Buy As You View (BAYV) was a retail and consumer finance company, selling a range of electrical goods and home furniture. It provided a coin meter repayment and

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

facility for products bought on a

hire purchase A hire purchase (HP), also known as an installment plan, is an arrangement whereby a customer agrees to a contract to acquire an asset by paying an initial installment (e.g., 40% of the total) and repaying the balance of the price of the asset pl ...

, weekly payment basis with no deposit or

checks.

Hire purchase A hire purchase (HP), also known as an installment plan, is an arrangement whereby a customer agrees to a contract to acquire an asset by paying an initial installment (e.g., 40% of the total) and repaying the balance of the price of the asset pl ...

contracts are regulated by the

Consumer Credit Act 1974 The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (c. 39) is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly reformed the law relating to consumer credit within the United Kingdom. The act remains in force ...

History

Buy As You View is the trading name for Buy As You View Holdings and Dunraven Finance Limited. Both are subsidiaries of BAYV Investments Limited. Established in

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

in 1972, initially as "Just Rentals", Buy As You View (since 1998), and still based in

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, it operated in the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

, Yorkshire, the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

, the

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and employed 700 staff nationally. Repayments were originally made via a coin box in the customer's house, which representatives would call at to empty regularly. Later, repayments would be made online, via direct debit, or in cash. In each case, a payment meter connected to the customer's television set would deactivate the TV should payments be in default — regardless of whether the customer had financed the television with the company. In 2016 Buy as You View compensated 59,000 customers a total of £939,000 for fees charged from 2001 onwards after the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...

raised concerns about the company's treatment of customers in arrears, in particular the transparency of their fees and the practice of using payment meters to restrict customers' access to TVs. In September 2017 the company was placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

after incurring what administrators EY described as "significant losses". On 3 June 2019 the company ceased to collect any further payments from customers, who were allowed to keep any items they had purchased.

Products

Buy As You View (BAYV) specialised in television,

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...

, mobile phone, computer (laptop, PC, Wii and PlayStation), washer, dryer,

fridge A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external enviro ...

freezer,

dishwasher A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike dishwashing, manual dishwashing, which relies on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot wat ...

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum, is a device that uses suction, and often agitation, in order to remove dirt and other debris from carpets, hard floors, and other surfaces. The dirt is collected into a dust bag or a plastic bin. ...

and

cooker Cooker may refer to several types of cooking appliances and devices used for cooking foods. Types * AGA cooker – a heat storage stove and cooker, which works on the principle that a heavy frame made from cast iron components can absorb heat ...

rentals. In addition to renting household electrical items, BAYV also offered a wide range of pay weekly household furniture items, including sofas, beds, pushchairs,

bikes A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. B ...

and

dining room A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually next to the kitchen for convenience in serving, though in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically the dining room is furnished with ...

furniture. This approach to buy now pay later purchasing enabled Buy As You View customers to pay weekly for their household electrical and furniture items via a coin meter TV (in addition to

Direct Debit A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one organisation withdraws funds from a payer's bank account. Formally, the organisation that calls for the funds ("the payee") instructs their bank to collect (i.e., debit) ...

and cash payments).

Charity, community projects and partnerships

Buy As You View were involved in supporting a number of community initiatives and local charities. These include supporting cancer charities such as the Joshua Foundation and

Macmillan Cancer Support Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, an ...

. BAYV have also helped local sports teams to purchase equipment such as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

kits and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

kits, as well as giving talks to youngsters in local schools in and around the communities in which they operate. In addition to their recent community initiatives, Buy As You View were known in and around the South Wales area for their long-term sponsorship of the Cory Band which began in 1998. In 2004, Cory was removed from the band's name in appreciation of the continued support from Buy As You View and for some time, the band was simply known as the Buy As You View band. BAYV worked in partnership with the Consumer Credit Trade Association and the Credit Services Association to ensure that they kept up to date and complied with credit legislation in the UK and Europe.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bayv.co.uk Companies of Wales Financial services companies established in 1972 Retail companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Wales Financial services companies disestablished in 2019 Retail companies disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in Wales Financial services companies of Wales Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom