Section 75 claim timeframe?

Winterrose

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can give me an idea of the sort of time frame I'm looking at to resolve a Section 75 claim?

I submitted a claim in August and every time I call up to check the status I get a different answer. I have been told it would 'definitely be weeks rather than months', and then recently was told I'd have a resolution the following week, only to be told when I phoned the following week that the case hadn't even been submitted to the legal team yet!

The claim is with Virgin Money.

How long has it taken you to get a Section 75 resolved?

[Deleted User]

It depends on how complex the case is.

Anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of years would be a fair estimate.

Winterrose

Thanks, it's a claim for a used car (under warranty) where the dealer has gone bust and disappeared, which they've verified. I've had the independent report done, submitted all required evidence, but just can't seem to get an idea of how long I might be waiting. Even if they told me it could be years, at least I'd have an idea of how to proceed in the interim.

It's massively inconvenient not to know how long it may be as I really need a car, and because they told me it would be weeks I was waiting for an answer and have been struggling without one thinking the decision wouldn't be too long.

After my last discussion with them I've had to invest in a cheap runaround just to get me about, which I could have done in August if they'd told me in the first place that it was likely to be months or years rather than weeks!

So frustrating.

Nick_C

Well if you have a valid claim, you could ask for consequential losses as well. Claiming for a rental car might have been reasonable. Hopefully when you sell the cheap runabout you won't lose much money on it.

If you've given Virgin all the evidence you can, they should get on with it. I would suggest a formal complaint at their failure to deal with it, and escalate to the ombudsman if it remains unresolved.

I'm assuming you have the car you bought, but it needs repairs?

eco_warrior

if imagine most banks won’t work to a strict timeframe. Yours sounds straightforward enough tbh

chattychappy

Whilst you follow the banks own procedures, you have to accept their time frame. Of course you can complain and eventually go to the ombudsman and may get some joy there.

Alternatively, you could warn them that you will sue. If you go that route, then it will be the court, not the CC that will set deadlines for things to be done. Note that once you issue the claim form, the courts allow and encourage time for the parties to resolve the dispute amicably. This is one way of getting some action from the CC.

Looks like Virgin are doing nothing and are hoping you'll simply go away. Perhaps they know that in practice many are worn down by attrition.

Winterrose

Thanks for the replies everyone.

@Nick, yes, I've still got the original car but (long story short) I think it's a write-off - the repairs required will cost (at minimum) not much less than I paid for the car itself, and there's a possibility it may need a whole new engine which would cost 3 times what I paid for it! So I obviously don't want to invest any money in it while the claim is still ongoing. It's just sitting on my drive now.

It's so frustrating, surely they should have some kind of SLA in place to give customers guidance about how long these things can take. I can't get even a vague answer out of them, surely they must have some idea?

Without any idea of whether they're going too slowly, it's hard to know whether I'm even within my rights to complain.