Cancelling a finance contract

maninthestreet

£3700 for a bike? You could by a reasonable, small secondhand car for that. What make is the bike?

armcosurfer

Thanks for all the replies,we'll write the letter tomorrow and let you know how he gets on.
The bike is a Giant Glory carbon fibre job, supposed to be one of the best downhill bikes out there, this one must have slipped past quality control!

armcosurfer

Hi again, right,we contacted the retailer (Tredz bikes) and the finance company (V12 Retail Finance owned by Secure Trust Bank) by letter on 4/8/16, asking for a full refund because the bike was of unsatisfactory quality and not fit for purpose due to the suspension problems. We also stated that they had used their one chance to repair the bike and that the bike did not conform to the contract.
Tredz did not contact us but V12 Finance did ,stating that 'we will mediate between you and Tredz to reach a satisfactory outcome'. Their internal complaints procedure letter states that they will contact us after 4 weeks with an update and at 8 weeks with a final response.
We've heard nothing since and I get the impression that they are stalling for time so that my son makes a couple more monthly payments(for a bike he is unable to use!). No one at Tredz or V12 have contacted us to look at the bike or collect it, and as the 6 months final right to reject will be up in a couple of months, do they have a way of getting out of their responsibilities if this 6 month period 'runs out'.
Can we stop the monthly payments without any penalties? Thanks.

maninthestreet

V12 have another 10 days to get back to you with an update.

tykesi

armcosurfer wrote: »

Hi again, right,we contacted the retailer (Tredz bikes) and the finance company (V12 Retail Finance owned by Secure Trust Bank) by letter on 4/8/16, asking for a full refund because the bike was of unsatisfactory quality and not fit for purpose due to the suspension problems. We also stated that they had used their one chance to repair the bike and that the bike did not conform to the contract.
Tredz did not contact us but V12 Finance did ,stating that 'we will mediate between you and Tredz to reach a satisfactory outcome'. Their internal complaints procedure letter states that they will contact us after 4 weeks with an update and at 8 weeks with a final response.
We've heard nothing since and I get the impression that they are stalling for time so that my son makes a couple more monthly payments(for a bike he is unable to use!). No one at Tredz or V12 have contacted us to look at the bike or collect it, and as the 6 months final right to reject will be up in a couple of months, do they have a way of getting out of their responsibilities if this 6 month period 'runs out'.
Can we stop the monthly payments without any penalties? Thanks.

So they've still got plenty of time before their own deadline is up and you take this to mean they're stalling? They will be having to contact the retailer to discuss and then make their own mind up, these things don't happen overnight.

DoaM

And no - you don't stop making payments on the finance agreement. Any payments should be returned in full once the process is completed.

unholyangel

armcosurfer wrote: »

Hi again, right,we contacted the retailer (Tredz bikes) and the finance company (V12 Retail Finance owned by Secure Trust Bank) by letter on 4/8/16, asking for a full refund because the bike was of unsatisfactory quality and not fit for purpose due to the suspension problems. We also stated that they had used their one chance to repair the bike and that the bike did not conform to the contract.
Tredz did not contact us but V12 Finance did ,stating that 'we will mediate between you and Tredz to reach a satisfactory outcome'. Their internal complaints procedure letter states that they will contact us after 4 weeks with an update and at 8 weeks with a final response.
We've heard nothing since and I get the impression that they are stalling for time so that my son makes a couple more monthly payments(for a bike he is unable to use!). No one at Tredz or V12 have contacted us to look at the bike or collect it, and as the 6 months final right to reject will be up in a couple of months, do they have a way of getting out of their responsibilities if this 6 month period 'runs out'.
Can we stop the monthly payments without any penalties? Thanks.

The applicable date would be the date you informed them of the breach/that you were rejecting the bike.

System

All banks are slow at formal complaints, just wait it out and don't worry, it sounds like you are on the right path.

The six months thing though.

(5)The right is exercised if the consumer indicates to the trader that the consumer is rejecting the goods and treating the contract as at an end.

(6)The indication may be something the consumer says or does, but it must be clear enough to be understood by the trader.

(7)From the time when the right is exercised—

(a)the trader has a duty to give the consumer a refund, subject to subsection (18), and

(b)the consumer has a duty to make the goods available for collection by the trader or (if there is an agreement for the consumer to return rejected goods) to return them as agreed.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/20

(8)If the consumer exercises the final right to reject, any refund to the consumer may be reduced by a deduction for use, to take account of the use the consumer has had of the goods in the period since they were delivered, but this is subject to subsections (9) and (10).

(9)No deduction may be made to take account of use in any period when the consumer had the goods only because the trader failed to collect them at an agreed time.

(10)No deduction may be made if the final right to reject is exercised in the first 6 months (see subsection (11)), unless—

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/24

Perhaps worth mentioning they goods are available for collection in a follow up letter before the six months is up.

armcosurfer

Ok thanks, my son was expecting things to move a little quicker, he is a bit impatient what with being just 21!

armcosurfer

Hi again, a quick update- my son heard from V2 finance about a month back saying that they were 'still investigating the claim'. How they could investigate anything I don't know as he still had the bike and there had been no effort by Tredz or V2 to arrange a collection of it. So he then contacted them and told them to collect the bike for inspection which they did a week later. Nothing from them for about two weeks until yesterday when he had a phone call from Customer Service at Tredz, they told him that he had tampered with the bikes suspension(with an adjustable spanner and damaged the front forks) and that his warranty was now void and they would be sending the bike back out to him! The bike had not been touched by him after the first repair,it has sat in the shed until Tredz reluctantly collected it. There were very minor marks on the fork top caps after the first repair by the so called suspension specialists.
As I suspected all along, this has just been delaying tactics by both companies to enable them to collect another couple of monthly payments from my son, the bike would still be in the shed in an unusable condition now if we had not told them to collect it.
So since buying the bike in May ,he has used it for a maximum of 10 days and paid 4 months of payments for the privilege! After buying the bike specifically to use this Summer,well the Summer has now gone! He cancelled the direct debit payment yesterday after the phone call with Tredz customer services and does not intend to pay a penny more.
Where do we go from here? Obviously,(as I expected), neither company are interested in reimbursing him and have no intention of following the Consumer law, at least not without a court fight. Do we go to our local Trading Standards, would they help? Thanks.