Online Store, Very, Be Aware

Hi all not sure if this is the right forum to post in sure mods will move it if not. After having been good and happy customers of littlewoods online for many years and with it moving to the new very we have bought a fair few things in the past. Today our cooker showed signs that it is on the way out and so i looked to find a new one. Now i understand you pay a little bit more for the convenience of paying in instalments but todays experience has shocked me and i thought i would warn others.

What happened we had a letter from both very and littlewoods direct offering buy now pay july 2011 now here is the first problem, with very you have to spend over £50 for that offer on littlewoods direct it is £100. After finding our cooker a hotpoint EW74K for £550ish there were price difference again between the two sites even though they are the same group. We called the number to place an order and that was where things really started to go bad. First of all we were told by one member of staff that we could have the offer but that in july next year we would have to pay a total of nearly £1000 not the price of £550. A second member of staff on a seperate call then said that was not the case and as long as we paid the full amount before june of 2011 no other charges would apply.

We then got into the detail of the order with the website on screen with the price being £548.50 with free 10 day delivery we were told there was no free delivery and that the price was wrong we again stated that we were looking at the website and that was the stated price. Member of staff said that was wrong and they would have to get back to us after checking and would call us back in ten minutes. We got the call back and the price had leapt from the one the website said to £690 and that didn't include the delivery charge that we were told would also have to be paid.

If you use google product search as i did while my wife was talking to them you can find this cooker from as little as £375 with £25 delivery. Very then informed us that the website price was wrong and at anytime they could amend that price which sounds reasonable if were talking a few quid but well over £200 sorry that seems suss to me. While this may not be normal they are clearly misinforming people on the website and making it extremely complicated on the phone my wife who has ordered so many things from them in the past said she has never had a harder time trying to get to the basics.

So i thought it was only fair to warn others that all may not be what it seems and to be careful as we came close to spending a hell of a lot of money we didn't need to and i don't want any other forum members having the same problem.

[joglynne]

Glad you realised in time to avoid being fleeced by these people.

Regardless of the company involved 'Buy now - Pay later' offers have, IMHO, always resulted in a person paying more than they either needed to, or expected, as the companies that make this kind of offer are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts but in order to increase their profit margins and wouldn't delay getting their money unless there was a good financial incentive in it for them.

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by joglynne

Glad you realised in time to avoid being fleeced by these people.

Regardless of the company involved 'Buy now - Pay later' offers have, IMHO, always resulted in a person paying more than they either needed to, or expected, as the companies that make this kind of offer are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts but in order to increase their profit margins and wouldn't delay getting their money unless there was a good financial incentive in it for them.

The company doesn't have any delay in getting their money. They are getting it from the finance company which is running the buy now pay later scheme. I've bought sofas, TVs, doors and windows this way and have never paid more than I needed to as I always ensured it was paid off before the term expired.
Of course they do make their money by hoping the person is not able to pay it off in that time then that person has to pay interest.

I wouldn't and didn't have a problem with the buy it now offer what angered me and made me concerned was the way staff were clouding the waters on what should be basic issues. While it was not stated as fact or said officiially the amendment to the webiste price was suggested could be retrospectiely changed even after purchase and that was something that gauranteed the order was concelled straight away. In the past we have been very (no pun intended) happy with the service we have had but this time there seemed to be an effort to confuse and secure the order.

if you use the by now pay later with Very you need to pay before the month it says and you pay no interest

You also get 8% back through topcashback

The extended terms through littlewoods are 29.9 % calculated from the time of the order ( you get a total figure the year bnpl you pay interest for) again if you pay before you pay no interest( by it now value so if £500 is how much it costs your account will show 800 you only need to pay the 500 but you do need to inform them thats what its for)

Very charge 39.9 % and interest is only charged when you finish the bnpl as I said as long as you pay before you are fine