Freemans - serious help needed

Kangol_Rat

OK, the longest story in the world here...but this is making me ill now.

In Feb, after the OH came out hospital, I rang Freemans to arrange collection of my minidisk, which broke 3 months after receiving. The girl i spoke to arranged it for collected 15 feb (I rang on 13 Feb)

It was collected 13th about 1pm, and signed for by my OH brother. He was given a tiny returns label with a barcode, and Parcelnet on the top.

Well, very shortly after, my Grandad died, and then my dog (yes, daft I know).

It wasnt until 2 months after the collection I noticed this hadnt come off my statement. I looked for the return "tiniest note in the world" but with everything I had been through, I could not, and can not find.

On ringing them, they told me they had never received a return request, there was nothing on the system saying one had been arranged, or that i had even asked! Nothing! But there was a note I rang that day?!

She tried to return it manually, as per her manager, but because it had been passed to bad debt, it wouldnt let them.

They advised writing to Head office and explain and they should sort it out. I practically begged them to help, and I even described the label!!! I sent the letter in June, recorded, and waited.

And waited....

And waited...

I rang freemans 2 weeks later, and was rudely told that Head office had replied...in May! A month before i rang and wrote to them! Very clever! And the fact i had never received it. I was told that I should just wait...

So i waited...

And waited...

And gave up and tried to find out who collected it. It was parcelnet. I spoke to them and they tried to help. It was passed to different people, me giving them the date I rang (and even time!), date collected, who signed for it, what the parcel looked like...

I got a call back saying they had passed back to Freemans as they would have more info. I also rang and told the Bad Debt company what had happened, and they are holding off until notified.

I then rang Parcelnet back a week later, and the girl I spoke too seemed suprised Freemans hadnt rang me! She emailed them again.

I then sent another letter to head office about 2 weeks ago, telling them all that had happened.

Suprise suprise....no reply.

I dont know what to do. Freemans have never replied or acknowledged my letters. I find it hard to believe there is nothing about the collection, unless they are physic, and just knew to collect it!!

They have made no real effort to help, apart from the first person I spoke to.

What do I do?? This is making me ill now

hollydays

quick reply-sure others will follow-Freemans is a member of the mail order traders association.google their website and email or tel. them.

hjb123

Was it an expensive item?

Send a letter (recorded or special delivery) to the chief exec or managing director and say something along the lines of explaining everything that has happened and if you dont hear anything within x amount of days you will be proceeding thorugh the small claims court. It may also be worth bringing Trading Standards into it

clark1982

Kangol_Rat wrote:

OK, the longest story in the world here...but this is making me ill now.

In Feb, after the OH came out hospital, I rang Freemans to arrange collection of my minidisk, which broke 3 months after receiving. The girl i spoke to arranged it for collected 15 feb (I rang on 13 Feb)

It was collected 13th about 1pm, and signed for by my OH brother. He was given a tiny returns label with a barcode, and Parcelnet on the top.

Well, very shortly after, my Grandad died, and then my dog (yes, daft I know).

It wasnt until 2 months after the collection I noticed this hadnt come off my statement. I looked for the return "tiniest note in the world" but with everything I had been through, I could not, and can not find.

On ringing them, they told me they had never received a return request, there was nothing on the system saying one had been arranged, or that i had even asked! Nothing! But there was a note I rang that day?!

She tried to return it manually, as per her manager, but because it had been passed to bad debt, it wouldnt let them.

They advised writing to Head office and explain and they should sort it out. I practically begged them to help, and I even described the label!!! I sent the letter in June, recorded, and waited.

And waited....

And waited...

I rang freemans 2 weeks later, and was rudely told that Head office had replied...in May! A month before i rang and wrote to them! Very clever! And the fact i had never received it. I was told that I should just wait...

So i waited...

And waited...

And gave up and tried to find out who collected it. It was parcelnet. I spoke to them and they tried to help. It was passed to different people, me giving them the date I rang (and even time!), date collected, who signed for it, what the parcel looked like...

I got a call back saying they had passed back to Freemans as they would have more info. I also rang and told the Bad Debt company what had happened, and they are holding off until notified.

I then rang Parcelnet back a week later, and the girl I spoke too seemed suprised Freemans hadnt rang me! She emailed them again.

I then sent another letter to head office about 2 weeks ago, telling them all that had happened.

Suprise suprise....no reply.

I dont know what to do. Freemans have never replied or acknowledged my letters. I find it hard to believe there is nothing about the collection, unless they are physic, and just knew to collect it!!

They have made no real effort to help, apart from the first person I spoke to.

What do I do?? This is making me ill now

Do you have the call you made to them listed on a itemised telephone bill, this would prove you contacted them!

Astaroth

hjb123 wrote:

Was it an expensive item?

Send a letter (recorded or special delivery) to the chief exec or managing director and say something along the lines of explaining everything that has happened and if you dont hear anything within x amount of days you will be proceeding thorugh the small claims court. It may also be worth bringing Trading Standards into it

These types of post annoy me.

What grounds are you recommending the OP sue the catalogue company for? Given it has gone to bad debt she had obviously never paid for the item so cannot sue for the money to be refunded as it was never paid

Pink_butterfly_3

Hmmmm. I had something similar happen to me. I ordered a pair of curtains from Choice catalogue. When i got them, they were the wrong size. I had them picked up by the courier.

Next months statement came through and i noticed they hadn't been taken off the bill. I phoned up Choice who asked me to quote the ref. no. on the returns receipt the courier had given me. Could i find it? Not for love nor money!

Was told that without the returns receipt they could do nothing as i couldn't prove that i had actually returned it.

Had to cut my losses and pay for the curtains. Learnt my lesson though and religiously keep any receipts/return type things safe now.

hjb123

Astaroth wrote:

These types of post annoy me.

What grounds are you recommending the OP sue the catalogue company for? Given it has gone to bad debt she had obviously never paid for the item so cannot sue for the money to be refunded as it was never paid

You are misinterpreting totally. The OP has returned the item so shouldnt have been charged which she has been. This in turn has gone to a bad debt - when she sent the item back her account should have been credited which it wasnt. Why should she have a bad credit rating as a result - the company is chasing her for money she doesnt owe

Astaroth

I agree with this totally. However I wanted to know what grounds they could issue court proceedings on as to issue proceedings you must have sustained financial loss, or a loss that you can give a financial value to.

Kangol_Rat

hjb123 wrote:

Was it an expensive item?

Send a letter (recorded or special delivery) to the chief exec or managing director and say something along the lines of explaining everything that has happened and if you dont hear anything within x amount of days you will be proceeding thorugh the small claims court. It may also be worth bringing Trading Standards into it

it was a £240 mini disk player, but it was faulty

hollydays

edited.....posted wrong thread

Kangol_Rat

hjb123 wrote:

You are misinterpreting totally. The OP has returned the item so shouldnt have been charged which she has been. This in turn has gone to a bad debt - when she sent the item back her account should have been credited which it wasnt. Why should she have a bad credit rating as a result - the company is chasing her for money she doesnt owe

this is exactly it!

the fact Freemans arranged and collected it themselves, and now they are telling me they have no record of it!