Argos - misleading information.

coxy1072

I haven't posted on here for a while but i felt i had to because of my dealings with argos. Like everybody else out there i hate losing money to what i think is underhand tactics or being fed misleading information.

I have an account with argos which is close to its limit (my responsibility, christmas etc), my statement date is 8th of each month. On the 8th february when i was ready to make a payment to my account i logged into argos to find that my next payment was due on the 5th march. I was a little confused by this because i had allocated money for february payment, i rang argos customer services and was told by one of their customer representatives that my account was in order and that there would be no payment due until 5th march. I asked the representative to check this and she reassured me that there was nothing to pay.
Low and behold a few days later i received my statement to find that i had exceeded my limit because of a coversafe (sickness / unemployment insurance) payment which i was told had been applied late on the 8th february. The coversafe payment had taken me over my limit and on top of that they had added charges. I think this is wrong and as i said at the top i hate losing money. Why is the coversafe insurance added at the end of the day? Is is to maximise interest payments? I believe that i was mislead by the representative, its not as though i didnt have the money to put into my account.

I rang the resolutions department and they have backed their original decision that my account has exceeded it's limit and that at the time i rang the information that i was provided with was correct.

Has this happened to you?

I think in the future i will just have to make a payment when i get paid to avoid any more losses.

mmmsnow

I have had a couple of issues with Argos and I found the best way to get a response is to write to Terry Duddy at

Argos Ltd.
489-499 Avebury Boulevard
Saxon Gate West
Central Milton Keynes
MK9 2NW

He's the CEO. I wrote after experiencing problems with a home delivery and I got a phone call from his office within a week, the problem was sorted and I was £25 voucher for my trouble.

zppp

coxy1072 wrote: »

Why is the coversafe insurance added at the end of the day? Is is to maximise interest payments?

Probably becuase if they took it in the morning, people would moan that they paid in on the due date, which would be too late by what you are suggesting. It gives people that extra bit of time to get the payment together.

Sometimes these systems don't suit everyone.

FunnySaving

I'm not sure I understand - if you had the money what you rang up to make a payment on the account, and you knew you hadn't made a payment in the previous statement period then why not make the payment anyway? I suppose it's always nicer to have money in your pocket than theirs, but if you suspect that what they told you was incorrect it would have covered your back to make a payment even if it did go towards your next statement. I'm not sure that the timing of the phonecall and the late addition of the coversafe payment releases you from your obligation to make regular payments to your account.
It sounds as though you have pursued their complaints process to its full extent without much luck, so I'm not sure if there are many other avenues available to you, but if so I would suggest requesting the waiving of the charges as a goodwill gesture rather than an entitlement they then might offer a compromise.

Azari

OP, you seem to be confusing two separate things here, your payment date and your account limit.

No matter what date they tell you you have to make a payment by it is still your responsibility to ensure that your account does not exceed its limit at any time.

If you are close to your limit you need to keep a careful eye on you current balance and ensure that if you are likely to exceed it you make an earlier payment.

PZH

coxy1072 wrote: »

I have an account with argos which is close to its limit (my responsibility, christmas etc), my statement date is 8th of each month. On the 8th february when i was ready to make a payment to my account i logged into argos to find that my next payment was due on the 5th march. I was a little confused by this because i had allocated money for february payment....

Little confused as to why you didn't just make the payment then anyway.

squack

personally i'd just pay the whole lot off, i'm sure you are getting raiped on the interest rate anyway