STUDIO CARDS - Late Payment charge ?

thegame

I currently work for Studio and Ace as a senior customer advisor. Unfortunatly we have had a small problem with the process of payments over the festive period. Let me assure you that we had a internal memo stating that customers who paid in their banks before 23/12/06 would have their admin charges removed. Also an insider's trick with Studio and Ace.......if you say to them that you didnt recieve your statement they should remove the charge. Haggle and say to the Customer Service Advisor that you are not happy that your not recieving these statements in time. The best way to keep up with payments and stuff would be to pay by ringing up. I know the 0870 number is expensive but if you ring 01254302222 it is the same as the 0870 number. Any more help, give me a shout.

WelshLamb

I'm also having trouble with them.
Between me and my mother we ordered a couple of trees and a few cards and personalised items etc. The two trees were delivered across the road (which neighbours bought over the very same night) and when I complained that I hadn't recieved the peronaslied items and cards (studio said were delivered in two parcels) they've sent me a signiture (from the people accross the road) for the 2 "missing" parcels.
I've tried to tell them they were signitures for the two trees and said they would look into it. In the meantime I'm having bills and late charges on my account despite the customer adviser telling me she would attach a note on my account freezing everything while they investigate.:rolleyes: All that remains on ym account is the bill for the missing items

thegame

All the charges and outstanding bills are reviewed as part of the Parcel Investigation teams investigation. It's a very good team that works hard to resolve misdirected or lost parcels. Unfortunatly our courier company, HDNL, sometimes recruit cowboys to do the delivery jobs, but that not to say they cant do their job properly. HDNL delivers parcels to over 4 million satisfied customers every year.

katie_boo

Studio are very very dodgy indeed!! I am still trying to pay off an order of about £40 pounds that I placed 2 christmas's ago, for the first 3 months after I placed the order I didn't receive anything from them, no statements, not a single thing. When christmas was over and everything had gotten back to normal I realised that they hadn't contacted me, so I contacted them. They said that statements would definately have been sent out (although they weren't able to tell me when), checked they had my correct address and agreed to resend the latest statement. When it arrived 10 days later (after the payment date for that month had passed might I add!!) they had added on £20 administration fee's for each of those 3 months! I rang up again to ask what the hell they were playing at and went round in circles trying to speak to someone who could get the fee's removed, but in the end I got nowhere, they refused to remove any of the charges and the next statement I got had yet another 'administration charge' of £20 on it. I am now paying them off as quickly as I can, and I will be cancelling my account as soon as I've made my final payment. I only have £60 left to pay now which I am going to send off as soon as I get paid this month, it may leave me a little short of cash but the sooner I can get rid of studio the better! By the time I have paid what I owe to them I will have given them £180 for £40's worth of stuff, my advice to anyone who uses Studio is to bin the catalogues they send out without opening them to stop yourself being tempted to order from them.

Also, when banks and other company's charge you an administration fee it is to cover the cost of letters they send and phone calls they make chasing up their payments, but since studio have never called me once or sent letters other than my statements how can they honestly call the charge they make an admin fee??!? How is there any administration fee involved in ignoring your customers?!!!!

tescobootsmad

Hi,
Do not give up, they affered me a 30 pound credit instead of refunding back the charges which I declined, I have just had an email from them today saying that all charges have been removed from my account and I now only owe the balance for goods bought, as it should be, which I will pay straight away.

ljw2701

I had a problem with Studio Cards about 3 Christmases ago after I returned a faulty candle-arch. They denied ever receiving it and pursued me for the money for six months, adding charges on monthly, until I finally managed to get the account zeroed. I constantly read customer complaints about them and advise anyone and everyone NEVER to use them!!

currantbun

I also had a £20 "admin" charge added to my account. I had forgotten to pay the bill which was only about £12. I rang them and said I had not recieved the previous statement (as advised by "The Game" earlier in the thread). They had no problem with removing the charges and I have paid the full amount while on the phone.

thegame

It worked for currantbun, I am sure it will work for others too.
Some customer advisor's may try to fob you off in offering you a £30 shoppers bonus voucher for the admin charge, in affect your only getting back £5.25 becauase you still pay back the £20.00 admin charge and pay £4.75 p&P on a order too. The Shoppers Bonus Voucher is not worth it at all to be honest. Also try using http://www.webbivory.co.uk Customers get treated as royalty with this service. All the same things as Studio and Ace but with a much better customer support team. Calls get answered as priority so there is virtually no waiting.


If anyone wants some help with anything regarding Studio, or wants to make a call and needs any hints or tips, give me a shout.

SmileyHappyBeing

mandymoo72 wrote:

This is my first post and I'm a bit disappointed that two users seem to have a problem with someone using credit for £40. Not everyone has spare money and sometimes they have to budget for things - yes things like xmas trees.

I too have had a £20 charge on a bill of £30 but I called Studio and complained and they removed the charge.

Have to say i agree with you mandymoo, surely if they want a xmas tree and budget for it at say £10 a week then that isnt getting into debt, if they know they can afford the £10 but not the whole £40 in one go then whats the problem..:)

thegame

If anyone wants to come directly through to me at work, by all means do so at Extension 5011. I work on Saturday and Sunday from 12p.m til 8p.m but usually I stay til 10p.m aswell.