Taking Black Horse to court - any advice?

TakingControl

Mark_Spade wrote: »

Dont bother getting embroiled with the professional plonkers on an Internet Forum things dont get done that way!!

How very charming especially since everyone has tried to help or shared experiences

To the OP (sorry not good at double quoting) - I don't think the £75 admin fee was to keep my credit file intact but to actually do teh paperwork around the VT. I agreed with the finance company at the time to hand back the car 2 days before the next payment was due, so all was up to date with the payments.

Glad you got the outcome you wanted

opinions4u

Mark_Spade wrote: »

I would just go for small claims - you may win but it it wont be a big deal if you dont - you got nowt to lose and it costs them more not to just pay up a few quid for your perceived loses.

The FOS is far more likely to rule in favour of the customer than a court. The FOS is free. A court has fees and can, in certain circumstances, order the customer to pay the legal costs of the bank.

But just do it - Dont bother getting embroiled with the professional plonkers on an Internet Forum things dont get done that way!!

Speak for yourself.

OrdinaryManintheSt

opinions4u wrote: »

I think you missed the outcome of the court case.

Banks win Supreme Court case on overdraft charges

Thanks for that info, but the principal still holds. If nobody questions the banks when a new charge is introduced then I'm sure we'll see more and more new charges appearing.

It reminds me of the companies who ring us up to sell us credit card insurance in case we default on our payments. Surely if they are worried about that they should pay for it themselves? Perhaps they already do, using some of the interest charges we pay them?

It's right to ask questions IMHO.

OrdinaryManintheSt

the_insider wrote: »

Have you read the OPs latest update? He went to FOS and received compensation for the error. The courts are very unlikely to do anything more really.

The compensation offered is not why this is still going to the FOS. Black Horse have marked my credit file adversely, even though they knew that I was voluntarily terminating the agreement, and they had already collected and sold the car.

They have also now claimed that they don't accept that this account was in dispute, even though I stated that it was and asked them to supply me with a breakdown of the account, telling me how they arrived at a figure of £209 which they said I owed them. They didn't supply that information even though they repsonded to other parts of the same letter. They also failed to inform me until a week or so ago that they didn't agree that the account was in dispute. Very careless of them. They're changing their story to suit themselves.

It's very poor customer care, at the very least. We'll see what the FOS has to say about all this.

Thankyou all for your very helpful feedback! :T

OrdinaryManintheSt

Update 09.09.2011
I've been trying to get Equifax to put a note on my credit file about this but they have done nothing other than make me get a free credit report so that they can look into it. I asked if this would mean that my next credit report would still be free and they said it would. Of course it won't, that's why they are showing a price of £6.95 for my next credit report...

Anyway, a 'third party' at Equifax has answered my question by advising "I have removed the adverse that was recorded while awaiting the sales proceeds from the voluntary termination. I have also amended to show settled 04/05/11". No mention of who he is, but I guess he works for Black Horse. It hasn't been amended yet. His comment was posted yesterday.

I think that once they realised that they had already sold my car 5 days before the adverse comment on my credit report was posted, they had to do something about it quickly. I'm still going to continue with the FOS and see what they have to say about all this, before I take it further.

Thanks again for all your help everyone!:)

OrdinaryManintheSt

opinions4u wrote: »

The FOS is far more likely to rule in favour of the customer than a court. The FOS is free. A court has fees and can, in certain circumstances, order the customer to pay the legal costs of the bank.

As mentioned by opinions4u the Financial Ombudsman Service was the route I chose and the FOS found in my favour,in spite of Black Horse insisting that they had done everything right. They made several errors which were not deemed to be acceptable to the FOS or me.

Black Horse will now be paying me for my trouble and for the postage costs involved.

If nobody takes these companies on then they will do as they like and we the general public will leave ourselves open to be unfairly treated. Most people give up too easily unfortunately.

I won't be taking them to court now as I have achieved my goal of setting the record straight and getting compensation from them. It's not the money it's the principle that matters here.

jellie

Congratulations on getting the outcome you wanted and for persevering with your case.

Next time you VT a car though, ask the company what they want you do it with it. Don't just dump it somewhere and expect that they will take care of it, as it was still your responsibility and any damage caused to is could have cost you plenty.

somethingcorporate

How much time and effort have you wasted on this over the last year? largely through problems created by yourself.

Some people have too much free time!

geoffky

I admire you for going the distance with them..Some people just will rollover hence the company expected you to...

OrdinaryManintheSt

jellie wrote: »

Congratulations on getting the outcome you wanted and for persevering with your case.

Next time you VT a car though, ask the company what they want you do it with it. Don't just dump it somewhere and expect that they will take care of it, as it was still your responsibility and any damage caused to is could have cost you plenty.

I have VT'd two cars before and each time I left it at the same dealer and informed Black Horse that they could collect it from there. Black Horse collected it each time and signed to say the car was in good condition.

Some people are happy to pay £75 to help the finance company cover their costs to collect the vehicle, I am not. The finance company charges an upfront arrangement fee of about £300 when you take their finance. That's plenty in my opinion.