Moira and her husband Quentin borrowed $4,000 from a finance company to buy a vacuum cleaner. After Moira and Quentin separated, Moira became very ill and was both unable to use the vacuum cleaner and afford the loan repayments. Moira wanted to give the vacuum cleaner back and cancel the loan agreement. Moira asked her financial mentor, Kelly, to help.
Kelly had real problems contacting both the company that sold her the vacuum cleaner and the finance company. Kelly got in touch with us, and we referred the complaint to the finance company.
Initially the finance company was slow to respond and Kelly asked us for help again.
Dispute
To begin with the finance company said it could offer hardship relief, but was not prepared to cancel the contract or waive interest or fees that were accruing.
Review
Shortly after we began our investigation the finance company confirmed that it had made arrangements for the vacuum cleaner to be collected and would cancel Moira’s loan.
Resolution
Moira accepted the finance company’s offer and the complaint was resolved.
Insights for consumers
We were really pleased to see a financial mentor referring a complaint to us when she had difficulty getting the finance company to respond. We were able to refer the complaint to the right person within the finance company and help get the complaint quickly resolved, with a good result for Moira.
