Studio Cat Help Please Not Sure How To Go About This

[taz_in_2001]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for reading, I hope I put this in the right section.

 

I am looking into claiming charges from this cat, I know I can claim for admin charges at £20 a pop but looking through my last years statements there are service charges on everyone ranging from £12 to £6 am I to include these aswell as they are down as charges ?

 

Any help will be gratefully received

Thanks

Sarah

[Advoc8]

What were the service charges levied for?

[taz_in_2001]

I'm not sure, I ordered items from them and since ordering the items I have had service charges so I am assuming its for statements every month, it just says service charge nothing else on the statement

[Advoc8]

Admin charges for you breaching your contract are fair game, but service charges might not be.

 

I think you really need to find out what those charges were for before you make a claim.

[taz_in_2001]

But surely with admin charges it is the same as the banks, you go overdrawn, not enough money in the account they charge you, this could stand for the catalogues aswell ?

[Advoc8]

If the 'service' charges were effectively punishing you for some kind of breach then yes, you could claim, but if they were for genuinely providing a service then that's a different matter.

 

To be completely sure that you can claim you do need to know why the 'service' charges were made. Hopefully someone else with experience of that company will come along, or maybe you could call them and ask?

[taz_in_2001]

Just read the back of a statement it says as follows:

 

Service Charge

 

This is the charge we make if you decide to pay by monthly installments. It is 2.6% (or 2% if you choose to pay by direct debit) of the balance brought forward from your last statement, together with a pro-rata service charge upon purchases added to your balance on your previous statement for the period between despatch of each item and the data of the previous statemtn. There is a minimum service charge of £1. Further information regarding calculation of service charge as applied to your account is available on request

 

So basically they are punishing me for wanting to pay monthly so in a way they are wrong, its the same thing thats going on with companys like bt at the moment

[Advoc8]

So basically it's a form of interest. Was information on this charge sent to you before you entered into the agreement with the catalogue company?

[taz_in_2001]

So basically it's a form of interest. Was information on this charge sent to you before you entered into the agreement with the catalogue company?

 

The only time I have seen this is just now when I turned over the back of the statement.

 

It must have come on the back of my first ever statement but I have no knowledge of being sent an agreement or signing one with them so it would have only been on my first statement which means I would have had no prior knowledge to that

[Advoc8]

Not wanting to sound patronising but I think you need to make sure you've no paperwork from them, or that you didn't complete anything to set up the account. I don't know how this firm operates but how did you establish the account in the first place?

[surprise]

Just to let you know that they don't get agreements sign, although they should. I have sent a CCA to them. They put the £1.00 towards my account and have currently gone into default. I have not heard a word from them. I also know they add PPI without people knowing so unless you're on the ball and cancel this very quickly these amounts mount up. If I were you I would send a CCA letter enclosing a £1.00 Postal Order and send it Recorded Delivery. If you haven't got all your statements you could ask for these in your letter. I understand that people have received these without paying the £10.00 for a Subject Access Request.

[Advoc8]

It's difficult to be 100% sure without knowing how the credit account was opened and what information you were provided with before opening the account, but if there was no mention whatsoever of the service charges then you could bring a claim for them - claiming they're unfair as you didn't know about them when you entered into the agreement.

 

Is the catalogue for personal use or are you acting as an agent or a bit of both?

[taz_in_2001]

Just to let you know that they don't get agreements sign, although they should. I have sent a CCA to them. They put the £1.00 towards my account and have currently gone into default. I have not heard a word from them. I also know they add PPI without people knowing so unless you're on the ball and cancel this very quickly these amounts mount up. If I were you I would send a CCA letter enclosing a £1.00 Postal Order and send it Recorded Delivery. If you haven't got all your statements you could ask for these in your letter. I understand that people have received these without paying the £10.00 for a Subject Access Request.

 

I have just phoned them now and they are sending me out a full schedule of charges, they also added the payment protection to my account so will be taking them all the way with this aswell

 

Thanks for everybodys help, I have just found somebody that won their case against them so know I am on the right track

[taz_in_2001]

It's difficult to be 100% sure without knowing how the credit account was opened and what information you were provided with before opening the account, but if there was no mention whatsoever of the service charges then you could bring a claim for them - claiming they're unfair as you didn't know about them when you entered into the agreement.

 

Is the catalogue for personal use or are you acting as an agent or a bit of both?

 

Personal use

[Advoc8]

That's ok - you can use consumer legislation to assist you.

[taz_in_2001]

That's ok - you can use consumer legislation to assist you.

 

Thankyou

[mochamoo]

Not wanting to sound patronising but I think you need to make sure you've no paperwork from them, or that you didn't complete anything to set up the account. I don't know how this firm operates but how did you establish the account in the first place?

 

 

I was a victim of ID theft, several of the debts were run up with this company. When the police contacted them the said they do not keep the credit agreements for longer than 48 hours after the credit has been approved. Also as soon as they decided the case was fraud they destroyed any records they had in my name thus eliminating any shred of evidence the police may have had. Police said they have never seen a company operate like this.

[taz_in_2001]

I was a victim of ID theft, several of the debts were run up with this company. When the police contacted them the said they do not keep the credit agreements for longer than 48 hours after the credit has been approved. Also as soon as they decided the case was fraud they destroyed any records they had in my name thus eliminating any shred of evidence the police may have had. Police said they have never seen a company operate like this.

 

They are disgusting, They should be banned from operating, the amounts of charges etc they put on your account are disgusting and most definately not proportionate to their costs, then to go and do something like this to a person such as yourself is damn right awful as if you wasn't going through enough without them taking away evidence that could have lead to the thiefs

[surprise]

I think they way they operate is why so many people are finding it easy to reclaim their charges. If you look at other threads on Studio no one has received an agreement and in a couple of instances they just send a blank form, which effectively is just an application form. My bill with them is quite hefty but there are also a number of charges so I must admit I do find it strange that they have not contacted me.

[mochamoo]

Found the girl doing it in the end, still fighting with tv licence people as they think I have a 34" flat screen TV with no licence (one of the fraud items) but hey there you go.... Thought that my little bit of knowledge of them may help you.

 

Good Luck:D

[taz_in_2001]

I think they way they operate is why so many people are finding it easy to reclaim their charges. If you look at other threads on Studio no one has received an agreement and in a couple of instances they just send a blank form, which effectively is just an application form. My bill with them is quite hefty but there are also a number of charges so I must admit I do find it strange that they have not contacted me.

 

I would send them the 1st letter that you would to the banks, just delete as you would need to then add extra etc to make it your own, send that off to them and see what you get, I am doing it tomorrow morning for my charges will let you know how I get on

 

Also they are sending me out my statements for free

[Advoc8]

I think the point to make from the outset is that the admin charges are unfair penalty charges and that the service charges are unenforceable as you weren't aware of them when you entered into the agreement.

[turn82]

Help is this the chat for studio the catalogue?

I have been charged so many late payment admine and service charges with these is there any way I can claim any money back?

How do I go about it what is a CCA?

 

Please help they have got me into so much debt.

Kind regards

[surprise]

Turn 82

 

You can go 2 ways about doing it. You can either ring and ask them to send you all your transactions for up to the last 6 years. If they don't agree to do this you can issue a Subject Access Request which is £10.00. Send recorded delivery. A CCA is Consumer Credit Agreement which is a £1.00. They have 12 days from receipt to send you a signed agreement. if they don't do this they are in default and a further 30 days it is a criminal offence which can be reported to OFT. I think others have just rang up for their transactions and they have obliged without charging. You will then need to add up exactly what they have charged you for.

hope this helps. If you go into search and put Studio it will bring up all those making claims or have made claims against them.

[dannygr27]

Hi i am also new to the site, if you start your own thread someone will reply to you and help you at all stages of your claim, cag like to take care of us newbies!

A cca is a consumer credit agreement and if the company cant provide it the debt is unenforcable, however if you want to get your money back and dont have all your statments you need to send a sar request, They have template letters on the site if you need them

Sam