homeguard direct
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kathryn1975
Posts: 19 Forumite
hi everyone,
I hope this is the right place to put this thread. some time during December last year my husband received a call about our sky box insurance cover. i normally deal with all the bills and insurance etc(as it is a pink job in our house) and thought he was talking about renewing our current policy with sky and didn't think anything of it.
in the beginning of January we had a direct debit leave our account for £60 and a few days later the paper work came through saying we had agreed to 3 years service paid, over 1 year in three payments of £60. I showed the paper work to my husband and he said that is not how they made it sound whilst on the phone to him and when I explained to my husband we already pay sky direct he said they made it sound like we had a existing policy with them already and could save money. we contacted homeguard and cancelled the policy and cancelled the direct debit. homeguard said we had to put it in writing by form of a letter.
needless we didn't write the letter and we have never signed any paperwork or clicked any box online to give consent.
a couple of weeks ago we received a letter from them saying they had been notified by the bank that we have cancelled the direct debit (obviously trying to get the next instalment) and since we failed to notify them of this action in writing as it is a requirement of the direct debit scheme, their agreement of terms and consumer protection regulations 2000. they now want a further £30 admin fee (as it now falls out of their seven day cooling off period) and another letter if we still wish to cancel.
it also stated that unless we don't get in contact arrears will continue and they have the right to take appropriate action to recover the payments.
what i would like to know is what i should do and what rights do i have, thanks in advance.
kat
I hope this is the right place to put this thread. some time during December last year my husband received a call about our sky box insurance cover. i normally deal with all the bills and insurance etc(as it is a pink job in our house) and thought he was talking about renewing our current policy with sky and didn't think anything of it.
in the beginning of January we had a direct debit leave our account for £60 and a few days later the paper work came through saying we had agreed to 3 years service paid, over 1 year in three payments of £60. I showed the paper work to my husband and he said that is not how they made it sound whilst on the phone to him and when I explained to my husband we already pay sky direct he said they made it sound like we had a existing policy with them already and could save money. we contacted homeguard and cancelled the policy and cancelled the direct debit. homeguard said we had to put it in writing by form of a letter.
needless we didn't write the letter and we have never signed any paperwork or clicked any box online to give consent.
a couple of weeks ago we received a letter from them saying they had been notified by the bank that we have cancelled the direct debit (obviously trying to get the next instalment) and since we failed to notify them of this action in writing as it is a requirement of the direct debit scheme, their agreement of terms and consumer protection regulations 2000. they now want a further £30 admin fee (as it now falls out of their seven day cooling off period) and another letter if we still wish to cancel.
it also stated that unless we don't get in contact arrears will continue and they have the right to take appropriate action to recover the payments.
what i would like to know is what i should do and what rights do i have, thanks in advance.
kat
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I had a call from these scammers the other day. But they used my previous name before I divorced in 2008 and changed my name back to my maiden name, so was a bit wary there weren't up to date from 2008.
My caller display showed Out of Area and I had ignored this number for sometime now, but as I was so sick of seeing the number calling me I decided to answer.
Bloke called Sam, said I am calling to stop the 1600 odd pest calls you are registered with on a database. We can stop all pests calls for good also stop international calls for good.
I asked how they could do this. He replied rather mumbled that some kind o sat nav machine would be installed which I put the pest call number in and it would be blocked.
Oh thats sounds quite good I said, "Is there a cost involved?"
Yes it's £79.99 for 3 1/2 years as we give you 6 months free. (So it's not £69.99 for good then is it?)
I'm not sure I will be here in 3 years time I said
"Oh dear, that's not good then" he replied.
Can I take it out for just a year? I asked.
Oh yes but it would be £49.99.
I'm not sure I can afford to pay all in one go, He said I could pay by quarterly direct debit.
Sam told me paperwork would be sent out in a few working days to confirm.
I said I am interested but would like to think about it first. where upon he said before you go, can you tell me which bank you would like the payments to go from.
Straight away on my guard even more.
A silence between us, then I said "Are you asking for my bank details?
Well yes he answered.
Sorry no, I don't give out my bank details to strangers over the phone, not until I've researched it first.
So he said he would send out paperwork for me to read but it would not have a confirmation to start the thing rolling.
End of conversation.
I doubt i will get any paperwork do you?
Lucky escape for me. :T0 -
kathryn1975 wrote: »hi everyone,
I hope this is the right place to put this thread. some time during December last year my husband received a call about our sky box insurance cover. i normally deal with all the bills and insurance etc(as it is a pink job in our house) and thought he was talking about renewing our current policy with sky and didn't think anything of it.
in the beginning of January we had a direct debit leave our account for £60 and a few days later the paper work came through saying we had agreed to 3 years service paid, over 1 year in three payments of £60. I showed the paper work to my husband and he said that is not how they made it sound whilst on the phone to him and when I explained to my husband we already pay sky direct he said they made it sound like we had a existing policy with them already and could save money. we contacted homeguard and cancelled the policy and cancelled the direct debit. homeguard said we had to put it in writing by form of a letter.
needless we didn't write the letter and we have never signed any paperwork or clicked any box online to give consent.
a couple of weeks ago we received a letter from them saying they had been notified by the bank that we have cancelled the direct debit (obviously trying to get the next instalment) and since we failed to notify them of this action in writing as it is a requirement of the direct debit scheme, their agreement of terms and consumer protection regulations 2000. they now want a further £30 admin fee (as it now falls out of their seven day cooling off period) and another letter if we still wish to cancel.
it also stated that unless we don't get in contact arrears will continue and they have the right to take appropriate action to recover the payments.
what i would like to know is what i should do and what rights do i have, thanks in advance.
kat
REPLY from hgm34:
I have just had almost exactly the same experience with HomeGuard. I have only just found out that a phone conversation is a legal contract, as if it is in writing, but I have no transcript of the exact words used back in March. I don't know the answer to the question in your last sentence, but I would really appreciate any advice. They are saying that court action will be taken if I do not pay a £30 admin cancellation fee. I already paid £45 before I stopped further payments being taken. Thanks.0 -
I'm just off the phone to them as they called my father (who is a pensioner) he ended up giving his card details, they claimed it was £1 a month. "don't give your details out to anyone who cold calls as they are probably a scam" I said to him but I think he realised it was a scam as it wasn't £1 a month at all he eventually found out.
So he called up and guess what? the woman said oh no sorry you can't cancel it as it's already been processed, He will get up the bank and cancel his direct debt, really angry at this company, I called them up and gave them a piece of my mind! told them distance selling regulations state he can cancel this!! they are taking advantage of old age pensioners!! I'm raging they tried to take advantage of my dad!0 -
I received a call today from 'Telephone Security - Home Guard Direct' informing me that my details were on a number of databases (i.e. over 60 different companies) and that I could block all unwanted marketing calls for as little as £1.00 - 2.00 per month. I told them I wasn't interested and that my own telephone provider can block unwanted calls for me. He ('James') said that they can only block approx 35% where as he could provide me with a special box to attach to my phone (or something along those lines) and have 100% of the calls blocked. He said that all it takes is for one company to get hold of your details (e.g if I forgot to tick a box somewhere when completing a survey to say that I did not want to share my data), then, after several unsuccessful attempts from that company to contact me they would sell my info on to another 5 companies who would do the same and so on. He said once one company gets hold of your number it'll just spiral out of control. He asked for my bank details in order to make the small monthly payments but I was not prepared to give them as thought it sounded too suspicious. I said i'd rather call my provider to find out exactly what they can offer with regards to this and get back to him if I changed my mind. He gave me his details as follows - James - 0800 622 6710 (this came up as an 'out of areas' no. when he rang me). Blatant scam!!0
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pt55g2Zl8gI received a call today from 'Telephone Security - Home Guard Direct' informing me that my details were on a number of databases (i.e. over 60 different companies) and that I could block all unwanted marketing calls for as little as £1.00 - 2.00 per month. I told them I wasn't interested and that my own telephone provider can block unwanted calls for me. He ('James') said that they can only block approx 35% where as he could provide me with a special box to attach to my phone (or something along those lines) and have 100% of the calls blocked. He said that all it takes is for one company to get hold of your details (e.g if I forgot to tick a box somewhere when completing a survey to say that I did not want to share my data), then, after several unsuccessful attempts from that company to contact me they would sell my info on to another 5 companies who would do the same and so on. He said once one company gets hold of your number it'll just spiral out of control. He asked for my bank details in order to make the small monthly payments but I was not prepared to give them as thought it sounded too suspicious. I said i'd rather call my provider to find out exactly what they can offer with regards to this and get back to him if I changed my mind. He gave me his details as follows - James - 0800 622 6710 (this came up as an 'out of areas' no. when he rang me). Blatant scam!!0 -
I almost fell for the very believable Georgia fro telephone security but I stopped short of giving her my bank details. Phew nearly got me,0
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I have noticed more annoying called than ever lately - then all of a sudden a man rings, who appeared to 'know' ive had them ... i wondered if he'd someone seen my facebook or something - as i moaned the week about them - but its set to private .... i think HomeGuard are making the calls themselves - to annoy people to make them more likely to take them up on it ... because the calls are always useless survey ...0
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he also started talking about me needing a password, and perhaps and an animal, favourite colour or mothers maiden name ... i said i dont know id think about it after ive looked at the website, and he asked what i think id choose - so i chose a random colour... the mothers maiden name Q i a massive red flag ...0
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Just had a call from this company asking if I'd like to work for them. I asked what they did and was told they stop nuisance calls, I then asked if they were The Telephone Preference Service? No, do you charge people to stop these calls, yes. Thanks very much I would not work for a firm who charge people for something they can get FOC.0
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Now changed the name to SECURE TELEPHONE SERVICES LTD. Using same phone number though0
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