Citizen Advice: Rent to own survey - do this! tell them how useless RTO companies are!

[Michael Browne]

Citizen Advice are asking customers of rent-to-own companies to complete a short survey about your experiences of shopping at BrightHouse, Perfect Home or Buy as You View.

 

Your responses will be used to produce a report about consumer experiences in the rent-to-own market.

 

This report will be used to see whether more can be done to protect consumers such as yourself.

 

https://docs.google.com/a/citizensadvice.org.uk/forms/d/1-exGdFfQaO9CiwOKicwroUQvh5bg0J2F1fCZHJBsL5Q/viewform?edit_requested=true

[Ibsys]

My son moved back home so my wife phoned Dial-A-TV to purchase a TV on a rent-to-own basis. Dial-a-TV were asked by her "will I own the TV after the installments?..Answer "Yes, after 18 months." "How much will the TV cost per month?" Answer " £30.48" So to confirm the "TV will cost £30.48 for 18 months as a rental then after the 18 months I will own the TV" and they said "Yes". The agreement came in the form of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. She signed it and returned it. I only saw it when the problems started!

 

She was telephoned by Dial-A-TV to see if she wanted an upgrade to which she said "NO, and when is the last payment?" and the reply was "August (2016). " 18 payments. This flagged up something to me so I asked her to cancel the final payment on direct debit and that I would pay the final payment by cheque and written in it "FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT FOR GOODS RECEIVED) which I scanned and filed. It was only after the DD was cancelled that Dial-a-TV wrote to say the direct debit had been cancelled and that there were another 39 payments of £35 to be paid for rental.

 

I phoned Dial-a-TV and was met by a tirade of abuse so I hung up and re-dialed and got put through to a manager. Unfortunately a firm like this prey on those who have to use firms like this and don't know their rights! I had said to their manager that their operative had called about a TV upgrade and the question had been asked about final payment. The manager said " the operative would say (in this case August) but that was the minimum term was 18 months so there were 39 further payments owing"

 

Lets look at this: if the question was asked "when is the final payment?" and the answer was "August" then a reasonable person would believe it to be "August) So the Law of Contract is based around what a reasonable interpretation is so anything else meant but not said is NON-DISCLOSURE. On the agreement there was no mention of "39 months payments @ £35" NON-DISCLOSURE. The agreement did not say anything of the further 39 payments or the total amount payable. This suggests it is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 s79 (a rolling contract like credit cards) until you read the total amount of payments are 999 months. But no, having a total amount of periodic payments @ £30.48 shows it comes under s78 in which case those 999 payments should be calculated to a format showing 999 payments of £35? or £30.48?, the total payable under the agreement and the interest charged. Incidentally if all the payments were made the TV would cost £31000+!

 

The agreement fails to be enforceable under the Consumer credit Act 1974 because the information is not on the agreement as required (S60 Prescribed terms) If Dial-a-TV try to enforce the agreement under s64, and goes to Court, s127 precludes a court from enforcing the agreement. So where does the cheque come in with the words FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT FOR GOOD RECEIVED? The payee, Dial-a-TV has about 7 days from cashing the cheque (unclear in law as to the time) to state they accept the payment but refute the cheque being FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT. They have to object to the statement on the cheque quickly or they have tacitly accepted it as FINAL. obviously if Dial-a-TV try to pursue the payment or return of the TV by specialist debt collector then there is always the CCA 1974 s70 (misrepresentation) which states where there is misrepresentation then all payments shall be refunded and the goods (TV) returned. See what happens next. On their next contact they will have the full, legal and lawful response!

[Bazooka Boo]

Citizen Advice are asking customers of rent-to-own companies to complete a short survey about your experiences of shopping at BrightHouse, Perfect Home or Buy as You View.

 

Your responses will be used to produce a report about consumer experiences in the rent-to-own market.

 

This report will be used to see whether more can be done to protect consumers such as yourself.

 

https://docs.google.com/a/citizensadvice.org.uk/forms/d/1-exGdFfQaO9CiwOKicwroUQvh5bg0J2F1fCZHJBsL5Q/viewform?edit_requested=true

 

Painless enough, hopefully see these parasites closed down!

[brassnecked]

About time these charlatans were attacked by the authorities and media.