Not upheld: PCP / HP mis-selling complaint against Alphabet (GB) Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B took out a three-year car finance agreement with Alphabet in January 2016 and paid a £5,000 upfront deposit to reduce her borrowing costs. When she was made redundant and ended the contract early in March 2018, she requested a refund of the deposit, but Alphabet refused on the basis it was non-refundable. The ombudsman examined email correspondence from November 2015 in which Alphabet explicitly explained that the deposit would not be refunded at the end of the contract and would only be refunded if the car was cancelled before delivery. Finding that Alphabet had clearly communicated the non-refundable nature of the deposit and its purpose to reduce the outstanding balance or settlement figure, the ombudsman did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that despite the potentially confusing terminology of 'deposit', Alphabet had made the non-refundable nature of the payment explicitly clear through contemporaneous email correspondence. The emails specifically addressed Miss B's concern about redundancy and early settlement, clearly stating the deposit would only be refunded if cancelled before delivery, otherwise it would reduce the outstanding balance or settlement figure. The position was made very clear and therefore the complaint was not upheld.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website