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Hi there, I'd like some advice regarding a shop direct account.
Where to start, well I had an account with Very of near 1800£, the basis of which I wanted an account reakdown approx 2 years as the payemnts went up qwuite high, my account was frozen with no intrest added as I was told.
I made a complaint with the FOB soon afterwards, which I sent regular proof & evidence.
To my surprise I was informed last week that the investigation had concluded in march 2020, soemthing whihc nobody told me or had the decency to & I've felt very stupid & naive but the fact is no where have I found a letter or email from anybody telling me the findings or conclusion.
I'll copy & paste the findings via email from the FOB - i'll omit the ladies name.
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Thanks for your patience while we’ve been looking into your complaint. I’ve now reviewed your complaint and I’m getting in touch to let you know my findings.
You told us you’re unhappy your minimum payments on your Shop Direct account increased and that you haven’t been provided with a breakdown of the balance on your account. You said you’ve been in contact with Shop Direct a number of times during the two month period when your account was on hold. You feel that Shop Direct have acted poorly and you don’t feel it investigated your complaint fully.
Shop Direct didn’t uphold your complaint. It said that your payments increased because the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) purchases were charged to your account. It provided you with a breakdown of your account transactions from March to October 2018. It also informed you to contact Payplan, which you advised you were already in touch with.
I’ve carefully considered the information available, and I don’t think Shop Direct acted unfairly in this instance. So I won’t be asking it to do anything further. I know this may come as a disappointment to you, but I’ll explain why I reached this decision in more detail.
Your contacted Shop Direct in January 2019 to explain that there’s been a change in your circumstances and you were experiencing some financial difficulties. You said you also asked for a breakdown of your account.
When a customer is in financial difficulties, the first thing we’d expect the credit provider to do is listen to the customer about their situation and discuss what help is appropriate. To do this, the business will often ask their customer about their income and expenditure and ask them to complete a form about this.
I can see in your case, Shop Direct asked you to complete the income and expenditure form when you first told them of the changes in your financial circumstances. It also froze the account until March 2019.
I understand there’s been miscommunication as to whether Shop Direct received the income and expenditure form, which you said you sent it via post.
When you spoke to Shop Direct during the two month period it made it clear to you that you needed you to complete this before March, but you said you’ve already sent one. During this time, Shop Direct asked you to complete an income and expenditure over the phone but you declined.
As there’s inconsistent information, I can’t be certain what actually has happened with the income and expenditure form. But although there’s been a delay in completing this, in the end it was confirmed that you had no disposable income and therefore your option was a debt management plan.
You told both Shop Direct and our service that you were in touch with Payplan. But Shop Direct said you haven’t provided a reference number to confirm that a debt management company was dealing with your finances. Therefore they couldn’t do anything further.
I understand you’re unhappy that your minimum payments increased. As Shop Direct explained, the reason for this was because you haven’t met the cash price payment for your BNPL purchases and you incurred deferred interest.
The terms and conditions of your account state that interest will be charged to your account at the end of the deferred payment period unless you pay the full cost before the end of this period. As you haven’t made any payments towards your BNPL items before the end of the deferred period, you incurred interest and as a result your minimum payments increased. Which I think is reasonable in this instance.
You’re also unhappy Shop Direct didn’t provide you with a breakdown of the account balance when you first requested it in January 2019. I can see Shop Direct provided you with a breakdown in their final response for the period in which you minimum payments increased.
I appreciate Shop Direct didn’t provide this to you when you first requested it. But I don’t think this would’ve had an impact on you or your account. Shop Direct made it clear that you needed to complete an income and expenditure form, which is what we expect it to do. Also, having looked into the statements that were available to you through your online account, I can see it clearly states the minimum payment you needed to pay each month and it provided details of your BNPL purchases and when they were due.
I appreciate you feel Shop Direct acted poorly. While I understand there’s been a miscommunication with the income and expenditure form and not providing you with the breakdown when you first requested it, based on the above, I don’t think it acted unfairly in this instance. Shop Direct is not bound by the terms and conditions of your account to put your account on hold when you’re in financial difficulties. But nevertheless, Shop Direct has acted immediately when you first told them about the changes in your financial circumstances and therefore I won’t be asking it to do anything different.
I think this is a fair outcome in the circumstances for the reasons I’ve explained. If you decide that you don’t accept what I’ve said, then please let me know by 25 March 2020.
If I can’t resolve things then an ombudsman here can look at everything again and make a final decision. But without any new information, it’s unlikely the outcome will change. If I don’t hear from you by that date we might not be able to look at your complaint again.
Kind regards
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now the issue I have is that I haved proved that I sent the expenduture form - I still have this proof, I can't find the proof of postage but I sent them all this proof, this seems to be why to my view - why my case has fialed yet I have screenshots of proof via verys own page that I uploaded the pdf, I have proof via resolver as I uploaded it to them also.
So I'd like to ask this - the amount of stress this has cuased has een untold - its akin to todays issues of being told something & going against the rhetoic becuase you believe in something different.
I am thinking about cmpleteing a form on a webiste about my own mental health & maybe I can get the debt reduced but I'm unsure of where to go from here.
lastly - its not the money side of the debate, I know & have proved that very have added interest they have mislead with missing things from my account breakodwn yet I feel like in despair really - nobody will listern, why should I pay for such an arrogant company with poor PPOR service, its a sham in my book.
Where to start, well I had an account with Very of near 1800£, the basis of which I wanted an account reakdown approx 2 years as the payemnts went up qwuite high, my account was frozen with no intrest added as I was told.
I made a complaint with the FOB soon afterwards, which I sent regular proof & evidence.
To my surprise I was informed last week that the investigation had concluded in march 2020, soemthing whihc nobody told me or had the decency to & I've felt very stupid & naive but the fact is no where have I found a letter or email from anybody telling me the findings or conclusion.
I'll copy & paste the findings via email from the FOB - i'll omit the ladies name.
------------------------------------
Thanks for your patience while we’ve been looking into your complaint. I’ve now reviewed your complaint and I’m getting in touch to let you know my findings.
You told us you’re unhappy your minimum payments on your Shop Direct account increased and that you haven’t been provided with a breakdown of the balance on your account. You said you’ve been in contact with Shop Direct a number of times during the two month period when your account was on hold. You feel that Shop Direct have acted poorly and you don’t feel it investigated your complaint fully.
Shop Direct didn’t uphold your complaint. It said that your payments increased because the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) purchases were charged to your account. It provided you with a breakdown of your account transactions from March to October 2018. It also informed you to contact Payplan, which you advised you were already in touch with.
I’ve carefully considered the information available, and I don’t think Shop Direct acted unfairly in this instance. So I won’t be asking it to do anything further. I know this may come as a disappointment to you, but I’ll explain why I reached this decision in more detail.
Your contacted Shop Direct in January 2019 to explain that there’s been a change in your circumstances and you were experiencing some financial difficulties. You said you also asked for a breakdown of your account.
When a customer is in financial difficulties, the first thing we’d expect the credit provider to do is listen to the customer about their situation and discuss what help is appropriate. To do this, the business will often ask their customer about their income and expenditure and ask them to complete a form about this.
I can see in your case, Shop Direct asked you to complete the income and expenditure form when you first told them of the changes in your financial circumstances. It also froze the account until March 2019.
I understand there’s been miscommunication as to whether Shop Direct received the income and expenditure form, which you said you sent it via post.
When you spoke to Shop Direct during the two month period it made it clear to you that you needed you to complete this before March, but you said you’ve already sent one. During this time, Shop Direct asked you to complete an income and expenditure over the phone but you declined.
As there’s inconsistent information, I can’t be certain what actually has happened with the income and expenditure form. But although there’s been a delay in completing this, in the end it was confirmed that you had no disposable income and therefore your option was a debt management plan.
You told both Shop Direct and our service that you were in touch with Payplan. But Shop Direct said you haven’t provided a reference number to confirm that a debt management company was dealing with your finances. Therefore they couldn’t do anything further.
I understand you’re unhappy that your minimum payments increased. As Shop Direct explained, the reason for this was because you haven’t met the cash price payment for your BNPL purchases and you incurred deferred interest.
The terms and conditions of your account state that interest will be charged to your account at the end of the deferred payment period unless you pay the full cost before the end of this period. As you haven’t made any payments towards your BNPL items before the end of the deferred period, you incurred interest and as a result your minimum payments increased. Which I think is reasonable in this instance.
You’re also unhappy Shop Direct didn’t provide you with a breakdown of the account balance when you first requested it in January 2019. I can see Shop Direct provided you with a breakdown in their final response for the period in which you minimum payments increased.
I appreciate Shop Direct didn’t provide this to you when you first requested it. But I don’t think this would’ve had an impact on you or your account. Shop Direct made it clear that you needed to complete an income and expenditure form, which is what we expect it to do. Also, having looked into the statements that were available to you through your online account, I can see it clearly states the minimum payment you needed to pay each month and it provided details of your BNPL purchases and when they were due.
I appreciate you feel Shop Direct acted poorly. While I understand there’s been a miscommunication with the income and expenditure form and not providing you with the breakdown when you first requested it, based on the above, I don’t think it acted unfairly in this instance. Shop Direct is not bound by the terms and conditions of your account to put your account on hold when you’re in financial difficulties. But nevertheless, Shop Direct has acted immediately when you first told them about the changes in your financial circumstances and therefore I won’t be asking it to do anything different.
I think this is a fair outcome in the circumstances for the reasons I’ve explained. If you decide that you don’t accept what I’ve said, then please let me know by 25 March 2020.
If I can’t resolve things then an ombudsman here can look at everything again and make a final decision. But without any new information, it’s unlikely the outcome will change. If I don’t hear from you by that date we might not be able to look at your complaint again.
Kind regards
-------------------------------------------------
now the issue I have is that I haved proved that I sent the expenduture form - I still have this proof, I can't find the proof of postage but I sent them all this proof, this seems to be why to my view - why my case has fialed yet I have screenshots of proof via verys own page that I uploaded the pdf, I have proof via resolver as I uploaded it to them also.
So I'd like to ask this - the amount of stress this has cuased has een untold - its akin to todays issues of being told something & going against the rhetoic becuase you believe in something different.
I am thinking about cmpleteing a form on a webiste about my own mental health & maybe I can get the debt reduced but I'm unsure of where to go from here.
lastly - its not the money side of the debate, I know & have proved that very have added interest they have mislead with missing things from my account breakodwn yet I feel like in despair really - nobody will listern, why should I pay for such an arrogant company with poor PPOR service, its a sham in my book.
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