AND AS IF BY MAGIC, I GOT MY £6K BACK
Customer refund after having heating box installed at home
It has been a long, hard fight... but loyal Judge reader Annie Johnstone has just received a £6000 refund thanks to me.
Annie, 85, thought she would save thousands on her energy bills by signing up for a magic heating box which apparently increased the f low of water to the radiators in her house.
But the bills stayed the same then the firm – Superseal Home Improvements Ltd – went into liquidation.
That’s when Annie, of Dumfries and Galloway, contacted me. She said: “The salesman was very persuasive.
“He came to the house and I signed up there and then.
“I realised what I’d done the next day and tried to cancel.
“I could have bought a boiler and radiators for that money.
“But I was told if I pulled out, I would lose all my cash.”
The firm, based in Hillington, near Glasgow, had organised £ 4000 finance with Hitachi Capital over 87 months – the equivalent of seven years and three months.
It meant she was paying back £ 8975 over the term along with a £2000 deposit.
But she cleared the loan in 2013 to avoid interest then her daughter and son-in-law took up her case with Superseal.
But they got nowhere.
Annie said: “To add insult to injury, a heating engineer who was ser v icing the boiler told me the box is pretty much useless.”
Superseal Home Improvements was dissolved on April 16 last year.
But finance f irm Hitachi Capital is jointly and severally liable by law.
And after 16 months of negotiation, it has come good for Annie and refunded the £6000 in ful l. A spokesman Hitachi Capital said: “It’s unfortunate we were only made aware of this issue when the customer raised a complaint more than f ive years after the initial agreement was paid off.
“We investigated the matter thoroughly but were unable to further the complaint as we required more information which the customer was unable to provide.
“However, in light of new information provided in the last few weeks, we were able to re-open the complaint.
“As a result, we have offered to cancel the agreement and refund all payments.”
Delighted Annie said: “Many thanks for all you have done. I am very grateful. We were getting nowhere on our own.”
Another victory for The Judge.