Misleading statements from Homebase!!

[EmEd1984]

I bought a sofa from Homebase last year on their 6 months interest free 'buy now pay later' scheme. I received monthly statements saying 'your minimum payment is �0.00...your payment is due by dd/mm/yy' including last month, which said '�0.00 due on 07/05/09'...so I didn't pay anything.

I've just returned from a holiday and found a statement saying I now owe them an additional �96.44!! I called up to ask them why, and a man told me it was deferred interest and that the minimum payment is my 'basic credit' ??? I said i REFUSE to pay the interest as I feel the way the invoice is structured and worded can be very easily misinterpreted and used to their advantage, and I'm willing to pay what was outstanding, so he's asked for a debit card. Just to clarify I said 'so does this mean my accounts clear with you?' and he said no!!! I then spoke to his manager, explained my complaint and she said the same thing but was actually rather rude and in fact hung up on my husband! Isn't that not allowed?? When we called back she said the phone had 'clicked off'. Rubbish. She was talking over my husband and incessantly repeating heself. We told her to take this as our formal verbal complaint to her attitude and unprofessionalism and we would be taking the matter to a Financial Ombudsman.

Has anyone had similar problems with Homebase or anyone else?
Any advice as to how I now handle this?

I'm SO angry, even more so because we've been putting money aside ready to pay it!!

Any help appreciated xx

[redcrx]

what date did you take it out?
you have to have paid the full amount within 12 months of that date or face interest charges.
The dateof the statements doesnt matter if you owed the balance by say the 9th May

[redcrx]

^ Obviously that should read 6 months and not 12 in my post

[bednobs]

when you take out credit, it comes with a contract, which should state what is due when, and the consequences if not paid by then. What does your contract say?

[Buenchico]

It's standard practice, with 'buy now, pay later' deals to allow the customer to pay off the full price of the item, with the interest being disregarded, up until the end of the offer period. If the customer fails to pay off the balance by that time, the company's offer to wipe out the interest charges lapses and the full interest (from the date of purchase up to the present time) becomes payable.

So Homebase seem to be operating perfectly normally.

Chris

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Have to agree with the other posters.

I had the same with Argos the difference being I knew the amount was due, paid it less �1 because I couldnt find a statement and they added the whole �99 interest because the account wasnt cleared!! Fortunately, Argos could see I had attempted to clear the debt and honoured the �1, in fact they wrote it off along with removing the interest charged.

As long as Homebase clearly stated the terms and what would happen if it wasnt paid, I cant see what they have done wrong.

If you have the money, why on earth didnt you pay?

[jambox]

Hi more or less exactly the same thing happened to me - I reckon they're just on the take frankly, although you don't get a lot of sympathy from the experts. The good news is that if you really press them on this they do give refunds - I got one after many letters and an FSO complaint. See this post I wrote on moneysavingexpert:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread .html?t=1608559

Good luck!