247 Stay warm - who do I report this awful company to?

Soph877

Decided to get my boiler serviced in June 2019. It was working fine with no issues at all. However, when 247 engineer serviced it, he said there was a fault with it and suspiciously it was no longer working. Surprise surprise, this fault (which was non-existent until he looked at it) was apparently unfixable as the parts for this boiler were no longer in manufacture (months later I found this to be untrue when I witnessed a plumber buy parts for and fix a boiler of the identical make and model. By then it was too late). I took on good faith what I was told at the time and in any case then had no hot water so had to take his word for it and have the boiler replaced. They quoted me around £2500 and the agreement was that I could pay for that in monthly instalments of £45. 

Over the years, I noticed that 247 were taking additional random sums of money out of my bank account, so I cancel my direct debit. They have since threatened legal proceedings unless I pay a cancellation fee. This cancellation fee equates to over £5000 as they say the payments of £45 were for a period of 10 years. This was not how it was explained to me at the time and in the paperwork this is not clear, and nowhere is the full cost of this explained. Why would I agree to pay this much for the boiler? It makes no sense. I have explained that I am willing to pay the £100 or so that is left to cover the cost of the boiler and installation that was quoted but as for their 10 year plan, no. I don't even own this property anymore so it is no use to me (I also made the engineer that I was moving out of the house at the time). 

I have asked for the random sums they have taken to be explained and they just keep saying that they phoned me about it but I failed to answer. I have asked them three times now for an explanation in writing but they keep gaslighting me saying they have addressed all my issues.

Since this, their correspondence has been vile, intimidating and threatening. It is becoming increasingly distressing to me because their emails are so personal. They demand responses to their emails within 7 days despite practice directions saying they should allow 30 days. They then accuse me of not meting their deadlines (I did meet them and point that out). Then they accuse me of not returning documents and when I point out to them the date of the email and attachment, they gaslight me again and say they never said that. It goes round in circles and each time their emails are more and more vile. They say I "do not have the benefit of the Ombudsman" in this matter. The person writing these emails is a trainee solicitor and I wonder whether to report him to the SRA but as for the company, who regulates these people? They are bullying me and they're behaving like they are untouchable. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Soph877 said:

Decided to get my boiler serviced in June 2019. It was working fine with no issues at all. However, when 247 engineer serviced it, he said there was a fault with it and suspiciously it was no longer working. Surprise surprise, this fault (which was non-existent until he looked at it) was apparently unfixable as the parts for this boiler were no longer in manufacture (months later I found this to be untrue when I witnessed a plumber buy parts for and fix a boiler of the identical make and model. By then it was too late). I took on good faith what I was told at the time and in any case then had no hot water so had to take his word for it and have the boiler replaced. They quoted me around £2500 and the agreement was that I could pay for that in monthly instalments of £45. 

Over the years, I noticed that 247 were taking additional random sums of money out of my bank account, so I cancel my direct debit. They have since threatened legal proceedings unless I pay a cancellation fee. This cancellation fee equates to over £5000 as they say the payments of £45 were for a period of 10 years. This was not how it was explained to me at the time and in the paperwork this is not clear, and nowhere is the full cost of this explained. Why would I agree to pay this much for the boiler? It makes no sense. I have explained that I am willing to pay the £100 or so that is left to cover the cost of the boiler and installation that was quoted but as for their 10 year plan, no. I don't even own this property anymore so it is no use to me (I also made the engineer that I was moving out of the house at the time). 

I have asked for the random sums they have taken to be explained and they just keep saying that they phoned me about it but I failed to answer. I have asked them three times now for an explanation in writing but they keep gaslighting me saying they have addressed all my issues.

Since this, their correspondence has been vile, intimidating and threatening. It is becoming increasingly distressing to me because their emails are so personal. They demand responses to their emails within 7 days despite practice directions saying they should allow 30 days. They then accuse me of not meting their deadlines (I did meet them and point that out). Then they accuse me of not returning documents and when I point out to them the date of the email and attachment, they gaslight me again and say they never said that. It goes round in circles and each time their emails are more and more vile. They say I "do not have the benefit of the Ombudsman" in this matter. The person writing these emails is a trainee solicitor and I wonder whether to report him to the SRA but as for the company, who regulates these people? They are bullying me and they're behaving like they are untouchable. 

Firstly, it's never a good idea to cancel a direct debit.  It probably breached contractual payments.  You should have disputed the direct debits with your bank if they differed from what was agreed.

Secondly, without seeing your contract, we have no idea what you signed up to, but it does sound like some sort of finance deal.  £45 a month for 10 years is £5400 which is not an unreasonable amount over ten years compared to spending £2500 cash at the time of purchase.  If you signed up to a 10 year finance plan, you can't just stop paying when you reach £2500.  If that's what you've done, I'm not surprised they're chasing you.

If you feel threatened and intimidated, contact the police and show them the correspondence.

As for the general situation, you're going to have to either post a lot more information about your contract and possible finance deal (redacted, of course) or seek some legal advice.  From what you've said here, it looks like you committed to a 10-year finance plan for the boiler and have now breached that, but that's only from what I glean from your account.

Alderbank

Soph877 said:

Decided to get my boiler serviced in June 2019. It was working fine with no issues at all. However, when 247 engineer serviced it, he said there was a fault with it and suspiciously it was no longer working. Surprise surprise, this fault (which was non-existent until he looked at it) was apparently unfixable as the parts for this boiler were no longer in manufacture (months later I found this to be untrue when I witnessed a plumber buy parts for and fix a boiler of the identical make and model. By then it was too late). I took on good faith what I was told at the time and in any case then had no hot water so had to take his word for it and have the boiler replaced. They quoted me around £2500 and the agreement was that I could pay for that in monthly instalments of £45. 

Over the years, I noticed that 247 were taking additional random sums of money out of my bank account, so I cancel my direct debit. They have since threatened legal proceedings unless I pay a cancellation fee. This cancellation fee equates to over £5000 as they say the payments of £45 were for a period of 10 years. This was not how it was explained to me at the time and in the paperwork this is not clear, and nowhere is the full cost of this explained. Why would I agree to pay this much for the boiler? It makes no sense. I have explained that I am willing to pay the £100 or so that is left to cover the cost of the boiler and installation that was quoted but as for their 10 year plan, no. I don't even own this property anymore so it is no use to me (I also made the engineer that I was moving out of the house at the time). 

I have asked for the random sums they have taken to be explained and they just keep saying that they phoned me about it but I failed to answer. I have asked them three times now for an explanation in writing but they keep gaslighting me saying they have addressed all my issues.

Since this, their correspondence has been vile, intimidating and threatening. It is becoming increasingly distressing to me because their emails are so personal. They demand responses to their emails within 7 days despite practice directions saying they should allow 30 days. They then accuse me of not meting their deadlines (I did meet them and point that out). Then they accuse me of not returning documents and when I point out to them the date of the email and attachment, they gaslight me again and say they never said that. It goes round in circles and each time their emails are more and more vile. They say I "do not have the benefit of the Ombudsman" in this matter. The person writing these emails is a trainee solicitor and I wonder whether to report him to the SRA but as for the company, who regulates these people? They are bullying me and they're behaving like they are untouchable. 

Welcome to the forum.

Cut to the chase - you had your boiler replace in 2019 and agreed a loan to pay for materials and labour. I will gloss over your opinions about how to service gas boilers. You had no complaints about the new boiler or installation.
You have now sold that property and have cancelled the direct debit which was repaying the loan. The company are  demanding a settlement fee to pay off what remains of the loan.

Is that correct?
If so, we can't give any useful advice without more details of the loan.

• Do you have a copy of the loan agreement?
• If so, what was the amount borrowed (it will not be 'around £2500'), what was the interest rate or APR and how many payments of £45 does the contract say?
• How many payments had you made when you decided to cancel the Direct Debit?

Edited to add: Sorry for cross-posting, @Aylesbury_Duck!

Ayr_Rage

Do you have any documentation for the credit agreement regarding the interest rate ? 

Was the whole £2500 borrowed ?

Post a copy of the contract with personal information redacted.

Jonboy_1984

Their terms and conditions cover introducing customers to a finance provider, did you get any correspondence from such a provider, key facts document or any of the other standard parts of consumer credit up front either in paper or email form?