Can they do this?

mne2

Surely the first thing to do is to get some clarification on what "went wrong"?

MrsPBikerChick

Your contract for the sale of the TV is not fulfilled if tesco have not been paid for it, either by you or the finance company. Valid contracts require consideration - tescos was the TV and yours the purchase price. In this case your consideration was to be provided through a 3rd party - the finance company - but you remain liable under the sale contract with tesco.

If the finance company has failed to pay then they have breached their contract with you and you need to speak to them to sort it out. Either you rescind the contract and pay tesco yourself or you insist they fulfil their obligation to you (ie to pay tesco) and you fulfill your obligation to pay them.

The other option is you return the TV to tesco and pay the difference between its price new and its price now after 3yrs of usage.

For those accusing the OP of criminal theft or other such offences, please remember that almost all non-motoring criminal offences require a guilty act (actus reus) AND a guilty mind (mens rea). Theft is, according to s.1 of the Theft Act 1968, a specific intent offence, meaning recklessness will not suffice for mens rea. The OP must have the intention to permanently deprive the rightful owner of the goods (currently tesco until they are paid) of those goods. The offence also requires an element of dishonesty, which is set out in s.2 if anyone cares to look it up. It is clear the OP did not have this intention and has not acted dishonestly and therefore is not guilty of such an offence.

If he now tries to keep the goods without paying then it is debatable that he may be guilty, particularly if he dishonestly tries to claim he has paid, but I would be surprised a) if tesco called the police in what is essentially a civil matter, b) the CPS decide to prosecute and c) if a court would convict given the mistake appears to be the finance company's and not his. It is quite possible, however, that tescos could go through the county court to recover the purchase price owed under the sale contract.

Here endeth the criminal law lecture

JuicyJesus

opinions4u wrote: »

A fabulous way to trash your credit file.

I'd have a crack at suggesting they write off the debt. Firmly worded letter. Your error, spend £x,xxx in your supermarket each year, no deliberate act on my part etc.

If that doesn't work, pay what you owe.

If not write off the debt, I'd suggest either interest free instalments or a significant reduction in amount be a fair resolution.

For the price of a letter, it's worth a shot.

Takeaway_Addict

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

I would get legal advice op.

As it seems to me there is no finance contract. Are people stealing when they send "prove it". Letters for debts they've run away from.

A few years ago, were people stealing when they tried to get loan contracts voided?

I don't think it's as cut and dried as people are making out.

For the cost of the TV I very much doubt it would be worth getting legal advice and I would believe Lazydaisy.

Asbestross

Irrelevant of all the moral implications involved here; if there has been a mistake with the agreement leading to unenforceability then you are well withing your lawful rights to tell them to whistle dixy.

Lets hypothesize that this matter was taken to court, can you imagine the particulars of claim in this instance;

"Sums owed under an unenforceable HP agreement taken out by the defendant. We have not made any reasonable attempt to take the regular payments via direct debit as agreed upon and now wish to make claim for the total balance outstanding against said null contract as defendant refused to sign a new agreement. We have also been unable to serve a valid default notice in place or comply with pre-action conduct protocols due to the lack of a contract.... please mr. judge"

...lets be realistic, this would never see the inside of a court room; and if it did, it would be on April 1st. The finance company know its unenforceable, they know they're in a corner, and they know that the only recourse is to try and get another contract signed up. The question, which I would be asking myself in your situation is simply this.

If the role was reversed, and they owed you the money with no contract in place... do you think they'd willingly pay?

With that being said, me personally, I'd give serious thought to making a F&F settlement offer of say 25% the original value. At this point, they'll probably bite your hand off with any offer to pay.