Hi Forum, I have an unusual and complicated situation that I would greatly appreciate some helpful advice on. On 31st March 2008 I entered into a HP agreement with BH, total price £11,179.83 and paid a deposit of £500. The total credit charge was £2,858.65 and agreed to be repaid by 48 instalments of £282.26 I was able to meet the payments up until and including November 2009, but after this date I was unable to due to my company going into liquidation. I held onto the car without making any payments until October 2010 in the hope things would improve and I could get back on my feet. When I decided I was not going to be able to achieve this I agreed to entertain a VS. At this point the matter was passed to Apex Credit Management. As you may expect, I was very apprehensive to do a VS as I am aware that cars are auctioned and I didn't want the vehicle to be sold for a lot less than its value and be left with a significant amount still to pay. I was visited by a representative of Apex by the name of Mr Brian Pearson. He was a very friendly man at the time and appeared to be very cooperative. When I voiced my concerns over the auction sale being far less than the cars worth leaving me a large deficit, he advised that the normal procedure was to place a reserve on the car of the Glass Guide price plus 5%, and that the vehicle would continue to go through the auctions until it sold at this value, therefore a low price sale would not occur and I would not be exposed to a high deficit. This information put me at a lot of ease and I consequently signed the relevant documents (naturally they contained huge amounts of very small print T & C's) however Mr Pearson told me I had nothing to worry about and that from the just over £8,000 I still owed, after the auction I would only be left with probably just over £1,000 and would be able to come to an agreement with BH to settle this. For the record, my car was extremely well looked after with very low mileage and the Glass Guide price was £6,300 in its state at the time. Approximately 3 months later I received a letter from BH saying the vehicle has been sold for a paltry £3,389.20 and I was left with a deficit of £4,514.08!! Obviously I was horrified. I immediately wrote to both BH and Apex demanding to know what the hell had happened in light of the advice I had been given by Apex. Naturally BH said they knew nothing of anything and referred to their terms. Apex were as bad and denied they would ever give such advice and can only refer to terms of surrender etc. Whilst in hindsight, I realise I should of got written confirmation of such things, at the time when you are under great stress you take these things on professional trust. Obviously not being happy with the situation, I decided to take my case to the Ombudsman who have not upheld anything to do with my complaint stating: " It is difficult to conclude that BH has done anything substantially wrong. I have no reason to believe that the current balance is incorrect or that BH was under any an obligation to put a reserve price on the car at the auction." It goes on to explain how BH provided a copy of the signed paperwork and that it was all done in-line with terms and standard practice. All in all, BH have done everything correct and by the book and have done nothing wrong. When addressing the issue with Apex, again the Ombudsman has said that there is not enough evidence to uphold my complaint because: Apex have sent Mr Pearsons account of events and he is adamant he would not have said such a thing (surprise surprise) and that he always advises that cars go to auction and get sold for as much as possible, end of. He goes on to explain that he sometimes uses an anecdote about a car his daughter was looking to buy and refers to a CAPS guide price plus 5%. To which the Ombudsman finds plausible and suggests I might be confused! I can 100% assure anyone, I know what Glass Guide is and I know what Mr Pearson informed me off and never mentioned anything about any CAPS guide price, otherwise I would have wanted to know what this price was? All in all the Ombudsman concludes that it cannot verify verbal misrepresentation and therefore cannot uphold my complaint. I have the opportunity to appeal the decision, however I do not know how best to go about this at all and would be really grateful for some useful advice on this. I will also happily donate to the cause as well. Many Thanks, SK

Hi all I am very new to CAG, but have had some great advice so far and from reading other posts I have got lots of advice and I am working hard to tackle debt problems. Advice about what I am to do now I have voluntarily surrendered my car would be most appreciated. After reading other posts and advice I am not sure we did the right thing, I had not discover CAG prior to my action! Didnt know there was surrender or termination and still not sure if I had a choice. I suppose it is done now anyway, I surrendered the car, but I am not sure where I now stand or where to go from here. My partner has lost his job twice since the beginning of the year, he now has a new job just a couple of weeks ago, we have two children and I am a second year uni student and work part-time. As a result of his job losses we have got into a state with various bills, loans etc and were struggling so badly in private rental that we have had to move in with my mother. I was getting very anxious about the car, advantage were constantly hassling me on the phone at home, work and mobile. I need a car to get kids to school and me to uni and my sister-in-law said we could have her old car that she was going to sell, if it helped us. So we thought the best thing was to give the car back to save being taken to court which scared life out of me. I purchased the car in 2009, purchase price £4000 we paid a £250 deposit and got finance from Advantage Finance for the rest. Total credit provided was £8,548.84 It included gap insurance. The car was voluntarily surrendered last month and our balance with advantage was £5,135.82 From a statement sent after I had surrendered the car!, I have since discovered it includes loads of collections charges for the issue of letters and texts ranging from 50p to £50 They have sold the car at auction and I have recieved the following letter Further to the repossession of the vehicle under the agreement, you are advised that a shortfall of £4,174.82 remains owing on the account. (Was definitely a surrender not repossession, signed a form to surrender) This account however can be settled on or before 27/09/2011 at £2,951.26 If you are unable to comply with the above, or wish to make arrangements for more time to pay, please contact the office upon receipt of this letter so we may discuss the account in full and arrange a mutually acceptable arrangement to resolve matters. Should you ignore this letter your account will be passed to the litigation manager to recover the full debt outstanding through the county court. I understand that I am liable for the money after surrendering car, but what I need help with is there any way that I can reduce the amount I owe?, seeing as I feel gutted they got hardly anything for the car and I am virtually paying the full amount despite not even having the car. can I ask for the charges to be removed from the amount owing? If they are offering a settlement amount is this because they cant pursue me for full amount? If I am liable for full amount, how do I go about making an offer? does it have to be by phone? how much is reasonable monthly amount to offer? Lots of questions, sorry am in a right state about it, any advice gratefully appreciated Thank you in advance