Mrs Martinix vs Littlewoods

[martinhw]

This one has been going a while, but I just realised I have not done a thread for it yet. So there will be a few continuous posts on this one.

 

SAR sent 15/12/2006.

[martinhw]

04 January 2007 - SAR info received in full

[martinhw]

This account will comprise of 2 claims.

 

1) Charges and Penalties Claim

2) Extra Care Insurance Claim - I am unemployed and have only worked part time in the last 6 years, never more than 12 hours a week, and never consecutively for a few months at a time. - Hence I do not qualify to claim against it.

[martinhw]

17th January sent prelim letter for Extra Care Insurance

Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Ltd

Kershaw Avenue

Crosby

Liverpool

L72 0LG

17th January 2007

 

Request for repayment of Extra Care 500 Insurance

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the sum of money paid in respect of the item Extra Care 500 Insurance that has been levied to my account since 17th October 2002. I believe that this Insurance was mis-sold to me by a representative of your company.

I now understand that the Extra Care 500 Insurance was entirely optional, and that at the time of taking the advice from your representative, I was led to believe that I was eligible for the above mentioned cover. I was informed that as I was employed at the time, I was eligible for the cover. I was not however informed that this policy contained exclusions and restrictions to employment times and minimum numbers of weekly hours and prior months worked.

 

I had not been in full time employment and was only working 12 hours a week for 3 months when the Extra Care Insurance was sold to me. This would have meant that I was not eligible for the policy in the first instance. I was employed on a part time basis, on and off for approximately 11 hours a week until I was made redundant in the beginning of September 2006. I informed your company of my redundancy on the 4th of September 2006. I tried to claim and was advised that I was not eligible to claim as I was not employed for a minimum of 16 hours per week and had not been employed for a period of six consecutive months. I believe that I was therefore mis-sold the Extra Care Insurance.

I refer you to the recent statement from the FSA in regards to payment protection insurance where they quote the Code of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which requires the seller to ‘ensure as far as possible that the policy proposed is suitable to the needs and resources of the prospective policyholder’.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I consider that your representations that your Extra Care Insurance was appropriate for my needs were deceptive, and that I was deceived into agreeing to the insurance.

 

What I require

I calculate that the Extra Care 500 Insurance was for a sum £470.67. The interest for this figure calculated at your rate of 26.53% is £468.86. Total claimed £939.53.

 

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim and lodge a complaint with the FSA at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

 

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[martinhw]

Charges Prelim letter:

Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Ltd

Kershaw Avenue

Crosby

Liverpool

L72 0LG

09 January 2007

 

Request for repayment of charges

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 6 years.

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding credit limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

What I require

I calculate that you have taken £400.00 plus £59.67 which you have charged me in interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £459.67.

I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter

 

 

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

Yours faithfully,

[martinhw]

23 January received a reply to charges prelim:

Ackn/01-LFCO

 

Date 23.01.2007

Reference: Account Number XXXXXX

Dear Mrs XXXXXX,

Further to your letter of 15.01.2007 concerning your complaint in relation to administration charges made to your account, we will contact you once a full investigation of your concerns has been made.

In the interests of improving the service we offer to our customers, all complaints received are taken very seriously and a full investigation is always carried out.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely

Chris Curwen

Credit Support Team Manager

[martinhw]

2nd Feb - send charges LBA

Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd

Aintree Innovation Centre

Park Lane

Netherton

Bootle

L30 1SL

02 February 2007

 

Letter Before Action

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 09th January 2007.

I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to late payments, direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

I calculate that you have applied £400.00 in levies and charges, further, I also claim interest at a rate of 28.80% APR as set out in the attached list of charges. I believe this rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on your purchase interest rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account. Therefore the total amount owed as of today’s date is £743.86. I am enclosing a revised copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming.

You have constantly claimed that your charges are lawful and yet before any cases brought against you in a county Court have been heard by a judge, your company has settled all claims in full calling them “Gestures of Goodwill”. I believe the courts will frown upon the constant waste of the Court resources and time. I urge you therefore to take this matter seriously and not treat it with the same contempt displayed prior.

I require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

Yours faithfully,

 

[martinhw]

2nd Feb - Extra Care Insurance LBA

Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd

Aintree Innovation Centre

Park Lane

Netherton

Bootle

L30 1SL

02 February 2007

 

Letter Before Action

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 17th January 2007.

I refer you to the recent statement from the FSA in regards to payment protection insurance where they quote the Code of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which requires the seller to ‘ensure as far as possible that the policy proposed is suitable to the needs and resources of the prospective policyholder’. This was clearly not the case on my account.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

I calculate that you have applied £470.67 in insurance premium charges, further, I also claim interest at a rate of 26.53% APR as set out in the attached list of charges. I believe this rate to be justified under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity, and is based on your purchase interest rate that would be applied under the terms of the above mentioned account. Therefore the total amount owed as of today’s date is £950.51. I am enclosing a revised copy of the schedule of the charges which I am claiming.

I require repayment in full of this money fully within 14 days. If you do not respond or respond positively then I shall begin a claim against you in the Northampton County Court for the full amount plus interest at the rate outlined above plus my costs and without further notice.

Furthermore, I shall submit a complaint not limited to the OFT, FSA and Trading Standards.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[martinhw]

On 3rd Feb - we sent a CCA request and included the statutory £2.00.

 

Mrs can't remember ever filling out an application let alone signing a credit agreement.

[martinhw]

Received this little GEM in the post:

Littlewoods

Award Notification

 

Mrs XXXXX

Our Address

Dear Mrs XXXXX,

You have been selected from thousands of names to receive a sum of money to spend as you wish on Littlewoods goods*

The value of the awards are set out below one of which is allocated to:

OUR ADDRESS

 

VALUE OF AWARDS GUARANTEED TO BE PAID OUT fN Q/

o

 

£15 £50 £100 £500

 

APR

 

 

U /c

£1,000 £1,500

7 7 typical

Congratulations!

Mrs XXXXX

You are guaranteed to receive one of the above awards...

01397/02/0090425

...Here's how to claim your award Mrs XXXX

Sign and return the Award Claim Form below and RETURN IT IN THE ENVELOPE PROVIDED (NO STAMP REQUIRED). Your award will be released within 28 days together with a copy of our book from which you can choose your goods - it's as simple as that!

However, please note: we are unable to release your award unless we receive your signed claim form below.

 

I look forward to sending out your award. Yours sincerely

Angela Evans Customer Manager

*The award is conditional on being accepted as a Littlewoods credit customer and the "--- —

return of a signed credit agreement. (Acceptance subject to status).

Credit provided, subject to status, by Littlewoods Finance Company Limited. Registered number 4660974.

Registered office: Aintree Innovation Centre, Park Lane, Netherton, Bootle, L30 1SL. Authorised and regulated by the

Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only. Goods/services provided by

Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited. Registeied number 4663281. Registered office: 1 st Floor, Skyways

House, Speke Road, Speke, Liverpool, L70 1AB.

V Carefully detach along the perforation ^

MV/99-1

 

 

 

50-35-78 1

For Office Use Only

 

Award Claim Form

Awardee's Name

Reference

 

 

OUR ADDRESS

PB

 

04100171 D

1st Forename

XXXX

Date of Birth (PLEASE COMPLETE IN BLACK OR BLUE INK)

1 9

 

Date

 

 

v/Signed......

£) (I am over 18)

 

 

 

The right to refuse any application and/or change the offer is reserved. Please see the reverse for information on our Data Protection Policy. If you do not wish to be contacted

I by third parties for marketing purposes, please lick this box. 1 I i

[martinhw]

The above post seems a little strange to me - they are awarding us £500.00 if we sign this

*The award is conditional on being accepted as a Littlewoods credit customer and the "--- —

return of a signed credit agreement. (Acceptance subject to status).

[martinhw]

5th Feb - received the following letter in response to the charges prelim:

Date 5th February 2007

Dear Mrs XXXXX,

Reference: Account Number XXXXXX

Further to our letter of 23rd January 2007 concerning your complaint in relation to administration charges made to your account.

In the interests of improving the service we offer to our customers, all complaints received are taken very seriously and a full investigation is always carried out.

Our understanding of your complaint is as follows:

• You dispute the charges levied to your account.

We have made a full investigation, assessed your concerns and can confirm our findings as follows:

• Statement 7 issued 8th March 2003 shows a charge of £30.00 for failure to notify a change of address.

• Statement 8 issued 5th April 2003 shows a charge of £10.00 for non-payment.

• Statement 14 issued 20th September 2003 shows a charge of £10.00 for non­payment.

• Statement 22 issued 1st May 2004 shows a charge of £10.00 for non-payment. Also 13th April £10.00 for a late payment, 19th April £25.00 debt escalation fee and again 19th April £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 23 issued 29th May 2004 shows a £10.00 charge for an insufficient payment and also £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 25 issued 24th July 2004 shows £10.00 charge for non-payment, 8th July £5.00 letter fee, 17th July £10.00 late payment charge and 23rd July £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 31 issued 8th January 2005 shows £10.00 charge for non-payment and also 4th January £10.00 for insufficient payment.

• Statement 32 issued 5th February 2005 shows a charge of £10.00 for late payment and also 28th January £10.00 for insufficient payment.

• Statement 33 issued 5th March 2005 shows £5.00 letter fee, 24th February £15.00 debt escalation charge and £10.00 5th March for insufficient payment.

• Statement 34 issued 2nd April 2005 shows £5.00 letter fee 10th March and also 1st April. On 26th March £10.00 for non-payment

• Statement 35 issued 30th April 2005 shows £10.00 charge for insufficient payment.

• Statement 39 issued 20th August 2005 shows a £10.00 charge for non­payment.

• Statement 40 issued 17th September 2005 shows £15.00 debt escalation fee, 14th September £15.00 payment arrangement fee and also £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 41 issued 15th October 2005 shows £10.00 for non-payment and £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 42 issued 12th November 2005 shows £10.00 for non-payment and £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 43 issued 6th December 2005 shows £10.00 for non payment.

• Statement 44 issued 7th January 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee on 12th December and also 21st December.

• Statement 45 issued 4th February 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 46 issued 4th March 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 50 issued 24th June 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 51 issued 22nd July 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 52 issued 19th August 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee.

• Statement 53 issued 16th September 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee and £10.00 charge for non-payment.

• Statement 54 issued 14th October 2006 shows £5.00 letter fee and £10.00 charge for non-payment.

• Statement 57 issued 6th January 2007 shows £5.00 letter fee.

It is made clear in the "Your account" section at the back of your catalogue that a charge is applied should you fail to make a payment, and as such I am satisfied that the charges applied to your account are fair and reasonable.

We are aware of the statement of the OFT's position regarding fair charges. For the reasons given above, we are satisfied that the charges applied to your account are justifiable in accordance with the views of the OFT and are fair within the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.

In the circumstances, the company is not prepared to remove all charges applied to your account, as requested.

I confirm that this letter concludes our investigations into your complaint. I trust our explanation meets with your satisfaction.

Yours sincerely

Chris Curwen

Credit Support Team Manager

[martinhw]

This letter received today in response to the CCA request

Letter Reference: CCA2

Date: 07th February 2007

Account Number:

Outstanding Balance:174.57

Dear Mrs. XXXXXX

If a third party is acting for you please refer this letter to them

With reference to your letter requesting a copy of the credit agreement.

Under sections 77 and 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 we are required to provide a copy of the executed agreement (if any). On the assumption that you have signed the agreement supplied to you at the time of opening your account. We enclose a copy of our agreement, which complies, with the requirements of the Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notices and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983.

Yours faithfully

 

Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd.

 

 

Attached was this form:

 

CREDIT AGREEMENT REGULATED BY THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974

 

Terms (20 or 38 weeks)

Registered in England Numbers:

John Moores Home Shopping Service Limited 278848* Janet Frazer Limited 442051 *

Littlewoods Warehouses Limited 637089* Brian Mills Limited 478478* L "THE COMPANY"

Burlington Warehouses Limited 407448* Peter Craig Limited 892464*

*Delete as applicable

Registered Offices: 1st Floor Skyways House, Speke Road, Speke, L70 1AB

\

TERMS ^

1 No formal credit limit is applied to your account.

2 Your agent receives a statement from us every 4 weeks, showing the transactions on the account since the previous

statement. New goods appear on the first statement produced after we have despatched the goods. The statement will give a date by which payment must reach the agents account (normally within 21 days of the statement date). Your first four-weekly payment, in respect of these goods, should be made to the agent in time for the payment to reach the agent's account by the date specified on the statement. This and subsequent four-weekly payments should be 20p in the £ for items ordered over 20 weeks/10.5p in the £ for items ordered over 38 weeks*, amounts calculated each time goods are added to the account. *Delete as applicable.

3 There are no interest charges. However if you fall behind with your payments, the company reserves the right to impose an

administration charge to cover the cost of any action we may take.

4 In the event of prolonged short- payment the company may take enforcement action against you in which case the total

outstanding balance will become due for repayment immediately.

5 The company reserves the right to refuse any order.

6 For other terms please see catalogue.

The company shares information about customers' accounts with other lenders through credit reference agencies and directly with other home shopping companies. This information is used for credit granting decisions, and occasionally, for fraud prevention or tracing debtors.

Customer's Name:

Address.

Signature........................................Date.

Agent's Name Mrs. XXXXX

Address: OUR ADDRESS

...............................................................NH..........

Signature........................................... Date.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

(1) This credit agreement must be completed if you or any of your customers buy goods on credit terms. Separate agreements should be used for 20 or 38 week terms as appropriate.

(2) If you the agent are buying goods you should fill in your name and address and sign the agreement in the spaces for both agent and customer. Keep the agreement in a safe place.

[martinhw]

Obviously we have NOT completed or signed either of their attempts to get a credit agreement from us.

 

Would someone look it over and comment on what it is or where we stand now?

 

Do I file MCOL on Monday which is our deadline?

[Guest willowb]

This is way over my head in terms of insurance policies with Littlewoods.

 

But as far as the penalty charges go, how long ago was it when you sent your LBA? If it was two weeks ago then I would file a claim now. Print off the N1 form on the HMCS website and with the part Particulars of Claim I would hazzard a guess that this is where you tackle the 'CCA' non-compliance and insurance issue.

 

Anyone?

 

If I'm right then post your particulars here so that we can have a look.

 

Your posts are difficult to follow, keep your thread up to date at every stage or you may not get the help you need.

 

Wxxx

[bill-k]

FWIW it looks to me like they are offering you a £15 discount off your next purchase if you sign a new credit agreement with them. We (Mrs-K) had a similar experience a couple of years back where they wanted us to do the same, before they would pay our commission. We said no, the commission was due under the original contract. Had to take it to SCC before they finally paid our commission (plus some costs). We never did sign a new agreement with them, but would probably have had to if we wanted to order any more goods.

 

If you've sent a CCA request, then I suggest you tell them that you will not consider signing any new contract until you have a copy of your old one. Then get them to explain exactly why they want a new contract.

 

JMHO

[martinhw]

Thanx for the comments guys.

So I was correct in my assumption that they have not fulfilled the CCA request, as this is clearly a request to sign a new one - not providing the one they allege we have. (We know Mrs never signed one.)

[Guest willowb]

When did you send the CCA request?

 

 

Wxxx

[martinhw]

Sent the CCA request 3rd Feb

[bill-k]

They have 12 days (working days, I believe) to supply a true signed copy. If it's not got two signatures on it, then it's not the original signed agreement. DON'T send them anything with a signature on it, unless you're sure you know what it is. This looks like they haven't got one, and are trying to fool YOU into supplying THEM with one, now !!!

 

Didn't think they would be so sneaky ?

 

Littlewoods would !!! ;-)

[chezt]

PMSL @ the 'sign this & you will 'win' a cash prize' 'ploy'!

 

It'll prob be the fiver at the end of it!

 

I had EXACTLY the same replies as you ... including the letter listing all the charges then saying ... 'but tough we're not giving u owt back!' Also, If you go to my thread u'll see that I've just posted the EXACT reply letter to my CCA Request ... strange that eh!

 

Next step here we come ... my request expires on the 18th ... the only difference in our claims is that I don't have PPI (there is a whole section in the forums re this BTW if u go hunting) & I've already filed in court.

[martinhw]

They have 12 days (working days, I believe) to supply a true signed copy. If it's not got two signatures on it, then it's not the original signed agreement. DON'T send them anything with a signature on it, unless you're sure you know what it is. This looks like they haven't got one, and are trying to fool YOU into supplying THEM with one, now !!!

 

Didn't think they would be so sneaky ?

 

Littlewoods would !!! ;-)

 

We won't sign nowt!

 

Problem is if they can't produce the agreement, they can't enforce the debt, but can we still claim the charges?

 

We owe them £145.00 - they owe us a lot more than that!

[bill-k]

Yes - they've taken the money off you already. What is left owing on the account can be simply subtracted from the final settlement they make, when they make it. If they get stroppy, and they can't provide the contract, then you can tell them to whistle for their money !!

[martinhw]

Just received the following letter regarding the Extra Care Insurance:

 

Further to your recent letter concerning your complaint regarding the mis sale of Extra Care Insurance. We apologise that you have felt it necessary to complain as our goal is to provide an excellent service to all our customers.

In the interests of improving our service, all complaints received are taken very seriously and a full investigation is always carried out.

Our understanding of your complaint is as follows:

• You were led to believe that at point of sale you were eligible to claim under the Extra Care 500 policy. However when you tried to make a claim for unemployment in September 2006 you were advised that as you did not work 16 hours or more per week and you were not in 6 months continuous full time employment you were not eligible to claim

• You require a full refund of all the premiums you have been charged

We have made a full investigation, assessed your concerns and can confirm our findings as follows:

• The Extra Care policy is comprised of a number of elements, life, disability, unemployment, critical illness, hospitalisation and merchandise cover. In order to claim under the unemployment and disability sections, the policy holder must be between 18-64 and in work. In this respect you are correct, as you did not work more that 16 hours per week you are not able to claim for unemployment.

However it is evident that you could still have claimed under the life, hospitalisation, merchandise and critical illness cover i.e the majority of the policy. The policy is not sold purely on the basis that we would provide unemployment/sickness cover.

• I can confirm that the terms and conditions and policy exclusions are detailed in our Certificate of Insurance. From our records it appears that this was sent to you in October 2002. As no contact was received we have to assume that this was received.

We are therefore not in a position to refund any premiums back to your account as you were covered under the majority of the policy and we have provided sufficient evidence to detail the policy terms and conditions.

I can confirm that this letter concludes our investigations into your complaint and hope our explanation meets with your satisfaction. As your policy was sold before 22nd December 2003 you are unable to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) as we were not a member of a Dispute Resolution Service until this date. I should advise you that if you do decide to refer to FOS it is unlikely that they will consider your complaint.

 

Debbie Watson Complaints Handler

 

 

[bill-k]

If what you say in your letter in post #4 can be supported by evidence, then it looks to me like it's time to submit a claim to court. This reply seems to ignore all your points.

 

However, PPI is NOT my area, and I would really suggest taking a look in the PPI section before going any further with this, or at least getting the opinion of a more knowledgeable member on this.