Trisha's producers respond on Brighthouse sponsorship

In response to messages left on Trisha's internet forums concerning the sponsorship of her show by Brighthouse (see previous post), the programme's production Company has made the following announcement:

"Some messages have been posted on our forum relating to the sponsor of the Trisha Goddard show on Five.Town House TV Productions makes the Trisha Goddard show but has nothing whatsoever to do with its sponsorship. Nor do we receive any financial gain from it. This is entirely a matter for the broadcaster, Five.If you wish you can contact them separately. You can raise your concerns by calling the customer services team on 0845 7 050505 or you can also email customerservices@five.tv "

Debt on our Doorstep urges supporters to contact Five as directed and to report replies. However, given the fact that there is no 'financial gain' for Trisha from the sponsorship deal with Brighthouse we have asked that she make a statement distancing herself from the company and that she devote a programme to predatory lending and the problems that this causes in the future.

We have posted the following question on the Trisha TV forum:

"...Trisha is quoted in a Five press release as saying that she was delighted by the sponsorship deal with Brighthouse. Is Trisha now retracting that comment?".

Does Trisha really think Brighthouse are a good deal?

A reader informs us that Brighthouse are to sponsor the Trisha Goddard show on Channel 5 and that Trisha herself is reported as saying: “I am delighted we have teamed up with BrightHouse to sponsor my show. I relish the challenges involved in helping real people solve their problems in order to live better, more fulfilling, lives and it's great that BrightHouse share those aspirations.”

This, of course, is about a company that charges people on low incomes over £700 for a washing machine worth more like £300, and which ex-customers have prevoiusly reported uses aggressive, bully boy tactics to collect money from people in real financial difficulties.

Guy Hands, the multi-millionaire behind private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners which owns Brighthouse has already been featured in Debt on our Doorstep's newsletters in our Who's Who in Predatory Lending section. This is what a Dood supporter wrote about Brighthouse then:

"Me and my partner missed a payment near Christmas and when we went to pay up to date they said they needed a week in advance as well and refused to accept the payment. Since then we have taken the goods back which they never gave us any paperwork for and they are now saying they haven’t received these.

We weren’t given the choice about the ‘Optional Service Cover’ they said it was compulsory. We have been trying to sort out reduced instalments to pay our remaining items off as we have paid over three quarters of the total amount to them.

Today we got a knock on the door from two men in a white van saying they where from BrightHouse. One of them tried to climb the back fence and was only scared off because we have a dog. One man asked to come in. My partner and I refused entry so he called the other man to come over. They told me they needed an immediate payment of £5263.51. I told them I did not have the money but would willingly pay in instalments. He told me he would need to take the stuff from the property. I advised him he would need to get a court order. He told us that “we don’t know who we are messing with”. Eventually they left after sitting outside in the van for another half an hour. He also knocked so hard on the door we are having problems closing it since.”

On her website, http://www.trishatv.com/ Trisha has a forum for viewers to post comments. Tell her how you feel today.