Hi All,
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has posted, especially R0b , as it's proved to be incredibly helpful so far. Everything from the breakdown of our rights to VT and the sections of the CCA that detail it, to other peoples experience of debating the process.
My story so far is as follows:
7th Feb, I wrote to Barclays to VT my PCP agreement, having now paid over 50% of the total amount payable. Letter was sent special delivery and signed for on 8th Feb.
12th Feb, I phoned Barclays as had heard nothing back and they said they'd sent me paperwork I had to complete in order for them to process the VT. I refused to sign anything and reiterated my statutory right to terminate. They said they would not terminate it until i did and escalated my query to the complaints department. Being concerned by Barclays refusal to do anything, and based on many of the horror stories I've read here and elsewhere, I then started a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman.
13th Feb, I received a call from Barclays complaints department, where the agent said that until they received the car, I had to keep paying my direct debit and the agreement would not be terminated. They did say that if I delivered the car to the auction house, they would terminate the agreement and I could cancel the direct debit, that was due to come out of my account on 16th Feb. In the interest of expediency, i delivered the car to the auction house, took photos that were timestamped and geotagged of the car and the paperwork. I then wrote to Barclays saying that the car had been delivered back to their nominated location and that I was cancelling the tax, insurance and my direct debit. This was received and signed for by them on 14th Feb.
24th Feb, I received a letter from barclays saying I had missed a direct debit and needed to reinstate it immediately. I wrote back to them and explained all of the above and that they had tried to take the amount after the agreement should have been terminated and after they had had the car back.
19th Mar, I received another letter saying that the car had been sold and that I needed to pay an £84 Auction site transfer fee and a £30 Auction Site valet/appraisal fee. I then checked my credit record and found that they had also marked my account as in arrears, tanking my credit score. I phoned and spoke to Barclays on the number they detailed in the letter and they refused to discuss my account with me and said that i should deal directly with the Ombudsman instead.
I then wrote to Barclays and denied both fees and asked that they also correct my credit record, as I had not missed a payment, but rather they had attempted to take a payment they were not entitled to and it had rightly been refused. I detailed their numerous failings so far and my adherence to my legal obligations. I stated that in the event the FO finds in my favour, I will also be filing a claim for negligence and inaccuracy in regards to my financial records/data protection. I also mentioned that their behaviour is reminiscent of the PPI saga, which was also an attempt by financial organisations to obtain money they were not entitled to through deliberate deception.
7th April, I received a letter from Barclays saying that despite attempting to contact me (no missed calls on mobile or home phone and no answerphone messages), the arrears were still outstanding and the debt had now been passed to a debt collection agency. I will be contacting them tomorrow.
I have sent copies of all correspondence to the Financial Ombudsman, who must be getting sick of all the paperwork by now.
I'll post what happens next, but I'm essentially waiting on a decision by the FO.
All this at the same time as we need to apply for an extension on our mortgage to cover urgent structural work, but now can't due to the drop in my credit score.
Any feedback or comments would be welcomed. I can see it going to court as Barclays seem unwilling to respond directly to any of my letters. I'm hoping it'll be clear cut enough for the FO to get it sorted, but considering the stress it's caused and time it's drained so far, I'm worried I'm being overly optimistic.
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has posted, especially R0b , as it's proved to be incredibly helpful so far. Everything from the breakdown of our rights to VT and the sections of the CCA that detail it, to other peoples experience of debating the process.
My story so far is as follows:
7th Feb, I wrote to Barclays to VT my PCP agreement, having now paid over 50% of the total amount payable. Letter was sent special delivery and signed for on 8th Feb.
12th Feb, I phoned Barclays as had heard nothing back and they said they'd sent me paperwork I had to complete in order for them to process the VT. I refused to sign anything and reiterated my statutory right to terminate. They said they would not terminate it until i did and escalated my query to the complaints department. Being concerned by Barclays refusal to do anything, and based on many of the horror stories I've read here and elsewhere, I then started a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman.
13th Feb, I received a call from Barclays complaints department, where the agent said that until they received the car, I had to keep paying my direct debit and the agreement would not be terminated. They did say that if I delivered the car to the auction house, they would terminate the agreement and I could cancel the direct debit, that was due to come out of my account on 16th Feb. In the interest of expediency, i delivered the car to the auction house, took photos that were timestamped and geotagged of the car and the paperwork. I then wrote to Barclays saying that the car had been delivered back to their nominated location and that I was cancelling the tax, insurance and my direct debit. This was received and signed for by them on 14th Feb.
24th Feb, I received a letter from barclays saying I had missed a direct debit and needed to reinstate it immediately. I wrote back to them and explained all of the above and that they had tried to take the amount after the agreement should have been terminated and after they had had the car back.
19th Mar, I received another letter saying that the car had been sold and that I needed to pay an £84 Auction site transfer fee and a £30 Auction Site valet/appraisal fee. I then checked my credit record and found that they had also marked my account as in arrears, tanking my credit score. I phoned and spoke to Barclays on the number they detailed in the letter and they refused to discuss my account with me and said that i should deal directly with the Ombudsman instead.
I then wrote to Barclays and denied both fees and asked that they also correct my credit record, as I had not missed a payment, but rather they had attempted to take a payment they were not entitled to and it had rightly been refused. I detailed their numerous failings so far and my adherence to my legal obligations. I stated that in the event the FO finds in my favour, I will also be filing a claim for negligence and inaccuracy in regards to my financial records/data protection. I also mentioned that their behaviour is reminiscent of the PPI saga, which was also an attempt by financial organisations to obtain money they were not entitled to through deliberate deception.
7th April, I received a letter from Barclays saying that despite attempting to contact me (no missed calls on mobile or home phone and no answerphone messages), the arrears were still outstanding and the debt had now been passed to a debt collection agency. I will be contacting them tomorrow.
I have sent copies of all correspondence to the Financial Ombudsman, who must be getting sick of all the paperwork by now.
I'll post what happens next, but I'm essentially waiting on a decision by the FO.
All this at the same time as we need to apply for an extension on our mortgage to cover urgent structural work, but now can't due to the drop in my credit score.
Any feedback or comments would be welcomed. I can see it going to court as Barclays seem unwilling to respond directly to any of my letters. I'm hoping it'll be clear cut enough for the FO to get it sorted, but considering the stress it's caused and time it's drained so far, I'm worried I'm being overly optimistic.
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