Loan-Options.net Getting a Refund

SurferDan

Has anyone dealt with this company?

A family friend signed up with Loan-Options.net recently and had £64.75 debited from his bank account.
(£34.75 registration fee and £30 (£1 per day for 30 days) membership fees.

They appear to offer access to payday loans and other services but deny they are Credit Brokers or intermediaries.

Immediately this was discovered we emailed the company and cancelled the "membership" and asked for a refund.
The company refused a full refund and only offered a refund of the 30 day membership fee.

We phoned the company and spoke to "Megan".
We stated that as we were cancelling within their 14 day cooling off period we wanted a full refund less the maximum £5 they were allowed to take under regulation 155 of the Consumer Credit Act.
Megan denied that they offered a 14 day cooling off period and didn't comment when I pointed out that I had a copy of their T&C's in front of me which clearly states:-

"Cancellation Rights
Being as this contract is a service contract for a membership scheme We offer a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period during which time You may cancel the agreement: Services are provided immediately following signup meaning cancellation within 14 days will result in a reasonable service charge being applied.
Refunds are calculated on a pro-rata basis depending on the number of days membership used - £34.76 Setup Fee plus £1.00 per day of membership".

I asked to speak to someone higher up the tree and was put through to "Josh" an accounts manager.

This account manager in response to my attempts to get a refund responded as follows,

"We are not brokers and therefore not covered by the Consumer Credit act.
Therefore we do not have to comply with Section 155 of the Act.
Our refund policy is as stated in our T&C's."

I pointed out that surely the point of a cooling off period is that the customer can change his mind within that period and receive a refund.

He offered a further £5.

I asked for his surname

He replied that he doesn't divulge that information.

I suggested that they may not be brokers but they were credit intermediaries and therefore must be covered by the CCA.
(I think that they should have a least a Category C license)
He replied "No"
A search on the OFT register shows them listed in the Credit brokerage category for "provision of credit information services excluding credit repair"

Any advice on how to proceed to get a full refund appreciated

Finally what do you make of this extract from their T&C's?

"In the event that any of these terms (each of which is severable) is for any reason illegal, invalid or unenforceable, such provision is to be deemed modified sufficiently to render it enforceable, legal and valid and of similar effect as We intended. Apart from provisions expressly covering associate companies, nothing in these terms is enforceable by anyone who is not a party to them."

Seems a bit "If I say its black and its actually white, what I meant was that its white"

bigadaj

Formal compliant and then go to the regulator is the normal course of action.

With respect to the terms and conditions then the first part is just weasel words, they are tying to say that the spirit of their intent is retained if the clauses are actually wrong, however that just means its still subjective and relies on a reasoanble interpretation.

The second part is a standard contact term, it excludes the contract rights of third parties act meaning that no one who isn't named in the contract can raise a claim. This legislation was an interesting act, well intentioned but all reasonable contracts now icmlude such a clause as contracts rely on transparency and apportioning risk and liability, and including anyone not named means that this can't be reasonably quantified.