Ashley Park Debt Management- Reclaiming Upfront Fees

Fuzzy14

Back in May I decided enough was enough and I couldn't service the levels of debt anymore. We ended up at a company called Ashley Park based in Rotherham, spent a while on the phone to them and the bottom line is they took an initial payment of more than £500 off me.

After the initial payment was taken they then sent me out details saying they couldn't deal with my case as I was Scottish (didn't seem to be a problem over the phone) and they were passing my account onto a Scottish company. It was about this time I learned about CCCS.

Seeing as Ashley Park weren't willing to take on my case, I contacted CCCS and set up a debt management plan with them, CCCS have been brilliant:T and I totally recommend them to anybody. However Ashley Park are not giving me back my £500 initial payment for the following reasons:

It was outside the 14 day cooling off period (although their terms and conditions clearly state the contract can be cancelled if they have not commenced any work, which they haven't)
The T&Cs do not state that I would get my money back (although they also do not say I wouldn't get my money back)
They claim they said they keep the first two initial payments then charge 17% (compared to CCCS being free)

Now I do not have a problem with paying a honest sum for honest work but this company did not lift a sodding finger on my file, did not contact my creditors, tried to pass it over to another company and not give me my money back. They are total scam merchants.

Luckily I have just been offered a better job that will let me clear my debt a lot quicker, it will also allow me to get lawyered up and take these crooks to court.

Does anybody have experience with trying to recover money from Debt Management cos?