My mother is trying to repay off her various cash loans they have with Provident Personal Credit, however, since they told the local collector that they want to pay it off and they never want to take out anymore loans, the local collector has failed to turn up to the house to collect the cheque to clear the loan accounts. This has now been over 4 weeks. Today, my mother received a letter from the "manager" of the local Provident office (?) saying that the account is now in arrears. There is an address and a mobile number to call. When the mobile number is called, it immediately switches to voicemail and a search of the address turns out to be the same address as for the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority
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which is "Don Valley House, Saville Street East, Sheffield S4 7UQ". My parents don't know what to do - how can they pay off their loans if the collector does not call and should they really post a cheque to an address which does not seem to relate to Provident at all.
a) Local Trading standards would probably like to hear & that might put the wind up the Provvie (a bunch of crooked loan sharks, AFAIK...) b) Send a recorded deilvery cheque to their head office. Take a copy of the letter & cheque first. Diane Wilbur is (alledgedly) head of "Customer Service". Address is Colonnade, Sunbridge Road, Bradford, West Yoykshire, D1 2LQ. c) Sounds like the local management & collector are not doing their job. In your shoes I'd call head office & complain (01274 733 321) d) (Big one, get off the interest.... " The Consumer Credit Act 1974 says (sections 63 on ..) that any client MUST be sent "a notice in the prescriber form indicating the right of the debtor or hirer to cancel..." -
I know from other situations Provident have no system for getting these notices out on time.
AFAIK in the absence of such a notice delivered on time, within 7 days, the Provident Agreement is Void and unenforceable.
Suggest you use this line with Provident & tell them you'll pursue with Citizens Advice & Watchdog etc . etc....
Best wishes, "
If in your case you know when the cancellation notice arrived you may be in a strong position. They are sent out in non-poststamped envelopes which seems like cheating to me.
As it happens I paid off a loan withe the provvie by cheque to head office. It has taken them over 2 weeks to pay it in but I can prove I sent it.
If you want the hoe names & addresses f Provvie Directors just email me direct, please (remove NSPAM))
"Mitchum" wrote in news:uFbFe.18366$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net:
I wouldn't read too much into the address. I did a placement for Doncaster Health, and I know one of their places was in a corporate centre as well.
I did a check at companies house for you - there seem to be various companies called Provident Personal Credit (all different areas of the same firm by the looks of things), and they all have their registered office listed as :
Name & Registered Office: PROVIDENT PERSONAL CREDIT LIMITED COLONNADE SUNBRIDGE ROAD BRADFORD WEST YORKSHIRE BD1 2LQ
A company absolutely has to be contactable at it's registered office (I'm a director of a small firm myself), so I would reccomend that you send a recorded delivery letter to that address, explaining the situation and asking them to make contact to arrange collection of the sum. Make it clear that the money is sat there waiting, and all they have to do is say where they want it. If you mother is in the house all day, I'd even be tempted to suggest that they ring you on receipt of the letter.
You might want to try the number 0800 409 6654 as well - that's the number that they give on their website (which you'll find at
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Make it clear to them that you are not in arrears, as you have not had a visit from the collector, and have not been advised of any other method of payment. However, in truth, I would argue that in the absence of the collector you had a duty to contact the company as well.
Contact them and say that you are interested in another loan as you are desperate..... You be there for support for your parents. When they arrive, invite them in, explain that you want another loan but need to pay this one off. Pay it, then tell them they have 1 minute to get off your property. They are thieves and needed to be treated like so. Did you see the recent Watchdog article on them?. I would also contact Watchdog.....
England is now a country whose new Blair Business Ethic is shaft thy neighbour, preferably with a telephone. The telephone rules; virtually every company has a `customer hotline'. Got a query? Call our `customer services support line!' But whatever you do, don't for God's sake write to us because our integrated- day, state-educated Sharons, Tracys and Jasons can hardly read or write, and we have no facilities for processing letters. Now that Mastercard and leccy companies have taken to selling their databases to all and sundry, mail order companies usually know more about you than you know yourself once they've got their corporate teeth into your name and postcode. The telephone is their friend and your enemy.
Scene: A frantic customer calling a mail order customer query hotline. Unlike sales lines, such lines get low priority -- the poor customer is usually left sucking on a hind tit for about thirty minutes. But when they get through:
CUSTOMER: (desperately) It's about these Norwegian Blues I ordered last week. You've sent me 223 of them and charged over
20,000 quid against my credit card! I only wanted two or three!
The mail order smoothie takes details and promises to call the customer back. He listens to the logging tape made when the customer phoned in the order (the order reference includes the tape access number) and calls back with:
SMOOTHIE: Sorry, madam, but according to our records (they never say `recordings') you ordered 223 Norwegian Blues from us on such and such date, at such and such a time, and Nigel took the order.
CUSTOMER: But I told Nigel that I only wanted two to three Norwegian Blues when he said he had to check your stock levels. He checked and said that there was no problem.
SMOOTHIE: Sorry, madam, but according to our records you definitely ordered 223 Norwegian Blues. They're now yours. Beautiful plumage, don't you think?
CUSTOMER: But they're all dead!
SMOOTHIE: Sorry madam, but there's nothing in our records to show that you specifically ordered live ones. That's why we included a free Norwegian Blue recipe book with your order. Try the beak soup on page 10 -- beautiful flavour.
An exaggerated example but it does illustrate the advantages of the telephone to the mail order company. They have the hapless customer's full name and address, and, very likely, bra size and inside leg measurement. All the customer has is Nigel's first name, and, like as not, no proper address for the company other than a PO Box number or a URL. How many company websites have their name and address on their opening page? Precious few. Also the mail order outfit has a tape recording of the transaction lest Mastercard or Visa or the law get stroppy. How many people phoning a mail order company make a tape recording?
By contrast, the letter writer, or someone who follows up phone orders with a faxed confirmation, has the odds stacked in his or her favour. This is particularly so in disputes or queries that end up in court. My own experience of Britain's small claims courts is that copies of letters, or copies of letters confirming the substance of phone calls, always go down well with court registrars. They amount to solid evidence whereas many companies now seem unable to cope with letters and don't reply to them in writing.
The latter point has always intrigued me, particularly in regard to mail order companies selling computer mcguffins and Norwegian Big Blue upgrades. The more printers, word-processors and paper stocks they boast, the greater their inability to actually use them. Write to PC World (the UKs leading pooter retail chain with Essex barn stores scattered across the country) for a written quote and you'll get a scribbled note on a compliments slip.
About twelve years ago I had a run-in with a large company that supplied me with an HP LaserJet toner cartridge, which I wanted, plus a new HP LaserJet II printer that I didn't want and hadn't ordered. Back in mid-1980s HP LaserJet IIs cost a leg and an arm, and a torso.
Although my order had been by letter, the company argued that it had been by phone claiming that I had ordered a printer *and* cartridge. In each case, all my letters were answered by phone but I always confirmed our telecons in writing. A court date was set. My solicitor pointed out to their solicitor that that we were going into court with a wodge of documentation. The company settled a week before the hearing and went bust before they could collect the unwanted printer.
Since then I have always dealt with queries with banks, water companies, mobile phones etc by letter and have *always* won disputes. Indeed, letter missiles are faster than the phone: my office is geared to dispatching mail; wrapping explosive facts in a paper warhead is often quicker than hanging on to the end of a telephone and having to explain the same issue repeatedly as one is passed from munchkin to munchkin along the buck chain. The Royal Mail's guaranteed next day delivery and free certificates of posting does give snail mail warriors such myself a decided advantage in these days of hotline hassle and heckle.
NB: I've even developed a technique for getting rid of cold- call-telesales pests. They're usually girls. `Before we go any further,' I say, interrupting their opening spiel about how they want my home as a show house for their new double- glazing system. `What colour knickers are you wearing?' I learned that they're trained to hang up as soon as they encounter a pest the equal of themselves. It always works except on one occasion when the girl replied with: `Black, actually, and I just luurve the feel of my boyfriend's hot, passionate breath on my squirming, naked thighs as he pulls them off with his teeth.'
My recent experience with Morrisons ( The contractor not the shop) was that any query to them regarding issues like "When are you going to find someone to reconnect the gas?" was to say "I will call you back, what is your number?" They would then get some sort of answer and phone it through to the mobile of some workman in the next road and get him to knock on the front door. Presumably because they knew that as you had told them you were at work there would be nobody home and the guy wouldn't have to actually tell anybody, and when they didn't turn up on time you would not know . Or perhaps they had too many workmen doing nothing and wanted to stop them from getting bored.
A detailed written account finally got a result and after just a few weeks a letter of appology came. A couple of weeks after that a cheque also arrived. .
For insignificant items, I use helplines for convenience but in the event of any problem switch immediately to writing whether by fax or post. The mistake most people seem to make is not to make a complaint when it's clear that the process has gone wrong.
The whole issue is one of control, these customer service departments do an excellent job of controlling people without the common sense to understand their rights and preventing any embarrassing mistakes slipping out into the legal field. An increasing problem is one of trade associations using the same tactics.
A pet hate, that reduces control, is the increasing use of webpage email forms. Much like a phone conversation, it's too easy for the company to 'lose' unwelcome communication. I don't use them.
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