Homebase misleading invoice

EmEd1984

I bought a sofa and some bits last year from Homebase and decided to take them up on their 6 months interest free 'buy now pay later' incentive. I've received monthly invoices saying what I owe, and a highlighted box saying 'your minimum payment is £0.00 / your payment is due by dd/mm/yy', so I never paid anything. Obviously.

Similarly, last months statement said 'your minimum payment is £0.00 / your payment is due by 07.05.09 / estimated interest next month £96.45' ...so again, I didn't pay anything, thinking that next month was when when I either choose to pay off the entire amount, or start paying the interest.

This month I've received an invoice which now has a current balance that is £96.45 higher than the previous month and 'your minimum payment is £30.82 / your payment is due by 06/06/09'.

:mad:

Pretty angry, I called up and a man called Michael told me it was deferred interest and I should've paid what I owed!! My argument (obviously) is that the invoice said I had nothing to pay by the 7th May so I didn't. Even more annoyingly, I'd been putting money aside ready to pay the bill when it was due but as I hadn't thought it was, I hadn't paid it. The short version of the story is that I spoke to the manageress Jenny who said the same thing as Michael, and after being rather rude, actually HUNG UP on my husband (the phone had not 'clicked off' like she tried to fob us with when we called back). We've told them we're taking the matter to the Financial Ombudsman as we feel the way the invoice is structured and worded can be very easily misinterpreted and used to their advantage, and that they can take this (second) call as our formal verbal complaint regarding the Manageress's attitude and unprofessionalism.

I'm really very upset about the whole thing as I'm sure they'll kick up a stink about dropping the interest, but there is no WAY I'm paying it based on their sneaky tactics. How many people must've been stung by this?? I consider myself quite savvy when it comes to finances, so there must be thousands of people getting conned into paying the entire 6 month interest.


Any advice as to what is the best way to now go about this?
Has anyone got any success or failure stories similar to this one?


Thanks in advance guys, any thoughts are massively appreciated

EmEd x

bengal-stripe

EmEd1984 wrote: »

Similarly, last months statement said 'your minimum payment is £0.00 / your payment is due by 07.05.09 / estimated interest next month £96.45' ...so again, I didn't pay anything, thinking that next month was when when I either choose to pay off the entire amount, or start paying the interest.

I think the matter is quite clear:

There is no minimum to pay this month, as you have the chance to pay the entire balance by 07/05/09. Failing to do that, the (accumulated) interest will be charged with next month‘s bill, then the credit agreement (where you will pay no less than the minimum payment) will be in place).

It is your failure, that you did not understand the agreement. You could have phoned and asked for clarification.

j2009

This isn't what you want to hear but I think the wording (as you have explained it) is clear. I interpret it as you don't have to pay anything this month and if you don't then the interest you will be charged on your next statement is £96. There is also usually an explanation of 'indicative interest' on the statement somewhere so it may be worth checking for this.

I suspect if you are anything like me (and we've all made silly mistakes like this) then you're probably kicking yourself and perhaps you are directing your anger at the Homebase employees a bit?

I am not disputing that they may not have handled it the best and way not have helped the situation but fundamnetally what they're saying is probably right.

Take a step back, have a cup of tea, and recheck the statement. If you still genuinely think it's misleading then of course complain and try and get the interest returned, and continue with your complaint against the manager. However, if on reflection you realise it is your mistake just put it down as a learning experience.... you will never do it again I promise!