Music and Film Con/rip off

hazeyj

After taking Legal advice and risk getting a CCJ on my account I just paid the £25. They are/were scumbags.

Pont

To continue from my earlier post (#9), I've just received a letter from Scotcall Debt Collecting Services. To quote,

'We confirm that your outstanding debt due to the above mentioned company (CCS/MUSICANDFILM) has now been placed with "SCOTCALL" for immediate collection and settlement.
We intend to arrange a doorstep call (written in a red font!) by one of our representatives unless within 7 days you respond to this letter and make specific repayment proposals etc etc'.

It would appear that the original collection agency (CCS) and the solicitors involved (S.C. Grey & Co.) have passed this "debt" onwards. Perhaps this is due to the fact that my letter sent to S.C. Grey stating that I intend to contest this matter in court, and would be counter claiming for harassment, plus £25.00 for every letter I have sent etc. etc. would have something to do with it!
I will be sending a letter to Scotcall (at an additional claim or £25.00)informing them that the solicitors have been told of my intentions and that a court hearing is pending (so I was originally told) and should they turn up on my doorstep I will call the police.
Should anyone else be in this situation please note that these jokers are not court appointed, ie bailiffs, and have absolutely no right of entry to your property.
If any of you want to forward me details of problems/harassment from Musicandfilm, Channel, Britannia or whatever name this outfit are using these days, and any details of threatening letters from credit collection agengies they are using, please do so. I intend to collect as much info as possible and forward it onto Trading Standards and other consumer protection organizations.

Brainhertz

It looks like the old Britannia / B Club image is being killed off – “B Club is not taking new customers for its Music and Film Club at the moment”. :beer:

The thing that amazes me with this shower is that they are staying with the same, outdated ‘club’ business model of monthly magazine, payment on account etc. These expensive overheads only lead to higher than average prices and an outfit that will try every marketing ploy to get people to buy – whether they want to or not! :mad:

Remember – cheap DVDs are only a good deal if you don’t have to buy others at OTT prices. :T

The practice of luring consumers with cheap introductory offers, locking them in, then ripping them off later should be outlawed.

hazeyj

Pont wrote:

To continue from my earlier post (#9), I've just received a letter from Scotcall Debt Collecting Services. To quote,

'We confirm that your outstanding debt due to the above mentioned company (CCS/MUSICANDFILM) has now been placed with "SCOTCALL" for immediate collection and settlement.
We intend to arrange a doorstep call (written in a red font!) by one of our representatives unless within 7 days you respond to this letter and make specific repayment proposals etc etc'.

It would appear that the original collection agency (CCS) and the solicitors involved (S.C. Grey & Co.) have passed this "debt" onwards. Perhaps this is due to the fact that my letter sent to S.C. Grey stating that I intend to contest this matter in court, and would be counter claiming for harassment, plus £25.00 for every letter I have sent etc. etc. would have something to do with it!
I will be sending a letter to Scotcall (at an additional claim or £25.00)informing them that the solicitors have been told of my intentions and that a court hearing is pending (so I was originally told) and should they turn up on my doorstep I will call the police.
Should anyone else be in this situation please note that these jokers are not court appointed, ie bailiffs, and have absolutely no right of entry to your property.
If any of you want to forward me details of problems/harassment from Musicandfilm, Channel, Britannia or whatever name this outfit are using these days, and any details of threatening letters from credit collection agengies they are using, please do so. I intend to collect as much info as possible and forward it onto Trading Standards and other consumer protection organizations.

Hiya do let me know how you get on with this as when I contacted trading standards I was told that as I did not have the original email to which I replied to that I couldnt prove that I had not agreed to any contract and more than likely there would have been a disclaimer on the email or at some point through the free ipod sign up process I went through.

Good luck!

Pont

Hi Hazeyj,

Re: Trading Standards comment. More to the point is, can Music and Film prove that you HAD agreed to the membership? My advice to everyone out there is don't pay the £25 "cancellation" fee - I have the feeling that this outfit would have long been put out of business if everybody refused to pay up.
In my case 1) I refused to pay to cancel a membership I hadn't signed up for, 2) Told there 1st credit collection service that I wasn't going to pay, 3) Told their solicitor that I wasn't going to pay and would look forward to meeting them in court and 4) Told their 2nd collection service I won't be paying and if anyone from their company visited my property I would take out an injunction against them (which of course they would be paying for)..
This tells me that Music and Film can't be bothered with this (non) debt so passed (sold) it onwards and the subsequent collection company can't be bothered with persuing it either so have passed (sold) it on to a second collection agency.
No reply from 2nd collection agency yet - 5 days and counting!
Stick to your guns guys!

hazeyj

ha ha you get em!! I just frightened into having a bad credit record which was why I paid. Funny tho its never showed up on any of my credit files.

Pont

Just to keep you all up-to-date.
I haven't received anymore letters/threats etc from Scotcall. When I last contacted them I gave them 14 days to respond to my letter or I would assume that this matter is settled once and for all. It has now been 20 days and I haven't heard anything back.
For those of you worried about an adverse credit rating you can check yours out at annualcreditreport.co.uk for free. At present not all areas of the country are covered but they're adding more areas all the time.
Hope this helps.

hazeyj

good on ya.

Pont

57 days and counting - seems like the suckers have backed off. Stick to your guns everyone - bad companies shouldn't prosper!

jimmmyc

Hi, thanks for keeping the fight going, they got me around this time last year. It will be interesting to see if they try the same scam again