Taking Experian to court for refund of statutory fee (£2)?

Experian_company_representative

Poten wrote: »

Firstly, not really sure where to post this. Its about Experian so obviously credit file worthy ish, but its more of a contractual/consumer dispute so may need moving.

I went through Experians website to request a copy of my statutory report. I have done this before and received a password to log in and view it online but this time after the £2 fee was taken I was asked to provide documents in order to continue with my request. Unfortunately I have just moved house and can not provide the documents they request (the rent I pay is all bills inc and is a lodger agreement so I am not on the CT bill etc, I don't own any credit cards anymore). So, I emailed them explaining that I can not provide these documents and that I would like a refund.

I've had a few exchanges with support and they have quoted the following legislation to me:

s7(2)(b) of the Data Protection Act 1998
s158(1)(c) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974
s159 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974
Consumer Credit Act 1974 s158 (1)(b)

My response to them is that whilst the legislation they have quoted at me supports their various rights (such as to charge a fee in exchange for disclosure and to ask for additional information) there is nothing in the legislation that mentions that the fee is non refundable. It mentions a fee in exchange for information (which, for clarity, has never been provided).

If this isn't provided for by legislation then it is governed by contract law. I admitted that there is a statement prior to paying the £2 fee stating that it is not refundable but crucially that is before they inform you of what documents they require. A contract term that subsequently imposes extra conditions not agreed at the time of conclusion has to be unfair. I can not say to you "I offer you this Jaguar for £50" and then after payment insist that you provide 3 documents on a list of my choosing and that the fee is non refundable. Ultimately, they have taken money and provided no service.

My last reply to them was 26 days ago asking them to

(i) raise a complaint and send me a copy of their complaints procedure, and
(ii) provide me with an address to which I can direct a LBA.

I have not heard anything from them since, nor have they replied to my email 2 days ago querying their lack of response.

I realise it is only £2, but I imagine they do this to a lot of people who don't bother pursuing it and this adds up to a nice chunk of change for them. I am willing to submit a MCOL and pursue this simply for the principal and because I am sure it will aid others in getting a refund.

Any opinions as to whether the refund is owed or reasons why it may not be owed?

Hi Poten,
I understand that it is frustrating that we have not been able to supply you with a copy of your credit report and it is certainly not our intention to stop anyone from obtaining a copy.
The £2.00 is a statutory fee that goes towards the cost of processing the application, this includes any identification checks that we need to make before the report can be sent.
Experian does not make any profit from the £2.00 fee.
We do state that “The cost to order your statutory credit report online is £2 and this is non-refundable.” on our website and on the application form.
To ensure that your information is protected if we cannot fully identify an applicant at their address then we will request documentation, if you are unable to provide the documents that we have requested then there are alternative documents that we can consider for a statutory credit report.
You mention that you have emailed us several times, and from what you have said a complaint will have been registered. Our full complaint policy along with timescales and contact details for our Customer Relations team who will be dealing with your complaint can be found here.
I will be happy to check your emails for you to let you know the current status, and advise on the alternative documents we can consider, please [EMAIL="uksocialsupport@experian.com"]email[/EMAIL] your details to me so that I can do this.
Kind regards
Neil

HiToAll

the OP really does need to get a job, what a loser.

Poten

daytona0 wrote: »

It doesn't have to be a linear distribution The average value is £1530 for any given year with your proposed figure.

*sigh*

Lets make this obvious.

I've just looked up a stat that suggests in October 2014 there were 2 Billion personal computers worldwide.

This means that over the last 100 years, there has been an average of 20 million computers sold each year.

Do you see the problem?

The above is a grade B or A (ish) GCSE level topic. Have you ever studied anything beyond GCSE Maths (particularly stats)?

daytona0 wrote: »

They haven't scammed you...Send in your documents and they'll deliver a report to you

I do hesitate to use the word scam because I don't think there is anything malicious; just idiot CS following a script and not accepting a logical argument.

Can't or won't provide the documentation doesn't matter either way, fact is they have introduced an extra requirement which wasnt present when the contract was made without giving me a chance to cancel.

daytona0 wrote: »

As for the amount, I agree with the core of what you're saying but I'm just pointing out that they'll be earning too much money through legitimate ventures to jepordise it all by taking an unspecified number of £2 fees from people who don't want to send in documents and get their report.

£20k over 13 years is not worth stealing when your revenue for providing a legitimate service is so big!

Unfortunately, I cant remember the name of this fallacy; but it is just that. The human mind does not operate logically when it comes to acquiring resources. There have been psychological studies showing that some people in a position of wealth will often take risks in order to acquire more wealth, even where that is only a fraction of the amount they have already.

daytona0 wrote: »

All you've been able to do is throw around numbers which represent various %% of the population size, ranging from over 1% (20k a year) to 0.1% (£1.5k) or even just £2 a year which is negligible. There's no evidence to suggest that the amount exceeds your £2

Well, yes. But your assertion that it isn't a large amount per year is only backed up by shaky statistics and a hunch that a 'vast majority' send in the required documents.

And whilst we are on the point, £2 per year is not negligible. If it was negligible then they would simply refund it in this situation when a consumer asked. Because, I mean, keeping it is negligible right?

Poten

unforeseen wrote: »

It is rather pointless. Any win only applies to you.
Being a Small Claim the judgement would set no precedence. It could happen that the same judge in a case following yours with exactly the same argument and evidence decides the opposite.

It doesn't help anybody apart from yourself, and TBH, for £2 plus the court costs they probably wouldn't even bother to defend the same that happens in a lot of no win no fee cases.

Yep, correct. But I think others would be a lot more willing to confront their 'policy' and pursue it if it had been done before. Again, whilst there were no guarantees how many people pursued their banks for their charges after the intial SCC case!?

Poten

AndyPix wrote: »

Apart from phoning them and asking them of course ..


But that would waste 10 minutes of your time


Oh - wait ....

The government guidance to the CRA 2015 expressly states that it is not a consumers job to go and hunt out information.

If a business wants to bind a consumer to its terms the burden is on them to (i) provide them (ii) in plain intelligble language (iii) so the consumer understands.

adindas

Hi Poten

Just in case you are well determined and have energy and time to do then take them to small claim court. It is not the matter of £2.00 but it is about principles.

Also another point is that they should not charge a penny to look into your own information. Keep in mind that is the information about you they are holding which you never ask them to keep.

In the US credit report is available for free, why it does not happen here in the UK ??

They are already making a lot of money by selling information about you. Not to mention when they make mistake on their record, they never offer a compensation. They do not fine the lender who feed them with rubbish and pass this compensation to the victim.

These institutions exist because of conspiracy between the lenders and CRAs and the loosers are always ordinary people. CRAs get their power from lenders ...And lender will use the credit report to threaten to default the borrowers ...

Poten wrote: »

Firstly, not really sure where to post this. Its about Experian so obviously credit file worthy ish, but its more of a contractual/consumer dispute so may need moving.

I went through Experians website to request a copy of my statutory report. I have done this before and received a password to log in and view it online but this time after the £2 fee was taken I was asked to provide documents in order to continue with my request. Unfortunately I have just moved house and can not provide the documents they request (the rent I pay is all bills inc and is a lodger agreement so I am not on the CT bill etc, I don't own any credit cards anymore). So, I emailed them explaining that I can not provide these documents and that I would like a refund.

I've had a few exchanges with support and they have quoted the following legislation to me:

s7(2)(b) of the Data Protection Act 1998
s158(1)(c) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974
s159 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974
Consumer Credit Act 1974 s158 (1)(b)

My response to them is that whilst the legislation they have quoted at me supports their various rights (such as to charge a fee in exchange for disclosure and to ask for additional information) there is nothing in the legislation that mentions that the fee is non refundable. It mentions a fee in exchange for information (which, for clarity, has never been provided).

If this isn't provided for by legislation then it is governed by contract law. I admitted that there is a statement prior to paying the £2 fee stating that it is not refundable but crucially that is before they inform you of what documents they require. A contract term that subsequently imposes extra conditions not agreed at the time of conclusion has to be unfair. I can not say to you "I offer you this Jaguar for £50" and then after payment insist that you provide 3 documents on a list of my choosing and that the fee is non refundable. Ultimately, they have taken money and provided no service.

My last reply to them was 26 days ago asking them to

(i) raise a complaint and send me a copy of their complaints procedure, and
(ii) provide me with an address to which I can direct a LBA.

I have not heard anything from them since, nor have they replied to my email 2 days ago querying their lack of response.

I realise it is only £2, but I imagine they do this to a lot of people who don't bother pursuing it and this adds up to a nice chunk of change for them. I am willing to submit a MCOL and pursue this simply for the principal and because I am sure it will aid others in getting a refund.

Any opinions as to whether the refund is owed or reasons why it may not be owed?

[Deleted User]

This is my suggestion


:wall::wall::wall: