Not upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against Evergreen Finance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A purchased a caravan via hire purchase with Evergreen in mid-2012, claiming it was misrepresented as being warmer and better insulated than his previous caravan, which was important due to his health concerns. When Mr A complained about heating problems, Evergreen inspected the caravan, found no fault, but offered to exchange it for another one, which Mr A accepted and signed as full settlement of the dispute. Mr A remained unhappy and later requested that Evergreen write off remaining payments, leading to an offer to write off half if paid as a lump sum, which Mr A could not afford. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding no confirmed fault with the caravan and considering Evergreen's remedial offers fair and reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman could not establish that false statements were made about the caravan's heating system because Evergreen's inspection found no fault and no independent inspection was carried out. The ombudsman considered Evergreen's offer to exchange the caravan and later offer of half payment as fair and reasonable remedies, particularly given the lack of confirmed fault and the fact that the third caravan was more expensive than the second. The ombudsman also found that any ground rent paid was offset by the higher cost of the replacement caravan.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website