Earlier today whilst in the process of selling my caravan to a potential buyer the buyer rang CRIS for a check on the providence of the caravan which, in my humble opinion is a good thing to do for safety, similar to an HPi check.
Imagine my horror when it came back that my caravan had outstanding finance from Lloyds finance from 2003 !
Strange really as my caravan was not manufactured until 2006 !
After several phone calls and being pushed from pillar to post my buyer purchased my caravan and went on his way even though Lloyds would not give it 100% all clear but, intimated strongly that they had made a mistake.
This scenario could have quite easily cost me the sale and did leave me embarrassed by the whole episode to say the least.
------------- Albino, Can"t say fairer than that !
Hi, I would agree CRIS, seems to have worked well. obviously it was fed wrong information by Lloyds. Of course they would be very reluctant to admit they were wrong possibly expecting a claim to come their way.
I wouldn't call CRIS at 'total joke' - but you do have to assess the validity of the information for yourself.
We bought our van privately for 10K - which is an awful lot of money to hand over in notes ;)
We ran the CRIS checks (naturally) and everything stacked up - but CRIS did include disclaimers in their emails which pointedly absolved them from any blame if the information was incorrect.
In the end, in addition to CRIS, you have to take a long hard look at the seller, and decide if they are genuine.
Ours was - but it still crossed my mind that if they were not, it would be a long hard fight with CRIS to prove that we acted on information we purchased from them.
I took the view that the saving on a dealer price was worth the very slight risk - others might not think so.
Having said that, we gave the money and took instant possession of the goods. Many a buyer has paid a dealer, only for the dealer to go bust between payment and collection - or, even worse, has delivered a part exchange to teh dealer weeks or months before collection the new van, only for the dealer to sell it and then go into administration.
In a case like that you have absolute no recourse - a deposit can be claimed back from a credit card company - but a part exchange immediately becomes the dealer's property, and if he sells it and subsequently fails to honour the deal on your next caravan, then you're up that well known creek without a paddle.
Mind you, buyers can be odd ;)- we once sold a caravan that had a couple of thousand pounds outstanding finance on it. We made it quite clear that the money was owing, and that we wanted the buyer to settle with Black Horse via a telephone debit card transaction, and give us the balance.
Our purchaser was so keen to have the van that he wanted to pay us in full, and leave it to us to settle ;)
It was *us* who had to insist that he returned during banking hours and spoke to Black Horse himself - which he did, and then gave us the balance in cash.
------------- I glanced in the mirror, and it was love at first sight...
Maybe my statement against CRIS semmed a little odd.
Why did they not flag it up to me when I purchased the caravan from a "reputable dealer" 5 years ago ?
I paid for my £15.00 check and it came back clean.
------------- Albino, Can"t say fairer than that !
Quote: Originally posted by LlaniDavis on 09/7/2014Perhaps because the info didn't come from Lloyds until after that date??
That's not quite true though because CRIS works on the same basis as a credit reference agency and any finance outstanding would have been flagged up previously like the OP said. At the end of the day that's what you pay the £15 for so CRIS has to take some accountability for this error.
Quote: Originally posted by LlaniDavis on 09/7/2014
Perhaps because the info didn't come from Lloyds until after that date??
I'd agree, it is likely that Lloyd's funded a van with a similar VIN number to that of the OP's, probably long after the OP bought his. If Lloyd's entered the wrong VIN on the system at that point, then that would explain why it was not flagged up previously. CRIS can only advise based on what info is available at the time of checking.
Quote: Originally posted by LlaniDavis on 09/7/2014It's like many businesses these days that deal with the public domain, they can't get skilled people to the job due to low wages so when you end up paying people peanuts you end up with a load of useless Monkeys.
And if you work in the public domain (or anybody as yet unskilled till they learn), Tango55 really would like to apologise for this rant against people not known to them - but could be a caravanner or camper
Regarding the above post, I have edited my own post and removed any offending comments that may have upset anyone but I wasn't condemning the employee's actually but more towards the businesses for their lack of proper training. Any trainee is only as good as the people who teach them everything they need to know to serve the public efficiently and in this instance with reference to the OP it could have made the difference of not only the loss of a sale but made them to look like a fraudster as well. Luckily on this occasion this didn't happen.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 10/7/2014
Regarding the above post, I have edited my own post and removed any offending comments that may have upset anyone but I wasn't condemning the employee's actually but more towards the businesses for their lack of proper training. Any trainee is only as good as the people who teach them everything they need to know to serve the public efficiently and in this instance with reference to the OP it could have made the difference of not only the loss of a sale but made them to look like a fraudster as well. Luckily on this occasion this didn't happen.
Maybe Tango you have seen what I have in the banks, whilst waiting to be served the speed of the person putting in the cash amounts on the computers are speedy Gonzalas, so fingers can make mistakes especially fast ones.
I always check my statements and found discrepancies, not many admittedly, but still it does not have to be many, just one so numbers can be wrongly put in. I also make the person repeat back to me what numbers I want on my account. Be surprised how many hear them wrong also. Check & re-check
Quote: Originally posted by trog100 on 08/7/2014
an old computer saying.. garbage in garbage out.. :)
trog
Couldn't agree more.
Recently had the renewal notice for our house insurance from the group who took over from the original company a while ago. Apparently we live in a detached house built 135 years ago.
NO, its a semi-detached built in 1935
Pete.
------------- Don't panic!
Hit it with a pointed stick!
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
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Topic: CRIS = Total Joke.
