Section 75 Claim - Nationwide

RobertinHerts

Can you suggest what I could do now? I'm looking for options, thanks.

I made a Section 75 Claim on my Nationwide credit card in November 2015 when a Sony TV failed after just 16 months and the retailer had closed.

They have finally admitted that it's a valid claim and made me an offer of refunding me the purchase price saying that they are putting me back in a "Pre-contractual position". However they'd previously stated in writing that they would refund the cost of the independent technician that they asked me to find and obtain a report from.

They didn't ask for a technicians report until January then kept saying it wasn't good enough, they seemed to be saying that I had to get proof that there was a manufactures fault.

In February they gave me £50 "in full and final settlement of the concerns raised at this point" after I'd complained about their delays.

As well as being out of pocket, having paid for the technician's inspection and numerous letters of complaint including special delivery to the CEO, this has taken a lot of my time.

Having been a customer for some 30 years I feel they have shown no respect at all. On one occasion I phoned to enquire what was happening and got the response that I was lucky they offered this service!

So I am not prepared to accept the refund of original purchase price as a full and final settlement and now want to make sure I'm not missing out on any options which may be open to me.

Nationwide want me to go down the Financial Ombudsman route if not satisfied, but I'm concerned this will just add a further 3 months or more. It's already taken eight months!

jonesMUFCforever

Going down the Ombudsman route will cost you nothing but if taken on by them will cost Nationwide £550.
What is the total of your claim?

YorkshireBoy

They haven't put you back in a "pre-contractual position" until they've refunded all your consequential losses, which they must do under Section 75.

You have two choices:

1. Refer to the Ombudsman, or

2. Take Nationwide to court.

Should you decide to go to court, then you cannot subsequently use the FOS service.

YorkshireBoy

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Going down the Ombudsman route will cost you nothing but if taken on by them will cost Nationwide £550.
What is the total of your claim?

Isn't the fee only charged if the case is referred to an adjudicator*? Can't imagine this one will be...it's clear cut isn't it?


* Last time I checked, only one in six complaints couldn't be handled by their frontline staff.

EDIT: Just checked again and these days it's one in five that require "more detailed work by our case-handling staff or ombudsmen".

RobertinHerts

Thanks jonesMUFC and YorkshireBoy.

The "They haven't put you back in a "pre-contractual position" until they've refunded all your consequential losses, which they must do under Section 75". Is particularly useful.

That statement was after I queried it. I also have a letter from the complaints department which agreed with the initial offer for the original cost plus 'proof of the disposal of your defective TV'.

The TV cost £249 and the Technician's inspection £54, I provided them with the receipt at the time.

I infer from your comments that the Ombudsman turn-round is significantly quicker if it's clear cut. And I've just found "... we can sort out some complaints within just a few weeks" on the Ombudsman's website.

I've just found the following on the MSE page about the Financial ombudsman service:

The Ombudsman awards compensation for material distress and inconvenience in about a quarter of the cases it looks at.

You can charge for your time. Hidden in its compensation guidelines, it states it will award compensation for the time you've spent resolving your complaint.

I've got ten letters in response to me plus a number of emails, there were also a number of phone calls and visits to branches.

An alternative route I'm considering to the Ombudsman or Court is via the media. I suspect their Media centre wouldn't be pleased if this saga went public, as this situation directly contradicts their advertising campaign.