is our final response with regard to your complaint

" plus the usual bit about our right to refer to the FOS within six months.

I thought this a bit arrogant.

 

It seems to me we have three options. Drop it, go to FOS, threaten court action.

 

Any advice or experiences of a similar nature would be very welcome

[BankFodder]

You need to see the report they are referring to. If they won't disclose it then you should proceed.

 

You should claim charges beyond 6 years because you are seeking the return of money paid under a mistake and so the 6 year rules does not apply in the normal way.

 

Go to court. The FOS will take up to two years and will probably not be courageous enough to find in your favour.

You have a much higher chance if success in court - and Argos are much less likely to go the distance

[carrbags]

Thanks for your response, I'll send a request for a copy of the report, although i don't expect them to show their hand.

Then threaten the court route.

 

I'll post my progress in case it helps anyone in a similar situation

[BankFodder]

Yes - I would love to see the report. If it is not forthcoming then I would not hesitate to sue. Force then to put up the report in court - or shut up

[Mike_hawk]

Has a copy of the report ever been disclosed? I'd be interested to see it (assuming it exists)