Me v's Choice Catalogue/GCC Debt Recovery

andrea75_2

I need some advice/help. So grab yourself a cuppa….

And so it begins……

My Choice catalogue balance in Dec 2003 stood at £798.96.

On 7th January 2004 I made a payment of £701.00 by cheque (which was written by Welcome Finance).

On my Choice statement dated 12th January 2004, I noticed the ‘payment received’ was entered as £7.01 and not £701.00 as actually sent. £693.99 was not credited to my account.

I made several phone calls to choice regarding this ‘missing’ money, they always told me they would look into it.

They then started asking me for proof that the cheque was written for this amount and told me I needed to provide copies of the cheque.

GREAT! I thought problem solved. How wrong was I??

They denied receiving my letters. So I would send them recorded and again they would either deny receiving them, or tell me they were in the system and could take a few weeks to reach the intended department.

Anyway, after receiving correspondence from Nationwide Debt Recovery, and now GCC Debt Recovery the problem still remains unsolved.

In November 2005, I sent an 8 page document proving that the money had been taken from Welcome Finance’s bank account. I asked them in my letter to confirm receipt, they never did, and when I contacted them they told me they never received the letter. So it was sent again in January 2006 via recorded delivery, I am still awaiting a reply.

The documents stated the money was in an Inter Bank Settlement Account within the RBS. They also state the reference code that the money can be found under on their statement.

In May 2004, my statement balance with Choice stood at £1262.22. (This included some buy now pay later items)

With this in mind I deducted the £693.99 which would leave my balance at £568.23 which I totally accept responsibility for.

GCC have recently sent me a letter saying I owe £1774.76, so if I deduct the £693.99 and the £568.23 this leaves a balance of £512.54 in charges.

I have written to them saying I will pay £40 per month off the £568.23 which they have told me via phone (on 10/3/06) is not acceptable. The gentleman (I use this term very loosely!) on the phone was quite rude to me, and I was very quick to point out that had it not been for the incompetence of the data entry clerk then I wouldn’t be in this situation now.

I’m at the end of my tether with these people, and wondered if anyone could help me in anyway. :mad:

Many thanks

Andrea

MrsTinks

Hmmmm firstly call them and if possible record the conversation (make them aware that you are recording the conversation or it's illegal) Ask to speak to a manager, a team leader or supervisor will NOT do! A call back later is also not acceptable. No call center is ever without a senior manager even if it means dragging them out of a meeting.

Get name and job title (so you can put it on future correspondance) and advice them to sit down and get comfy! Then start with the beginning and explain to them what has happened - how many times you have sent proof- how rude the staff have been, how useless they have all been. You get the gist But be polite! Don't raise your voice and don't shout... When you have told all then explain what you actually want THEM to do... SORT OUT the correct amount of money you paid them and credit it to your account, and how you intend to pay the remainder back. Explain that they are your last attempt of resolving this amiacably before you hand this over to the financial industry watch dog and BBC watchdog because this has taken FAR too long to be sorted out due to incompetence of their staff. If they still can't locate the money you sent them although they have removed it from your account then you would like this confirmed in a letter because it then becomes a matter of theft within their company and you would like to know what action they intend to take

Geee can you tell I'm feeling all geared up today

andrea75_2

Thanks tine, I have been considering going down the watchdog route (as long as I dont have to go on the telly )

I have already threatened them with a solicitor, but to no avail. I find it really frustrating that they never let me speak to the same person twice!! which means I have to run through everything all over again :wall: .

During my phone call on Friday, they also told me to get signatures (at my expense) for the recorded delivery mail I have sent and once I have provided it, they will take it from there!!! The cheek!! :mad:

One thing is for sure, I'm not gonna back down on this one!!

Xbigman

You should immediately refute all charges they have applied and ask for a full statement of account for the whole period in dispute. Pay for all goods recieved immediately if you can. And one last very important thing *stop using the account*. Once an account is in dispute you should not use it at all until everything is resolved in writing. By adding more items to the account you are just making the situation more complicated and harder to resolve.
Regards



X

louise30_2

Hello

Not that I'm an expert, but if I were you, I would try not to threaten them too much even if they are wrong. I used to be a news reporter and companies would say to us that had people not threatened them they would have done something quciker. If you want to go to watchdo, don't tell them you are going to do it. I would recommend talking to your local council's trading standards department and CAB office. In my experience of writing consumer type stories like these, the two departments usually have the legal know how on these matters and the companies know that they can not be fobbed off.

andrea75_2

Thanks to everyone for the comments so far. Just to clarify, the account hasn't been used since this problem arose, the additional £568.23 was for goods bought on a buy now pay later scheme in 2003 which can be added upto 9mths later.

I have also tried the local trading standards team who found choice very hard to deal with, despite me writing a letter to choice to authorise trading standards to deal with this problem on my behalf, they (choice) still refused to deal with them :wall:

I am very grateful for all the comments so far

Andrea

AGB863

Having read through your problem, I need to ask have you been served with a "default notice" for your account?

If it is you can go back to the comapny that is chasing the debt, in this case GCC, and state to them "that the amount you are claiming is in dispute with Choice catalogue and has been since 12th January 2004 and because of this under the Office of Fair Trading guidence for debt collection (Section 2.6 h) they can not continue to make demands for immediate payment."

If they continue to make demands for payment in full, they can be reported to the OFT and their licence to trade could be at risk.

Do not make any offer to repay any amount until you have the true outstanding balance as this could be seen as accepting liability.

You could put this in wrting to GCC and state that you will not deal with them as the dispute is with Choice.

The full guidence is Here

andrea75_2

AGB863 wrote:

Having read through your problem, I need to ask have you been served with a "default notice" for your account?

The answer to this is Yes. I was served with a default notice 24/08/2004 and then sent another on 28/06/2005. Once this problem has been resolved can I insist they remove them?

AGB863

andrea75 wrote:

AGB863 wrote:

Having read through your problem, I need to ask have you been served with a "default notice" for your account?

The answer to this is Yes. I was served with a default notice 24/08/2004 and then sent another on 28/06/2005. Once this problem has been resolved can I insist they remove them?

Once the "dispute" is settled- your credit file will be marked as the debt has been settled - you may need to check this yourself to see that it has been done.

andrea75_2

I have contacted GCC again, and have been informed that the documents I sent to them are now with the 'payments dept' in their headoffice. They have also put the account 'on hold' I was told.

I also asked if they kept records of when I ring/they ring me etc, which they do....so when I asked for the name of the person I spoke to on Friday (who was very rude to me) I was told the person didn't log the call. Typical!! Well that will teach me to take there details before I start speaking to them

Hopefully this will be sorted soon

andrea75_2

Well today I spoke to GCC (I rang them!!). They have finally adjusted the balance on the account to show that the £693.99 has been recieved. :j

However, they still say that I owe them £1080.00 and that I must pay. I told them that in May 2004 my balance stood at £568.23, so the rest must be charges (that im not prepared to pay). I was then told that they have only had the debt for 10mths and when they received it, the balance stood at £1714.00. I am happy to pay £568.23 plus a resonable amount of interest for the last 2 years. :wall:

I'm not backing down on this one, and refuse to let them intimidate me. Can anyone advise on what my next step should be.

Hope this makes sense

Has anyone else had 'dealings' with GCC Debt recovery?