M&s Ppi Help Please **SUCCESS**

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello EOS-5D!

 

If M&S want to play games, then I would delve a little deeper into the alleged Agreement itself.

 

Those in-store Application Forms filled out by their own sales staff, were highly suspect. Nobody I know who was accosted by the hard-sell staff saw any Prescribed Terms, and there were no Terms on the rear of those Forms either.

 

The staff were there to hard-sell PPI, and to get people to sign up for both a nasty M&S MasterCard and PPI at the same time.

 

If you have not already done so, I would send them a s78(1) Request, and also a SAR too, so that you get to see the alleged Agreement from two angles. Maybe stagger the requests so as not to alert them.

 

I think you may find that the alleged Agreement itself is unenforceable!

 

Cheers,

BRW

Edited August 14, 2009 by banker_rhymes_with
Typo

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello EOS-5D!

 

Great! M&S may well regret being silly over the mis-sold PPI by the time you are finished with them.

 

Be ready for some subterfuge over the alleged Agreement. They will almost certainly send you some current Terms, they will probably span several pages. In addition they may also send you a crabby copy of what may look like an A4 page of Terms they will hope you will think were on the reverse of the Application Form.

 

However, take a damned close look at the above A4 page, and perhaps Post up a copy of that here for beady eyes to inspect! A common trick is to grab any old page of Terms, even ones that relate to Postal Applications. Spot the deliberate mistake there? Yours was an In-Store Application, and the Form will have been geared for their own employees to complete! So, it was never a Postal Application!

 

The Application Form may also have a box for their employee to complete, i.e. some form of employee number etc had to be added, further confirming it was not a Postal Application.

 

But I'm going to spoil all of your fun at this rate! I'd better let you get on and see what they send first!

 

Best of luck with it!

 

Cheers,

BRW

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello EOS-5D!

 

Firstly, as Steven says, assume it was an honest mistake and, given that they gave you two options and went with the one you did not opt for, then just write and ask them to try again.

 

Secondly, if the Account is disputed, then I would never accept any repayment of unlawfully mis-sold PPI into that Account, because mis-sold PPI is not an Account in itself, there's no Agreement, and nothing for them to dip into. So...

 

Thirdly, they have no right of Set-Off between a refund of mis-sold PPI funds and a Credit Card Account.

 

Some banks have a Set-Off right between Accounts. For example, if you banked with, say, RBS, and had both an RBS current private bank Account and an RBS private Credit Card, then they would almost certainly have a clause in each Agreement that gave them a right of Set-Off between the two. Arrears on the Card might well be paid if the bank Account has a surplus of funds. Beggar all you could do about it in such a case.

 

But when it comes to M&S, there is no other Account (unless, that is, you happen to have an HSBC Account!). There's nothing for them to Set-Off against. Nothing they would have an automated right to grab, raid and/or dip into.

 

Mis-sold PPI is mis-sold PPI so, if it's mis-sold, then they must repay it. Dumping your money into one of their Card Accounts has no legal validity that I can see.

 

It's not a lot different to them putting a bag of money on your door step, then taking it away to deposit in their own system. Thus, the giving back is one issue, and that's as clear as day that they were in the wrong so must pay you back your money that they took from you. However, the taking "back" of that money once they give it to you, i.e. to divert it into the Card Account is another matter.

 

Technically, I would argue that the moment they agreed to refund your PPI, a sum of your money in their Accounts belonged to you, but it was languishing in their own Account somewhere unidentifiable at that stage. But when it popped up for transfer, the transferring Account would be identifiable within their System. It then became your money while it was in transit, but then instead of appearing where agreed, it was diverted to the Card Account. You gave no such instructions, and they had no right to divert your funds back into their own system again once they had identified where your sum of money was being held by them.

 

When writing to them, I'd say that if your money stays in the Card Account, that you thank them very much for the gift, but what ever they call it, you do not regard that as settlement of your PPI Claim. In the absence of any real money materialising in your own bank Account, then you regard the PPI Claim as outstanding and you would like to point out to them that interest is still building.

 

What ever they have dumped into the Card Account is a gift from them to you, which you accept, that's unless they wish to admit the error, and send those funds to you, all as agreed.

 

Cheers,

BRW

Edited April 24, 2010 by banker_rhymes_with
HSBC Risk

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello EOS-5D!

 

I understand that M&S are owned by HSBC, so would I be right in thinking I should remove any money I have with HSBC because M&S could pinch it for the Credit Card...

 

That's a good point indeed, there's me saying there is no bank Account to dip into, forgetting who is behind the M&S Logo in this case, yep, HSBC!

 

Yes, move the money. I'd keep the HSBC Account, because one day it may be useful to have, once you have fully dumped the M&S Card. In terms of the money, it's never wise to have two eggs on one grasping basket.

 

It may well be that the Set-Off risk is more potential than real, mainly because HSBC try hard to stay firmly in the background, so as not to let slip too often, or too obviously, that they are the ones behind the M&S Card, and not M&S the Grocer that sells the Nation's smalls.

 

I suspect they would be tempted to exercise a right to Set-Off, but may resist that temptation to keep the impression the M&S Card is an M&S Card.

 

But, if you have any funds in an HSBC Account, it's probably not worth the risk that they might, however small the risk.

 

Cheers,

BRW