C.A.R.S. debt company

d712

Hello

I'm a member of Lovefilm and there is a DVD I've had for ages, over 3 months now that I still haven't got round to watching. I didn't think this would be a problem as Lovefilm don't charge overdue fees.

About 6 weeks ago, I cancelled my debit card because of suspicious activity at a cash point. I forgot to tell Lovefilm about my new card. They had been emailing me saying the payment couldn't be authorised but the emails went to my spam folder which is so full of garbage I get sent all the time (some of it dated 2037!!) that I didn't see their messages.

A company called C.A.R.S. have sent two very unpleasant letters about an outstanding balance of £10. I rang them and they said it related to an overdue disc but Lovefilm say it is for the subscription fee that they couldn't authorise.

I've since given Lovefilm my new card details and received an email from them saying:

'I am happy to confirm that the new card details supplied by yourself have been accepted by our system, and the payment for the outstanding amount of £4.07 has been received... Please be advised that we have also removed your account from CARS &
that you won't receive any emails from the Debt recovery department.'

This is different from the £10 balance that C.A.R.S. have mentioned. What could have caused this difference and can I be confident from what Lovefilm have said that the matter is now resolved?

Many thanks and apologies for the long message!

Tremour-88

When I was in debt trouble with T-mobile over a year ago I had a problem with a debt agency charging more.

The agency said I owed £86 but the T-mobile website only said £47 so I paid T-mobile directly and never heard from the debt agency again.

d712

Thanks

The agency are threatening to

1) issue a Registered Default Notice against me
2) send a field agent to me to collect payment (sounds like Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men...)
3) issue a claim against me in the County Court.

All that over the princely sum of TEN POUNDS...

The agency are saying the fee is for one thing yet Lovefilm are saying it is for something else.

Is there any chance that my credit rating could be affected by this?

arcon5

It can't affect your credit rating as they are not providing you with credit lines. If they obtained a CCJ against you it would, I doubt they would though for £10.

When did you pay lovefilm? I imagine you would still receive a letter or two after whilst their systems update.

The difference may have been a fee by the agency for chasing the debt.

Not sure why your worrying too much about this though

d712

Thanks for the response.

I'm concerned about it because the two companies have given different reasons for the balance. So if Lovefilm say that the balance has cleared for the debit card payment, C.A.R.S may say that they are still waiting for the overdue fee on the DVD.

I've no experience of this kind of thing and I don't know what it could lead to.

Lovefilm said 'Please be advised that we have also removed your account from CARS &
that you won't receive any emails from the Debt recovery department.'

What do you think my next step should be?

arcon5

d712 wrote: »

Thanks for the response.

I'm concerned about it because the two companies have given different reasons for the balance. So if Lovefilm say that the balance has cleared for the debit card payment, C.A.R.S may say that they are still waiting for the overdue fee on the DVD.

I've no experience of this kind of thing and I don't know what it could lead to.

Lovefilm said 'Please be advised that we have also removed your account from CARS &
that you won't receive any emails from the Debt recovery department.'

What do you think my next step should be?

CARS are acting on behalf of LoveFilm, so i'd be inclined to agree with LoveFilms version of events who will have your data infront of them!
I'd also not worry too much about CARS, they have no more rights than LoveFilm themselve!! Collection agencies are toothless, their barks bigger than their bight. Although it's never wise to allow a debt to go to a collection agency, incase fees are added.

It's likely Lovefilm will send a data file every so often to the agency with an update on accounts and new accounts to chase. Depends how often their systems sync.

As far as what it could leed to... debts usually get sent to a collection agency who send you some scary letters for quite a while.. then a field agent will visit you to discuss the debt -- again no more powers than Lovefilm so you can demand he leaves your property.. if they still cannot get the money the account usually takes one of the following routes a) sold to another agency b) send back to the retailer who takes over c) court proceedings are filed on behalf of the retailer.

For a tenner I imagine it would never ever get to court and ultimately be written off tbh. Not saying this always happens though, I myself have previously file a small claims for a £30 sum! The lady knew the solicitors letter was a bluff and sent a cocky email about me being at the bottom of her priorities and making personal insults -- she soon paid up (including the £25 court fee) once she received the summons -- but usually in that situation it would be written off (unless it was a B2B transaction i'd just add a £40 late payment fee)

Tremour-88

Lovefilm is the company that your paying for the service so trust in what they say, the next time CARS get in-touch tell them you've settled the matter with Lovefilm directly if this does nothing get in touch with Lovefilm and tell them CARS is still harrassing you and threatening you.

Also CARS is not allowed to come to your door, if they do you can phone to police and ask for them to be removed.

d712

Thanks for the responses. I rang C.A.R.S yesterday to tell them that Lovefilm had said the balance had been cleared and that in any case the reason for the balance is not what they it is.

The 'lady' I spoke to was extremely rude and asked me what the balance was for and when I tried to answer, she interrupted TWICE to ask again what the balance was for when I was explaining it to her!!!

In the end I became equally rude and said 'F*** you' and hung up. I'm not sure that was such a wise move...

I said that C.A.R.S should contact Lovefilm to find out the balance has been cleared but she said C.A.R.S wouldn't do that and that I needed to provide C.A.R.S with that proof myself.

I'm just concerned that if C.A.R.S see the reason for the balance being different from the way Lovefilm see it, they will not consider the balance to be cleared even if Lovefilm do, the lines of communication between the two companies can't be all that good.

A previous response mentioned C.A.R.S providing me with credit lines. Can anyone explain what that means?

Many thanks

arcon5

d712 wrote: »

I'm just concerned that if C.A.R.S see the reason for the balance being different from the way Lovefilm see it, they will not consider the balance to be cleared even if Lovefilm do, the lines of communication between the two companies can't be all that good.

A previous response mentioned C.A.R.S providing me with credit lines. Can anyone explain what that means?

Many thanks

If your referring to my post in your latter question... CARS are not providing you with a credit line.. the point being made was your credit report shows your credit history. Note the word credit. Ie CC, loan, overdraft, store card ect ect.
Lovefilm are not supplying credit, you are paying a monthly fee (likely in advance) for their service. Therefore they do NOT report to credit agencies and CANNOT affect your credit report UNLESS they go to court to obtain a county court judgement.

Thanks for the responses. I rang C.A.R.S yesterday to tell them that Lovefilm had said the balance had been cleared and that in any case the reason for the balance is not what they it is.

The 'lady' I spoke to was extremely rude and asked me what the balance was for and when I tried to answer, she interrupted TWICE to ask again what the balance was for when I was explaining it to her!!!

In the end I became equally rude and said 'F*** you' and hung up. I'm not sure that was such a wise move...

No, not the wisest move... because you allowed them to make you angry.
Once you stop stressing and worrying about these people you can start having fun with them .

'What have you paid them for Sir'
'I paid it to lovefilm'
'yes, but what for?'
'the film services'
'what charges did you pay?'
'£x to lovefilm'
'what was the fees for?'
'lovefilm services'

Not the greatest example, but you get the point. After going round in circles a few times it will be the operator getting annoyed with you!

At the end of the day, it was an oversight, you did the right thing and paid it, the amount is neglegible -- agencies are leeches, doesn't matter what you tell them they won't go away until lovefilm instruct them to stop

---

so in the meantime you may as well play with them . They will threaten this, that and everything else.. but they speak rubbish, this whole agency process is a very slow process and if it ever made it to court that is equally as slow and you can defend any claim! So it's not like your going to wake up in the morning with baliffs seizing goods or anything ridiculous.

d712

Hello again

I received an email from Lovefilm in the last half hour saying:

'Thank you for your recent e-mail.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you
in this matter…

I can confirm form the records that we have received the outstanding
payment on 21/12/2011 and your account status is active now…

I am pleased to confirm that we have removed your account details from
C.A.R.S. list and you will not receive any more letters from them.'

F*** you C.A.R.S!!

Thanks for the responses and advice :-)