Help really appreciated! Barclaycard Littlewoods PF & Mercers

LittleMissAnnoyed

I have googled my issues for a few days now and either find things from 2007 or end up going round in circles as it's not as straight forward as other cases!

Apologies in advance for this being long (thankfully I took notes of the lengthy process - ongoing since April 13th!!)

April 13th

Being self employed and the economy being as it is, my business dropped and I was having difficulty meeting my credit card payment with Littlewoods Personal Finance (LPF) Barclaycard. I rang them up after I'd missed a payment on april 13th. I explained the situaiton to the advisor (not sure he properly understaood me) and said I could afford to make a payment of £50....advisor then went on an 'info giving spree' telling me I'd never get any credit ever again, never ever get a mortgage etc etc. I argued the point as I didn't think this was right, as I thought if I kept up all payments on any arranged plan my credit file would pick itself up within about 5 years? (perhaps naive but I couldn't accept that he was telling me I'd never ever get credit again).

He set the agreement up for £50 per month and assumed that it would go in writing but never actually asked, I made the first £50 payment the next day april 14th.

At the end of April my statement arrives saying that because I'd missed a payment Mercers debt collection agency were now dealing with my account. I called them on the number given and spoke to someone who said the advisor should have explained that the 1st 2 months are a trial period and that after I'd made the 2nd payment they'd send the agreement in writing.

On 11th May I made the 2nd payment of £50. At the end of May, my statement again said because I'd missed yet another payment Mercers were dealing with the case. 28th May I called Mercers and explained the agreement I'd set up with LPF and what the advisor had said to me. The woman on the phone told me this was all completely wrong and the agreement had been put in the system completely incorrectly and didn't know why the advisor hadn't asked me to set it up for £63 a month instead over 3 months as that would stop the interest etc. I said I was annoyed at this and a complaint was escalated whereby they were going to listen to the call. A manager would call me back (he did and said he was investigating but this is the last I've heard of that!)

Anyway she said the only way to set up an agreement was to give them my debit card details to arrange payment dates - I wasn't comfortable doing this but she said that was the only way the plan could be set up. So I set the plan up with them and went through the next 3 months picking dates to take payment. They would not put this in writing as it was a 'verbal agreement'.

5th June - I receive a call from a Candy at LPF demanding a debit card payment of £180 to clear my arrears - I said I'd set up an arrangement with Mercers and she said there was no arrangement on my account? I hung up and called LPF direct. I explained I had set up an arrangement with Mercers but they were adament there was nothing on their system about this!

I called Mercers - spoke to someone there who said the case had been passed back to LPF and there was no further info on it. I panicked as I'd given them my card details and dates to take payment. The woman said there were no details for this! Spoke to LPF Manager and again nothing on their systems. Called Mercers again and spoke to someone different. She found my details but said the person had set it up for £50 a month but had no record of my debit card details. I disagreed at the amount straight away - and all I got was 'well thats what she put - it's not a mistake' so I asked them to listen to the call, she said they would and a manager would call me back.

I rang my bank to explain this and cancelled my card. Fraud was the first thing that entered my mind!

4 hours later I called Mercers back and spoke to someone different (everytime I call they want to put me straight back to LPF - as apparently they're not dealing with it! So I have to sit and explain the situation, over and over again) who again said he couldn't find my details.

I got very angry at this point as I was being completely messed around. He put me on hold - then miraculously found my details & the debit card payments set up for £63 in a 'database'! Apparently the agreement had been put in wrong again!!

I asked why this wasn't found earlier after being made out to be a liar and causing really undue distress. Said he didn't know! I said I'd had to cancel my card as they had no recollection of my details! He said 'why did you do that for now you can't make payments?'

I was really annoyed now as this was dragging on and I was doing everything possible to get it sorted. Said there was a 24 hour turn around for listening to calls (noone told me this before - and has obviously been more than 24 hours since complaining on 28th May too!) and that I'd receive a call back from a manager before 4pm saturday (yesterday) to discuss my complaint & set up an agreement.

Guess what - no call - I call them today - spoke to someone different who again wanted to pass me back to LPF so I had to explain again. Was kept on hold for a while and then told a manager had my acc. no and would call me either by 2pm today or tomorrow. How many promises can they give without delivering anything??

Noone seems to know whats going on.

I have taken notes of all calls etc.

I'm due to make a payment tomorrow but as mentioned I have cancelled my card and if I make £63 payment straight to Littlewoods I'll go round in circles again!

Who would be best to address my letter of complaint to - Mercers (PO Box address), LPF, or perhaps FSA?

Is i worth sending a CCA request?

Sorry for the length of this, I just don't know what else to do and thought someone could help me out if they've gone through the same thing or know anything legally etc

Help would be greatly appreciated, thank you :j

GeorgeUK

Looks like they dragged you through the hedge and back again on that one LMA.

I would suggest writing a complaint letter to both Mercers and LPF - send them to their head office. If they are telling you that they aren't dealing with your account, then discover that they are, this is incompetence. How much time and money have you wasted in pursuing this?

It seems you were misinformed by both companies and would also state that you are still awaiting the callback from LPF that the mmanager had said would be made.

Only communicate in writing with any company you are in debt with. You've probably noticed how they like to shift the blame. Tell them the situation you were in, the obstacles you have faced in making payments or even finding out who to make payments to, the actions you took to resolve this and where you find yourself now - complete with the time taken and expense of calls, charges and interest.

If you have bank charges, i suggest you claim these back and any PPI if it was missold. Alot of PPI does not cover the self employed.

Might be worth posting up a statement of affairs incase there are areas in your expenditure we may be able to spot savings in.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

ju34514

I would also advise sending all letters by recorded delivery, it's amazing how many of these people will tell you that they have never received your correspondence.:mad:

Supremedalek

Mercers is owned by Barclays! It is just a name they give to their debt-collecting department.

LittleMissAnnoyed

That's pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment I can tell you!!

April I called LPF once and Mercers once (after googling what someone said above I can see they're in the same office!), May I called each once again. Now June, I'm probably looking at the calls to LPF & 10 or more to Mercers! Thankfully I used the say no to 0870 website to get a number for Mercers (0151) so think this should eb covered in my monthly contract minutes.

You're very right about putting things in writing - but it seems they don't follow this principal!

I have FINALLY managed to speak to someone at Mercers - and they have now miraculously found my details and the woman explained the situation - Apparently they only deal with cases that are months in arrears and I am nowhere at all near that - so unsure as to why my statements always say they're dealing with it - but this is supposedly normal! Nothing like confusing people is there!

I am going to draft a letter this evening hopefully. As a Debt Collections Agency they have actually never written to me or called me, neither have LPF (apart from the suspicious call on Friday that sparked all of this) which is why I assumed an agreement was in place.

I claimed back bank charges in 2006 and was made to sign something that said I couldn't claim any more ever again....

No PPI as I removed that within the first year.

I appreciate this advice and has all been taken on board and will be actioned this evening/tomorrow.

Thank you again:beer:

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Looks like they dragged you through the hedge and back again on that one LMA.

I would suggest writing a complaint letter to both Mercers and LPF - send them to their head office. If they are telling you that they aren't dealing with your account, then discover that they are, this is incompetence. How much time and money have you wasted in pursuing this?

It seems you were misinformed by both companies and would also state that you are still awaiting the callback from LPF that the mmanager had said would be made.

Only communicate in writing with any company you are in debt with. You've probably noticed how they like to shift the blame. Tell them the situation you were in, the obstacles you have faced in making payments or even finding out who to make payments to, the actions you took to resolve this and where you find yourself now - complete with the time taken and expense of calls, charges and interest.

If you have bank charges, i suggest you claim these back and any PPI if it was missold. Alot of PPI does not cover the self employed.

Might be worth posting up a statement of affairs incase there are areas in your expenditure we may be able to spot savings in.

GeorgeUK

I seriously doubt that the document you signed could be upheld as a legal document, especially as they agreed with the OFT that they wouldn't do things like that.

If you have any further charges to reclaim, i would do so. Strange how it's us that have to do all the running around just to give our money away isn't it. Good luck with the letters.