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Fashion world catalogue

Please move if this will be better off somewhere else.

My MIL owes money to fashion world. She is paying it back but only paying what she can afford which isnt alot. The debt is only for £200 something. They are not satisfied with what she has been paying. Anyway, she has said to them on the phone numerous times now that she has never actually signed a contract with them so they are lucky that she is paying anything at all. Is she right? She's been threatening to stop payments altogether if they dont stop calling the house phone which they seem to be doing alot at the moment. I've offered to pay the whole debt myself and then she can pay me back instead but she wont have any of it.

I've said that i really dont think she is right after all she had the stuff from them, she should pay it :confused:

Who's right?

Thanks in advance x
Baby Thomas Jake 'TJ' is due 01.11.10

Comments

  • Ivory_Tinkler
    Ivory_Tinkler Posts: 1,089 Forumite
    She will have a contract surely? By ordering the goods and then the company supplying she has entered into a contract. If she withholds payment then she could find herself in a whole lot of trouble when they come after her for the debt. Hope you manage to resolve this soon.
  • Wett
    Wett Posts: 6 Forumite
    There must have been some aggreement in writing though right?
  • Wett
    Wett Posts: 6 Forumite
    Yep your right ivory!,once you sign up to an account you automatically sign a contract i.e you have to accept the terms and conditions of the site, before they will allow you use their site
  • I think that what is she is referring to is the lack of an agreement under the CCA 1974.

    And yes, she is actually correct. Catalogues operate in a way where the customer places an order and send the goods on approval. In order to be protected by the CCA, they should send an agreement to be signed by the consumer before they send off the goods. Of course, they can't really do that, it would be too impractical, so they send the goods.

    From a legal point of view, lack of a CCA means the debt is non-enforceable. It still exists, but it can't be enforced.

    What will usually happen when a customer defaults like this and there is no CCA is that the company will eventually cut their losses and flog it to a DCA who are not so bothered about legalities and will try to harass the customer into paying.

    That's the legal position. The moral position is something altogether different, of course. :o

    Edit: This doesn't mean the catalogue should be harassing her in that manner, so if you click on my sig and go to the debt forum, there's a template letter she can send to tell them to stop phoning them and make sure they only write to her.
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If she is paying what she can afford,She doesn't deserve to be hounded and I think,in her situation I would tell them the same.Perhaps dropping her payments to less,with a letter stating she will increase the payments back up when they stop phoning her
  • The moral position is something altogether different, of course. :o

    quote]

    Thats my point exactly. Thanks for the advice :beer: . I will show her this in the morning and see what she says!

    x
    Baby Thomas Jake 'TJ' is due 01.11.10
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 35,358 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Savvy Shopper!
    fannyannie wrote: »
    I've offered to pay the whole debt myself and then she can pay me back instead but she wont have any of it.

    What's is your MIL's reasons for not accepting your offer?
    Can you afford to do it without hardship?
    £200 can be a lot to some people but just 'loose change' to others.
    If you CAN afford to pay this off, I can't see why she wouldn't let you do that rather than be constantly harrassed for the debt.
    I appreciate that some people wish to be independent but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
    Is she just being awkward about this debt?
    Are you sure that she's not running up more debts to other companies?
  • Another thing I was thinking of:

    If she has been paying them reduced amounts for a long time, odds are that they loaded her account with £12 charges and she should reclaim those, as if the balance is only £200, it may well turn out that she actually owes them nothing and they owe her... Just a thought. ;)
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Pollycat wrote: »
    What's is your MIL's reasons for not accepting your offer?
    Can you afford to do it without hardship?
    £200 can be a lot to some people but just 'loose change' to others.
    If you CAN afford to pay this off, I can't see why she wouldn't let you do that rather than be constantly harrassed for the debt.
    I appreciate that some people wish to be independent but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
    Is she just being awkward about this debt?
    Are you sure that she's not running up more debts to other companies?

    Or does she feel you are looking down on her?
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 35,358 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Savvy Shopper!
    fannyannie
    you say it's your MIL who has this debt problem. What does your OH say about it? If he knows about it, can he persuade her to accept your offer to pay in full?

    Good point from bookworm1363 re claiming charges back - if your MIL will let you help her sort this out.
    It does sound to me like she wants to manage this herself and you may be :wall: .
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