RCI Finance for excess mileage

[Kpros]

R0b appreciated as ever, thank you!

[Kpros]

R0b Just as a quick update - I spoke with the FOS this morning. I explained that I had received the letter and that I was very upset. They checked the system and informed me that RCI had in fact confirmed that they would halt any further contact with me until the investigation was completed and that QDR should also not be contacting me. Despite this, the lady I was speaking with said that they do not accept this as a 'fresh' complaint, and it will not make any difference as to the outcome of my complaint/their investigation. I stated that I thought this was quite poor, as they have clearly committed to not contacting me and have defaulted on this.

She also said that there was no benefit to me contacting the FCA as I would not get a response, and it would take a number of the same complaints for them to consider action. She would not comment on the SRA.

She has asked me to email in a copy of the letter with any supporting information. I will do this a bit later once I have heard from you. Appreciate your help.

She said that my particular complaint is a new avenue for them and the FOS are currently looking into how they deal with them. She said she had the 'evidence' from RCI.

[R0b]

There's no harm in reporting to the FCA, whoever you spoke to is right and your not likely to force a response from them, but that's how it all starts. The more people who complain about the practices of lenders, the more likely the FCA will look into it.

Below is an example response you could make to QDR. It's a bit on the aggressive side but you can water it down or amend it to suit your needs. I've highlighted in bold red colour certain information that may need to be inserted.

-------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you in response to your letter dated Thursday 28^th March 2019 which you sent me via the post.

Regarding the point you made about your client having issued a final response to me on 25 October 2018, I can confirm this was received. However, both you and your client appear to be misguided to the point made in my previous letter. I made it very clear that I had escalated my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (under the reference [insert ref.]) and, having spoken to the FOS today, they have confirmed that your client has been notified of the escalation and also acknowledged that it would halt any further correspondence until a final decision has been made.

I am therefore baffled that your client continues to think it is entitled to disregard its obligations under the Consumer Credit Sourcebook rules already mentioned in earlier correspondence and despite informing the FOS that it will not continue pursuing the alleged debt for the time being.

Your client's continued demands to pay the alleged debt and threatening further action whilst my complaint remains outstanding is becoming more stressful which I consider to be wholly unwarranted. The conduct is persistent, unreasonable and becoming more oppressive and I have already warned both you and your client that I will consider my legal options if the demands did not stop.

Clearly your client has chosen to ignore my warning and on that basis, I will now gather the relevant evidence against your client together with the FOS information, and begin an action of harassment along aggravated damages given your client's repeated conduct. Unless I hear back from you by [insert date] confirming that you and your client will refrain from any further correspondence, I will look to issue legal proceedings.

On a final note, it seems that you have also ignored my request that you should not be contacting me through any means except by email. There is legal authority confirming that a failure to correspond via the recipient's specified method can amount to harassment. Accordingly, I do not expect to see any further postal correspondence from you regarding this matter. Should you continue, I will report you to the SRA for breach of the SRA Code of Conduct and consider an action against you for harassment. To confirm, all contact should be made to the email address [insert email].

Yours faithfully,

[Kpros]

Hi R0b

Thank you so much for this. I will write this tonight and email it across to them. Once I have done this, I will supply a copy of the letter to the FOS with my grievances towards this.

I will also lodge a complaint with the FCA.

Would you advise attaching a copy of my reply letter to QDR in the email to the FOS?

Thanks

[Kpros]

Hi R0b

Attached is my letter to QDR solicitors (thank you as ever for your help and no, I did not find your draft to be overly aggressive!). I have also made a complaint to the FCA and I have attached this also.

Thanks

[Kpros]

Hi R0b

Below is both the response email from QDR, and then my response to that email.

They do not give up! They should not have my date of birth, so I am standing firm that I am not confirming it. There is no requirement for them to have it or for me to provide it.

[R0b]

Before making yourself look a little silly, doesn't the finance agreement contain your date of birth? There are duties under the GDPR to verify the identify of the person and so it is not unreasonable for QDR to ask some verification questions. whether those questions are appropriate depends on the information they hold in their possession.

If you don't believe they have a right to ask for your date of birth you could challenge it and say to them how or why they have your date of birth and are asking for that information. You do not feel comfortable giving that out but are happy to confirm other information to verify who you are. You could offer this up to them yourself. For example, the email address given on the finance agreement, the make and model of the car plus registration number, how much your monthly direct debit is or what date each month it came out of.

Since emails are not secure, you don't want to be giving all of the above examples away, and you can cite that as being one reason for not confirming your date of birth by email. Instead, offer something less intrusive such as the monthly instalment amount together with the date on which the payment came out of your account - that should be sufficient to verify you.

[Kpros]

Thank you R0b this is very useful. I have followed your advice and offered to confirm my identity via the instalment amount and date the money was taken.

Just as a brief update...

The FCA phone me this afternoon to ask me a series of questions relating to my claim. I have answered all of them and they are forwarding it on to the appropriate team to look into. They have also emailed me and have said that they will contact me if they require further information and/or copies of all the correspondence so far.

They have confirmed that they will not be updating me on how my complaint has gone. They were very appreciative of my time and seemed to take what I was saying very seriously.

[R0b]

Interesting to hear the FCA call you back did you write to the enforcement team directly or just generally to the FCA? Might be helpful to me and other to see what you send them, as you are the only one I am aware of that they have contacted albeit nobody else on here seems to have come back after making a complaint lol.

Are you able to let us know the sort of questions they were asking?

[Kpros]

Hi R0b

Certainly. That is the main reason why I am documenting everything - obviously because you are being fantastic and helping me with this, but also to help anybody else who finds themselves in the same boat as I am.

A screen grab of my complaint email to the FCA is above on my post 2nd April 2019, 18:05:PM. The email address that I sent this to was 'consumer.queries@fca.org.uk '.

Initially they called me and left me a voicemail as I missed the call. In the voicemail, the lady stated that she had called to discuss my complaint and had a series of questions for me of which she would document in an email instead. As I wanted to talk to her directly, I called back. By this time, she said that she was in the midst of composing an email to me (she also sent this and I have it if you wish to see it) but was happy to speak with me on the phone instead.

She asked me to confirm what I had put in my complaint email (who I was complaining about, why I was complaining). She asked me what the alleged debt related to and for rough dates. She was writing down what I was saying and gathering a dialogue. She confirmed that the FOS would handle it, and that FCA would not come back to me regarding this complaint however she mentioned that sometimes the FOS will contact the FCA and if that happens they would mention that I have complained and it would be added to their investigation. She also recommended informing the FOS and I told her that I have already done that. (I actually had a reply from them a short while ago. I have attached)

She was extremely supportive and told me to make sure I inform the FOS of the stress that this most recent letter has caused me. She also said to me that even if the FOS complaint does not go in my favour, I could appeal it whereas the business will have to take the FOS's decision as final. This was nice to hear.

I told her about QDR 'texting' me at the start; she said that she wasn't entirely sure of the rules around this, but she stated that there are very strict rules about contacting a consumer once a complaint has been raised, especially if they have agreed not to. She also said that they should not be contacting me on any other method that I had authorised.

In the end she stated that she would forward everything on to the appropriate team and they may contact me. She also said that they may request to see all of the letter/correspondence between myself and RCI/QDR. I told her that I was happy with this.

As above, the FOS have responded to my email. I'm not overly happy with it, as it states 'they have gone back to RCI confirming they have stopped'...but they haven't stopped? Do you think this warrants a reply? And if so, any suggestions? I'm unhappy with this email as I was expecting something better.

[Kpros]

Hi R0b do you think this is an appropriate response to the FOS:

Dear xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I understand from your email that you have asked RCI Financial Services to confirm that they have stopped any collection activities however the premise of me contacting you on Monday 1st April was to complain about RCI Financial Services having not stopped collection activities, despite agreeing to you that they would.

You also have the evidence of this via the email sent on Tuesday 2nd April.

The persistent harassment from these two firms is causing me a significant amount of stress and due to receiving this most recent letter in the post from QDR Solicitors, is now causing me issues in my family life. As I have discussed with you, I specifically requested that QDR Solicitors do not contact me by any means other than email however they have ignored this.

Please note that I have also made an official complaint with the FCA under the reference number xxxxxxxxxxxx.

Kind Regards

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

[R0b]

I don't think it requires a response to the FOS as yet but the moment RCI or QDR send another demand notice, then this is where you want to go back to the FOS and then demand from then what action should be taken because clearly neither RCI nor QDR are taking notice. Any action you could argue should be reflected in a compensatory award proportionate to their deliberate avoidance of RCI's obligations under CONC aggravated by the fact they have instructed solicitors to pursue you.

[Kpros]

Hi R0b

Thank you, good advice as ever. I will not respond to this and see if either of the companies contact me again. FCA mentioned it could be worth letting the FOS know that I have lodged a complaint with them but I guess this is not essential at this stage. Hopefully this will all be over soon!

[Runner95]

Kpros

Hi,

Having read through this thread, I’ve realised I’m in the same position as you at the moment and just thought I would ask if you had heard anything from the Financial Ombudsman?

Thanks!

[Kpros]

Hi Runner95 , sorry for the delay in response. I do not get alerts for new messages.

I was actually coming on today to say that I had received a letter in the post this morning from the FOS, apologising for how long it had taken. The letter states they have a number of complaints like mine and they are reviewing how they deal with this so that they can be fair and consistent.

R0b, is there a time frame in which the FOS should be replying? This has dragged on a very long time now.


Thanks