Hire Purchase

Emmajane79

I’ve been paying weekly for a TV with Perfect Home and I am not far off finishing the payments when yesterday the TV stopped working. I did all the troubleshooting to no avail. Today I have contacted Perfect Home hoping to either have them repair or replace as I am still paying weekly for the TV. I have been informed my TV has passed its warranty period so there was nothing they could do. They gave me a number to ring the manufacturer and they sent a software update to try. This hasn’t worked.
i am heartbroken as I have paid every week without fail and now am stuck with goods that don’t work and a remaining balance of £600 still to pay. I was also paying insurance but been told that the insurance will only cover theft or accidental damage!!! It’s also worth noting that as I am in HP contract I still do not own the tv until I have made the final payment. 

I am truly devastated and if anyone could help me or give me advice that would be great 

Aylesbury_Duck

How long ago did you buy it?

Emmajane79

I think it was April 2019 or there about. 

Aylesbury_Duck

After this long you're going to struggle.  You'd have to pay for an independent inspection and hope that it shows an inherent defect.  Then the retailer would have to repair, replace or refund.

I'm afraid it's possible that there isn't a positive solution and you will have to pay off the remaining balance as per your contract.  Without seeing the detail of your contract that isn't certain, though.  Can you post a copy of the contract here (redact any personal details) or summarise the key points from it?

The insurance point is, I'm sorry to say, is an example of making sure you understand what you're paying for rather than just paying out based on what you think it might cover.

Aylesbury_Duck

How can you be not far off finishing the payments but still have £600 outstanding?  Is that a large final lump sum, or is it a spectacularly expensive TV?

Emmajane79

I wouldn’t know where to start doing that.
I just assumed that as the goods dont belong to me until I have paid in full that they still held some responsibility if anything was to go wrong. I am now locked into paying weekly for the item that doesn’t work. I actually can’t put into words how distraught I am knowing that over £2000 has been wasted. 

Thank you for your advice though. It’s been appreciated 

Aylesbury_Duck

Post your contract or its main points on here.  Then we can see what sort of contract it is and if there's a way of helping.

Emmajane79

You

(a) WHAT AND WHEN TO PAY - You must pay Us each Instalment shown in Financial Information Section E of the Hire Purchase Agreement on or before the relevant payment date shown in that Section E. We may at any time waive any provision of this Agreement or grant You any time or forbearance without affecting our rights under this Hire Purchase Agreement or our ability to enforce subsequently this Hire Purchase Agreement strictly in accordance with its terms. You must pay Your instalments in accordance with its terms by one of the methods below.

(b) IMPORTANCE OF PAYING ON TIME It is important that You pay each of the instalments due from You under the Hire Purchase Agreement on time. If You do not, then Condition 10 (Other enforcement rights) applies.

(b) You must keep the Goods in good working order and You are responsible for all accidental damage to the Goods even if caused by events beyond Your control. If You have taken out a TAD Agreement, this may cover any theft or accidental damage to the Goods (please see the terms of Your TAD Agreement or Your alternative policy for more information).

(c) You are responsible for damage due to electrical or mechanical breakdown of the Goods, except where such damage is covered by a manufacturer’s warranty. This does not affect any rights You have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

You must not let a repairer, or any other person to whom You owe money, keep the Goods, as a result of Your not paying them any monies which You may owe to them. You must make sure that any tests or inspections needed by law or by the insurers (as appointed under Condition 6) are carried out. Unless We have given You permission in writing, You may not make any alterations or additions to the Goods. Any alterations or additions made to the Goods, with or without our permission, will become our property.

(d) You must allow our representative to inspect and test the Goods at all reasonable times on reasonable notice.

(e) You must not do anything or permit anything to be done which would prejudice or jeopardise Our rights in respect of the Goods.

(f) You must not allow anyone except our employee or authorised technician to inspect or repair the goods without our prior permission.

5. Notices

6. Insuring the Goods

(a) At all times, You must at Your own expense insure the Goods and keep them insured either under a TAD Agreement obtained through Us or an alternative policy covering theft and accidental damage, provided by a reputable insurer. It is a Condition that such insurance policy is maintained for the duration of the Hire Purchase Agreement. If You fail to do so, we may terminate the Hire Purchase Agreement (see Condition 11).

(b) You must tell Us and Your insurer about any theft, loss or damage within 48 hours of the loss or damage happening, and whether You or anybody else will be making a claim under the policy. You agree to hold in trust for Us any insurance money You receive in respect of the Goods. You authorise Us to:

negotiate and settle any claim with Your insurer; and receive any money from Your insurer under the policy which We can use towards payment of any amount payable by You under this Hire Purchase Agreement. You may not withdraw this authority and You agree to accept any settlement We may reach with the insurer. If the amount we receive from the insurer is not enough to repay what You owe under this Hire Purchase Agreement, You must pay Us any outstanding balance.

(c) You agree that PerfectHome will own any Goods which have been replaced under an Insurance Policy, subject to Condition 8 below.

(d) You will, if requested by Us, produce each policy of insurance together with written evidence of payment of premiums.

(e) You must ensure that nothing is done or omitted to be done which is contrary to the terms of any such policy of insurance or which might entitle the insurance company to cancel the policy or reduce or avoid any liability thereunder.

Right to Withdraw on the Hire Purchase Agreement).

It is Your responsibility to make sure that We receive each instalment. You will have to make good any instalment which is lost (unless it has been lost through our negligence).

 

3. Delivery and Selling or disposing of the Goods

(a) Delivery of the Goods to You will be complete when we (or our nominated representative) bring the Goods to Your address (as agreed). Upon delivery, all risk of loss or damage to the Goods will become Your responsibility, and no event shall relieve Your responsibility to make the instalments due under the Hire Purchase Agreement.

(b) Upon delivery of the Goods, You must inspect the same, and notify Us within 7 days of any physical damage or issue with the Goods. Any defect notified after this period will not be accepted as present at the time of delivery, except as required under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

(c) You must keep the Goods safely at Your address shown on the Hire Purchase Agreement unless they are portable items in which case they should be in Your personal possession and not left unattended. You may not sell or dispose of the Goods or transfer Your rights under the Hire Purchase Agreement to any other person. If You do sell or dispose of the Goods You may commit an offence under the Theft Act 1968 and or Fraud Act 2006, for which You may be prosecuted.

4. Caring for the Goods

(a) You must use the Goods in accordance with all applicable laws and in a careful and proper manner in accordance with all operating instructions of the manufacturer. You must not use the Goods for any purpose for which it is not designed or for any unlawful purpose.

HP Terms and Conditions V2.2 May 2019

(f) Unless any of the events referred to in Condition (11) have happened, this Hire Purchase Agreement will continue. Should You make a claim under any alternative policy where Your insurer provides replacement Goods, then we will own such replacement Goods, and they will be subject to the terms of this Hire Purchase Agreement as if they were the original Goods.

7. Replacement of Goods

(a) If the Goods covered by this Hire Purchase Agreement are replaced due to a claim on any warranty or insurance policy, or by Us for any other reason, the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall apply as if the were the original Goods. You will only become the owner of the replacement goods 7 days after You have paid all the sums due under this Agreement and paid the optional purchase fee in accordance with Condition 8(a).

8. Ownership of the Goods

(a) We hire the Goods to You for the duration shown on the Hire Purchase Agreement. Once You have paid all Your Instalments and paid Us all other amounts You owe Us under this Agreement, You can become the owner of the Goods by paying Us the optional purchase fee of one weekly Instalment and notifying Us in writing of Your decision to retain the Goods. Title in the Goods will pass to You 7 days after receipt by Us of the final optional Instalment. Until then Your rights are only those of a hirer.

(b) You may return the Goods to Us (You will be advised how) and so not become their owner in which case You do not pay the optional purchase

(c) Subject to the above, You must not hold Yourself out as owner of the Goods; or sell, transfer or allow any other party to acquire a right in the Goods.

9. Your Right to end the Agreement

(a) You may end this Hire Purchase Agreement by taking the steps set out in the notice “Termination: Your Rights” in this Hire Purchase Agreement. You must then (at Your own expense) return the Goods to Us in a reasonable condition and pay Us a sum which, when added to the amount You have already paid, equals half of the Total Amount Payable. If Your payments have already met or exceeded half of the Total Amount Payable, You will not have to make any further payments (but You will not be entitled to a refund of the excess amount).

10. Other enforcement rights

(a) You agree to pay Us all reasonable expenses, including legal expenses, which We may incur in enforcing our rights under this Agreement. These include the charges or costs shown in “Charges” on this Hire Purchase Agreement. We reserve the right to alter these charges and costs from time to time to reflect any increase in these charges and costs incurred by Us.

11. OurrighttoendtheAgreement

(a) We may terminate the Hire Purchase Agreement if:

(i) You break any of the Conditions 1 to 5 of the Terms and Conditions of this Agreement or have provided false information to enter into this Agreement;

(ii) You are declared bankrupt or enter into an arrangement with Your creditors;

(iii) the Goods are stolen or are lost or damaged beyond economic repair such that they are treated as a total loss under a TAD Agreement obtained through Us

unless they are replaced under any alternative TAD

policy; or

(iv) the landlord of Your premises or a bailiff or other officer

of the court threatens or takes steps to seize any of

Your property and/or the Goods;

(v) We must issue a formal notice informing You of Your

breach of this Hire Purchase Agreement. We will give You 14 days to remedy this before contacting You again. If You do not rectify the situation under i, ii, iii or iv, We will terminate the Hire Purchase Agreement.

(b) If We end this Hire Purchase Agreement, You must return the Goods to Us (other than where the Goods are stolen and are not recovered or are lost or damaged beyond economic repair and We have confirmed in writing to You that we do not require the return of such damaged Goods) and You must pay Us:

(i) subject to Condition 11(c) below, all payments and other sums You still owe Us;

(ii) any costs and expenses We incur in locating, repossessing, recovering or restoring the Goods to the Condition they should have been in if You had taken good care of the Goods; and

(iii) subject to Condition 11(c) below, the balance of the Total Amount Payable; less the final optional purchase fee in Condition 8, any rebate (reduction) of charges You may be entitled to for early repayment, and any money We receive from selling the Goods after We have taken off the costs of recovery, insurance and storage.

However, if at the time of termination, You have already paid at least one third of the Total Amount Payable, Your rights as set out in the notice Repossession: Your rights on the Hire Purchase Agreement will apply.

(c) Where We recover the balance of the Total Amount Payable and any other payments and other sums owed by You under this Hire Purchase Agreement under a TAD Agreement obtained through Us, Your obligations under Conditions 11(b) shall not apply.

(d) If this Hire Purchase Agreement is terminated, the TAD Agreement obtained through Us relating to the same Goods, will also terminate. However, if this Agreement has ended due to Your early repayment of all sums which are due, or You have chosen the “own it quicker for less option”, You may have the option to continue Your TAD Agreement until the original end date of such TAD policy. Please see Your TAD Agreement for more details.

12. Exclusions

(a) If You are dealing as a consumer, as described in the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, nothing in this Hire Purchase Agreement will take away Your rights under The Consumer Rights Act 2015. As a consumer, You have legal rights in relation to Goods that are faulty or not as described. Advice about Your legal rights is available from Your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards office. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will affect Your legal rights.

(b) If We fail to comply with the a) above We are responsible for loss or damage You suffer that is a foreseeable result of Our breach of the Terms or Our negligence. We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if they were an obvious consequence of our breach or if they were contemplated by You and Us at the time we entered into this contract. Our Liability to You under this Hire Purchase Agreement will be limited to repairing or replacing any defective Goods (at our option) or for any claims which are not related to defective Goods, our total liability will be limited to an amount equal to the Total Amount Payable.

(c) Nothing in this Hire Purchase Agreement limits or excludes Our liability for anything that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

13. General Conditions

(a) “Goods” means the goods described in this Hire Purchase Agreement and includes any replacements, renewals and additions We or any insurers have agreed to.

(b) References to any Act or regulation include any amendments to that Act or regulation.

HP Terms and Conditions V2.2 May 2019

Any time or forbearance which We may grant You will not affect our rights under this Hire Purchase Agreement

If two or more of You have signed this Hire Purchase Agreement as the customer, You are liable jointly and severally under this Hire Purchase Agreement. This means that each of You can be held fully responsible for the responsibilities of the Customer.

We may transfer our rights and responsibilities under this Hire Purchase Agreement to another person. This will not take away any of Your rights or responsibilities under this Hire Purchase Agreement.

English law will apply to this Hire Purchase Agreement. If You entered into this Hire Purchase Agreement in Scotland, then Scottish law will apply and words that are not in current use in Scotland will have their nearest equivalent meanings.

This Hire Purchase Agreement will only come into force when We or our authorised representative have signed it.

We are registered at Companies House under company registration number 5671852 and are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under Firm Reference Number 708566.

If any provision of this Hire Purchase Agreement (or part of any provision) is found by any court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision shall, to the extent required, be deemed not to form part of this Hire Purchase Agreement, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of this Hire Purchase Agreement shall not be affected. Any such provision (or part-provision) found illegal, invalid or unenforceable, shall apply with the minimum modification necessary to make it legal, valid and enforceable.

Subject to the Charges Section of this Hire Purchase Agreement, no variation of this Hire Purchase Agreement

shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by each of Us.

14. Complaints

(a) If You have any complaint or dispute about this Hire Purchase Agreement, please refer Your complaint in the first instance to the Manager of the department or showroom where You hired the Goods. If You are still unhappy, please contact:

PerfectHome Complaints team Eagle Court 2

Hatchford Brook

Hatchford Way

Sheldon Birmingham B26 3RZ

If Your complaint is still unresolved, You may then write to:

The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower

London E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Please note that the Financial Ombudsman Service will not be able to help You unless a final response letter has been issued by PerfectHome on behalf of Temple Finance Limited. This complaints procedure shall not affect Your statutory rights.

15. Rights of other people

(a) Nothing in this Hire Purchase Agreement will give any person, other than You or Us (or anyone who takes over from Us or any

pinkshoes

£2000 on a TV that has only lasted 16 months?!?!? Or is this one of those agreements where you end up paying far more than the item is actually worth??

I would start by writing to the retailer (not the manufacturer) and say that it is irrelevant that the warranty has expired, as you are actually claiming under the 2015 Consumer Rights Act that goods have to be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, and that in this instance, a £2000 (???) TV should last a lot longer than 16 months.

As it has then been over 6 months, the retailer could ask you to get a report to state that the TV has failed due to being inherently faulty (e.g. it has not been mis-used or deliberately damaged). Just pay for a report (get a TV engineer to come and inspect and write a report - you will pay about £50 perhaps which can be claimed back) then go back to the retailer and ask them to repair, replace or refund. It is their choice which they choose. The refund will be a partial one to reflect 16 months of use. 

The Sony Bravia in our living room is now 19 years old and still going strong. 

[Deleted User]

I know this is not going to help the OP at all.  Quite a few years ago (when LCD TV's were still quite expensive) all my old fashioned non LCD TV's broke.  Two autistic children in the house, not an easy life without a TV lol.  But I was on income support and tax credits only, no money to buy a new one instantly.  A neighbour had one of those TVs you paid for weekly.  I applied.  They were going to charge £2k for a tv I later paid £300 for.  Interest rates were appalling, the initial charge was appallingly high.  Thank god I decided we were better off without a TV until I had the money to pay cash (and a managed to buy one in a sale at a very good price)  but I wonder how many people (like my neighbours) listened to the speel and thought it was a reasonable offer.  

You really don't need to pay this kind of money for a TV when you can't afford it (as shown by the fact you bought it on credit).  

Unfortunately these companies are practiced at covering themselves.  They'll probably offer you a new deal for a new TV. Please just buy yourself a cheap TV and save your money.  The £600 is a hard lesson to learn by.  I don't even watch our large TV anymore (didn't pay for it someone gave it to me), I play things whilst on my pc.., probably makes me a saddo lol.

davidmcn

pinkshoes said:

is this one of those agreements where you end up paying far more than the item is actually worth??

Yep, 120% APR or thereabouts.