advice needed,on so many debt collectors after me

[michsienna]

hi everyone, i would be very greatful for your advice on what i should do now.

this morning i have recieved a letter from vertbaudet, regarding the s.a.r letter i sent them.

the letter reads....

please find inclosed a complete set of your statements to cover the trading period of your account from 22 march 2004 - 27 january 2007

you will also find enclosed servral sheets headed vertbaudet query answering system. this is a record of events which have occurred on your account back to 1st march 2006, we no longer hold any data prior this date.

i note your comments regarding disproportiate charges applied to your account, however we do not consider the administration charges are unfair or disprortionately high. they comply with guidance issued by the office of fair trading in aprill 2006 following their consultaion with eight major credit card issuers. please note that mail order/home shoping industry was not included in this consultation. we feel the charges are a reasonable pre-estimate of the additional costs incurred be verbaudet in handling your failure to comply with the terms and conditions relating payment.

the late payment charges form our terms and condtions of trading with verbaudet and appear across out publications and website. they advice that should you fail at any time to keep your account up to date we reserve the right to charge for our costs which will not exceed £12 per event in respect of any the following,dispatch of any reminder letter or other communication, "refer to drawer"cheques or other failure to honour any method of payment,or transfer your account to a debt collection department or agency.

the charges represent postage and stationary costs,the cost of employing staff, the maintaining of premises and it systems in order to handle the default of the customer.

your account was transfered to a debt collection agency in october 2006 and you currently have a out standing balence of £1925.76, as such you have not paid any of the charges applied to your account.

any future requests for a refund of the charges will be met with a refusal.

i trust this information i have provided you with is satisfactory however if you need any further clarification please do not hesitate to contact me at the address at the top of this letter.

so im taking it i cant deduct the charges ???? xx

[remus]

Mich, couple of questions, as I am not up on the legal side, but reading the letter.

1. why do their records not go back pre ofsted report? bit suss!

2. they charged a lot more prior to that date.

3. How can they say "as such you have not paid any of the charges"? its been added to the total.

load of rubbish:rolleyes:

lets see what Rory etc has to say about it:)

[michsienna]

Mich, couple of questions, as I am not up on the legal side, but reading the letter.

1. why do their records not go back pre ofsted report? bit suss!

2. they charged a lot more prior to that date.

3. How can they say "as such you have not paid any of the charges"? its been added to the total.

load of rubbish:rolleyes:

lets see what Rory etc has to say about it:)

 

hi remus i hope your good thanx for replying,

i too thought them puttting there records dont go back pre the ofsted report a bit dodgy.

looking at the statements, adjustments and total cover was quite high. just over £30 a month, i only claimed twice on the insurence, wish i never had that now. xx

[MrsL]

Hi Mich

 

I am new to the forum and am feeling like you were in your first post here

 

I have just read the entire thread and wanted to say WELL DONE!

 

I will subscribe to your thread and follow your journey, hopefully I will soon feel as you do now

[michsienna]

Hi Mich

 

I am new to the forum and am feeling like you were in your first post here

 

I have just read the entire thread and wanted to say WELL DONE!

 

I will subscribe to your thread and follow your journey, hopefully I will soon feel as you do now

 

hi mrsl,

thank you,

you should start your own thread too, i would never have got this far if i never had done this.

the good people on the web site has gave me so much strength with there advice, support and encouragement.

i wish you all the best.

michelle xx

[MrsL]

Thanks Michelle

 

I landed here last night and started a new thread

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/109906-connaught-mrs-l-statutory.html

 

As I have read through your thread I have felt stronger and more in control, still at the shaking like a leaf stage though which I am sure you can remember! This site is amazing, I wish I had found it sooner too.

 

Wishing you loads of luck, I will be following you!

 

xx

[michsienna]

Thanks Michelle

 

I landed here last night and started a new thread

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/109906-connaught-mrs-l-statutory.html

 

As I have read through your thread I have felt stronger and more in control, still at the shaking like a leaf stage though which I am sure you can remember! This site is amazing, I wish I had found it sooner too.

 

Wishing you loads of luck, I will be following you!

 

xx

 

im gonna take alook at yours now, xx

[michsienna]

hi, if anyone can give me some advice on what i should do regarding the letter i today recieved from verbaudet i realy would be so greatful, thank you xxx

[stadium_arcadium]

Hi Mich, they are trying to fob you off regarding the charges. Plenty of people have claimed unfair charges back, from current accounts, credit cards, catalogues, insurance companies and mortgages. All of them refuse point blank at the first instance and insist that they are fair and cover their so called costs.

we feel the charges are a reasonable pre-estimate of the additional costs incurred be verbaudet in handling your failure to comply with the terms and conditions relating payment.

this is very similar to the banks' reply regarding their charges. Thousands of people have successfully reclaimed their charges back, whether they've been £12 or £30.

 

the charges represent postage and stationary costs,the cost of employing staff, the maintaining of premises and it systems in order to handle the default of the customer.

Apart from having to send you an extra letter, their staffing and maintanance costs would be included in the normal day to day running of their business anyway!!

 

Compile a list of all the charges, add it up and see what it comes to. It could significantly reduce the debt.

 

please find inclosed a complete set of your statements to cover the trading period of your account from 22 march 2004 - 27 january 2007

Is this correct? Just want to make sure they have given you ALL your information during the correct period of time.

 

You CAN deduct the charges, by going through a court claim like the banks, they just don't want you to;)

[michsienna]

hi mate thanks for coming to my rescue so il add it all up now, what about interest do i not bother with that?? xxx

[stadium_arcadium]

The interest is only added when the claim gets to the court stage, so don't worry about that for now.

 

I have just been looking through your thread again, to try and establish whether you recieved a proper credit agreement from Vertbaudet (cos I can't remember lol) didn't realise how big your thread had got!:o

[stadium_arcadium]

Mich, I have to go bath my kids and put them to bed, will be back in an hour or so XXX:)

[michsienna]

well that was quick,lol

i only see 2 late payment charges a £10 (22 feb 05) and a £12 one (22nd july 05),

the statements go up untill 30th nov 2006 the last payment i made was £1.00

then below it it reads

27th jan 2007 account closed

then there is another statement

i noticed they have used the £10 i sent with my s.a.r letter and marked it down for payment for july this year

the last time i ordered some thing from the catalog my balace was £1679.72 with a £1500 credit limit

please forgive me if you think im stupid,but im realy quite confused! lol xx

[michsienna]

yes they have sent me my signed copy of my credit agreement, its the one i sent you sue, xx

[Hopeful1]

Hi Mich

 

I have had to re-read the letter they sent you 3 times. It really is baffling. Were you expecting there to be a lot of charges? There's a big difference in the outstanding balance.

 

I would say steam ahead with the charges, but they're not showing enough to make a difference. Just for once, i'm stuck for words :o

 

Do the figues on the statements they've sent add up?

[PriorityOne]

please find inclosed a complete set of your statements to cover the trading period of your account from 22 march 2004 - 27 january 2007 Is this all of them, Mich ?

 

you will also find enclosed servral sheets headed vertbaudet query answering system. this is a record of events which have occurred on your account back to 1st march 2006, we no longer hold any data prior this date. Then under The Data Prortection Act, 1998 they need to confirm to you exactly how these records were destroyed and their reasons for doing so.... in writing.

 

i note your comments regarding disproportiate charges applied to your account, however we do not consider the administration charges are unfair or disprortionately high tough. they comply with guidance issued by the office of fair trading in aprill 2006 following their consultaion with eight major credit card issuers. please note that mail order/home shoping industry was not included in this consultation so that makes it all ok then.... ! i don't think so.... we feel the charges are a reasonable pre-estimate "pre-estimate ?".... so it's ok for them to guess how much it would cost based on a theory of how much it would cost... of the additional costs incurred be verbaudet in handling your failure to comply with the terms and conditions relating payment.

 

the late payment charges form our terms and condtions of trading with verbaudet and appear across out publications and website. That may be so, but they don't provide any kind of breakdown as to how they are arrived at, do they ? they advice that should you fail at any time to keep your account up to date we reserve the right to charge for our costs which will not exceed £12 per event in respect of any the following,dispatch of any reminder letter or other communication, "refer to drawer"cheques or other failure to honour any method of payment,or transfer your account to a debt collection department or agency.

 

the charges represent postage and stationary costs,the cost of employing staff, the maintaining of premises and it systems in order to handle the default of the customer. All those kind of costs are everyday business costs and come from selling stock at a profit... which is the business they are running... not by fleecing customers in order to bump up those profits further.

 

your account was transfered to a debt collection agency in october 2006 and you currently have a out standing balence of £1925.76, as such you have not paid any of the charges applied to your account. I think what they are trying to say is that because there is still an outstanding balance on the account, you haven't paid any charges :? . What a stupid thing to say. If they didn't intend for you to pay them, then what were they added to your balance for ?

 

any future requests for a refund of the charges will be met with a refusal. I assume that you are not asking for an actual refund of charges... but to have them deducted from the outstanding balance....

 

i trust this information i have provided you with is satisfactory No, not really.... however if you need any further clarification please do not hesitate to contact me at the address at the top of this letter.

 

so im taking it i cant deduct the charges ???? xx

That seems to be what they're hoping you'll think....

 

They are trying to justify it.... take no notice.

[michsienna]

hi,

most of it looks like it was made up of adjustments, total cover, the total cover is the insurence and im not sure what adjustmnets is, (it all works out at about £30 a month) xx

[PriorityOne]

Well, I think £30 is a bit on the steep side for making an "adjustment". Question is... would they be prepared to justify this in court ? Seeing as the banks don't seem that keen, I doubt that these guys will.

[stadium_arcadium]

well that was quick,lol

 

i only see 2 late payment charges a £10 (22 feb 05) and a £12 one (22nd july 05),

 

the statements go up untill 30th nov 2006 the last payment i made was £1.00

then below it it reads

27th jan 2007 account closed

 

then there is another statement

i noticed they have used the £10 i sent with my s.a.r letter and marked it down for payment for july this year

 

 

the last time i ordered some thing from the catalog my balace was £1679.72 with a £1500 credit limit

 

please forgive me if you think im stupid,but im realy quite confused! lol xx

We don't think you stupid at all, their letter seemed intent on confusing you and it can be quite hard to work out the info in SAR's sometimes!

 

Mich, are you sure there aren't anymore late payment fee's or other charges of any kind? I can't understand how you can be £179 odd over your limit. Like Hopeful asked, do the figures add up? Have there been any charges or interest added since you last made a payment?

 

yes they have sent me my signed copy of my credit agreement, its the one i sent you sue, xx

Sorry, been a long day lol, found it.

[stadium_arcadium]

Well, I think £30 is a bit on the steep side for making an "adjustment". Question is... would they be prepared to justify this in court ? Seeing as the banks don't seem that keen, I doubt that these guys will.

Totally agree PO, the term 'adjustment' is rather vague!

 

Mich, did they carry on charging you for total cover after you'd stopped payments?

[michsienna]

hi everyone thank you for all replying to me.

looking thru my statements ive misseds lots of repayments, but i can only see two no payment charges.

from july last year im a little ashamed to say,thats when i started missing most of the repayments, they recieved £1.00 of me november 2006, and the £10 i sent them with the s.a.r letter in july 2007. thats all in between these dates.

the interest in between these dates go from £35/£40 a month

and the adjustments and total cover goes keeps changing from

june 2006 £32.77

july 2006 £32,96

aug 2006 £34.60

sept 2006 £36.07

oct 2006 £40.67

and then also on that staement it has account transfered

nov 2006- i had paid them £1.00

jan 2007 account removed

july 2007 payment recieved £10.00

before that i was missing quite a few repayments but when i did pay i was paying the correct money owed.

is adjustments and total cover one thing = the insurence, i know the total cover is the insurence name but im unsure on what the adjustments are. on the back of the statements it reads that ajustments means, the value of any item that may affect your balance will be listed here together with a reason.

if it is that, its very expensive insurence! lol

im all in a muddle! lol xx

[stadium_arcadium]

Hi Mich, seems then that your balance is more than your limit because of the adjustments and total cover charges, amounts that were charged after you stopped paying them yes? The £1 'payment' must have been your CCA request? So they have charged you interest since then!? I didn't think catalogues did that:confused: It annoys me that companies like these carry on charging insurance when you clearly have difficulties paying them!

 

Whats your situation regarding repayment? they have produced your agreement, and apart from a couple of late fee's and some dodgy insurance charges, you have an outstanding balance with them. YOu could argue against those charges (anyone have any idea's/info regarding this??)and just offer to pay the remainder. You could also offer a settlement figure if you are in a position to do so, or failing that, a monthly repayment. But remember, NEVER offer to pay more than you can afford, if they were to refuse your offer of payment then a judge wouldn't make you pay more than you could afford either.

[michsienna]

Hi sue, the £1.00 wasent for the cca request, this £1.00 was in november last year.

the adjustments and total cover total, gets bigger every month,

even from august last year the total keeps rising ( july last year was the last time i ever ordered any thing from them) up untill prestent. xx

[Hopeful1]

Did you agree to the insurance? Are you still being charged for it? I think catalogues use the word 'adjustment' as secret code for charge. I'm waiting for Empire to respond to my S.A.R as i intend to try to reclaim all the 'adjustments' they've charged me

[PriorityOne]

Adjustment is another word for charge, IMO. It also looks as if they've compounded your interest each month.... so are charging interest on interest, if you know what I mean...

 

If they have a legit CCA.... then offer them a token payment of whatever you can afford (£1 is good ).... enclose the payment (chq/PO) and write that you cannot afford any more at present, due to circumstances, but will maintain payments providing that they freeze all interest and charges on the account. I did this with several of mine before discovering this site and didn't have a problem.... hopefully, you won't either.

 

If all you can afford is £1.... then that's all they're going to get. In a separate letter, re-claim all the "adjustments" in order to get the account down to it's true balance.