Laura Ashley 'Interest free' store card mistake
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toegrimes
Posts: 2 Newbie
in Credit cards
So
on new years day my wife and I purchased a £2k sofa from Laura ashley. We intended to pay for it on credit card on an interest free offer.
The pleasant young lady who served us told us that if we took out a store card then not only would it be interest free 'for life' as long as we paid the minimum payment, but we would also get 10% discount. Great.
We got the store card, got the discount and then 6 weeks later got the first bill. No interest free. In fact the first bill included a £65 interest charge, with another £35 interest on its way. Over a year we intend to pay it back, thats quite a nice chunk of eye-watering interest.
We rang them up and they just stone-walled us. I will go back to the store and complain. I hunted out the original agreement we signed and yup, there's like a 25% APR on there. Obviously i will pay it off straight away now, but it will leave us with around £95 in interest that we were told we wouldn't have to pay.
Is this common practise to scam people this way? Its not that much of a charge, but really, the principle of the thing gets to me that they could just get away with this.
Any advice?
on new years day my wife and I purchased a £2k sofa from Laura ashley. We intended to pay for it on credit card on an interest free offer.
The pleasant young lady who served us told us that if we took out a store card then not only would it be interest free 'for life' as long as we paid the minimum payment, but we would also get 10% discount. Great.
We got the store card, got the discount and then 6 weeks later got the first bill. No interest free. In fact the first bill included a £65 interest charge, with another £35 interest on its way. Over a year we intend to pay it back, thats quite a nice chunk of eye-watering interest.
We rang them up and they just stone-walled us. I will go back to the store and complain. I hunted out the original agreement we signed and yup, there's like a 25% APR on there. Obviously i will pay it off straight away now, but it will leave us with around £95 in interest that we were told we wouldn't have to pay.
Is this common practise to scam people this way? Its not that much of a charge, but really, the principle of the thing gets to me that they could just get away with this.
Any advice?
0
Comments
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Unless you can catch them in the act, I doubt you will get far with your complaint. The reason they give you a paper agreement is so you can read it. Take it as a learning experience?0
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LA customer services are dreadful. My local shop say they hate the way customer services act. Quickly switch to a int free card asap. Did you get card points with the statement, dont forget to use them.
I was making a purchase in Jan, got a card but never at anytime was int free mentioned.0 -
Doubt it was meant as a scam, it will be down to the fact they employ idiots who talk out of their backsides.
Think about it, one minute this person is selling a pillow for £30 the next minute a credit agreement for thousands, how can this be allowed??0 -
So
on new years day my wife and I purchased a £2k sofa from Laura ashley. We intended to pay for it on credit card on an interest free offer.
The pleasant young lady who served us told us that if we took out a store card then not only would it be interest free 'for life' as long as we paid the minimum payment, but we would also get 10% discount. Great.
We got the store card, got the discount and then 6 weeks later got the first bill. No interest free. In fact the first bill included a £65 interest charge, with another £35 interest on its way. Over a year we intend to pay it back, thats quite a nice chunk of eye-watering interest.
We rang them up and they just stone-walled us. I will go back to the store and complain. I hunted out the original agreement we signed and yup, there's like a 25% APR on there. Obviously i will pay it off straight away now, but it will leave us with around £95 in interest that we were told we wouldn't have to pay.
Is this common practise to scam people this way? Its not that much of a charge, but really, the principle of the thing gets to me that they could just get away with this.
Any advice?
You are still £105 up on the deal :beer:
But a good learning experience. Read what you are going to sign before you sign it, especially if you are offered something that sounds too good to be true.
Think about it, how can a store card company make any money if it is interest free for life? Sure they make a little commission on the sale (typically about 2-3%) but it could take 15 years + to pay off £2k on a card only making the minimum payments.0 -
Followed this up today.
The lady i spoke to said that they DO offer interest free but that this is as a loan application and not as part of the store card so there must have been some miscommunication with the sales assistant.
Given that they cannot verify what was actually said in the conversation they are not willing to accept any responsibility and the interest still stands.
Well, i've paid of the card and Laura Ashley have made an extra £100 off me and lost a customer for life.0 -
althou technically, as you got 10% discount (im assuming you did get this?)
then you are actually up £100, as presumably you would have had to pay an extra £200 if you used another payment method0
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