Im having alot of problems with Park Finance

[lennywoodard]

Im having alot of problems with Park Finance. I have just sent them the following letter will update you when I can

 

I am writing to yet again complain about your company and how you have treated me during my attempt to Voluntary Terminate my hire purchase agreement with yourselves in 2009.

 

I originally complained in July 2009 and had a response from yourselves on 12th August 2009 from Otis Brown, where he highlighted the complaints procedure which was “written in accordance with the FSA and Consumer Credit Act Complaint Handling Rules”. Clearly your company has chosen to completely ignore your own complaints procedure as I have heard nothing since and believe 8 months is more than enough time for you to address my complaint. I therefore require you to issue a final response so that I can take things forward with the Financial Ombudsman.

 

To remind you of what I believe to be poor financial practice I will summarise my issues with your company.

 

I originally requested a Voluntary Termination in early February 2009 via telephone when I was told I would have to put the request in writing and continue to make payments until the Voluntary Termination was completed. This resulted in an extra £945.00 worth of payments which I believe shouldn’t have been paid as according to the contract “If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue instalments and have taken reasonable care of the goods you will not have to pay any more.” I had paid at least that amount and had taken reasonable care of the goods and when I requested the conversation via the Data Subject Access Request, conveniently this conversation was missing. I eventually had a written response on 3rd March after emailing and telephoning your company twice and being informed that the delay was due to you moving offices. This letter informed me I had to contact and then meet your agent in Newport who would confirm I had taken reasonable care of the vehicle. Due to his busy workload the earliest I could see him was on the 25th March (6 weeks after I had originally requested the VT, resulting in another 2 direct debit payments.) May I add that this demand to meet your agent approximately 20 miles from both the place of purchase and my home was not in the signed agreement.

 

I duly attended the appointment after having the car valeted before handover and replacing 2 tyres. Unfortunately the handover did not go to plan with your agent highlighting that the air conditioning system was not working to his standards and I would have to pay to get this repaired or serviced. I paid £90.00 to have this rectified. Your agent also put the car on an electric fault reader and told me I would have to write down the codes and get them fixed before handing back the car. I had these faults repaired at an independent garage (Ty Nant Garage). I have since contacted them who have said they are willing to testify that the car was in sound condition when leaving the garage. I have taken photos of the interior and exterior of the car to prove that the car was in good condition on the day of hand back. As I had to make another appointment with your agent and because of his busy schedule this was not possible till late April (another £315.00 payment would be paid during this period). In fact your letter dated 3rd March “He will inspect the vehicle in your presence and ask you to sign a confirmation that he has received the goods in a reasonable condition. If the vehicle is not in reasonable condition we will not accept it. You will be advised of the defects in writing and the amount you have to recompense us if you still wish to proceed with termination.” Clearly the fact that I have not received any “defects in writing” and the fact that he accepted it would prove that the car was indeed in reasonable condition? Your agent incorrectly informed me the car would be sold at auction and I would be legally responsible for any shortfall between sale price and what the cars market value was. As my fiancée is in the car sales business I telephoned her and asked her to get me a CAP value, she did and both trade, private and retail value of £4000.00. I then requested that the vehicle not be sold for less than £4000 as I did not want to pay anymore for the car. Your agent informed me that this was only one value and he would do some research and provide me with other values. This never happened.

 

This brings me to my next major issue, verbal bullying of customers. I heard nothing for weeks until I was informed via telephone that the car was going to auction and as your agent had previously informed me; I would have to make up the shortfall between what the car was worth. This I now know, is not the case and what you decide to do after hand back with the car is your responsibility and yours alone. If you decide to sell it privately for double the value of the car or at auction for a fraction of the value, this is your business not mine. Conveniently, again these calls have been lost or just not provided to me when I paid for my Data Subject Access request. Then came the calls from Sean Walker in June saying that you had an offer of £3300 for the car and I would have to pay £700 for you to proceed. This call again was missing from the request but my response to Ross Balmer clearly states I could only agree to the shortfall once I received the figures that your agent promised me I would receive 2 months earlier. Mr Balmer informed me that as Mr Walker was in a meeting he would get him to contact me with the values. Mr Balmer avoids discussing the shortfall as this was between me and Mr Walker and he would need to call me back. Again this never happened and you subsequently sold the vehicle.

 

This “making up the shortfall” is not in the original contract and I don’t think your company should be allowed to bully former customers into paying this when Voluntary Terminating the contracts which we are well in our rights to do. No one in their right mind would offer to make up any shortfall that they are not legally responsible for and I think it is disgusting you use the whole process to get customers to make up the loss that your company has due to the hire purchase agreement.

 

I then went on holiday to Mexico on the 15th July. When I was away I was bombarded with calls from your Litigation Case Handler Mrs Meilak. She chose to ignore the international dial tone ringing from withheld numbers leaving messages every time contributing to a phone bill in excess of £300.00. When I returned I also had a letter dated the 23rd July requesting that I contact you. I duly contacted your, disputing the shortfall and was threatened by Mrs Meilak with court action. When I replied that I was happy for the case to proceed to small claims court as the amount was under £5000 Mrs Meilak attempted to bully me and threatened me by saying “it won’t be going to small claims court we will be looking for “bankruptcy or a charge on my property.” I was incorrectly told by Mrs Meilak that I had not paid half the instalments and I had defaulted on my agreement. This again was not the case as I printed off my Credit Report in August 2009. Surely, this attempt at intimidation is not how a financial company should be operating?

 

I then received a letter dated September 28th 2009 saying my liability had risen to £1711.86. Again an attempt to bully me into paying an amount I don’t believe I am liable for. Finally my credit report was changed form being settled in August 2009 to defaulted in February 2010 for not making 2 payments on a fictitious finance agreement. I have complained about this to the Information Commissioners Office – there was no written financial agreement therefore your company has provided false information about me to an outside agency which I believe contravenes the Data Protection Act and resulted in me being refused Credit and a drastic reduction in my credit score.

 

To settle this complaint to my satisfaction I want you to:-

 

1 - Remove all negative information from my credit report.

 

2 - Recompense me for the £945.00 extra payments and I was told I had to continue paying.

 

3 - Recompense and apologise for providing false information to outside credit agencies resulting in me being refused credit and my credit limits being reduced

 

4 - Apologise for the harassment and bullying that occurred during the period which stressed me, my family and my pregnant fiancée needlessly.

 

I look forward to your final response before proceeding with my complaint to the financial ombudsman.

[Foomaniac]

Hi there,

 

That sounds like an insane amount hassle! I've just recently done the same and the car has been dropped off at the BCA in manchester, who we're sure they'd just be selling the car and informed me of a huge of amount of Park Finance cars coming through at the moment.

 

I had only one call and email with the agent, Mr Scull. He called after I wrote to inform them that returning the car to either Newport or Newcastle, both in excess of a 100 miles away, was not acceptable!

 

Since they received the car, I have just taken receipt of a letter stating I have a short fall of £5,400, however I VT'd at half way and also have a letter from them acknowledging that I have not only reached half way, but it also states in writing that I am not liable for anything more than reasonable wear and tear.

 

Currently, I have yet to respond to this letter as they inform me I will receive a letter confirming the short fall after sale of the car! I'm unsure what action to take at the moment. My payments have been stopped and I have receipt of my last payment. I'm taking this letter as a scare tactic and possible inducation into your process at the moment.

 

I'd be interested to hear more about your story, and equally anyones advice on this letter I've received with a shortfall, after receiving a letter stating I have no short fall!

 

I will now always be wary of what finance companies I'm with, I've been fortunate with the advice I've already received helping me battle them, but I know of many who have not been as fortunate!

[lennywoodard]

I will definitely update as and when they respond.There must be lots of people being told they need to make up shortfall when this is not the case. Hopefully more people will respond

[Foomaniac]

Definately, I know I'm completely in the clear because I have a letter from them stating clearly that I have reached the half way payment and therefore owe no further money. It's hilarious really.

 

The irony is, my initial worry was that they'd try to make up fake car repair claims etc. But all I'm going to do now, is await the letter confirming sale and what ever they reckon my 'shortfall' is, then reply with a letter stating that I owe them nothing, including a copy of the letter they sent me confirming this, and that I expect this to be the end of the matter.

 

At this point they can also no longer claim any further costs for any spurious repairs as they have sold the car and therefore by default accepted that the car was in reasonable condition for age and mileage.

 

I'd advise anyone VT'ing at half distance to keep hold of the letter they send you confirming that you have reached half way and owe no further costs. Always keep a paper trail, I even have access to record of every one of the payments made to them too.

 

Park Finance will apparantly try everything to get as much as they can out of you, the important thing is that your aware of your terms and conditions and rights that apply when your VT'ing at half way.