STUDIO CARDS - Late Payment charge ?

thegame

Sorry, double post, please delete

victoriav

I too had a problem with these about a year ago, asking for payment which was not owed actually, took absolutely ages to sort out with me having to send proof - photocopies. what an uneccesary palaver! and lots of phonecalls. their customer services are shiiite......So now I will not even open the catalogues, they go straight into the dustbin or I give them to my dog to rip happily to bits and then put it in the bin.(the catalogue not the dog!!) I had asked for them to send me no more.....If you do open them and see some novelty gift thing you like, then you could see if its on e-bay!! and buy it there., if it is a reasonable price that is.

Its a shame - as they have some lovely and reasonable stuff. But I absolutely won't be tempted. A poster said that they wished they'd gone to wilko's (wilkinson) well thats just what I always do and you can always be sure of fantastic bargains there., week in week out. Also a poster said that they'd wished to pay in installments, but got flack for it - but, essentially that is the purpose of catalogues., to enable one to pay in installments isn't it?:rolleyes: Never mind anyone saying 'if you can't afford it don't get it'....yes you can have it, if you don't have all the money for it! you do use a catalogue and pay it bit by bit. It's sensible though, to get things you need one by one to avoid running up a large bill! Although myself I don't think I would pay that amount for a xmas tree..but each to their own.

Having said all that, I am no stranger to jumble sales, car boots and charity shops. Its a lovely few hours for me, I thoroughly enjoy it. But not everybody wants to do this. Thanks to the poster who's 'on the inside' though! offering some helpful advice. We need more people like this!

princessmoneysaver

thegame wrote:

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.

Is this on the number you posted previously?

terrierlady

i also had trouble paid full amount by cheque, they said never received it but cheque was cashed, once i proved it was cashed they dropped all exra charges woudnt use this company again for anything.

ictmad

i also had hassles with them sent a cheque to them just before christmas,which must of got lost as was never cashed,and they charged me £20 on jan,s statement,i have been using them for 4 years with no hassles but this is the final straw,its not as if iam a bad debtor and only owed them £45,wrote them a letter 3 weeks gao tellnig them to stick there account up the behind,havent heard anything since,there loss,looks like there losing a few customers,serves them right

SAVINGMUM_2

Im having trouble with them, in error i ordered a bookshelve costing £200, as soon as i had the email confirming my order (within 15mins) i rang them staying id made an error and would like to cancel the order they said it was too late, but just return it straight away. The item came i arranged returns said it would take a week, a week went by and nothing, i rang them, the return hadnt been processed so i didnt it again. The day before delivery the driver rang to confirm, i left a massive note saying please leave proof of delivery which they didnt. Now they are saying they havent had it back and so send the collection note. What should i do? I held back payment last month, thinking im not paying until its resolved and now ive been hit with the late payment fee.

Thanks in advance

Debi1966

thegame wrote:

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.

I ordered a load of stuff before Xmas only 2 items arrived. I forgot to pay by 28 December and in first couple of days of new year got letter asking for £21. charges. I immediately sent £13.53, my total bill plus £1 for late payment but they still said I owed the £20. After phoning, being left on hold and been rude to, writing letters ect. I received vouchers which I have to spend on goods not to get rid of the charge. I then received another lettter demanding a further £21, now a total of £41. The "supervisor" I spoke to was rude and basically said you have spoken to 3 advisors you are not going to get anywhere you have to pay up or we will send out more £21 demands every month until you do. Or open a credit account and pay monthly with interest. I have paid the bill in full with £1 extra only a week and a bit late and now am faced with a bill for £41 unless I pay up. Im disgusted with the customer service and the fact on the initial invoice you are not told about these charges. Everyone else sends a reminder before adding charges.
Debi 3112

itsjojustjo

I hate studio I remember ordering cards and some wrap went to the checkout and they wouldn't let me pay, then refused to serve because I am a supply education worker and I live with my parents,
I probably earn more than they do in a day who do they think they are ?
*waddles off ranting*

bright_side

Hi, I had trouble with Studio a couple of years ago and swore I'd never go back. Unfortunately I relented in November and placed an order for approx £30. Early in December everything went a bit crazy as we discovered my sister has 3 brain tumours. We were naturally distraught and to be honest December passed without much thought of anything else as we awaited hospital dates for scans and biopsy. I overlooked ALL my catalogue payments that month and was charged by Empire and Grattan, as well as Studio. I emailed them all in January apologising for my mistake and asked that they reconsider the charges on this occasion. The charges were all removed.......apart from Studio who said they no longer refund administration fees but would send me a voucher for £30 to use in their book. By now I had been charged £40 for missed payments even though I hadn't actually received a statement for January! I don't really know what to do having read this thread.........is it worth me arguing to get the charges removed or should I be grateful for the voucher?

ChequeBook_2

I've ordered from Studio a few times, the products are fairly cheap and cheerful but they have a good range.

I missed a payment date because the statement did not reach me until after the payment was due, hence their computer slapped on £20.

I called their help line and was on hold for for ages (during which time they kept telling me they valued my custom of course) I spoke to a rather rude guy on their help line who just referred me to their terms and conditions and said I can check my account on the internet. (I'm sorry but my life does not revolve around checking a cards and gift account every few minutes because they can't send a statement on time or send a courtesy e-mail near the due date.)

I switched into 'put me through to your supervisor' mode but after a long wait was told none were available. He could tell I was 100% not going to pay this surcharge and said the Admin and "Service" charge would be refunded.

I can't understand why they use such heavy handed tactics to clobber people on a 'first offence' and for such a small balance ! They have (i) lost me as a customer (ii) wasted the time of a customer service rep (iii) caused me to write up my experience on the internet.

Ironically if they had only put a small fairer penalty I probably would have just paid up rather than wasting my time calling them.

Unless you have plenty of time to keep the account ticking over I would avoid Studio - its not worth the hassle.

P.s. thanks to "say no to 0870" at least the long customer service call didn't cost me anything.