VWFS fined £5.4M for mistreating customers

[wyson]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2024/oct...

They also have to pay out £21.5m to 110,000 customers for unfair treatment after they got into financial difficulties.

Does not surprise me in the slightest after Dieselgate.

[Murph7355]

Best everyone doesn't rush out and spend the £200 all at once

[119]

People take out car finance, stop paying it, have their cars repossessed and are expected to be treated 'fairly', whatever that is supposed to mean, and get a massive fine for doing so.

Why should they be funding peoples motoring expenses?

[HocusPocus]

Treating customers fairly is now a cornerstone feature of UK financial services. The FCA is usually slow in protecting interests of abused consumers (payday lender victims, Woodford investors, London Capital Finance etc), many of which are the least able to protect themselves (low paid, pensioners etc).

So I welcome this step for VWFS customers, with the caution that the FOS complaint uphold rate for VWFS is 27%. That is broadly in line with other car companies (BMW, Stellantis etc); so where is the remedy for their customers who will have been treated in a similar way?

[Sheepshanks]

HocusPocus said:

So I welcome this step for VWFS customers, with the caution that the FOS complaint uphold rate for VWFS is 27%. That is broadly in line with other car companies (BMW, Stellantis etc); so where is the remedy for their customers who will have been treated in a similar way?

Blimey - I’m staggered it’s anything like that. How are these lenders allowed to mess up at that rate?

[Blakewater]

Sheepshanks said:

HocusPocus said:

So I welcome this step for VWFS customers, with the caution that the FOS complaint uphold rate for VWFS is 27%. That is broadly in line with other car companies (BMW, Stellantis etc); so where is the remedy for their customers who will have been treated in a similar way?

Blimey - I’m staggered it’s anything like that. How are these lenders allowed to mess up at that rate?

Staff in offices being pushed to get through each individual email or phonecall as fast as possible with a focus on collecting the payments. Also, a lot of people who owe money claim to have mental health issues as a sort of get out of jail free card thinking a company or organisation will be so afraid of a suicide or being made to look bad that they'll hold back on action. From the point of view of trying to collect payments, it can become very easy not to take such claims seriously.

[wyson]

If they are regulated by the FSA, don’t they have to work with someone who isn’t able to pay, design a payment plan or accommodate the change of circumstances instead of demanding a payment that they said they can’t afford anymore?

[Sheepshanks]

Blakewater said:

Staff in offices being pushed to get through each individual email or phonecall as fast as possible with a focus on collecting the payments. Also, a lot of people who owe money claim to have mental health issues as a sort of get out of jail free card thinking a company or organisation will be so afraid of a suicide or being made to look bad that they'll hold back on action. From the point of view of trying to collect payments, it can become very easy not to take such claims seriously.

I don’t know what kind of people they have dealing with bad payers, but on the few occasions I’ve dealt with VWFS recently- withdrawing from a PCP and querying an All In plan - I’ve found them extremely difficult to understand due to accents and poor line quality. On the All In I couldn’t get a straight answer (wanted to cancel and immediately start another plan). No rush with the calls though.