Voluntary Termination Of Vehicle Query

[bob0411]

R0b Thanks again, yes, it is an investigator who rejected my complaint and I have asked for his decision to be reviewed by the actual ombudsman on the grounds he has not taken into account all the evidence I provided.

I've also submitted a second complaint today, both for the adverse marker on my file and the suspected breach of data protection where they contacted by old garage with false information.

I will let you know how I get on with both complaints, existing and new.

[bob0411]

R0b Update on things as they stand:

- still waiting for my original complaint (collection fee dispute) to be looked at by the Ombudsman themselves

- still waiting for formal response from investigator on second complaint raised (adverse marker on credit file)

- just discovered this week the adverse marker is back on my credit file again! It was £0 and account closed in January, It's back to £3594 owing and account shown as open again for February/March/April.


I have just called Hyundai Finance and challenged them on the latter:

The agent I spoke to initially stated the account was in fact settled and 'couldn’t see' how my credit rating could possibly be affected?

When pressed on this they admitted the account IS currently open again and it is because of the disputed collection fee (the original complaint I raised)

I challenged them on this as this amount is only £70 not £3594.

I believe the difference is the shortfall from the sale at auction?

I was also given assurances last September that this dispute would not impact on either my credit score or my account with them and would be dealt with as a totally separate matter so they have effectively gone back on their word here.

The call recordings from last September I was supplied back this up.

They just offered me £50 compensation for any ‘distress caused’ on this which I have rejected.

I asked for all of this to be put in writing in an e-mail to me and they refused as they said 'data protection regulations' preventing them doing so?

I asked to speak to a manager and as usual none are available so one is allegedly calling me back tomorrow,

Frankly they’re digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole here and I want this rescinded as a matter of urgency.

I’m actually contemplating legal action here as this is materially affecting me and the Ombudsman is chronically slow in doing anything.

[R0b]

Hi Bob041,

Sounds like you are having a nightmare with Hyundai.

- just discovered this week the adverse marker is back on my credit file again! It was £0 and account closed in January, It's back to £3594 owing and account shown as open again for February/March/April.

I believe that you can make a subject access request to credit reference agencies for back dated copies of any credit report. If I recall, Experian for example hold the last 3 years' worth but may differ between each agency. You might want to obtain those copies if you can't access them on your account, to prove that at one point it was settled and at £0 but has since been re-opened without any lawful justification.

I asked for all of this to be put in writing in an e-mail to me and they refused as they said 'data protection regulations' preventing them doing so?

What a load of nonsense, if that were the case then Hyundai would never be able to contact you. If they aren't prepared to put it in an email they should justify that with a reason why, but in any event that won't prohibit them from writing to you in a letter to confirm.

Just a heads up, I believe that if you take legal action, the Ombudsman might close or suspend their case as they won't investigate if a court claim has been issued.

Did you receive a call back from the manager? I think you need to start logging your calls to Hyundai if you are considering legal action as this will show a trail of their incompetence, particularly with references to the calls and information you'v been given which is clearly incorrect.

Happy to look over anything if you are looking at the legal route, I might have a couple of unfinished letter before actions around breach of data protection / negligence if you would like a copy.

[bob0411]

R0b Yes, a manager called me back on the 17th May.

To cut a long story short he agreed to waive the original £70 collection fee, to still pay me £50 compensation for all the extra recent hassle and to have my credit file corrected once more.

On that basis I agreed to close the 2 outstanding cases with the Ombudsman once this was actioned.

I was supposed to get a letter confirming all of this but no sign of it as yet so I chased this up last Friday (31st May) and now awaiting a further call back from him.

Hopefully the end is in sight now.

The ironic thing is this case has gained me £200 in compensation overall and I ended up not paying the disputed £70 collection fee at the end of the day so I'd say it well worth us customers digging our heels in!

The Ombudsman is useless btw.

[bob0411]

R0b By way of final update - letter finally received, I had to chase this again last week so compensation was increased to £100. It's taken 8 months of hassle but I finally got the £70 collection fee waived and received a total of £250 in compensation from Hyundai Finance (Santander). Worth it in the end, thanks for all your support and guidance.

[R0b]

Thanks for the update, its nice to see a well-deserved result. Santander are pretty poor in my eyes and I think had you gone on to look at legal proceedings you could have probably gained much more than the measly £250 sum (check out my result against Santander here).

Anyhow, the objective here is to get the result you wanted and you did.

Well done for persisting, most would have given up but don't assume that other lenders will be so generous.