Yell (Hibu) trying to rip me off for £764

[kog]

Hi all, Right where do I start, oh yes at the start.

 

On in Feb 2011 a Yell fieldsales rep called to my home and I agreed to take out Ad's with yell to the value of £1800, contract signed. I have the original contract.

The order was for -

 

two yell.com Ad's in different categories

 

and two book Ad's also in different categories.

 

However, on 8 Sept 2011 I had a phone call from Yell asking would I like to take out an Ad with them for the year. Explained I had already done so, and the guy looked into it and said the rep who dealt with me in Feb 2011 had left the company along with the computer and all the orders.

 

On the 12 Sept 2011 I was emailed a two new orders for a total of £1222, to complete the order I had to email back two letters from a password, no signatures are on the actual orders. I have the two emails with attached Order forms, which allegedly where a binding contract.

 

This order was for-

 

two yell.com

and two book Ad's

 

However, unknown to me at the time the two book Ad's were incorrectly listed as being in the same categories of the book.

 

The plot thickens. Received an Invoice for the Ad's from yell on the 12 Oct 11 totaling £1644, this invoice listed -

 

Two yell.com ad's in different categories

 

and three book Ad's, two of which where in the same category as the order of 12 Sept 11, as above.

 

Then I have a phone call from yell saying they are sorry but they have made a mistake and put my two book Ad's in the same category of the book. I was offered various things for their mistake but I refused them since they were for listings on yell.com in areas I do not cover. I had numerous phone calls from yell all saying how they were looking into the matter. I recall they said I would not have to pay for the book Ad's and I was satisfied it had all been sorted out.

 

In all I made three payments totaling £450 which covered the cost of the yell.com Ad's.

 

The plot takes a twist, in March of this year (2013) I have a phone call from hibu (yell) saying I have an outstanding debt of £764 for five unpaid invoices for Ad's in the period 2011 - 2012. I asked them to look in to the mess they made with my advertising and ignored any calls or letters from them, until a debt collection company contacted me.

 

The debt collection company sent me a copy of the five unpaid invoices and they are for -

Two yell.com ad's in different categories

 

and three book Ad's, two of which where in the same category as the order of 12 Sept 11. But remember, the contract which was completed on the 12 Sept 11 by email was for a total of £1222.

 

I don't believe they lost the original contract, what I think happened is the book went to press and they realised their mistake too late. A phone call to yell by me revealed the deadline for advertising for my area is 20 August. Yell where sending me a new contract 12 Sept 11 with two orders in the same incorrect category . The book is sent out in October. I have a letter from them dated 20 Sept 11 - "Please note that all the adverts in this package have already been sent for print...".

 

I've taken a close look at my documents and have noticed the yell.com and book items are listed as combined packages and I now feel I shouldn't have paid for any of this so called contract, they have messed up and caused me a lot of stress as well as ruining my advertising for that year.

Any information would be much appreciated so I can sort this chaos out once and for all.

[renegadeimp]

Has the DCA bought the debt or are they acting on behalf of yell? If the latter, send a very simple letter telling them to bog off and the dept is in deep dispute. They will reply they have no knowledge of the dispute, but that is their problem.

 

Then you can start a FULL complaint to yell.

[kog]

Thanks for the reply. I contacted the DCA yesterday and they emailed me acknowledging that I am disputing the amount and requesting further information from hibu. Contacted hibu today and Trading Standards.

[renegadeimp]

If they are only acting on behalf, then ignore then completely.

[kog]

They seem to be acting on behalf of hibu, and I intend ignoring them from now on.

 

A question about the £450 I've paid in 2011 by direct debit, do you know if it would be possible after this length of time to make a "direct debit indemnity claim" to recover the money from hibu?

?

[renegadeimp]

Pretty much no chance.

[ims21]

@kog

 

I have sent you a PM.

[kog]

Right, had a letter through the post this morning from Hibu listing all the debit and credit transactions on my yell account from September 2011 to December 2012, so I got on the phone to them and progress has been made, after a bit of prodding.

 

When I phoned the DCA yesterday they sent me a statement with a breakdown of unpaid amounts that should of been taken from my bank , totaling £764,

but were not because the direct debit had been cancelled, by me,

after yell had taken what I owed them and I switched bank accounts.

 

So Yell were taking money, or trying to take money from my old account for items I had not agreed to and for items that had been waivered.

 

However, at the end of the period yell by mistake thought they had been paid for these items, and so they credited my account with £764 to refund me.

 

Now, this was not apparent with the statements I had, or from the ones obtained from the DCA yesterday.

 

These statements made it look as if yell wanted payment for items I never agreed to.

The statement from this morning made it all clear, showing the credit refund to my account.

 

What a mess, but in all fairness, Yell where acting honorably after all. But if they had not messed up my ad's to begin with this wouldn't have happened.

 

Good job I had negotiated a settlement with the DCA the other day to pay only half the £764,

they gave me 48 hours in which to accept the offer, which I accepted today.

 

Stressful, but not such a bad outcome after all.

[dx100uk]

make SURE your cra file is marked settled and any neg data is removed

 

if its marked PS ..beware!

 

hope its not showing.

 

dx

[kog]

Thanks dx, thats good advice.