A hire purchase contract for a car has plunged a Rights and Wrongs reader into a legal minefield.

Problems began for 27-year-old Joanne Blagg when she bought a Mini on finance from a garage for £895 in July.

"On the way home all the electrics failed so I took it back and they fixed it," she said.

"A couple of days later the same thing happened again and a tapping noise developed in the steering when you went round corners.

"I took the car back and they fixed it again but the electrics continued to fail every week for the next three months so in the end I went back to the garage and asked for my money back.

"The garage was okay about it but the finance company, Welcome Finance, said I could not have my money back because I hadn't informed them about the previous problems.

"They said I had to have another car instead, which sounds to me like they just wanted to continue taking my money."

Miss Blagg, from Silsden, was then given a Ford Fiesta on November 27 - and a few days later it broke down. She said: "It was in for four or five days and I told the garage I had had enough and I wanted compensation for all the hassle I had had."

She said she wrote to the finance company expressing her lack of confidence in the garage and again asked to end the contract.

"They have said they will send someone out to look at the Fiesta but I'm just fed up with it all now," she said.

Welcome Finance operations director Geoff Urry said: "It is our company policy not to discuss specific details of our customers' accounts with the media. But I have talked to my area manager and we have reviewed the details of the case and he is speaking to Miss Blagg about her specific issues.

"If her complaints are justified, we will take action," Mr Urry told Rights & Wrongs.

Couple count cost of Cable phone move

A Bradford removals business claims a Yorkshire Cable mistake has cost it thousands of pounds in wasted advertising.

The problems began when Richard Autiero, a partner in the firm, Move-It Removals, and his wife Louise (pictured left) decided to move to a new home in Thackley, which would also be the business's base.

They asked BT to move the firm's phone number to their new location but were told it couldn't be done for technical reasons.

They then decided to move their personal, Yorkshire Cable number - 788744 - to Thackley and use it as the firm's new business number.

"Yorkshire Cable said there would be no problem and we had a scribbled note to that effect from them," Mrs Autiero said.

"On the strength of that, we spent about £6,000 changing advertisements in this year's Yellow Pages, getting new business cards done and ordering 300 coffee mugs with the new number on it."

But they claim it was only when they moved that Yorkshire Cable told them the number couldn't be transferred after all because of technical reasons.

"It has now been installed in our partner's home and calls are transferred from there to us - but we have to pay for every call because it's being diverted so you can imagine what our bill is going to be like," she said.

She said the firm next year would have to promote another number, 614933, as the direct line to the business.

"It is going to mean more expense and more confusion for customers," she said.

A Yorkshire Cable spokesman said: "Yorkshire Cable has been aware of Mr Autiero's concerns for some time. The company wrote to him in December explaining its position and continues to discuss this matter with him."

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