Ebay and IQOR - Help Needed

DreamX

Hi there,

I'm after a bit of advice regarding this matter? I had an outstanding balance on ebay which was forgotten about. It was passed on to iqor debt collection who sent me a letter about the £44.33 I owed. I made an agreement to pay them £10 a month providing they sent me a confirmation letter with dates, times, amounts and how to pay. They agreed.

I waited and waited but no letter arrived. I rang them and I was told they only do computerized letters and don't have the facility to type out an actual letter. The lady ended up getting very angry and threatening and told me I could no longer have an agreement and go and sort it out with ebay.

I came off the phone and spoke to ebay, they informed me the amount owed was only £34.33 so I payed ebay in full.

I again rang Iqor and informed them the debt had now been payed. They told me that I still had to pay their £10 fee that they had added on top and if I don't they will take it through the legal route.

My question is are they allowed to add this fee and am I legally entitled to pay it?

Thanks for reading!

Scott

DreamX

Anybody out there?

Reggie256

What is the £10 fee for?

Irrespective, I really don't think that any legal action can be taken over a 'debt' of £10, and the reasons for owing it are questionable.

I would suggest contacting Ebay again and asking them to tell these fools that no monies are owed. Furthermore, if you have proof that the account is settled, send it to these people (recorded delivery).

DarkConvict

I agree i doubt they would attempt a small claims court for £10, a fee for a service that was never provided as they agreed to an agreement, but failed to set it up so you have no choice but to contact the original creditor yourself and pay them directly.

Speaking to EBay would be your best bet, and get them to call off the debt collection agent as they is no money outstanding.

You could quiz consumer direct / national debtline for advice aswell.

Reggie256

Just looked into this matter (the £10 fee) and am confident that they can't make you pay it.

The OFT guidelines (found here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf)
stipulate:

Section 2.9: Charges should not be levied unfairly.
Section 2.10: Examples of unfair practices are as follows (I'll only quote the relevant ones):

a: Claiming collection costs from a debtor in the absense of express contractural or other legal provision.

b: Misleading debtors into beleiving they are legally liable to pay collection charges when this is not the case, for example when there is no contractural provision

d: Applying unreasonable charges, for example, charges not based on actual or necessary costs

DarkConvict

I have seen them aswell reggie256 my only concern been i do not know how they are actually applied. I know they cant charge interest unless it is a loan/credit card that was already charging that rate, but to a single collection charge i do not know how they apply.

bryanbukowski

I am under the impression that you do need to pay this fee. Once the debt is passed over to a debt collector, you are responsible for any fees they may charge. Whether or not they take it to court is irrelevent compared to the amount of hassle they could cause for you. As far as they're concerned, you owe them £10.

If however eBay never gave you enough warning before they sent it to the debt collectors then you may be able to take this up with eBay and they can resolve things with the debt collector.

Otherwise, it's a fee you are entitled to pay.

B

Jools07

Same thing happened with me. Apparently I owe them £8. I have settled my debt with eBay (£30) and have had nothing in writing, just a call out of the blue. They said my debt (£8) would be sent to Geoffrey Parker Bourne Solicitors if I didn't pay.

I don't feel very comfortable about paying over the phone when I've had nothing else from this company.

But I don't want to have GPB adding to the £8 fees and this getting silly. Any advice?