Ken Ivory Presents: Money Worries Refund Saga UPDATE!

Ken_Ivory

16/06/2010:

I checked my bank statement today and Money Worries have finally refunded my £300.00.

It took them a while and a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman but my advice is to persist. Keep on them like a days work, companies like these hope people will just give up on the cause. DON'T!

I have all my original letters to MW saved which I will be converting to templates. If anybody is interested in these or any advice please email me on thekenivory@gmail.com

29/04/2010:


Hi, I decided to change the name of this thread as it has now turned into my step by step description of my ongoing story to reclaim fees from my cancelled Money Worries debt consolidation plan.


I verbally agreed to it in January 2010 and gave my debit card details over the phone, silly boy! If I can take one positive thing out of this situation it's that I have thankfully learned NEVER to do such a thing again and also to think really hard before looking for a quick fix solution (ie. Yes Loans) to help with debt. I have since realised that doing such a thing does not help my financial attitude in the long run as it replaces debt with debt.


If you are reading this and happen to be going thorugh the same as I, it is my hope you will read my and other posts below and take advice that may help you. I hope it does.


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Warning- Long Post Ahead but advice would be appreciated:

Basically at the end of January 2010, I had applied to Yes Loans for a loan which I felt I needed, I got passed on to their sister company "Money Worries" who proposed to set up a debt control management system which I considered but ultimately declined. By then the first payment of £300.00 came out of my debit card (My bad as I was foolish enough to give them the details over the phone). I had never signed any agreemnt with them but to be fair to them they did inform me they could act on verbal agreement which I gave (again foolish impulsiveness).

I sent them a letter on 29/01/2010 cancelling under article 1.4 of their terms and conditions and requesting refund of £ 300.00 by recorded delivery (I wasn't taking any chances, lol). They received it and replied that the refund would be sent out to me.

Upon calling them up shortly afterwards, I was told that this would be done within 28 working days. As of this letter, it has now been 30 working days and I have not yet received my refund.

On 11th March 2010, I called the Money Worries Call centre and was told that a backlog has delayed refunds being paid out. I asked for a rough time scale for when I could expect my refund but was told on a number of occasions that they were “unable to give me a timescale” for my repayment. Further to this when I requested to speak to a manager or a person working within refunds about this, I was told that there would be “no point” and that there was nobody that could give me an answer as relates to my claim.

I find it very hard to believe that not a single person within the company has a clue about refund timescale and the rough delay period caused by the alleged backlog. I am currently drafting a letter to them (please see below).

Money Worries LTD
Tintern House
William Brown Close
Llantarnam Business Park
Cwmbran
NP44 4AB

12th March 2010

Dear xxxx

Ref: xx/xxxx

Further to my cancellation letter dated 29th January 2010 and your letter dated [date to follow] (copy attached), I requested a refund on any charges which have been taken from my debit card (ie. £ 300.00 debited from my account on 29/01/2010). Upon calling yourselves shortly afterwards, I was told that this would be done within 28 working days. As of this letter, it has now been 30 working days and I have not yet received my refund.

On 11th March 2010, I called the Money Worries Call centre and was told that a backlog has delayed refunds being paid out. I asked for a rough time scale for when I could expect my refund but was told on a number of occasions that they were “unable to give me a timescale” for my repayment. Further to this when I requested to speak to a manager or a person working within refunds about this, I was told that there would be “no point” and that there was nobody that could give me an answer as relates to my claim.

I’m sure you can understand that I was both concerned and disappointed at the above phone call as I had not been given a straight answer as relates to the refund that was agreed upon in your letter dated [date to follow]

Please can you confirm in writing that my refund will be issued to me in full and also when (even if it is a rough estimate) I can expect to receive it.


I will again be sending the letter be recoreded delivery.

I have copies of previous coresspondences all saved as back up.

Is there anyone here who can advise if I am doing the right thing or is the letter as futile as the call I made today? Any suggestions on the letter itself are also welcomed.

Perhaps someone is going through the same problem at the moment with Money Worries?

Also, has anybody been given the backlog excuse in the past as I am not entirely convinced they are being truthful with me?

Thanks in advance!

somethingcorporate

Good letter :T

I would send that first, await a response, if they do not reply (or refund) then send a letter before action giving them 7 days to respond and then start small claims court proceedings against them. You can add your costs on top, this would probably be open and shut considered you have in writing they have agreed to refund.

Hope that's useful, but for now it appears you are doing all the right things.

[Deleted User]

personally i would give them 7 days now not later,they have already exceeded the 28 days they originally promised so whats to say they wont lie again?
give them 7 days and tell them if the refund hasnt been received(i think they are allowed to keep £5)then you will start legal proceedings

jonesMUFCforever

Why not instigate a chargeback through the card issuer using the letter from the loan company as proof that a) they agreed to a refund and b)they are out of timescale?

Ken_Ivory

Thanks for the comments, really appreciated! Ill finish off the letter and get is posted off (again recorded) and see if they get back to me. I don't like phoning them up as I'm kept on hold for ages and it just adds to my mobile bill (currently having problems with phone line at work so cant even uses work phone to do it!)

somethingcorporate

Ken_Ivory wrote: »

Thanks for the comments, really appreciated! Ill finish off the letter and get is posted off (again recorded) and see if they get back to me. I don't like phoning them up as I'm kept on hold for ages and it just adds to my mobile bill (currently having problems with phone line at work so cant even uses work phone to do it!)

Don't bother even trying calling - if you are making things formal then letter writing (and getting proof of delivery) is the only way to go. Otherwise these companies tend to have a habit of 'losing' information about calls.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Ken_Ivory

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Why not instigate a chargeback through the card issuer using the letter from the loan company as proof that a) they agreed to a refund and b)they are out of timescale?

I have since cancelled the card they charged just incase they tried to take out a second installment even though they confirmed cancellation. As I said, I'm not taking any chances with these guys but thanks for the advice none-the-less.

UPDATE: I have finished off my letter today and am posting it along with copies of their refund confirmation letter as back up/reference. I am sending it to their refund coordinator by recorded post.

It took them 2 working days to respond in writing last time. I will let you know if they respond just as quick this time.

Ken_Ivory

UPDATE:

Got a letter back from them today, which, to their credit, is consistent with their reply rate (in my experience anyways).

Unfortunately it was a generic letter basically stating my refund will be credited in "due course" and that there is a "slight backlog". I am then re-assured that my refund will be "completed as soon as possible" and that I should ring them if I have any further queries (0845 number).



So:

1. There was no answer to my request for a timescale (or even estimate)
2. I've spent enough money being put on hold on their 0845 number- each call has been averaging at about 20 minutes

The way I see it I'm left with the following choices:

1. I sit and wait it out for a week or two and see if anything is credited to me (1/2 weeks seems reasonable for a "slight backlog")
2. I reply again giving them 7 days before filing with small claims
3. I reply outlining that I will give them 2 weeks as I feel that ample time to work through a "slight backlog" and also that I will not be phoning their call centre again due to the cost.

Which should I go for?

Also, I was borderline thinking of asking for a rebate from them for the cost of my calls to their call centre (attaching copies of my bill) or is that overdoing it a bit?

nolongerindenial

I would give them 7 days to respond to this letter in acceptance with your terms otherwise you will be taking them to the small claims court anyway.

Ken_Ivory

nolongerindenial wrote: »

I would give them 7 days to respond to this letter in acceptance with your terms otherwise you will be taking them to the small claims court anyway.

I'll see what they respond with this time. I want to put accross that I am being as reasonable as possilbe over this yet they still don't seem to give me a satisfactory answer.

If it continues come April 16th, I'll contact the Ombudsman.

Hoopahoopa

WARNING Long Post (apologies):

First, thanks for sharing your story Ken. I hope you all don't mind if I share mine.

PLEASE - IF YOU ARE RESEARCHING MONEY WORRIES LTD OR YES LOANS LTD AND READ THIS - DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CARD DETAILS.

Yesterday I experienced the exact same issue and I too feel like a total fool today. I was called by Yes Loans and then passed through to Money Worries. Money Worries set me up on a debt consolidation program where they persuaded me that I needed to pay them £450 per month for the first two months and then be on regular payments of £306 by standing order. They would then arrange with my creditors to freeze interest, lower payments and manage it all through Money Worries. They told me to immediately cancel my direct debits and pass on any actions by creditors (letters, phone calls) to Money Worries to deal with. They would then send me all the paperwork in the post to return to them by registered first class post.

My Money Worries liaison officer then said the 'clever' part was, they could take payment for a portion of my initial payments for the consolidation plan from the remaining balances on the credit cards I wished to consolidate. I only had one credit card with me (thank goodness!) So they would take about £200 from my credit card and only £250 from my debit card. The portion on my credit card would then be rolled up into the consolidation program. What a sucker I am right? It got better... he then said 'What a shame you don't have your other credit card with you today sir, otherwise we could arrange the same thing for next month's payment'. Once again, thank goodness I didn't have the other credit card with me. furthermore, I also believed that the payments would not be debited until after I signed and returned the paperwork.

Needless to say I didn't sleep last night.

So this morning I called my bank and my credit card company (feeling a bit sheepish that I had tried to improve upon my situation with them and failed miserably, and not unaware of the irony of trying to block payments to a company called Money Worries). My bank immediately said there is a payment of £250 on my current account waiting to clear. They said I can only wait until it clears and then dispute the transaction (on the basis that I did not know the exact amount that was to be debited, nor that it would be debited before I signed and returned the proposed paperwork).

I then called my credit card company, and they said that MW had tried to take 6 different payments of £50 from my account. The first passed, the next three flagged as duplicate payments and the last two failed (not enough credit). The key here is that they always tried with the same amount - meaning the duplicate payments will be stopped because it looks like MW charged me for the same thing 4 times. Thankfully this means I should only get charged for £50 on this account. Similarly, the agent at the credit card company said I can dispute this if there is any indication that I will not get a refund by a specified date.

So I too, am in for £300. 300 hundred reminders not to trust anything like this ever again. I have found through other research I have done on this operation, that Yes Loans also try and take an administrative charge of £69.95 in these scenarios - beware of this as well.

I have canceled both of the cards I provided. So I now have two options. Today I will be sending a written demand for a refund with a request for the specific date by when this will be completed. I am also going to simultaneously raise a dispute claim with the my relevant card services on the basis that a) I did not authorise the specific amounts that were taken from each card and b) I did not authorise the cards to be debited prior to my signing and returning the paperwork.

Ken and everyone, I am keen to share the outcome of my situation on this post as well for two reasons:
1. If anyone has had a similar situation they can share any info that helped them get their refund.
2. To ensure these posts pop up for searches on Money Worries Ltd or Yes Loan Ltd and dissuade others from entering into this OR help them with their outcome if they did and wish to back out.

Any comments welcome.

Thanks for listening.