Afibel cat debt - CARS now chasing

[godpikachu]

lol, i mentioned the extremely helpful advice i had received on this site yesterday to a friend of mine and she told me she had been having problems with afibel/C.A.R.S.

 

 

basically, in january of this year, my friend bought a pair of jeans fromt the afibel mail order catalogue for £29.99. She has had an account with afibel for many years and has always paid by credit card upon purchase, however this time they gave her the special offer of a 1 month deferred payment, which she took as it was so soon after christmas.

 

in febuary, she called afibel to pay for the jeans and was told by the advisor that they no longer accepted credit card payments, and that she would have to pay by cheque.

she doesnt have a cheque book so she assumed the advisor was being dumb and hung up, then called back 10 minutes later, only to be told the same thing by a different advisor, after speaking to a supervisor and explaining that she doesnt have a cheque book, and has always paid by card, the supervisor took her bank details and said they would take the payment via BACS instead, which she was fine with, so she left it at that and forgot all about it.

 

afibel never took the payment and about a month ago she received a phonecall from C.A.R.S demanding payment of £45 for non payment of the bill to afibel. obviously she has refused and after checking her bank statements she saw afibel hadnt taken the payment so she called them and tried to sort it out, but afibel now refuse to speak to her, but in the meantime have been taking orders for other stuff from her.

 

being as that she has offered payment at least 4 times now, is this debt enforceable, as she is not disputing that she owes them anything, but is disputing the amount C.A.R.S are claiming and that for some reason for this one item they refuse to take credit card payment.

[fuzzybobble]

Looks like CARS have added a charge onto the account. Best to write to them telling them the account is in dispute with Afibel and you are dealing directly with them. Also mention that the account shouldn't have been passed to them while it's in dispute.

 

DCA's hate it when you cut them out of the deal that way.

 

Then write to Afibel asking why after four attempts they still haven't sorted out a way for you to pay them.

If you still have no luck with them, try a CCA request. As your friend has had the catalogue for a few years, it's quite likely they won't have a CCA for the account. It's rare to see a catalogue account from 3 years or more, actually have an agreement at all.

 

Always keep everything in writing, as you may need it as evidence at a later date. Usually DCA's say one thing on phone, then deny it afterwards.

[PaulW922]

It is worth checking her credit file too to make sure she hasn't been defaulted for £29-99!

[godpikachu]

well, she got another phone call from C.A.R.S today and she told them she was dealing with afibel direct, the guy told her that the matter was now in their hands and that she had no choice but to pay up.

 

she rang me and asked what to do and i told her to tell them to "go forth and multply in a series of short jerky movments", she then says she rang afibel and they are now willing to speak to her.

 

seems to me like its a situation where a DCa is just on the cadge for money, thinking people dont know any better.

 

LOL!, CAG FTW!

[fuzzybobble]

That's how they operate. But on here, we know how to sort them out.

 

Good to see you and your friend are now calling the shots in the debt game of life.