Daughters debt, help and advice needed.

fuelcrusher

Hi, I would be very grateful for any advice regarding the trouble my daughter has got into.

I should point out that at the moment she is very stressed and depressed to the point that it is very difficult to get her to speak about her problems (which are many).

So basically we found out a couple of weeks ago that she received a solicitors letter regarding a debt owed to a very well know adult party planner company that she worked for, approx £480.

At that time she told us that she didn’t understand why she’d received it because she didn’t owe them any money, she then wouldn’t speak about the issue.

My wife and I, knowing these things don’t go away, did some digging ourselves.

It turned out the company has charged her for a party kit that was not returned plus fees and this debt has been passed to a debt collection agency.

Via telephone conversation between my wife and one of their ‘helpline’ staff we were told she could no longer send the kit back and if we did they would just send it straight back to my daughter.

Via e-mail communication between myself and one of their customer service managers I explained that we now wanted to return the kit, pay any admin fees, and for an explanation if this was refused.

I was told, again via e-mail, that party ambassadors have thirty days to return the kit, no exceptions and that this was all in her contract. Basically sorry, but brushed off and told to only proceed with the DCA.

If allowed and needed I can post name redacted copy of this e-mail conversation.

Back to now. Finally I got my daughter to open up to me and tell me her side.

She says she was recruited (age 18) and did sign a contract, not really understanding the contract she went on the word of the recruiter. The recruiter told her that she would be given a party kit and would pay the cost of this kit off at £3.50 a week (it turns out that this is untrue and the £3.50 is a hire cost). She says that the recruiter did not give her a copy of the contract.

My daughter says she did not receive a leavers pack or kit invoice that they claim she should have on leaving the company last October.

My daughter says she checked her account balance online at that time and paid off the balance (almost £100) and presumed that that was her clear.

She says she did receive a first letter from the DCA and rang them up, explained that she did not know what the debt was for because as far as she was concerned she’d cleared her balance. They said they would check into it and get back to her. She heard nothing then until the solicitors letter.
So now I don’t know what to do. The facts seem clear to me.
She owes a debt for the party kit.
This was not returned due to misunderstanding/false information from her recruiter.
We have the kit and have offered to return it.
The company has refused and told us to communicate with the DCA.

What should I do now?

Is e-mail an ok method of communication if this goes to court?

Should I ask for proof of receipt of the leavers pack and kit invoice or do they not need proof that these were issued?

Should I just send the kit back?

Any advice would be very gratefully accepted.

Thank you.
A worried father.

19lottie82

fuelcrusher wrote: »

Should I ask for proof of receipt of the leavers pack and kit invoice or do they not need proof that these were issued?

Should I just send the kit back?

No, and no.

I appreciate that you are worried about your daughter, and you say she is depressed, but this is your daughters debt and your daughters problem. She is an adult.

Your daughter has to learn to deal with her own problems, otherwise her depression will just get worse.

By all means support her all the way, but you're not doing her any favours in the long run by encouraging her to keep on sticking her head in the sand.


I don't think he DCA will communicate with you, as you are not the debtor, due to the data protection act.

If it does get called to the small claims, then a judge will not look favourably upon your daughter if she has ignored everything and let her parents deal with it all.

Get her to make an appointment at the citizens advice bureau, go along with her (let her do the talking), getting her to take all of the paperwork relating to the kit, and see what they say