Brighthouse- Please Sit Down If You Are Reading This.

[gordiescotland1]

HI there I have a total of 4 things with Brighthouse and I will be finished paying in 36 weeks. Thank God. I cant afford one of the items so I am taking one of them back on Monday. It is a tablet 12 inch and I have so far paid £684 and I still have 53 weeks to pay at a total of £719 the grand total if I had kept it and paid for it would have been £1404 it is outrageous. Yes it was my fault for just signing and not reading the documents. But really there should be some regulation. What do people think?

[jno]

write it off to experience, gordie, and don't do it again. Most people have made expensive mistakes at one time or another.

[Mamyalynne]

Gordie has spoken to them Eddie, he says so.

[Tuvok]

We have a Brighthouse shop in the local town and sometimes when I pass there are no customers.

I have noticed that they now have an example of what you pay stuck to one of the windoes.

eg. cost interest time you end up paying

Trouble is its not on their front brightly lit window, but at the very top of their side window.

[ummmm]

Tuvok...ours has the poster in the middle of the main window.

[gordiescotland1]

Thanks Eddie I am up to date with 3 of the 4 items for payment and I can afford them it is just one of them I cant afford and I am taking it back they seemed ok about it

[rsvp]

You asked what people thought geordiescotland and that's what I thought.

[Gromit]

No sympathy at all.

If you cannot afford a luxury, you do without.
Brighthouse clearly display the weekly charge and the duration (they have to by law). It should not take you 2 years to realise how much you are paying. More likely, you knew you were being ripped off at the start of the agreement, but you wanted a tablet computer.

[Tuvok]

Its not a poster - it's stick on transparent lettering

[Gromit]

You should join a Credit Union now.
By christmas you will be able to loan money based on how much you have saved, and pay it back at a rate less than these rip off companies charge.

[hc4361]

I've just had a look at their website - you can get a MacBook Air for £18.55 a week at 99.9%

I reckon this is where Cash Converters and the like get most of their stock from. Somebody needs cash quick, gets something on HP from Brighthouse then sells it on.

[gordiescotland1]

Thats illegal isnt it?

[Pete65]

I think it is illegal.
Depends on the law of your country.
I do not think the item becomes yours until you have made the last payment.
And it surely cannot be legal to sell someone elses property?

[hc4361]

It is illegal, but who's to know if the miscreant keeps up the payments?
The items aren't stamped 'Property of Brighthouse'

[Jackdaw33]

Just as a matter of interest, what would be the average price of a tablet such as that mentioned if you went into a shop and paid cash?

[Pete65]

If it is illegal, and I am no expert in law, it is illegal whether people know or not.

[Jackdaw33]

There is a difference between HP and credit. though it's so long ago that I studied this area of law that I have forgotten the finer details. Basically, anything bought on HP remains the property of the vendor until the last payment has been made, whereas with credit the property is that of the purchaser from the outset and in the event of default the company providing the credit can only pursue the debt and not reclaim the goods.

[Pete65]

Thank you for that, Jackdaw!

[Jackdaw33]

I don't think that HP is all that common these days as most credit seems to be provided by finance companies with links to the seller.

[cazza247]

I work next door to a Brighthouse. Cannot believe what they charge for luxury items

[hc4361]

I remember when black and white tvs were so expensive people rented them - there was a meter on the side or back to put your money in to make it work.
Washing machines were a luxury so washday meant a trip to the launderette with a lot of hand washing in between.
Nowadays some people feel as if they must have everything, brand new, right away - whether it is need or greed. Shops like Brighthouse stay in business because of customer demand. I think it is fair to say that every household wants a tv these days but nobody needs the 65" top of the range monsters that Brighthouse sell. And of course, the bigger the screen the more electricity it takes to run.

If Brighthouse and the like sold only utilitarian essentials they would of course be slated for profiteering from the desperate because of the high interest rates.