My dad needs help !!! **SORTED**

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About 4 1/2 years ago my dad bought a washing machine from Curry's, and with it a 4 year service warranty by mastercare coverplan to start when the manufacturers one year warranty expired. My dad ( 85 years old and still wobbling in the legs and brain ) paid the W/M in full on the day he bought it and the extended warranty by direct debit set up to take ten payments to pay the amount.

 

About 3 1/2 years after he bought the W/M a fault developed and he telephoned the number on the Mastercare coverplan leaflet. They arrranged an engineer to come out from Indesit to fix the W/M.

 

Nearly a year after the W/M was fixed Indesit write to my father saying that Mastercare will not settle the bill due to irregularities and also enclose an invoice to my father for approx £100.

 

My father phones Mastercare to see what is going on and they tell him the extended warranty was cancelled by them just before the manufacturers warranty finished.

 

My father writes to Mastercare to get full details and they reply because the last Direct debit payment was missed they cancelled the policy, they did not warn him of this or send any letters advising him to make a payment by a differant method for the last payment.

 

My father gets copies of statements for that period and see's that the last payment due was never requested by Mastercare and that there was sufficient funds in place as well.

 

My father writes back to Mastercare asking why they never took the last payment, he was astonished by their reply which said " It is up to the holder of the service plan agreement to ensure all D/D payments are met, and we also do not have to tell anyone when we cancel a policy ( anyone reading this count their D/D payments ??? ).

 

My father had paid up to £129 pounds with one payment to go and was feeling this could be one hell of a [problem], lets say you never claimed you would never know it would have happened.

 

Any way a few more letters back and forth to Coverplan got him nowhere, so I suggested trading standards, they wrote a very damning letter to Coverplan totally agreeing with my father and they ignored it.

 

I then got in touch with the financial ombudsman who said as it was not an insurance policy they could do nothing, I wrote back to them to remind them that they are called the the Financial Ombudsman Service not the Insurance Ombudsman Service and get your heads out the sand and actually earn your wages, this is still ongoing but they seem like all the other toothless so called services around.

 

I also emailed the BBC watchdog program who got back to me and ran through the problem and said they would be in touch at a later date as they were compiling quite a dossier of problems to do with Mastercare, so there may be hope there.

 

A couple of things have me thinking........

Why did Mastercare instruct Indesit to fix the fault when the policy was cancelled some 2 1/2 years prior.

Have Mastercare commited fraud and could I ask the police to look into it.

How many people have Mastercare done this to ?????

 

And lastly where does my dad go next to claim his money back in full !!!

[dave]

Now I'm not suggesting your dad do this, unless he wants to, but I would let them take me to court for the payment.

 

He has evidence to prove that they didn't apply for the payment (for which I think the DD guarantee says that they will give 14 days notice for), and that there had never been a problem so reasonably he could expect to have the service in place still.

 

Basically, they made a cock up, and now they are trying to use that cock up to get out of paying.

 

I think a judge would see it that way too.

[dave]

Also,

 

an estoppel occurs when one party, by words or conduct, has led the other to believe

in the existence of a certain fact situation and the other party has acted to his to his

detriment in reliance on that fact situation. In these circumstances the party whose

conduct created the difficulty may be prevented (estopped) from denying the

existence of that relevant fact situation

and

estoppel is a rule of evidence (and not a cause of action) preventing a person from

denying the truth of a statement he has made previously, or the existence of facts in

which he has led another to believe (Curzon - Dictionary of Law)

 

I would say that by then paying to send someone out that they have acknowledged the fact that it was up to them to do so, despite their cock up.

[dave]

Also, contact this woman.

 

Vikki Rogers on 0117 9858750 or email

[email protected]

 

She works for the BBC and is looking for this sort of story.

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Cheers for the help Dave, I will keep you informed.

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My dad wants to start legal action to get the whole amount he paid out for absolutely nothing in return.

[BIGIFA]

A couple of things have me thinking........

Why did Mastercare instruct Indesit to fix the fault when the policy was cancelled some 2 1/2 years prior.

Have Mastercare commited fraud and could I ask the police to look into it.

How many people have Mastercare done this to ?????

 

And lastly where does my dad go next to claim his money back in full !!!

 

Hi sorry to here about the issuess your dad has come up against i work for indesit and can shed some ligt on this for you also if you pm me i may b able to help if my employer is hastaling for payment(I am not there happyes employee lol)

the contact center your dad would have phoned will be the mane contact center in peterborough (Indesit) as mastercare phone lines divert there calls to the service provider.

 

moste of the staff in this contact center will proces the engineer putrly on the policy details provided by your dad these are not always valid and when we invoice mastercare they will pay it or return it.

 

If the endineare sees a valid pol;icy when he comes out everyone is happy untill it gets to the point where the third party insurance refuses payment and we would then invoice the customer.

 

I must stress the contact center may as well be enhabited by traind chimps as there mane gole is to get the customer off the phone so they can take the next call so there is not to many checks dun.

 

As i say if indesit are hastling you for payment pm me and i will pas your info to our contact center director who would probably quash these charges as a good will gesture in order to look good if this was to go to the press (they cant afford bad press) Also you should phone the number on a currys recept and select option 1 this will put you through to a currys contact center then tell them you want to speak to someone at hemal hemsted (this is currys mastercare head office) when speaking to them they are normaly more helpfull than the basic call centerse.

 

Once again if you want contact me and i will se what can be dun at my end to ease the steress on your dad.

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Used moneyclaim and mastercare did not reply so now have issued judgement which was excepted online, do I give them time to pay up or should I send the baliff's in ???

[BIGIFA]

Send in the balifs with the press it would be wonderfull to watch it on the news lol no but realy give them a bit of time and if nothing happens inform them that you will be sending them in if still nothing call in the big boys

 

P.S. i may not be at Indesit much longer got a disaplinary for grose misconduct on tue lmao:D

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Hey Bigifa go get a job as a baliff !!!http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/images/icons/icon10.gif

Talking

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Mastercare reckon they did not receive the original claim form ( yeah right ) but only the judgement dated 15th August 2006, their parent company DSG retail are now dealing with this as they say mastercare was transferred to them in April 2006,they have applied to the court to get the judgement set aside because they think they have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.

What will the court do ? What should I do ?

[Bookworm]

The court will in all likelihood set aside the judgment. Do not let the "real prospect of successfully defend the claim" fool you, it does not mean they will win, or that they hae a killer defence, it just means that as they have missed the boat, the judge has to look at the case and decide: If they HAD received the claim, could they have put up a defence (not win, mind, just put up a defence!)? If the answer is yes, and it usually is, the judge will agree to the set aside, and set a date for hearing.

 

Then you do what you were set to do before you won by default, which is prepare your case to go to court, to convince the judge that in balance of probabilities, your case is better than their defence.

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Cheers Bookworm I will keep you informed.

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My dad's case has now been transferred to Cardiff County Court, but DSG dont want to appear they want the judge to decide on his own, my dad's wheelchair will be serviced for the ready !!!

What's the point of judgement if the defendant can put in a late submission of 6 weeks ???

[Bookworm]

What's the point of judgement if the defendant can put in a late submission of 6 weeks ???

 

I know what you mean, but it works both ways: We had a case here (Disneyman v Nationwide), he got a default againt him at Xmas, by February, he discovered about unlawful bank charges. He applied to get the judgment set-aside, was granted it, and by the time of the hearing, Nationwide folded, and ended up paying him some monies as well as not having a default anymore!

 

The over-riding objective is that the right judgment should be given, and a judgment by default is not (logically enough). I know it sucks from where you're standing, but don't lose heart, it's only a setback, not a loss. ;-)

 

my dad's wheelchair will be serviced for the ready !!!

Transco, is it?

 

Keep us posted.

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Me dad won today !!!, the court accepted their defence and then they offered settlement for the claim without going to court.

Thanks to all.

[reidnet]

Congratulations.... :D

[BIGIFA]

nice onwe buddy glad to heare you got it all sorted in the end

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Cheers bigfa, my dad's happy too !

[Bookworm]

Excellent news!!!! Really glad for your dad. Ah well, the wheelchair got a good service for nothing then....

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Thanks Bookworm, that's Curry's, Lloyds, who's next !!!

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