What are a person's rights in this situation?

lea_lea

Waste of time. Didn't even read correctly before offering "advice" that would have incurred further debt and not resolved any of the issues had. An exercise in learning how quickly people make a judgement before actually absorbing all the facts.

sourcrates

lea_lea wrote: »

It's my understanding that as long as he's making a contribution to clear the debt within a reasonable time frame they can't take legal action against him, but this company have turned out to be a real nasty bunch of sods and it's stressing him out to no end.

Hi,

Your understanding is incorrect, they can do anything they like to recover the money owed to them.

Verbal agreements are not worth the paper (they are not written on) basically.

From what you say the debt is not covered by the consumer credit act, that means its not a regulated debt, so anything goes.

He should pay more attention to what he`s paying for in future, not what you want to hear i know, but he owes the money, the company concerned can do what ever it likes to recover whats owed to it.

That would include high court enforcement agents if they so chose.

System

Find it funny that it is the company who are a nasty bunch of sods because they want the money they're owed.

Would the "friend" have died if he'd not managed to get those products? No. Therefore he didn't actually need them. Anyway he'll know soon enough that this is the case because he won't be getting any more any time soon.

lea_lea

Actually Tarambor, my friend wouldn't have died but someone very close to him could have suffered as a result if he hadn't.

I never said there was an issue with wanting their money, he holds his hands up that it's owed, it's how they've mislead him and handled the situation poorly, but thanks for such a sympathetic and snide response, please don't trip over your attitude at any point today, you might hurt yourself!

elsien

If he owes them money, many companies would have declined his business till the debt was cleared. And if he's bought from them before, surely he knows the cost and should have noticed he's suddenly paying double?
The company do seem to have engaged in a bit of sharp practice in not telling him up front in order for him to decide whether to go ahead or not, but I can also see it from their side if he's telling them he can only afford £20 a month then turns up with £200 to spend.
I'm guessing you're not prepared to share the nature of this essential service?

Arleen

Without details of what the product is I will stand by Tarambors response, as cruel as it may seem. People constantly make bad purchases on credit for something they think they "need" when in reality they simply want it, and there were other ways to get around it.

Also from the sound of it he didn't stick to whatever the original agreement was with them in the first place, but now wants them to simply accept whatever he thinks is fair? That's just not how it works, especially when you go raising disputes rather than simply saying to them "Look, I didn't know, I screwed up but I also can't pay it, let's settle on a payment plan.".

lea_lea

"And if he's bought from them before, surely he knows the cost and should have noticed he's suddenly paying double?.....but I can also see it from their side if he's telling them he can only afford £20 a month then turns up with £200 to spend." @elsien
No, as far as I know he didn't know off hand the price of what he'd ordered because I believe it was slightly different to what he'd had in the past and foolishly trusted them because they'd raised no issue with how he'd handled things regarding his account prior to him walking into the place to collect/pay.

He'd actually arranged to pay them £100 a month and had maintained that but due to being off sick for a spell and not getting anything close to enough to manage on stat-sickpay he needed to rearrange to pay less until he got on his feet.

Also, he paid the £200 on a credit card at whatever extortionate APR, but the business account was interest free, so as this is a debt free wannabe forum I would have thought it would be understanding as to why he hadn't chosen to use that £200 available on credit to pay off a debt he wasn't accruing any interest on.

"People constantly make bad purchases on credit for something they think they "need" when in reality they simply want it, and there were other ways to get around it." @arleen
It wasn't a case of "wanting" anything, it was an essential thing he needed from them. Part of the issue is they'd already been paid a huge sum of money and the remaining few hundred quid was just what had been left over from unexpected additional "fees" left over, so it wasn't like he hadn't paid them anything at all and was pulling a fast one.

And he had maintained the original agreement, and even if he hadn't to my mind it still doesn't justify them not making him fully aware of what he was paying for before he put in his pincode and is now left getting bank charges (which will set him back further) between now and payday because the £100 credit he could have survived on until then has gone to them.

Oh and actually, that's what he did to. But they didn't give him an opportunity to explain the difficulties he'd been facing recently before demanding he pay off the debt in one fell swoop.

sourcrates

lea_lea wrote: »

My friend owes a company a few hundred quid on an account he has with them (no T&C's were ever signed or agreed to his knowledge)

You have gone about this in entirely the wrong way to be honest, apportioning blame where none is warranted, and vice versa.

I think your friend needs to forget what has gone on in the past here, thats over and done with, theirs nothing he can do now, if he is finding it a struggle to repay his debt to this company, he should just pay what he can afford, without looking for approval from them, and keep paying it till the debt is repaid.

Yes they may take him to court anyway, but even then the judge will not set an amount that is not affordable for him.

After he`s paid this off, he may want to look elsewhere for another supplier of whatever it is that got him into this mess in the first place.

Karonher

It does seem that the company have been trying to help at first and you are trying to make everything their fault.

Oh and actually, that's what he did to. But they didn't give him an opportunity to explain the difficulties he'd been facing recently before demanding he pay off the debt in one fell swoop.

From what you said he originally was paying £100 and they agreed to between £20 and £50 so he must have told them about the problems and they were trying to be helpful.

Sometimes it is not the company trying to get their money back who is at fault. Can the person who would have suffered without the goods pay for them - there may be a good reason but it is hard to know with such basic information.

[Deleted User]

OP: Have you explored TCF (Treating Customers Fairly)

https://moneyaware.co.uk/2016/02/treating-customers-fairly/

Section 3

System

lea_lea wrote: »

Actually Tarambor, my friend wouldn't have died but someone very close to him could have suffered as a result if he hadn't.

Then maybe they should have given him the money so he could have paid in cash.

As for things being essential, they're only essential to the point of justifying what he has done if there is a risk of injury or death if it doesn't happen and that doesn't include carrying on doing something that you need that item for and then coming to harm because the option of not doing it is available. The fact it costs a third party inconvenience or problems is neither here nor there or a valid justification.