Titan Debt Recovery ..what do I do?

Rune

Its a long story and its my first post.

I bought a company name from company warehouse.
The CW rep suggested that I should set up a business account with A&L and that he would phone me back on Monday to guide me through the process.

He did not phone me back and as I the company was not trading decided to wait til he did phone back, or i needed a bank account.

3 weeks later I received a letter from CW saying that I had to pay £88, as setting up an account with A&L is in their small print.Horrified I phoned up and said that their rep had not made me aware and his phone call was over due as he was going to help me set up the account.

When I recalled his name they said that he left 3 weeks ago and they would waive the £88 and put me through to A&L Bank to set up an account.

A&L have taken ages, although the account has been approved.

I have received a letter today from Titan Debt Recovery demanding £128 plus an extra £75 if they commence county court proceedings.

From my point of view I have done everything that they have asked of me..but I am worried sick about what to do.

I have never had any debts before and worry what such activity does to a credit rating etc.

It all seems mightily unfair when they could have phoned me. Other than me not reading the tiny print, it seems like the two big companies failings.

Someone help me..its Bank Holiday Weekend and I cant enjoy it as I am worrying...a lot!!!!!!!:eek:

DarkConvict

Is the account registered to you or to the business, is the business a sole trader or is a limited company. As a limited company it won't affect your credit rating.

As i'm not entirely sure of the issue, but i do not think this would be on your credit file as a debt per say. The issue is with the bank, they admit to not phoning back and waiving the charges, yet them have issued collection proceedings. Debt collectors do not go to court that easily as it is expensive especially if they fail. Send out the prove it letter by recorded delivery. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

And as soon as they are open, contact the bank asking why since they have waived the charges due to their mistake, why have they issued a debt collector to collect this money which is not owed. They should be able to call them off.

Rune

Hi,

thanks for getting back to me..it does make me feel better.

I probably was not clear on the issues as its a long tale.

In a nut shell, the contract that I took out with Company warehouse has small print which says that I need to take a business bank account out with A&L.
I was unaware that I had to, but had every intention of doing so anyway.

They wrote and said I have not joined A&L, and for me to pay a fine. Although subsequently waiving the fine when I pointed out their mistake.

Its then taken A&L more than 30 days to sort out my business account, which is in breach of the company warehouse policy..so without writing again they have set the debt collection service on me.

Its the increased fine with no communication and back word that seems very unfair.

Debt_free_asap

Hi Rune

I had a look at this as I was trying to register a company recently and was worried that I didn't want to get stung by any extra 'hidden' fees.

I called 'The Company Warehouse' on their freephone number and they gave me some good info. The order that you made with them must have been for their 'FREE' company package - this is where you only pay the government fee of £15 and they don't charge anything for drafting all the forms to get the company registered! This is their only package where you have to open a bank account with A&L.

The guy I spoke to was pretty honest about it and said that you had the open the bank account with A&L as they get a commission from A&L for you opening the bank account which is how they can offer their services for FREE!:)

The downside is that you only get 30 days to open the bank account after your company is registered, but that seems like plenty of time to call the bank. I checked their website (thecompanywarehouse.co.uk) and it does give the process pretty clearly when you look at the package details and the T&Cs.

The guy I spoke to said to me that if I didn't want to open a bank account with A&L then it'd be cheaper to order a package you have to pay for rather than the 'free' one, as otherwise there is a £75 fee to pay later. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like you knew this?!

To be honest, I'd call The Company Warehouse and ask to speak with one of their new company team. They were really helpful and as it's their fee they might be able to help you if you go directly to them. What have you got to lose - its a freephone number on their website?!

As for Titan Debt Recovery, I can only assume that they do the chase ups for The Company Warehouse...?

As for me - think i'll probably try and register my company with The Company Warehouse using their free package... just definitely make sure I get my bank account open with A&L in the first 30 days!

Good luck with speaking to them... if you don't ask you don't get! They seemed pretty fair when I spoke to them.

DarkConvict

That is some good research you done there!

notpambkcin

Hi there

I have had exactly the same issue with company warehouse. I saw that it was a free bank account so i didnt think i would have to pay if i didnt want one they were providing. I then spoke to someone on the phone who went through the incorporation process with me and never even mentioned it.
I have since discovered that Titan debt collection is in the same building as company warehouse so the lack of transparency deepens.
How did you get on. Did they write this off? Im interested to hear.

ChaCha_3

I am also in similar situation

From their terms and conditions

2.3 The Customer agrees that in consideration for the ‘Free Formation’ service the customer consents to a Banking Introduction with The Company’s Preferred Banking Partner and further the customer will open a business bank account in the name of the newly registered limited company as ordered by the Customer. The bank account will be opened after the Banking Introduction of the Customer by the Company to a Preferred Banking Partner, within 30 days of the newly formed limited company being registered.
_________________________
2 ‘Banking Introduction’ means an introduction to our Preferred Banking Partner. A Banking Introduction will be executed in one of the following ways:
We will tell you the name of our preferred banking supplier and of the OFFER code to quote on your application before your company is registered. A bank account application can then be completed by:
a) Waiting for our Preferred Banking Partner to contact you directly by telephone on the number given to us on your company application form;
b) Calling The Company Warehouse on 0800 0828 727 and requesting to be transferred to the FREE formation banking team;
c) Contacting our preferred banking supplier directly on the number we supply you AND quoting our OFFER code.

‘Offer Code’ means a referral code issued by the Company to Customer and used by our Preferred Banking Partner to track business bank accounts opened under the FREE Formation offer.


In our case companywarehouse clearly failed to provide "Banking Introduction" and therefore it failed to provide the service and we are not liable for the fee as we never received the service offered.
I myself never opted out they failed to provide a banking Introduction.

ChaCha_3

Wrote the following letter to them
__________________________________________

The Managing Director,
The Company Warehouse,
2nd Floor, 43 Broomfield Road,
Chelmsford, Essex,
CM1 1SY

Wednesday, 03 November 2010

Your Invoice and letter Ref Number

Dear Sir,

This is with regard to your invoice reference number XXXX and letter reference number XXXXXXXXXXXX.

I would like to draw your attention to your FREE Company Formation Offer terms and condition clause 2.3 and definition ‘Banking Introduction’.

a) Your preferred banking partner never contacted. Your e mail of 12th July 2010 states that I will be contacted by Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank but they never contacted.
b) Called Companies warehouse three times on different occasions requesting for FREE formation banking team but was never transferred to such team and no help was offered in this regard.
c) Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank does not exist any more and Santander is not mentioned as your preferred banking partner.

Therefore, you have failed to provide ‘banking Introduction’ to a valid and existing Preferred Banking Partner as per your own terms and conditions.

Could you please issue a credit note for the above mentioned invoice as soon as possible.

If in your opinion there was any ‘banking introduction’ as per your own terms and conditions, could you please provide documentary evidence within 14 working days of the date mentioned on this letter otherwise I will consider this matter resolved as per my request in this letter.


Yours Sincerely,



On behalf of