Chad v GE Money

[purmashc]

Help,

I will keep it brief.

 

The account statements are not available. I have sent them a letter for non compliance and complained to the ICO. The reply was the same that GE Money have not got statements therefore can not pass them to me.

 

I want to start court procedure, i now when the account was opened and when it was closed. So is it alright to assumme that they charged me fees per month.

 

Any help will be good.

 

Thank you

 

chad

[steven4064]

So is it alright to assumme that they charged me fees per month.

Does that square with your memory of what happened. I think all you can do is make the best guess you can - I think it is up to them to prove it is wrong then. (Health warning - this is not standard CAG advice but my personal opinion).

 

For your information, GE Money charged £15 for late payment or returned cheques up until April 2003 when it increased to £18. They reduced it to £12 after April 2006 in response to the OFT report.

[purmashc]

Stephen

 

Thanks for your opinion. But i really have no clue to what months they charged me. I know the assumpption of charges every month is grossly over estimated.

 

Do you think that i should write to GE Money again stating that i am having to assumme they charged me every month, because they are unable to supply me statements to the contrary. Tell them they have 14 days to give there final word on the matter before i start court procedure.

 

I will express that it is down to them to prove otherwise.

 

I don't want to set up a N1 claim for a figure that i know is grossly high. But i have no other information to go on. If they gave me an offer then i would consider it. But they refuse any charges on the account without providing me with information to support it.

 

Thanks all for your help.

 

Chad

[steven4064]

A problem has occurred in a similar case elsewhere on CAG - a claimant has been asked by the court to supply a list of charges claimed with dates, which they obviously can't do because they are all estimated.

 

GE Money seem to pay up very quickly - on 'normal' claims almost immediately they receive the prelim letter.

 

In our case they only paid charges from the statements we had but they paid up on the estimated charges immediately after the LBA. If we assume that that is their standard response, it suggests a way forward - here's a suggestion (again with the same health warning as above):

 

Make as reaslistic an estimate as you can based on what you remember about charges - every couple of months, 3 times a year or whatever or every month during a time when you know things were difficult. Claim that. Don't go with a gross over-estimate and tell them roughly on what basis you have estimated the charges. You probably won't get any joy from the prelim but you might after your LBA. It may be that they actually come up with some information on what charges you actually paid from their accounting system.

 

If you don't get a positive response, we will need to think again because of the problem I mentioned.

[purmashc]

Originally Posted by purmashc

Hope you don't mind me sending you this.

 

In brief i had two stroe cards from GE Money.

Both was closed a while back.

 

I applied to get statements for the accounts, eventually i got almost all the statements for the Dorothy Perkins account. But GE Money could not give me any statements for the Topshop account they said they don't have them on record.

 

I complained to the Information Commissioners Office, they were told the same that GE Money do not have any statements that they can forward.

 

With the Dorohty Perkins account i claimed back all the charges and tfor the statements that were missing G MOney assummed that there was a charge and refunded the amount.

 

As i have got no statements for the Topshop account i tried to claim a charge for every month the account was active, i do feel that this is over the top but did not have another approach left to follow.

 

Ge Money said no to the charges. Saying from what the can see on the account there was no charges applied. I know this is not the truth either.

 

I have sent them LBA a couple of times and received no more correspondence from them.

 

I am desperatly seeking advice as what to do next.

 

1. Send another LBA this time asking for 75% of the charges to show that i am not being unreasonable.

 

2. File a N1 in the court for the orginal amount and wait to see there response.

 

Please if you can provide any advice it would be most welcome.

 

Also am i right in that the OFT test case has changed nothing and to keep pursuing my claims with Lloyds TSB who have by far been the most annoying, and have sent me on a wild goose chase.

 

Thank you in advance

Chad

[steven4064]

Hi Chad

 

The problem with going to court with a claim made up of estimated charges is this: what are you going to do if the court asks you to provide a list of charges and dates as in the 'new' draft directions or if you have to put together a court bundle?

 

But here's another tack you could try: You sent them an SAR, but they say they have no statements (this is probably true - GE Money's system is c**p. In fact they have had their knuckles rapped about it).

 

However, they are telling you that "from what they can see on the account there was no charges applied". My question would be this: if they haven't got your stataments, how do they know?

 

Further, under your SAR, you are entitled to all data they hold on you where you are the subject, not just statements. The statement "from what they can see on the account there was no charges applied" implies they have data on you which they didn't supply in response to your SAR, in contravention of the DPA 1998.

 

The OFT test case has changed things as far as bank current accounts are concerned in that claims are being put on hold. THe case does not apply to credit card claims.

[purmashc]

Hi

 

I am still stuggling to get anyway with GE Money.

 

I sent them another letter before action on the 5th August, there complaints team responded by the 9th August saying they will investigate the matter and said they will be in touch in 4 weeks.

 

They gave me anumber that i can call, and so i did explaining that my orginal complaint was lodges on the 10 th May 2007, and they have not yet resolved the matter.

 

They passed me back and forth all yesterday and everyone i spoke to said they will call back, but no one did.

 

I really don't want to go to court with estimated charges and i also do not want to wait for their complaint department investigation. Can i get the money back if i complain to the FOS.

 

Also when GE Money did not respond to the SAR in the 40 days i complained to the ICO. They closed there investigation in June 2007 stating that GE Money had told them that they do not hold any information on the account, the same they told me. So the ICO said as they do not have the information they can't send it to me. Therefore they have correctly handled my SAR.

 

However in a letter i received later GE Money rejected my claim on estimated charges because they said from what information they have on the account they can see that no charges have been applied to the account.

 

I have asked them several time since to pass on any infiormation they have, which they are investigating. So with this statement can i re complain to ICO stating that they are in breech of the data protection act.

 

Please help and also if anyone has a number i can call to GE Money to talk would help.

 

Chad

[steven4064]

Hi Chad

 

perhaps you should specifically home in on the contradiction in what GE money have told you:

 

1) "they do not hold any information on the account"

2) "from what information they have on the account they can see that no charges have been applied to the account"

 

I would write to GE Money and copied to ICO (use your old complaint number/file number) and point out that they either have information or they don't - they cannot have it both ways like this. Attach copies of the letters where these statements appear with the statements highlighted.

 

Point out that statement 2 means they are in breach of the DPA as they have not supplied you with that information.

[happyshopper29]

Hi Chad,

I am in the same position as you in trying to get statements from GE Capital.

I recently received my credit report from Callcredit and they have detailed on there which months you paid late, so I thought I may use this data to estimate the charges. You can get a credit report from them for £2.00.

I will send my prelim tomorrow and see if they pay up.

Good luck with your claim.

[purmashc]

Thanks for the information Happyshopper29,

 

 

I will find out about callcredit shortly. To update my situation, I sent a letter to GE Money as a letter before action stating that they seem to have contradicted themself my telling me they had no information and then telling be from what the can see from my account details.

 

GE Money responed by saying they will investigate the complaint. They gave me a number and asked me to call if i required any infromation.

 

I did and with being persistent Lana at the complaints team said that she will send of for my statements and for each statement they can not provide she said they will over compensate me. So she asked me to wait a week. But if she is true to her words i should be getting a very good sum back.

 

I have warned her that if the statements for the account now turn up i will still be making a claim for breech under the data protection act. Seeing as i asked for them in March 2007 and they told me and the ICO they can not find any information on the account.

 

I will keep you all updated. As what happens next week. But thanks for the advice about call credit it gives me another direction to go in if get no luck next week.

 

Thanks

 

Chad

[purmashc]

Hi Folks

 

Just an update, it has been a hassel and took weeks to get this far. But Yesterday received a letter from GE Money saying that they can not find any statement for my TOPSHOP Account. So Because they have already deceided on my Dorothy Perkins account that if there are are statement s missing they will assumme that a charge was made and overcomsate me.

 

It is exactlty what i asked them to do. The only problem is that i calculated they owe me £744 they have missed some of the charge because they are only going as far has six year from now September 2007.

 

Seening as i requested the dated in March 2007 i am going to ask them to refund the extra 6 months that they have missed out.

 

That means that i miss out on the charges before March 2001 which again is another six months from when the account was opended. Can i claim them back? if so i would welcom some advice as to how.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Chad

[purmashc]

Almost complete they sent a cheque for the majority, i sent them the partial settlemt letter. Then gave them a call and they have agreed to pay the rest.

 

Just waiting for the final cheque to come now.

 

It took a long time to sort this account out because they have no records for the account left because of there poor filling system. I don't know if my settlement helps all those that also had no statements sent to them. But if it does i will send copies of my letter to any one that requires them.

 

Regards

 

Chad

[steven4064]

THat's great Chad. GE Money are acomplete shambles, well done for sticking it out. It might be worth posting you letter here (suitably anonymised of course) so that others can benefit.

[purmashc]

Ok steven i willpost the letters soon.

 

Just figure out how to scan it on to the computer.

 

Good luck to all, i am off to battle with Citi card and Lloyds TSB both delaying my claim as much as they can. But i now have funds to press with court action

[steven4064]

You don't need to scan it, just cut and paste the text from Word. You can also use the quote facility - the yellow quote icon in the menu bar of the reply box.

[electric lemon]

Just want to say a big thank you here.

 

I am presently in a battle with GE/CL Finance regarding a Counterclaim.

 

GE failed to provide me with ANY statements when first requested. It went to court and they still failed to present with all statements only supply a few months worth & not the years that I had requested.

 

The Judge has given them until 19th sept to come up with them (gave them 3 weeks instead of 2!), and another Court date has been set for beg Oct.

 

I was thinking that the statements might not get to me by next week but probably would by Oct, but now.....I may have a little hope due to info on here!

 

If they are not forthcoming by the court date I will definately be asking for a strike out!

 

Thanks guys!