MotoNovo Finance - Misleading texts and letters following missed payment

nobodygotimeforthat

Hi,

I am just coming on here for a bit of advise regarding a MotoNovo finance and the letters and text messages I receive after I have missed a payment. I don't know if I have a case to complain to them about, but I am airing it here to see what others think.

I have missed a few payments with them over the last 6 months.

The events unfold as follows:
1. I miss a payment
2. I get a text message from MotoNovo saying "hello, your Direct Debit has not been paid. Pay now by card at (website). You have been charged a £5, pay now to avoid additional charges"
(I can live with that, I miss a payment I get a penalty charge. fair enough)
3. I receive a letter though the post informing me of the £5 charge.
3. The day after the first text message, I receive a text message saying "we will be representing your Direct Debit within the next 4 working days. Please ensure sufficient funds are available to cover this payment." Now, this leads me to believe I am too do nothing, and the money will be taken again via direct debit. fine I make sure I move funds into the account.

4. a day or so after this I receive another letter through the pose letting me know that I have now been charged an addition £15 because I haven't made payment. I haven't made payment because they've told me they are going to be taking the money via direct debit!

Only one occasion have I received an additional text message after the direct debit one saying pay now to avoid further charges. I still find it misleading because it doesn't say "if you don't pay in X many days there will be a further charge" I always wait for them to take it via direct debit for fear I may be charged twice in one month if I make payment before the direct debit is collected.

So, this time I ignored the direct debit message, I still received 2 lots of default sums, I went online and paid the full amount outstanding (including charges) as the second text message prompted and today they have taken the direct debit again anyway.

I am wondering - does anyone else think they are deliberately misleading people into thinking they should wait for them to recover the missed payment via direct debit when actually they are buying themselves more time in order to charge additional missed payment fees!?

I have fallen into this trap several times and I have had enough of overpaying because they tell me they are going to take the direct debit. If they simply said pay up now, I can live with that, and I would just go online and pay.

Anyway, rant over - your thoughts? Should I even bother complaining to them? Or do I complain to someone else? Or should I not even waste my time?

Disclaimer: I am well aware I shouldn't miss payments at all, I am in the 2nd year of a new business and sometimes the funds are just not there for a day or so- I wouldn't miss them if I didn't have to!

Willing2Learn

Personally, "we will be representing your Direct Debit within the next 4 working days. Please ensure sufficient funds are available to cover this payment." would cause me to believe that they were going to try the DD again within the next four working days.

sourcrates

Hi,


Yes, I agree they are mis-leading, and possibly just another way to ramp up the penalty charges, myself, I would send a written complaint, as per their complaints procedure, explain you are aware your payment was missed, but the messages you recieved afterwards led you to believe payment would be re-attempted by DD, and it was not.
You believe this is an unfair practice for which you require a full explanation and clarification of your account status, plus a refund of charges, as the mixed messages you recieved put you in an unfair position.

foxy-stoat

Maybe you should of called to pay the £5 fine by card and then they would of taken the contractual payments as normal a few days later.

nobodygotimeforthat

In the cases where I have not paid, and let the direct debit run its course (a few days after the initial missed direct debit), they have still taken the payments via direct debit, but I have still had the additional charges in the meantime.

Sorry I didn't make that clearer.

Thank you so much for all your replies, I will definitely make a written complaint.

nobodygotimeforthat

Just in case anyone was following this thread / reading it in the future, I did complain to MotoNovo, my email complaint was as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,

HIRE PURCHASE
AGREEMENT XXXX
My Details:NAME
ADDRESS
Tel: XXX


I am writing in reference to my account.

Over the past few months I have missed several payments. I understand that there are consequences for this, but the text messages and written correspondence I have received via post after the missed payment have been very misleading.

The last few payments I have missed the subsequent correspondence I received is as follows:

Day 1 - A text message to let me know a payment has been missed
Day 2 - A second text message saying the direct debit will be attempted in 4 days time
Day 2 - A letter in the post showing a £5 charge for missed payment
Day 4 - A text message to say pay now to avoid further charges
Day 4 - A second letter in the post to say I have received further charges of £15 for late payment
Day 6 - Direct debit is collected

Now, I understand that there is a charge for a missed payment. I missed it, there is a consequence. I completely accept that.

What I do have an aversion to is the subsequent correspondence - I find it very misleading, and as yet I am unable to understand what advise I should follow as I seem to be in a loose/loose situation no matter what course of action I take.

Allow me to elaborate slightly.

I have at various times waited for you to take my direct debit out of my account as the text message you send on day 2 suggests. I then log in to my online account to pay the £5 fee incurred, however, I then see I am charged another £15 because I have waited for you to take the direct debit. Should I really be charged a second late payment fee if you have told me that a direct debit will be attempted again in 4 days and to make sure the correct funds are in my account? If so why?

Most recently, I decided to go against the direct debit advise to try and avoid the £15 late payment fee and went online to pay via card. I paid the total amount outstanding (missed payment + late charges).

However, you still attempted to take the direct debit from me a day or so later - and then charged me another £5 for missing the direct debit.

What's a girl to do!?

I am not sure which advise you would like me to follow - go online and make the payment ASAP or wait for the direct debit to taken? It seems either course of action allows you to charge me a further sum for either a late payment or a second missed direct debit.

I believe this is an unfair practice for which I require a full explanation and clarification of my account status, plus a refund of charges, as the mixed messages I have received put me in an unfair position.

Should you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me either via email or on XXXX.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards

XXX

They replied and agreed to refund the charges in the most recent case.

I replied saying I wanted the last 6 months reviewed as this 'misleading communication' had been happening for that time period. They did review and refunded me all charges for late payments I had incurred during that time. The offered me credit against my account or a refund directly to my card.

They also assured me they will look into their practice and have it amended in case other customers have fallen into the same trap as me. Whether they will actually carry that out is another matter.

So, thank you all for you help and advice, I am very happy with the result!

sourcrates

Good result, well done.