Hi thought I would give you a quick update: Well after receiving no communication from Shop Direct since Monday lunch time, I emailed the CEO a final letter on Thursday afternoon. No reply received. Yesterday, we received a cheque from Shop Direct for £140.72. That's all justa cheque, no letter. So we rang Shop Direct but was only able to contact the enquiries dept. We were advised that on their screen the balance is nil. Mentioned we have not received any mail other than the cheque- so the advisior broke down the credit adjustments: All admin charges removed and interest of £247 interest. This cleared the outstanding balance and the rest £140.72 sent to customer. Apparently, the default should be removed next week. The advisior has asked the CEO dept to contact us due to no letters being received etc. Shop Direct adminitted the default should not have happend. This has been on my hubbys file for over a year- should they not be sending out a gesture of goodwill/apology? All of the above would not have happened and so fast if not for everyone from the CAG team who have helped: Citizenb, DX100UK, is21, BRIGADIER2JCS! Thank you, your advice is so much appreciated. ( Will be donating to this site) Thanks again x

Thanks- starting to feel positive. Does this mean- they will have to buy back from Lowell? As Lowell are the ones reporting the D.Hoping that the charges will be removed in their final response from the CEO- do you think we have a good case giving their response so far?

Have just received this response from Shop Direct: An investigation has been conducted, during which I have established that upon receipt of your initial complaint on 26 January 2011 we failed to hold your account whilst we conducted an investigation into your concerns. Whilst I am satisfied the default notice issued to you on 16 January 2011 was sent in accordance with our debt recovery procedure, your account should not have been legally assigned until after we concluded our investigation and issued our final response. I would like to state however, due to the payment history on your account, it is likely the account still would have been legally assigned following our final response. The balance on your account at this time was £607.83 and you will see confirmation of this on your statements. I note your comments regarding the default amount detailed on your credit file and it is clear this has been recorded incorrectly. Your credit file will be updated and put back to the way it was in January 2011. To confirm, our Credit Reference team have confirmed we have not registered a default on your credit file. Please allow 28 days for this to update with the Credit Reference Agencies before obtaining a copy of your credit report. In relation to your request for a refund of the administration charges applied, all of my findings have been forwarded to our Executive office who will make a decision and issue a final response to you in due course. I must state, although the information has been forwarded to them, it will be reviewed when our Chief Executive is available. As such, I am unable to confirm when you will receive our final response and so your patience is appreciated. Kind regards

Thanks. Yes, it is the refund of charges and the default placed on the account. What letter would you reccommend sending next to Shop Direct- we will if we have too pursue this in court. Which if the latter will be grateful for step by step instructions as all very new to this. Lowell state they have been investiaging with original creditor which they have not been doing- placed account on hold the last year and obvioulsy not been looked into at all. Thanks again.

Is this still the same timescale, if you have already went to OC. Lowell state they have been looking into this the last year.

Response from Shop Direct Mr XXXXXX I'm writing further to your telephone call and emails sent yesterday. I do not need any additional information from you at this time. If I do require any further information be assured I will let you know. In the meantime, please allow me to investigate your concerns. Additionally, we will not be able to issue a final response as requested on Thursday but I will contact you once my investigation is complete. Respectfully, I will not correspond again until I have completed my investigation. Regards Not sure how to proceed- know from her PA ( When I rang yesterday- that apparently she is getting married this sat and off for 2 -3 wks- I only asked if she was available to talk ) so know she may not reply until after this time.

Was thinking of attaching the letters again with the SOC along with the following: Thank you for your reply. I have attached the letters sent to Mr Newton- Jones yesterday which should hopefully clarify the situation regarding penalty charges and default being applied to my account. Further points to add are as follows: 1. No Default notice was ever received. Have asked for a copy along with CCA but none has been received. We verbally received the following regarding the default- which the ICO and our Solicitor have picked up on: Lowell state that a default notice was sent on 15th Jan 2011 for £350.48. The account was in arrears by £257.35. Note here that the default allegedly was sent out on the 15th January 2011- 14 days from here would make the default date roughly 4th February 2011 to take into account postage. On credit file the default is 7th March 2011. Default balance was £350. Here the dates and the figures ie balance and arrears do not make sense. A default has to be recorded correctly if it is valid. Second point to note is that a Default notice cannot consist of penalty charges as mentioned in the letter I have sent you. Payment was made on 12th Feb for £207.70 bringing balance down to £607.83. 2. The resolution that I am seeking is the immediate removal of the invalid default placed on my file and the balance outstanding refunded to show that this is settled and update and not passed onto third parties etc. 3. The account was placed on hold since last year while they investigated our complaint. We have had numerous discount letters for full and final payment. 4. Account was sold on whilst in dispute. ( OFT Guidlines on debt collection activity/disputed account) Lowell received the account on the 14/03/2011 we received a response from Shop Direct on the 31st March 2011. Which we then took to Lowell. If you require any further information that will assist in this matter, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for your co-operation. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Just had this response: Once I have collated my findings I will email you with the details. I appreciate you would like a response within 7 days but I do need to request some archived information which may take a few days. Please be assured I do aim to have this resolved for you as soon as possible. Just to clarify, I understand you are disputing the administration charges applied to your account and require a refund. Your wife also mentioned you are disputing the default registered on your credit file and interest charges you incurred. Could you elaborate more on this for me so I can fully address all of your concerns?

Thanks. Waiting for her reply- just wanted this sorted out now- been going on too long.Will keep you all updated.Many thanks.

Was going to reply with this: I appreciate you keeping me updated with regards to the progress of this complaint and look forward to a written reply by Mr Newton- Jones within the next 7 days if not sooner. A response via email would also be welcome given the delays that receiving said letter may accrue. In the mean time as advised by my Solicitor and in keeping with the ICO and OFT guidelines, I have asked for the credit reference agencies to place a notice of dispute on the account.

Update via email this morning: I am writing further to your email and letter addressed to Mark Newton-Jones concerning your Very account. Your correspondence has been forwarded to me to investigate and I will be in contact again shortly. Then challenged the email asking for timescales- response is as follows: Under the Financial Services Authority guidelines we have up to 8 weeks in which to issue a final response. However, I appreciate the length of time you have been in dispute and I am currently investigating the matter. I will keep you informed throughout the process and once I have gathered the relevant details, my findings will be forwarded to our Executive office who will issue a written response to you. Can you just clarify your postal address please? Customer Excellence - Aintre Hoping to hear soon as the entire balance outstaning is made up of penalty charges- interest on this- doubles the balance.

Morning everyone. Just an update- I have sent the letter above with the SOC to Head Office at Shop Direct. An email to the CEO has also been sent- which he and his team are looking into. Hoping for a positive resolution soon (fingers crossed).

Thanks. Have ammended the section on 6 years. Will send via registered post as welll as emailing the CE0 to try and get the ball rolling.

revisied LBA.doc Hi, is this the right template to use- the most recent?

Thanks. Having trouble finding the updated version ( off the last letter I posted today) on the LBA for defaults. Please could you point me in the right direction?