Vertbaudet / Droyds / Need help!

[Debbiedebstar]

Hi, I hope someone here can help me out!

 

I'm currently in debt with vertbaudet ( a kids clothes catalogue) and have no way of paying off the debt i owe because my partner lost his job.

I've been using vertbaudet for nearly 3 years and have only developed problems paying them in the last 6 months.

 

While searching this site some months ago I came across a post about not having a signed credit agreement means they cannot force me to pay the debt. I'm sure i have never signed anything.( I am severely dyslexic so i get confused alot so please bare with me) Is this true? I wasn't sure, so I wrote a letter to them on the 28th of november 07 (recorded delivery + £1 PO check ) asking for my signed credit agreement. Suddenly the bills stopped coming for a while then 2 months passed then i recieved a letter on the 29th of jan 08 from droyds debt collection asking for the full payment.

 

I couldn't afford this so I got on the phone to vertbaudet again ( i had previously phoned 3-4 times asking for the credit agreement- they said it was either been sent or they were reviewing the matter or they simply did not know what was going on) this time they said it had definetely been sent.

 

6-8weeks then went by and i recieved a letter from a firm called RedcatsUK

This is what it said:

Thankyou for your letter dated 03/03/08

I attach a copy of the standard agreement which your client would have signed in accordance with advice given to her at the time she established her home shopping account with vertbaudet. Your client appears to have acted in a way which indicates that an agreement was signed as she has conducted the account for some time by placing orders, receiving goods, returning goods within the approval period and making payments. Copy statements showing all transactions are also enclosed. These enclosures satisfy the requirements of Section 77-78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in regard to supplying a copy of the agreement and accounts statements.

 

I must, however, correct your statement that we are under an obligation to provide a facsimile copy of a signed agreement. The regulation only requires us to provide a copy of the agreement and it is not necessary to provide a signature box. I refer you to Regulation 3 - Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notices and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983 (S.I No.1557).

I look foward to receiving an offer of payment on the balance outstanding

Yours sincerely

 

Miss J Wall

For VertBaudet

 

Enclosed with this letter was 2 pages of statements and a blank credit agreement

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So the thing is I dont have a clue now what to do now ???

Didn't they do something wrong by not responding to my 1st written letter within 12 days?

 

I've now got droyds on my case wanting money each month, but I just cant afford it on top of household bills / food etc.

 

Sorry for the long post and babbling on, can anyone please help me?

[mrmarmite]

ello, complete load of rubbish, they are obliged to provide a signed agreement, and yes like 99% of cat companies they dont have a signed agreement, i'll fish out a letter you can send back to them when i get a sec

[Dorabell]

Hi Debbiedebstar look at my posts about droyds/redcats i had the same problem ,they withdrawn because they could not produce a proper executed cca i hope that helps marjie06

[mrmarmite]

Hi Debbiedebstar look at my posts about droyds/redcats i had the same problem ,they withdrawn because they could not produce a proper executed cca i hope that helps marjie06

 

paste a link in your post to help newbies find your thread

[Dorabell]

sorry mrmarmite having trouble pasteing up the thread:confused:

[mrmarmite]

lmao your right mouse button not working?

 

open your thread up in seperate page, got to web address and click on it, it will all turn blue, right click and copy, come back to this thread the right click and paste and submit,

 

job done

[Dorabell]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1412130

[Dorabell]

Hi mrmarmite have i done this right

[mrmarmite]

nope but close enough to see your thread

[mrmarmite]

as godmother put in post 3 of your thread this is the right letter that should be sent here:

 

Re: my request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974

 

Thank you for your recent letter sent to me, the contents of which are noted. I appreciate your quick response to my original letter. However, the reply received by me does not fulfil your requirements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

The Act demands that I be supplied with a true copy of any properly executed credit agreement that exists in relation to the above account. I may ask for this on demand providing that a fee of £1.00 is paid. This fee was sent with my original letter.

 

My request remains outstanding. An unsigned standard credit agreement, does not constitute a true copy of any credit agreement that may or may not have been signed by me on the opening of this account. A blank agreement neither confirms that I am liable for any alleged debt to you, nor gives me any chance to evaluate whether any original agreement was ‘properly executed’.

I still require you to send me a true copy of the original credit agreement that you allege exists. As you will know, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, a judge is not permitted to make any enforcement order unless the creditor can provide a true signed copy of the original credit agreement. This means that unless you can produce such an agreement, this alleged debt is not enforceable in law.

 

You have until 26th February 2008 to provide me with the true copy I requested. You are now in default of my request. Any account I hold with you is now in legal dispute. Whilst the account remains in dispute, you are not permitted to ask for any payment, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you. Furthermore, whilst the dispute remains, you are not entitled to charge any interest on the account, nor make any further charges to the account. Additionally, you are not entitled to register any information on this account with any credit reference agency.

 

To register information with a credit reference agency, you must have written consent from the customer to collate and share such information. This consent is given in the form of a signed credit agreement, so until you produce such an agreement, you may not do this.

 

The requirement for consent to share data is a clear requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998. any such attempts to share my data without my consent will be met with a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office

 

The time limits, which are laid down in the Consumer Credit (Prescribed Periods for Giving Information) Regulations 1983 are clear. You must supply an executed credit agreement within 12 + 2 working days of a proper CCA request. If you fail to comply with a legitimate request the account enters a default situation and if you fail to comply after a further 30 days you commit an offence. If you continue to try to enforce this debt without complying with my original request you will have committed a criminal offence and your conduct will be reported to the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Ombudsman and Trading Standards. Any investigation undertaken by them may affect your ability to offer credit in the future.

 

To sum up, I will not be making any further payments to you until you provide me with the document I have requested. Whilst you remain in default of my request, you are not permitted to take any action against this account. This includes adding further charges and passing any information to the credit reference agencies.

 

Should you not have any signed credit agreement in relation to this alleged debt, please confirm this in writing to me.

 

 

I look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

BLAH Print dont sign.

 

Send this by recorded delivery at least

[Dorabell]

sorry mrmarmite better luck next time im still learning:lol:

[mrmarmite]

sorry mrmarmite better luck next time im still learning:lol:

 

bless. i was just like you meself when i found this site

[Debbiedebstar]

Thanks mrmarmite, much appreciated.

 

Quick question tho, should i state that they are already in default because they took longer than the 12+2 days AND the 30 day thingy?

 

Oh forgot, 1 more quick Q: who do i send the letter to? Vertbaudet, droyds or redcats?

 

Thx again

[mrmarmite]

Thanks mrmarmite, much appreciated.

 

Quick question tho, should i state that they are already in default because they took longer than the 12+2 days AND the 30 day thingy?

 

oh yes make it in BOLD so it stands out, all dca's don't think you know anything about the law, unlucky them

[Debbiedebstar]

OK thanks alot

[mrmarmite]

no prob

[Debbiedebstar]

Just a quick update.... 2 days shy of a month has gone by and I have heard absolutely nothing from them, Don't have a clue what to do now.

[Debbiedebstar]

Hi all and if anyone can help me out, I've got another problem.

 

Today(10/05/08) I recieved a letter from debt managers ltd, stating the letter as an urgent final demand, settlement required now, court action may be taken, interest will be added and failure to respond may affect my ability to obtain credit etc etc.

 

Thing is, this is for vertbaudet, has my debt been sold on or something? I haven't heard 1 thing from vertbaudet since sending the letters off stated in this thread, so what shall I do now?

[weller711]

Hi

If it helps at all I found that Droyds backed off very quickly and they agreed that the debt could not be enforced and I havent heard anything from them for ages - maybe a year.

There is a letter you can send to Debt Mangers, Hang on a sec and I'll see if I can find it,

[weller711]

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:− Your Ref:

 

I do not acknowledge any debt to your company

I must admit that I am rather bemused as to why this account has been passed to yourselves/why you are still trying to collect on this account, as it is in dispute with the Droyds and has been since (enter date)

Not only is this a breach of OFT collection guidelines, but also in breach of the CCA 74.

 

As Droyds are now in default of my Consumer Credit Act request, Subject Access request and have also breached s10 Data Protection Act request , I consider this account to be in SERIOUS DISPUTE.

 

As you are aware while my Consumer Credit Act request remains in default enforcement action is NOT permitted, under s127 this constitutes a complete defence at law.

 

Now I would respectfully suggest that this account is returned to the Droyds for resolution of these defaults and breaches, as Debt Managers cannot lawfully pursue any enforcement activities.

 

If Debt Managers chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action.

 

I hope that this will not be necessary and an acceptable solution can be accomplished.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

 

..............................................

 

HTH and the credit for the letter goes to someone else on the forum and I cannot remember who Sorry whoever it is

 

Good Luck x

[drob]

Hi Debbiedebstar, I am having a very similar problem with Shop direct and my account has been passed to 4 different debt collection companies.

 

The letter you received from droyds is absolute rubbish!!!

 

A catalogue account is classed as running-account credit as defined within section 10 (1) (a) Consumer Credit act 1974

 

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires that where credit is provided by a creditor to a debtor, there must be an agreement between parties containing the prescribed terms as set out in section 60(1) of the consumer credit act 1974 and signed in the prescribed manner as laid out in section 61(1) (a) Consumer credit act 1974.

 

In addition, if the claimant cannot produce a credit agreement in the prescribed form signed in the prescribed manner by debtor and creditor, the court is precluded from making an enforcement order under s127 (3) Consumer Credit Act 1974 and it is requested that the court use its powers under section 142 Consumer Credit Act 1974 to declare the agreement unenforceable and strike out the claimants case accordingly.

[Debbiedebstar]

thanks weller and drob, much appreciated, i'll send that letter weller and thanks for that much needed info drob!

[weller711]

You're welcome though I didnt write the letter:p so really cant take credit for it.

 

drob - thats very interesting. I had having the same problem with Shop Direct - similar to you they were passing the debt around so I've just sent them the letter I posted above and the DCA have passing it back to Shop Direct, I've CCA'd Shop Direct direct ITMS but they havent responded at all, I fully expect it to go to another DCA........................... and so on and so on

 

Sorry for hi-jacking Debbie x