Alf -v- Studio Cards

[Caz1974]

The £400 charge is what made me even more eager to complain to the FOS after the way Studio have treated me they deserve to be hit where they hurt . The plus side is you can always take them to court whatever the FOS's findings are so that's a bonus too!

[alfwithhair]

 

 

Alf

 

As they are threating court action, should I send them the disclosure letter to see what they intend to rely on in court?

[Conniff]

I expect you will consider I'm being a pita here, especially after not understanding from the start, but I really am on your side.

 

cost of goods £267.26

payments made £220.23

goods balance £47.03

 

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier to send the above figures to them and offer the £47 as a full and final and ask for time to pay?

They wont have actually lost anything that way and it would give piece of mind and get the chasers off your back sooner.

[surprise]

It says "IF" they consider court action - Studio maintain that they realise without a signed agreement they cannot pursue the matter through court. I would just remind R&W that whilst Studio are in default of providing a signed agreement they should not have passed the matter to Debt Collection and they should pass the matter back to Studio as you have no intention of corresponding any further with them.

[Conniff]

If (there's that word again), they had any hope or intention of taking this further they would have done so by now. This has been going on in excess of 5 months now so it looks like they are content to just make your life a misery.

[The GodMother]

Rite l would do this.

 

Politely remind Studio they have not complied with your section 10 notice including a copy of the original letter and proof of postage/recipt.

 

Then inform them that if they dont gwt back to you with 21 days which is the legal time then you will be taking the matter further without notice.

 

Then inform Rw of the default and send the letter that you got from them admitting the no CCA.

 

Chrissi

[alfwithhair]

Well sent letter to Robberscum Pay (or else) informing them that their client Studio did not have a signed CCA, received this in the post this morning dated 01/02/09.

 

 

Is this just more of their threats? What is the best form of reply, if any is needed?

 

Half of this balance is admin charges which I have asked Studio to refund, but they never answered the request previously, so I would presume that the default notice they issued though Debt Collection and Security would be invalid as it contains these charges. They are still adding £20 every time I receive a letter form any body, even from Robberscum.

 

ALF

[Curlyben]

Oh dear another pseudo court document from our "friends" at RW&c.

 

Throw this at them, just edit to suit.

 

Formal Complaint

Letter before Action

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

With reference to my previous letters, I wish to draw you attention to your company's lack of compliance with my legal request.

 

On **DATE** I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on **DATE**.

 

The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document.

 

As you may not be aware , failure to comply with this request within 12 working days renders the alleged debt UNENFORCEABLE in law. Furthermore, if this non-compliance continues for a further month then a summary, criminal offence is committed.

 

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

The lack of a compliant credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies.

 

* may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

* may not add further interest or any charges to the account.

* may not pass the account to a third party.

* may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency.

* may not issue a default notice related to the account.

 

Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that your continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40, Protection from harassment Act 1997 section 3 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines.

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I await your rapid response.

 

Yours Faithfully

[pt2537]

Excellent letter from Robbingson way aint it? VALID EVEN IF NOT READ BY YOU yeah ok of course it is, so if they send it to someone else the letter is still valid.

 

pull the other one it plays a tune;)

[The GodMother]

Just a question then.

 

If you dont read it how can they say you defently recieved the letter and new of its contents?

 

How can they say valid even if not read by you?

 

That cant be fully legal.

 

Chrissi

[alfwithhair]

Oh dear another pseudo court document from our "friends" at RW&c.

 

Throw this at them, just edit to suit.

 

Thanks for the above letter Ben.

This is what I sent Robbersway on 29 Jan 08.

 

I do not acknowledge any debt to your company.

I am in receipt of your dated 23/01/08, the contents of which has been duly noted.

 

A legal request for my Consumer Credit Agreement (Consumer Credit Act, 1974) was received by your client Studio Cards on 27/09/2007. Until such times as Studio Cards are able to comply with this request, the account remains in dispute, is unenforceable and no payments will be forthcoming.

Clearly as no agreement was supplied on request, this in no way complies with the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and I now draw your attention to section 78 subsection 6 which states

 

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1) he is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement;

Studio Cards have also broken OFT guidelines on debt collection by referring a disputed account to you in the first place.

2.6 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:

h. Ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment

 

Any further attempts to pursue me for payment on a disputed account will be reported to the relevant authorities without further notice.

 

Yours faithfully

Do I need to re-sent yours again? Mine outlines the same points.

I have never CCa'ed Robbersway. It is Studio who defaulted by sending an un-opened blank sample agreement.

Thanks Ben

[Curlyben]

Send mine as it sets things out better

[alfwithhair]

Ok Ben, will do.

I take it I should change the section about your companies lack of compliance to that of Studio Cards lack of compliance.

It is Studio who are in default of my request not Robbers Ways.

Is this correct?

Thanks

ALF

[Curlyben]

Yep thats the one, but you still want RW&c complaints procedure.

[alfwithhair]

Well got a letter from Studio themselves this morning dated 11 Feb 08.

 

Dear Mrs X

I am in receipt of your letter 29 January 2008 which has been forwarded for my attention by Robinson, Way & Company Limited.

May I reiterate the content of my previous correspondence dated 9 January and confirm that the balance on your account is £XXX.XX, which is a valid debt and therefore we will continue to pursue.

You have been previouly informed of your rights if you remain dissatisfied.

Yours sincerely

Mrs T Simpson.

So it appears they are still going to pursue this account dispite having no signed CCA, which they have already said they cannot produce. No reply to the letter claiming the admin charges back sent to Studio 21 Jan 08. The balance on this studio letter has gone down by £20 compared to the balance stated on the Robbersway letters. Send another one of curly bens letters to Robbersway on 06 Feb 08, still waiting to hear about that one.

Can they pursue without a valid CCA or not. I know they cannot enforce it at law, but can they still pursue through DCA's?

Answers on a post card please to;

ALF@CAG.

[Curlyben]

Can they pursue without a valid CCA or not.

They can request payment and it's entirely up to you.

 

but can they still pursue through DCA's?

They can try

[alfwithhair]

Ok, thanks Ben.

I think I will hold off sending any further letters until I get a reply from the second letter of yours I sent to Robbersway.

That made it very clear that Studio had no signed CCA and asked that the account be sent back to Studio.

So lets see what their next move is.

[alfwithhair]

Well indeed I did receive a reply from Robbersway this morning dated 12/02/08, regarding them demanding payment on behalf of Studio for an account that studio said they could not enforce as there was no cca.

Again the balance they show is £20 more than that the balance Studio show on their letters, so they can't even make there minds up what the balance is, idiots.

 

Dear Mrs X

We refer to your recent communication requesting a signed agreement relating to the above account. (Wrong, I did not write to you requesting a signed agreement, I wrote to you saying that Studio had not supplied one and said they could not enforce the debt in the absence of the agreement)

As with most Home Shopping accounts, you will not have a signed credit agreement. You are deemed to have agreed to the terms and conditions of the credit, which were relayed in the catalogue itself, when you placed your first order. (I presume this statement is a load of old ball hooks)

By ordering goods from the catalogue, you are liable for payment of those goods. If you are denying responsibility for the debt, we would ask what steps you have taken to return the goods you did not intend paying for?

The debt remains outstanding and we require an offer of payment by return.

Collection Manager (No Name or sig as usual)

See how is this panning out? Is what they are saying a load of old toffee as usual? Is a reply worht sending? or just leave the plonkers to stew in their own juices, as I don't see as there is much they can do with regards to enforcing the debt.

Still no reply from Studio with regards to the claim to refund the admin chages of £120, more than half the balance of the account.

[Caz1974]

Hi Alf

Stick to your timescales for the claim for admin charges and post them off a Letter before Action when the deadline expires.

I had to do this for my claim and they soon replied afterwards.

You're right with your point about the above plonkers their isn't much they can do without a valid agreement so it will be a waste of ink to keep replying to them I just filed mine because they soon get sick of not getting any money and will no doubt pass it onto another DCA to try:D

The only annoying thing about these bunch of dimwits is that they like to give you a lovely default whilst the debt is in dipute.

[alfwithhair]

Caz

when you say timescale for the reclaim of charges, do you mean how long in said in the letter they had to reply to me? I can be a bit dim at times also.

[Curlyben]

Oh dear what complete planks.

 

Right then throw this at them along with copies of the apprpriate letters from Studio.

 

Formal Complaint

Letter Before Action

 

Dear sir/madam,

 

 

Thank you for your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which have been noted.

 

May I draw you attention to my letter of XX/xx/xx in which I clearly out lined my position concerning this matter. I enclose a copy for your perusal and ease of reference.

 

**CREDITOR** has failed in my lawful request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 78(1) and subsequent Statutory Instruments.

I formally advise you that since **CREDITOR** has failed to comply with the terms of the Consumer Credit Act that as from **DATE** they are in legal default on this alleged agreement. This default means that the alleged agreement from this date is totally unenforceable. **CREDITOR** may not apply any charges, cannot issue defaults, cannot sell or assign the alleged debt or cannot invoke any clause within the alleged agreement.

 

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY Action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies.

 

* may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

* may not add further interest or any charges to the account.

* may not pass the account to a third party.

* may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency.

* may not issue a default notice related to the account.

 

Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law.

 

As **CREDITOR** have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

The mere fact that they have passed this account to you while it is in dispute and default is also in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that your continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines.

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I await your rapid response.

 

Yours Faithfully,

[alfwithhair]

Thanks Ben,

Apart from the first main paragraph of your letter, I have already sent them this, that is what they have replied to.

Should I send it again?

[Curlyben]

Sorry, really should try and keep up.

In which case follow through and file a report with Trading Standards as they are chasing an unsubstantiated debt.

[Caz1974]

Hi again Alf,

On your original letter for claiming the charges back did you give them a certain amount of time to reply to your complaint?

I gave them 40 days and when that was up that's when I sent them my LBA:D

[The GodMother]

oh sound like everyone is having fun with this.

Just complain Alf. I will be. Chrissi