Argos Card Services - Complaint

Gareth83 · 18 June 2009 at 10:46PM

Girlfriend is in financial difficulty

Argos with it's 29.9% APR being one of the worst debts

She wrote to them in November asking them to freeze interest and hold action - No response

Every time she phoned them they said to wait, in meant time no payments were made and debt escalated

Further letter sent and several calls

Debt now passed to Moorcroft who have added charges. They said they will freeze interest and charges from now on till Argos respond to complaint

No response from Complaint (sent 1st June)

Moorcroft have now said they will carry on charging because they only give 14 days.

Argos wont speak with account over phone because it has been passed on, yet complaint team will not take incoming calls

Moorcroft wont discuss complaint, they refer us to Argos

We are willing to pay the balance, but as it it was back in November or so when first asked and waited for a response

Where do we stand?

Tixy · 18 June 2009 at 10:52PM

Hi Gareth

What exactly was the complaint to Argos in relation to? Was it because they didn't freeze charges (they don't have to) or was it because it was passed to Moorcroft (which they can if the account is not in dispute and no payments are being made) or was it something else?

GeorgeUK · 18 June 2009 at 11:02PM

I thought that once the account got passed to a 3rd party, they could only make charges and add interest if that was written into the agreement.

Has you girlfriend got an actual agreement with argos - did she sign a customer credit agreement? If so, how long ago would this have been?

scouselad1974 · 18 June 2009 at 11:03PM

sorry to hear of your problems with Argos, they never replied to my first couple of letters explaining my situation and payment offer, until I sent them a further letter with proof of the persons signature who had signed for the original letter, then they accepted my offer straight away.

Gareth83 · 18 June 2009 at 11:22PM

Tixy wrote: »

Hi Gareth

What exactly was the complaint to Argos in relation to? Was it because they didn't freeze charges (they don't have to) or was it because it was passed to Moorcroft (which they can if the account is not in dispute and no payments are being made) or was it something else?

It was because she was awaiting to hear from them regarding her first letter and several telephone calls

She didn't expect it would be such a drawn out process

She has offered 40% of current balance as of today, no joy. This would have covered the balance back in November

Apparently they will accept 80% but that is unaffordable

GeorgeUK · 19 June 2009 at 12:04AM

Does she have a breakdown of the costs for this debt?
If there are charges that she can reclaim (same way as bank charges), then she could try that or reitterate in her letter that there is an offer of 40% which takes into account £xxx worth of unlawful charges.

Gareth83 · 19 June 2009 at 12:23AM

why are the charges unlawful though?

GeorgeUK · 19 June 2009 at 9:40AM

Any agreement taken out under the Consumer Credit Act must comply with the legislation. The legislation states that it is unlawful for an organisation to make a profit on certain charges. Sending a letter stating you are overdrawn and charging £35 would not be a reflection of the true cost of sending the letter. The same is true for late payment fees so you should be able to reclaim these and the interest.

As HP and catalogue debts are covered by the CCA74, they must also comply with the legislation. This includes charges being of a suitable amount to reflect the actual cost incurred to the organisation. It also states that a credit agreement must be signed and if made before 6th April 2007, the agreement must have certain terms on it for it to be a legal document.

If there was no agreement signed or the terms are not all there, then the debt may be unenforcable.

Gareth83 · 14 July 2009 at 7:16AM

Got it settled for £500, only having gone through the director's office.

Certainly better than the £800 the debt recovery company wanted.

GeorgeUK · 14 July 2009 at 9:09AM

Make sure you get it confirmed in writing that it is a full and final settlement and not a partial settlement.

Argos Card Services - Complaint

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