Littlewoods multiple charges

swake

Thank you if you are taking the time to read this.

My partner purchased a couple of items from littlewoods catalogue just over a year ago.

The 3 items totalled just under £90 in value.

A number of payments had been missed and admin charges of varying amounts were subsequently added to her bill.

Fair enough i say but when i recieved a demand for payment last week for £97 i decided to review what payments she had made and at what times.

I have a full break down from the online statement they provided and i calculated that from an original £90 bill she has paid back over £185 plus she still has an outstanding balance of £97.

So she has allready paid more than double for her initial order and they are now continuing to implement admin charges (sometimes 3 a month @ £12 ea).
i explained to them that she is now incurring debt at a faster rate than she can pay yet they still continue to make demands for what i see as unfair charges.

I dont disagree that if you dont pay you are penalized under their TOCs but to continue at this rate is insane.
I was wondering if anyone can throw any light on this or any helpfull comments as this seems out of line to me and i would like to know how i should procede.

I can post the statement should anyone wish to see it.

Once again thank you for reading.

dmg24

Pay off the debt. Don't order from catalogues again. Problem solved.

swake

Thank you dmg she ordered the stuff against my wishes in the first place i would never use catalogues.

I will pay the outstanding if its necessary but i thought id ask the question first to see if i can hold on to my money.

Do these charges fall under any category regarding unfair charges.

I was kind of looking for feedback regarding to that.

hollydays

It's also unfair on the company-and it was over a year ago-had she a good reason/did she communicate this to them?

swake

No she's continued to pay them even up until last month £10 here £15 then for instance last month she didnt pay anything and 3 seperate admin charges of £12 each were added to the account.

Yet when she contacted them 2 months ago to state she needed to get control of the issue she has told me they would suspend any further charges,

I have no record of the call as it wasmade form outside my home and only her word to go on.

I guess what im getting at is do there actions breach any consumer/credit act violations.

As for them to legally continue to make additonal charges on chrages doesnt seem right in my opinion.

alwaysonthego_2

did she sign a credit agreement?

swake

As far as i know at the moment all she has is a standard account with littlewoods catalogue. So she would have had to sign to open that account.

That signiture would have been to accept there TOCs and limit imposed on the account.

after she ordered the initial 3 items she has never recieved anything other than a bill from them. So if that is what you mean by a credit agreement then yes but im not sure.

alwaysonthego_2

I would go to the cab and ask for further advice. I am an adviser there and was reading that catalouge companies often do not get customers to sign a credit agreement and that would make the debt unenforcable. I was only glancing at it, but it said that you should send a £1 to littlewoods asking for a copy of the credit agreement. But do go to CAB so they can give you full details

swake

Thank you very much i will start there.