The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can he insult me?

I need your help understanding something. I bought a washing machine using laybye at a store at Game City where you get to take the goods and pay them off within 4 months. 2 payments before I could finish payments I lost my job and went to the store to let them know. They told me now my terms will change to hire purchase. I made payments when I could and still updated them that I didn’t get a job yet. I started getting calls from the store from a man who insults me and is rude all the time. I went to the store to let them know the man is being abusive but got no help. I know I’m supposed to get the calls because I still owe this store but what do I do when this man now calls? He doesn’t even say hi and starts to go off of me over the phone. Several times I hung up on him. Today he called and I answered and the first thing he said was not hello, he started shouting insults. I hung up on him again. Is there a way you can help?

There are several things here that worry me. Firstly, how did they force you to convert a laybye to a hire purchase agreement? They are completely different, almost opposite ways to buy things. With a laybye you pay money in advance for a few months and then collect your goods. With hire purchase you hire the goods and pay the store a monthly fee for a couple of years until you eventually become the owner. Laybyes are a good way to buy things, hire purchase is a bad way. I don’t understand how they thought they could change the agreement and exploit you this way.

Secondly, if you couldn’t afford the laybye payments, how did they expect you to pay the hire purchase instalments? Something doesn’t add up here.

Finally, there is absolutely no excuse for this man’s rudeness. It’s also illegal. Section 6 of the Consumer Protection Act forbids a company from using

“force, coercion, undue influence, pressure, duress, harassment, unfair tactics or any other similar conduct against a consumer”.

This man is clearly harassing you and being grossly unfair.

I contacted the company and we’ll see how they react.

How long will I be blacklisted?

Please assist. So I had taken a loan with my bank and went 2 months last year without work, so I incurred some arrears. I cleared the loan in February this year. However, last month I tried to get something with a 6 months hire purchase but I was told the bank blacklisted me. So now I want to ask how to go about this? Where do I call to ask as to when I will be removed from the blacklist? I am kindly asking for your assistance.

Unfortunately, there’s probably no good news here. If you have a history of arrears with your debts, lenders will share that information in the databases held by credit reference bureaux. That way, other potential lenders can see your history so they can make an informed decision about lending you money or offering you credit. Those records usually remain online for two years after the debt is finally settled.

There’s nothing wrong or improper about this, it simply allows lenders to make sensible decisions.

But maybe this actually is good news? You managed to avoid buying something on hire purchase which might be a bonus if your finances have been a little difficult recently. If possible, it’s much better to save some money every month and then buy things for cash. It’s a lot less risky.