STUDIO CARDS - Late Payment charge ?

princessmoneysaver

Just logged on to my account online to find all charges gone, that is after I phoned up again to close the account & had a leter saying they can't close it until all outstanding money paid!

Debi1966

Debi1966 wrote:

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

I have emailed everyone I can think of eventually ending up e-mailing the customer service bloke from Findel (I think it is ) The parent company, who emailed back saying he was sorry I got such bad service, he was on holiday but would pass messages on. I then got another "sorry" and promising to pass on. Eventually I got an email telling me all charges had been removed as an act of good will. Perseverence paid off eventually. But will still hav the ridiculous premium rate phone bills to pay. Never mind. Debi 3112

D4WNO

Does anyone know what the "Service charges" are for?

thegame

D4WNO wrote:

Does anyone know what the "Service charges" are for?

Hi, I work currently work for this company as a Customer Services Advisor. The service charge is a £20 penalty put on the account for a payment not recieved for the previous month on the account.
I know it is harsh but the best way possible to get around this with most CSA is to say that you didnt recieve a statement.
Also try ringing on a weekend evening, I work at these times and the staff working at these times are very helpful and the waiting times are very short.

If you can also be asked to be put through to me on ext. 5011 then I am sure I can help sort account issues and if you quote MSE as a reference I'll look on your account more genorously.

The Shoppers Bonus Voucher which is offered by the company is paltry because if you break the £30 voucher down.......You still have to pay the £20 admin charge, it's cost £4.75 p&p and about £1 for the phonecall to the company leaving the value of that voucher to about £4 or £5, is it really worth. And then you got to spend that amount with the same company that put the charges on in the first. Also, a customer cant have more than one voucher in 12 months so if you already have a voucher and incur a charge again say about 3 or 4 months down the line again then you will have to pay them and it will be hard to get a seasoned CSA to remove this charge.

Spendi

ive just sent studio the obligatory i want my statements letter, ive had a complete nightmare with them.

They've said they havent had a cheque, so slapped on a charge, cashed it after that, meanwhile ive sent a new one, though oh well it will pay off next months and then they have given me another £20 charge as i havent paid my next installment on time etc etc etc......but hang on....i have !
Ive sent cheques recorded delivery theyve signed for them and still said they havent got them, i even had one snotty person after i gave up and sent it online say we dont accept bank payments - Then i had a complete nightmare trying to find the £20 i had sent them to close the account and trying to get the new charges taken off...eventually they found it but said they wouldnt refund the charges as they dont accept bank payments...

I reckon they owe me at least £160 in charges since Dec 2005, theyve done more damage to my credit file in 1 year than any other lender in 5.

I would advise everybody to steer well clear of them.

The Game
You are without doubt a really nice person as youve offered help to the people on here - its a shame the rest of studio cant lead by your example xx

kimmie32_2

I wrote one letter saying i thought £20 was a bit steep and under the new guidelines would like them back and a breakdown of their costs. Got a letter with a cheque for over £200 and a gesture of goodwill speel but well chuffed all the same.

Spendi

I got my reply from studio today about my charges letter, they have refunded my money in vouchers........