How can you find out this information? Who is the Director for a firm? The one in question is Time Computers in Lancashire, can anyone help? Or is anyone clued up as to the correct methods for a major complaint before I have to consult my solicitor?

If you have a major complaint - call the call centre and ask for the chairmans name and direct address.... then send your letter - marked PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL. Its worked every time for me :) HTH

Thanks for that. I'm on holiday next week, so I can sit down & get everything written I want to.

No probs

Keep it concise and polite, a "Unfortunately I have been forced to resport to involving you..." approach is normally productive. It must be addressed personally though, and also explain what you intend to do should the matter not be taken seriously: inform watchdog, trading standards, seek guidance from a legal perspective etc etc. As long as he see it that you are at the end of your tether as opposed to a "serial complainer" it will probably be sorted out straight away for you :)

I know from the recent experience I had, that "staff" are sometimes so ignorant that they dont even know the name of the chairman or director of the comapny they work for :(
In the case i was involved in, I took their names/details & then when I did eventually find the Chairmans name, I included a bit in my letter about how "so & so" didnt even know their name!!!! I bet they knew his name by the time the day was out!!!

Some companies make SURE their staff do not know the company chairmans name! I worked for a company like that ....as a customer service agent. When asked for the name , I asked a Supervisor and she replied ...'we don't give out that information'

What are the poor CSA's supposed to do then?

Put the customer through to the supervisor - and if not, above them. They would have to put the phone down to get me off it - I've worked as a CSA before too, and I was not allowed to put anyone through to a supervisor, but i still did if the customer was insistant. In the case of a large company its fairly easy to find the chairmans name through other means aswell :)

No Chloe it isn't ...not when they don't want it to be known :) It was a big company too ;)

I have worked as a CSA for several large companies and have always passed customers over to supervisors when necessary ...whether the supervisor picked up the call or not wasn't my problem in this particular place ;)

Hi Mel - you can get the Chairmans name through companies house... the MD of Time is Mr Mohsan... if Lily Munster goes to Google Groups and does a search on Time Complaints it makes very interesting reading (they are appalling basically).

I also passed people through to supervisors whether the supervisor liked it or not... ;)

Yeah Chloe I know ...but I wasn't going to do that whilst some eejit was screaming at me down the phone was I ? ;)

True true - I had some nightmare ones aswell too - I got "I want to speak to the organ grinder not the monkey" once!!

sorry Chloe, I think that could have been my mother!!!

:D I can laugh about it (now)

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk

Gives you all registered info on board members as required by the Companies Act. Type in Name of company, Click on Order, Pay £5 and get the Company Record.
I see lots of complaints in my job -many genuine, many from nutters - best thing is to state your case clearly and calmly and not come across as a vexatious litigant.
C

I would suggest as Chloe has said a letter to the Chairman normally does the trick !

I have had to do this recently with B&Q and had a very speedy and satisfactory result ! :D

Lucy

Thanks everyone for your replies...it's Lily under a pseudonym, couldn't remember my password so I logged my friend into ChampDogs now! I'm down for a week in Farnborough & went to Paignton (Didn't do well at all! :( ) and then onto Windsor.

Still haven't written the letter to Time yet.. that's tomorrow's project.........

Hi Lily,

Can you sapre an evening to meet and greet? :D

Alex

Duplicated...

Hi Lily

Sorry to add to this late, but if this company is a UK company, you can probably do a company search which would give you this information, try Jordans Limited in Bristol, they are a firm that can provide company searches, you will be charged, but if you say that you are only wanting to know who the directors are, then you can probably get it alot cheaper.

Nat

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/

Have a look here !

Lucy

Just a tip here always ask who you are speaking to on any telephone dealings they should give you their name but just in case.Then they cantdeny you ever rang and log the time you called date etc..
We had a heck of a problem when we ordered a Cylinder head for a BMW from a BIG well known breakers they sent this massive thing wrapped in bubble wrap when Sam came home he checked it and the head was cracked well the saga that followed was awful and the cheeky devil on the phone said I should have checked it when it was delivered and why didnt I look firstly I said i wouldnt have a clue what a cylinder head should be like and he said I could have signed for anything even an albatross the conversations deteriorated from then on the manager used to answer the phone and pretend he was someone else etc... lucky for us we bought it on a credit card a lesson to all after we notified the card company we just did the initial formal letter and the credit card company did the rest but not till after my blood pressure rose with every horrible conversation on the phone.
Now I always buy things on my credit card even if its a heated brush for £20 as you have extra guarantees that way.

If a parcel arrives that I can'topen and examine and I am asked to sign for it , I always write:

********* (name)
********* (Condition of packaging)
********* (Unseen contents)

Not sure if that would cover me or not....but I will not sign for anything that has damaged packaging either

Melody :)

Hi,

The dispute with Time seems to be almost over but I am trying to get First National Tricity Finance (Whom Time use in credit agreements) to cough up some refunds on payments they tried to take on a null & void account. I seem to be having trouble finding a Chairman for them, their registered office is in Enfield, Middlesex. Can anyone help?

Lily

If they are associated with First National Bank/Abbey National then the Chief executive is a chap called Tim Ingram and MD is Phillip George.

I have had a look at their Accounts on the web site

http://www.firstnat.co.uk/corporate/html/FNB_plc_2001_accounts.pdf

Hope that helps

Lucy

Hi Lily,

I'm afraid I'm not a dog owner - I've merely registered on this site in order to thank you for providing the name of the Chairman of Tricity Finance. Yesterday I got a brilliant result from a dispute with them, and I am so pleased! I bought a computer last September from Time, on a buy now pay 9 months later (June) deal, and I knew I would be cashing in a small savings plan in June so would be able to pay it all off and therefore avoid paying interest. However, in May I realised I would not actually receive the money from my plan until a week or so into July, so I wrote to Tricity Finance, informing them of the situation and asking if it would be ok to make a payment of £71 in June, followed by the remaining balance 10 days after the date stipulated on the agreement. They wrote back, saying that would be acceptable, but that there would be "an amount of interest" added because of exceeding the agreed date. I assumed this would be something like £30 or so for the extra 10 days' grace, and was horrified when I made my final payment and was then informed I had a further £600 to pay!! Letters went back and forth between us but they would not back down and when I went to Trading Standards they agreed it was awful but didn't think I stood any chance against them and suggested I offer them half the amount. I did as suggested but they still refused so I phoned and asked for the name of the Chairman but they wouldn't give it to me. I've never encountered this kind of rude evasiveness from a company before, and was really surprised by such rudeness. I then set about finding the Chairman's name through the internet and I found it through you. I wrote to Tim Ingram and copied the letter to the Chairman of Time (found that through the internet too) and also the Finance and Leasing Association. They took up the matter on my behalf and I then received a letter saying that in the interest of customer relations they would accept that my payment settled the account and no further monies were due.

Brilliant Result!! Thank you for your help, and remember that the Finance and Leasing Association are very helpful in these matters.

Carrie

Excellent news Carrie :) You don't need to be a dog owner to join in here, but it helps if you're a dog lover ;) Anyway as you already know by now, there's a multitude of topics covered here!!

liberty

Even though you had a great result the fact your claim came though after the end date of your buy now pay later was not the companys fault and they were not obliged to do anything, the reason companys offer these services is because of your reasons stated and others mainley that the customer will forget or just won't have the money to pay, however just shows what you can get if you try. I have had a few meetings with retail company directors and chairman and most don't have a clue what is going on within there chains.

Hi Charlie,

My main grievance was the fact that I wrote to them in May, asking if it would be ok to finalise the payment a few days late, and if they had given me a clearer reply, stating that in doing so I would be liable for an additional amount in excess of £500, then I would simply have paid the computer off on my credit card, knowing I could pay it back by the time I got my statement, and paid no interest. It was silly of me not to phone up and find out exactly how much interest I would have to pay by exceeding the time limit, but it was also very remiss of them not to have made the situation clear. As you say, I am lucky it has worked out well for me and I wouldn't make the same mistake again - I just wanted to let you all know how glad I was to have got the information I needed from this site in order to go straight to the top!

Oh, and I am a dog lover, but as a single mum with two kids, a cat and fish, I think I have enough to cope with! My sister's the owner of a mad and very lovable dog called Annie and I'll tell her about this site.

Carrie

hi Funny you should post about this, i have just had a phone call from hsbc bank saying they are taking over hfc bank, who i have a buy now pay later agreement with. My 9 month period ended a month ago we were going to pay by credit card but were informed cash or cheque only, cheeky ******** we were not told this at the time of purchase. So i had forgotton all about it till this guy phoned today saying they are taking over hfc and will lower the interest rate which he told me was 26%, he informed me we would be paying £1500 interest on a £600 TV. There is no wonder people are in so much debt.