Computeach. Help, Please!

BrownBear84

Hello all,

Back in 2009/10 I was suckered into signing up for some computeach courses. I initially wanted to do just an entry level one, but a salesman came round and before I knew it I was signed up for a lot more at a huge cost. The courses were financed by BPF. I was on low wages at the time and told the salesman that I might struggle to pay it every month. He assured me that I'd have a better job in no time and that all would be well. I'm an idiot. I signed up.

I went to their place (think it was in the midlands) for an induction type thing and hated it. It was nothing like what I expected and I knew that I wouldn't be able to complete the course. As soon as I got home I emailed to cancel the whole thing. However, I was out of the cooling off period and they told me I couldn't. I told them that I'd be unable to complete the courses and the response was along the lines of 'tough'.

A couple of months later I was unable to keep up the payments and the loan defaulted. I explained the situation to BPF and they weren't interested. Computeach had my money and I had nothing but around £8k in debt. I moved house and never heard anything about it.

Fast forward to today and I'm receiving letters and phone calls daily, demanding the 8k from Capquest on behalf of BPF. My worry is that this debt will be statute barred in 10 months, so they're going to throw everything at it, most likely culminating in a day at court and I just don't know how to proceed. I'm thinking of just moving again and hoping I can dodge for the next year or so.

The thing is, I've received no services from computeach and I only signed up because of a pushy, lying sales rep. I told him I couldn't afford the credit but he convinced me to do it anyway. Do I have any case for irresponsible lending or anything? Could I try to take Computeach to court to get a refund and use that to pay the debt?

I'm absolutely lost and I'd just like some opinions on how to proceed.

I don't have any specifics really, everything got thrown out.

Thanks.

Tery.

rizla_king

Would ask somewhere like http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/ as think you need more legally focused advice.

National_Debtline

Hi BrownBear84,

Welcome to MSE

If you feel you have had bad service then you are able to make a complaint. You should complain to Computeach about the sales pitch and see if they would consider writing the debt off (and cancelling the debt collection agency). You could also discuss this with your local Trading Standard and/or Citizens Advice Consumer Service (0845 404 0506) for more advice. I would suggest you try and exhaust the complaint route first (as this is free) before you consider your own legal action (which may cost money). But you do need to be aware that this type of complaint will be classed as an acknowledgement of the debt and restart the 6 year limitations clock.

I am afraid moving property won’t stop them taking legal action either, county court papers only need to be sent to your last known UK address, so if you move (and don’t tell them) they could get a judgement against you in your absence. If you decide to complain you can send a copy of it to Capquest and explain the debt is in dispute, they should put action on hold until the dispute is resolved. If they continue to call/ write you could complain that they are using harassing behaviour under the FCA guidelines.

I hope that helps,

Laura
@natdebtline