computer company agreeing to cancel agreement, then nto doing so..in trouble

Thatgutcraig

I agreed to take out a computer training course last year with this company.

I got the first set of letters, and after reading through them, realised that what I got sold is not really what they were offering. I proceeded to contact them and advise them of my problem (which also included the fact that I changed job and housing situation, meaning I could not afford any payments) and they was happy to tell me not to worry, it would be cancelled. (the main problem is that they take out a loan with Barclays partner finance to fund the training)

Fast forward a year, and money starts coming out of my account. I Cancel the direct debit, and contact Barclays and the computer company, who claim never to have heard about my call to cancel the course.

I had various contact and disputes with them to try and sort this out, and I even contacted local and national papers, office of fair trading, financial ombudsman, citizen’s advice bureau etc... and advised them of the same.

After my local paper made a call to them about the situation, they agreed to look in to it, and it transpired that they in fact owned up that it was their fault (maybe not in as many words)

Speaking to one of the financial mangers, we came to an agreement, that if I paid £250 to them (for correspondence, initial letters, registration etc) that they would cancel my course, and the agreement with Barclays finance. I had a letter drafted up from them to this affect which I have on email.

The letter asked me to reply by a certain day in August, agreeing to the terms, which I did. I then sent a cheque to them, which they claim never to have received, so the cheque was cancelled (it was a loan from a family member) and I told them that I would have to find the money to pay them on card payment.

Times have been hard, and I struggled to find the disposable income to pay this. I did, however, keep in contact at all times with the finance manger, advising her that the money would be paid ASAP, and she was fine with this. I paid the money in December, and asked that I received confirmation of the payment.

I received no emails to this affect, and yesterday came home to a letter from a debt collection company, demanding I pay them the full amount of the loan AND MORE by the 14th of January or it will go to litigation. (as a matter of a fact, they are asking for the total loan, PLUS the full amount of interest that would accumulate over 4 years or so)

I have spoken to this company a few weeks back after their first letter, and advised them of the problem. It seems that they choose to ignore this, and the computer company has broken their promise? As I say, out agreement is all in writing.

Can any one help? Have any suggestions etc? I am really, really stressed out about this now, and am panicking that I’m going to get in to serious trouble.

I have email the companies today, and will peruse with a phone call at lunch.

Rafter

Send a copy to the debt collection company of what you have agreed and they cannot chase you - probably when the debt was overdue for a certain period, it was automatically transferred to a collector.

You are also protected potentially by S.75 of the consumer credit act that if you never received the training then barclays are equally not entitled to pursue you for payment.

Good luck

R.

Thatgutcraig

cheers rafter