Getting ripped off from money debt company

starlight222 · 10 April 2009 at 2:10PM

Can anyone tell me if i have a right to get my money back from a debt company who claime that they would help me reduce my montly outgoing to £150 per month. But instead the took the £150 as they claim for a set up fee. when i asked the if the money would go direcly to my credititors that month that did not say no or yes, but avoided the question, according to the recorded tape.

At no time did they mention about a set up fee, but claim that in the signed contract it states that no money paid could be refunded. I stated that i wanted to cancel within the 8 days cooling off period, but they also that i should have cancelled my agreement in writting not email in the given 8 days period. The standing order for another £150 has also been paid and i am finding it impossible to get this back also.

Is there anything i could do to expose the debt company and get some of my money back. As like every one I am stuggerling, and as a result of all this i have not had any money to live on for the rest of the month. I am a single parent and have to spent the rest of the months at my sisters because i have no food at all in the house.

I have never been in such a desperated situation and feel absolutley gutted that this has happend. I thoughg i was smarter than this, obviously not.

I am mad with myself becasue i have booked the Easter week off to spend with my son, and now I can not efford to buy bread.

Can anyone advise me ..... as feel sick when i think about what has occured.

The Debt company is "Global Debt Solutions" Bury Lancasthire BL8 2AD

BE VERY AWARE......

lorweld · 10 April 2009 at 4:56PM

Hi starlight222

I'll move this to the debt free wannabe board. The guys over there should be able to help

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

cheesedoffwithdebt · 13 April 2009 at 6:33AM

:mad:HI- this is absolutely disgusting-if you were not in a position to make any payments at all then this company should have let your creditors know- and ask for their help until you could.

There are charities who can help you- in the first instance I suggest you call National DebtLine as they might know how to sort out getting your money back- or Citizens Advice.

I know you can do without hassle at times like this- there are non fee paying charities who can help like CCCS, Payplan etc, but I would recommend you talk to Christians Against Poverty- call them on 0800 328 0006-PM me if you like I volunteer for them, and I will make sure your case is treated as priority-you will get all the emotional and practical support you need.

Please let me know how you get on!

cheesedoffwithdebt · 13 April 2009 at 6:59AM

At no time did they mention about a set up fee, but claim that in the signed contract it states that no money paid could be refunded. I stated that i wanted to cancel within the 8 days cooling off period, but they also that i should have cancelled my agreement in writting not email in the given 8 days period. The standing order for another £150 has also been paid and i am finding it impossible to get this back also.

PS-An email is in writing!!!!!:p

depressed_but_determined · 13 April 2009 at 10:44AM

Hi, exactly the same thing happened to me and I cancelled in writing within 14 days. I have lost £350 but have complained to the ombudsman and now they are giving the company 8 weeks to respond. I complained to trading standards and got a letter saying the company have not replied to any of there correspondence either so theres not much more they can do.

Tried writing, emailing, faxing, phoning up to 12 times a day and still had no reply. I am now with the CCCS so having to cut my losses and accept I have lost that money.

Just wish I had came on here before I signed up and realised there was the CCCS and Payplan.
Don't give up it is worth exploring every avenue. It's 4 weeks till the 8 from the ombudsman is up and I will be back on the case to see if there is something they can do.

I did get a call last week from this company to say they hadn't recieved my direct debit payment, I was fumig and explained I had cancelled and sent letters and now I had a complaint in and the woman on the other end said she couldn't help and hung up!!!!
I think these companies should be put out of business, they are no better than the debt collection agencies.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

cheesedoffwithdebt · 14 April 2009 at 7:36AM

Just wish I had came on here before I signed up and realised there was the CCCS and Payplan.

There is also www.capuk.org- in addition to setting up, free of charge, DMP's, we also take our clients on days out for free, gift them a weeks shopping (randomly) and offer practical help- thats why I suggested them!

bobbych_2 · 14 April 2009 at 4:30PM

indeed, i signed up for a PAYED DMP with CHURCHWOOD financial, and was paying them around £80 an month in fees. After 3 years on the plan, I had only paid off £1500.

I swiftly canceled the plan, and switched to PAYPLAN, and the debt has dropped off over the last 4 years, and i have 10 months left till debt free:T

Soldier_Blue_2 · 22 April 2009 at 7:11PM

Below is the text from my complaint letter to Churchwood:

1. I wish to complain most strongly about the treatment I have received from your company. The timeline of events is set out below:

a. I approached your company in early March with regard to helping me with my current financial issues.

b. The forms were completed and returned to you and an agreement was reached that I would pay £600.00 initial set-up fee followed by £450.00 pcm to deal with my creditors.

c. Before the initial fee was taken, I spoke with one of your representatives in order to break the intial fee into two payments of £300.00 each and then start paying the direct debit from June rather than May 2009.

d. Conversation with your company revealed that the paperwork I had despatched had been lost.

e. The initial fee was taken in one lump sum, leaving me with absolutely no money for the month of April.

f. I was advised on 3 April 2009 that there was no record of an agreement to split the initial fee and that someone from your company would contact me on 4 April 2009 in order to clear the matter up. This never happened and I was forced to contact you again. At this point I lost faith in your company’s ability to help me and requested the return of my £600.00 as soon as possible. I was advised to send an email to your complaints department, which I did, even though at the time it was not a complaint, merely a decision not to use your services.

g. On 6 April 2009, I received an email from S****** W***** stating that my complaint would be dealt with when she had the time and also contained a comment that I considered to be both rude and sarcastic. I took exception to this and responded that I had completely lost faith in Churchwood Financial (Management) Limited and demanded the immediate return of my money.

h. I also rang your company and was given the run-around, being passed from pillar to post through a series of increasingly obtuse, evasive and rude employees. I also received another email from S****** W***** that contained more inappropriate comments.

i. The last email from her states that no further correspondence would be entered into as she considered me to be threatening and accused me of harassment.

j. The last letter from your company states that I will not receive any money back as a total of 65 hours of work had taken place on my account and that all of my creditors had been contacted and initial negotiations had begun.

2. I shall cover each point of my complaint in turn:

a. At no time did I use threatening or abusive language or any words designed to cause offence and I take great exception to these accusations. I did, however take a firm position and requested the return of my funds in a forthright and robust manner. All email correspondence has been saved and can be supplied.

b. I am currently under a huge financial hardship due to your failing to split the initial fee and have been forced to take an advance of pay for £300.00 from my employer, to be paid back over three months, causing more strain on top of what I and my family already suffer.

c. I would like to know how your company was able to work for 65 hours on my account with no supporting paperwork, or any signature from me. In addition, I doubt the veracity of the claim for 65 hours any way for the following reasons:

i) To date, none of my creditors have received any communication from you and all are willing to write letters to that effect.

ii) The claimed 65 hours seems highly excessive to me, as on 8 April 2009, my wife managed to discuss this matter with each of them and took no more than three hours to complete the task.

3. As previously stated, I have no desire to have any further dealings with your company except to once again request the return of my £600.00, in addition I also require a further £300.00 to cover the advance of pay that I was forced to accept in order to relieve the stress over the next three months and as compensation for the disgusting manner in which I have been treated by your company. I expect recompense to be received by no later than 30 April 2009.

4. I hold you in breach of contract and have raised this matter with both the Financial Services Ombudsman and the Financial Services Authority along copies of all correspondence, so you can expect to be contacted by both organisations.

5. Please note the delay in contacting you was due to the fact that I was unable to afford the postage until I received the advance of pay.

Their response to this was basically, we have your money, we are keeping it and there is nothing you can do. Also, as the FSA do not regulate Debt Management Companies, then they can't help, although they have referred me to the OFT. I'll let you know how this goes on.

Getting ripped off from money debt company

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