Please help, tearing my hair out!

CMcc_4

Hi all,

This is beggining to turn my hair a shade of gray!!

The story starts when my wife signed up to 'The Art Of Calligraphy' magazine from Hachette Paperworks, she recieved numerous issues which were paid for by us, then she suddenly stopped recieving the issues.

When we got a bill through for the issues we hadnt recieved, naturally we complained to Hachette Paperworks (Whose customer service is appauling by the way, you get pushed from pillar to post, they have not rung me back once when they agreed to, nor have they done any of the things we have asked of them)

They said the issues were sent out to us, yet we never recieved them.

We asked them to close the account for us which they obliged to do, but when we refused to pay for the issues we had not recieved this is when the process starting getting bad.

This has been going on since january of this year, we recieved 3 letters from them in successive months asking for payment, each time we rang them up to advise them we had not recieved the issues we are being asked to pay for, and each time the customer 'services' rep, would say oh ok we will look into the account for you and get back to you. No call-back, no letter, just another bill.

After 3 months of this we started getting very annoyed so i rang them myself on the 16th of august, to be told that the account had been passed over to a debt collectors on the 13th. By this point i was so angry that i threatened them with legal action if the account isnt clawed back from the debt collection agency and put into dispute by Hachette themself.

They agreed to do this on the grounds that they do not know where the issues are, and asked US (yes, us) to ring the post office to try to track the issues down.

I was then told by the representative that she would call CCS (Their debt collection agency) to have the account sorted out.

So, i wait for a callback from them, no suprise, no callback.

Today a debt collection letter arrives on my doorstep asking for the payment as well as additional charges for Hachettes 'administration', to the sum of £10.

I rang hachette a moment ago and went ballistic on the phone at them and got the rep to promise to call me back by the end of today as she said she was going to ring CCS to get them to leave the account alone.

Sorry for the long story but this is driving me into the ground, my wife is 4 months pregnant and has enough stress in her life without having people trying to register CCJ's and defaults against her without any reason for doing so, and this whole episode has left me seething and wishing for compensation.

Is there anything i can do in legal terms to claim compensation from them?

Also, if they do not ring me back today, shall i ring the debt collection agency myself to explain the situation to them?

Its proving very hard to get the name and telephone number of someone in charge at Hachette Paperworks so all i can get through to is their call center.

I would drive up there myself, but they are in Tyne and Wear and i live in Kent South east england! and the 4-500 mile journey would probably cost me the amount in petrol!

If anyone has any knowledge on this situation it would be a big help,

Thanks very much.

Scully's_Girl

In my opinion, calling isnt as powerful as writing a letter. Right now, make a timeline of all the conversations you have had with them, timed, dated, with names. THen I would write a letter to the company right away. This always carries more weight then a phonecall does. I would address it to the right department, with RE: COMPLAINT at the top. Then clearfully and calmly explain the situation, including what you want from this & what you want them to do. I would really stop calling them at this point. Ask them to correspond with you via letter. This way you always have a running record of the situation. I would include that if your credit is negatively affected by this situation then you will be forced to take Legal action, and cc it to the CEO of the company. Good Luck

Scully's_Girl

This was hard, its Hachette Partworks, not Paperworks>
Customer Care Centre - Subscription/Enquiries
Hachette Partworks Ltd
PO Box 77
Jarrow
NE32 3YJ
Tel: 0870 920 1133
Tel (from R.O.I.): 00 44 0870 920 1133
Fax: 0870 920 1135
Fax (from R.O.I.): 00 44 0870 920 1135
Email: [EMAIL="hachettepw@jacklinservice.com"]hachettepw@jacklinservice.com[/EMAIL]
Head Office
Hachette Partworks Ltd
100-106 Leonard Street
London
EC2A 4RH

READ their customer Guarantee on their website
http://www.hachettepartworks.co.uk/our_guarantees.php

Mention these guarantees in your letter and that they are NOT sticking to their part of the bargain.

CMcc_4

Thank you for your response,

I can include (sorry it was a long rant, some bits skipped my mind) that i have written to them as well, i guess my mistake was not sending the letter recorded delivery, as you can guess, i got no response.

I will wait by the phone to see if they ring me back today, if not i will have the letter ready to be dropped in the post.

And yes, sorry my mistake it was partworks not paperworks!

Thanks very much for the reply,
Clinton

Scully's_Girl

Thats what the thanks button is for. Have you been keeping track of all the correspondence? I would definately send a letter recorded delivery today, whether you hear from them or not. No matter what they say to you, you only have their word on it & they can deny it later. Case in point, you might speak to "Bill" there who will say its all been sorted, but then Bill quits this afternoon and there is no record you every spoke and yada yada (as you can see, I have had the same thing happen to me many many times. ) I would include in your follow up the original letter you sent them with the original date as well. Be as specific as you can; let them know youre on to them