Topshop Cards - advice wanted.

Neeny82

Hello,

Firstly I must apologise for my ignorance. I have been reading up on this today but quite frankly I am just a little confused.

I used to have 2 Topshop cards, the first of which was opened in around 2001. Neither had huge credit limits (one £200 and one £300) but were both constantly at the limit until I finally paid them both off in full in 2006.

My mum has recently found a couple of the statements at her house and forwarded them on to me. Upon examining them I realise that I was paying for 'Account Cover' which I never knew i'd even signed up to!!

I was a full-time student at University when I opened the cards (the second was opened within a year of the first I seem to recall). I also recall the big selling point when opening the first card was that I would get 10 or 15% discount off that days purchases if I opened the card. I explained that I was a student and was only working a part-time job on little money. I was assured that it was fine and we should check if I was eligible for the card. The store attendant completed the form for me and asked me to sign a box whilst she contacted the bank by phone (I expect) to see if I was eligible. I recall her saying that the fact that I had just signed up to a mobile phone contract would be good as it meant i'd have a credit score.

I was then told the application was successful. At no point was I informed about 'account cover' and what that would mean for me. I just remember thinking "woo - shopping!!" (silly, silly girl!)

The second account was opened as a result of another young store attendant walking around the store to get people to sign up. I explained that I already had one and she said that it would be easy for me to get another, and promptly started completing the form.

Anyway, all I have is 1 or 2 account statements which obviously include the account numbers.

Do I need to now contact GE Capital Bank to ask for a copy of the terms and conditions and all my old statements? Is it too long ago for them to have copies of these?

I am interested more than anything as I cannot remember agreeing to take out any insurance. In hindsight I cannot believe they actually sold me store cards knowing that I had no real income. I got into a terrible mess with them and just hid my head in the sand, didn't even open statements and was late paying and got huge charges added which meant that even though I was making payments every month, I was getting deeper and deeper into trouble. Eventually my mum and dad took control of the situation after they were receiving phonecalls on a nightly basis from GE Capital (they would ring and ask me why and I would just lie as I did not want to disappoint them - again so stupid)

Gosh i'm rambling now.

If anyone could advise me I would be most grateful. I have never made a claim for anything before and am just wondering where to start and if to bother at all seeing as it was so long ago. I had a loan a few years back and was fully aware of the insurance I was being sold. As far as the Topshop cards, I knew nothing about the account cover which has irked me somewhat.

Many thanks in advance - and those of you have made it this far and actually follow what i'm talking about - well done on staying awake. :rotfl:

timmybear

I can beleive it.

Aged 18, I -along with the rest of the chain- were constantly being pushed into 'selling' the BHS storecard as we went about our work.

It was simple. We were shown how to fill out a form, what ID to ask for and what criteria needed to be met. We were on no bonus for promoting PPI (in fact there was no bonus or any incentive for promoting the card itself, unless you count the fact that meeting the target resulted in less earache from our managers :mad: ), the box was there to be ticked or not ticked by the customer. If asked, we'd briefly explain it was there to cover redundancy or sickness.

No one was ever trained 'properly'. The need to push the cards was massive. We were told to target people at the till-point, who had a wallet full of cards already. It was accepted that these 'types' of customers knew the drill when it came to finance, having evidently been through it many times.

This is why I object so strongly to some of the complaints of alleged 'miss selling', because the person / people promoting the cards and finance were often on low wages and under pressure to perform. The statements issued to the customer will have stated what was being charged. To me, that takes some -if not all- responsibilty away from the sales person. Back then, there was no minimum wage. I worked for a pittance at BHS, that I do remember, and when it came to those damn storecards it was push, push, push.