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Buy Now, Pay Later (as on Watchdog)

I bought a leather sofa from a well known retailer who were featured on Watchdog last night.

When purchasing the sofa, it was just after closing time on a Sunday afternoon. I wanted to pay for the sofa outright there and then, but the salesperson said that the card couldn't go through as they were cashing up. He said as with other customers it could be on 0% for a year and then as long as I paid it back before the year, no interest was payable. I stupidly agreed. In hindsight, I should have insisted on paying, but it had been a long day and I wanted to go home.

Anyway the year came around recently, I have been waiting for about 3 months for a letter with the amount payable, but alas it never arrived. Upon checking my bank statement last week, I found that the finance company LoL had used had started taking my repayments. I called them and told them I wanted to pay off the full amount and they quoted me nearly 2x the original purchase price of course with the interest. I said that they haven't told me the date, so therefore, how did I know when to pay by? He said they don't issue reminders (very convenient and shady!) but the date was on my contract. I told him I'd never been aware of the date in any form. He asked me to look on my contract, but as I couldn't find it immediately, he said they would find a copy, but it would be two weeks.

I have now found my contract and in the appropriate section, it says 'This is a Buy Now, Pay Later agreement and if you pay the Amount of Credit before we will waive payment by you of Total Charge of Credit and PPP. If you do not exercise your Cash Price option, interest will accrue from the date of the agreement and you will charged the Total Amount of Credit'

Now, the question I'm asking is, because there is no date on the contract and I (as they have admitted) have never had any notification of the date, is there any way they can enforce the contract with regard to the above agreement? What should I do when I call them, if they still try and argue that I should pay the full amount

Thanks

Nick

Reply to
Mack
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You should pay the full amount. You were aware from the outset that the payment had to be made within the year, and so even if the "pay before" box was blank, there is presumably a date on the form next to your signature. Therefore you knew payment was required within a year of the date of signing.

If you had really wanted to pay outright there and then, but were thwarted, you could always have paid the following day. You need not have waited the whole year. But you did, so you basically took the gamble that you might forget.

I agree, though, that not sending a reminder is sharp practice.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

It's not quite as simple as that, as the salesperson said the date would be

12 months from when the sofa was delivered. However, when the sofa was delivered, it was damaged by the 'delivery drivers' and therefore there was a period where I was in 'discussion' with them about whether I would reject the goods or get them repaired. We eventually agreed that they would be repaired and I would be refunded the delivery charge. So in order to know the new total, I would need some sort of confirmation, also because of this fiasco the date was also not clear.
Reply to
Mack

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