This is absolutly NOT standard practice! All bandages, dressings and 'fabric' items come under prescribables, and can be prescribed in bulk for just a £7 something prescription charge for the LOT so if they say you need to use it for a week, then you use it for a week and get one week's worth for the cost of a prescription charge. I know because my hubby had major spinal surgery in November 2011 and he was GIVEN the dressings he needed free, and one set came on prescription from our nurse. Sending you 'shopping' is not normal policy, and you have grounds for a complaint, and include in your complaint the strong desire to claim these monies back. Also lodge a complaint both with your surgery, and with the PALS (patient advice and liason service), who may also be able to assist.

This kind of treatment of genuine patients by GP's is totaly disgusting. I think you need a total sleep and insomnia review. You should see your usual GP and ask/insist on a refferal to a sleep lab so your insomnia & RLS can be assessed by the experts in the field who will be able to find you the right treatments that suit you. GP's are not really trained well in things like this, and you have every right to be reffered to those who are. I have had the same problem re the anti depressant pushing, I've been offered them for period pain, short term insomnia, PMS, everything. And yes, they are paid bonuses from the drug companies for prescribing them!!!

In all fairness, at least your friend was honest and didn't drive off without paying for the petrol. Petrol stations are blighted with drivers filling up then scooting off without paying, so I can understand them asking for some security. As for the legality of it, if your friend willingly handed over the phone, then I think it became some sort of agreement between them and the petrol station, until payment was received. It would have become a criminal matter if she has paid, but then they had still refused to hand back the phone. She should have asked for a written receipt of leaving the phone, to protect her in the instance they said something like 'what phone, we have no record of you leaving a phone with us' etc. Also if any personal data has been viewed or taken from the phone, that would probably be an offence under the DPA, but again, I am no lawyer.

I know this is probably the wrong forum, but I struggled to fit this anywhere. We've been having problems with the neighbors in the private rented house next door to us for a long time now, about a year. We had to make complaints about noise from banging, music and out of control parties last year, so I imagine this is some kind of revenge for that. They have this paranoid idea my hubby is filming them with a camera whenever they leave their house, because the evidence we used against them with the noise came partly from sound (NOT PICTURE OR VIDEOS OF PEOPLE) recordings made on mobile phone and digital cameras. If my husband was filming them, he would answer to me a long time before anyone else! They've branded him a pervert and a couple of weeks ago, they went out on a Saturday night, and we just happened to have opened our front room curtains, so when they walked past, the man made some kind of hand gesture which was a cross between a fist and a wave and the woman shouted 'HE'S NOT GOT THAT CAMERA AGAIN HAS HE??', then they left in a taxi. A few minutes later a police care drove down our street, stopped dead outside our house for about 20 seconds, then drove off, probably having found no wrongdoing on our part apart from opening our curtains! Another time they called the police was for a nondescript banging noise they said they heard from our house, when the police arrived, they said something about this banging noise, then told us 'banging noises are not a police matter', so I then asked them repeatedly why they were here then. The two women police officers looked at my rather tall long haired husband with a hint of fear in their eyes, and kept asking me if I was ok, then left. I don't know what sort of story the neighbors had spun, but my guess is something to do with domestic violence, as they have already decided my husband is a violent thug, they don't even know him! Basicaly what I want to know is, is calling the police because someone has their curtains open, or calling them about a noise, then the police arriving and being able to give very little details, such as the time of this so called noise, which they could not, a waste of police time?. They could not tell us where the noise had come from in the house, which room, or even what time it had allegedly happend. It's a bit funny we complained about them and the huge bangs which come from their house at all hours, then they try it with us.

I've lived in this area for about 5 years now, and the first GP I signed up with was totaly useless, they would make you wait 3 weeks for an appointment, no matter how urgent you told them it was, and if they fitted you in as an extra, you were treated like **** by the reception staff and the doctors. I moved to another surgery about a year ago, and the first impressions were very good. The surgery seemed friendly, and busy, in a good way, appointments are easy to make and always available etc. However, I find the doctors very hard to talk to, they don't seem to grasp any of the issues I've seen them about, and their surgery wide policy seems to be to push sell SSRI antidepressant medications for EVERY ailment, mainly Citalapram and Prozac, these are the two they're pushing at me for physical health issues. I've been offered these drugs for everything from period cramps to insomnia. I find this practice pretty irresponsable for doctors, who are supposed to have a varied knowledge of medicines and what's best for what condition, not push one drug as a cure all, and if they cannot treat the problem, they should have a responsability to reffer to someone who can. That reminds me of Victorian times when they thought a bit of sage & sugar could cure everything from colds to plague! I know these meds can be helpful to some people with mental health problems, or for temporary relief of mild/moderate depression, which is what they should be prescribed for, but I think handing them out for pain and sleeping problems is downright irresponsable, and a misuse of these drugs. I went to see a GP here after I had had about 3 weeks of poor sleep, as I figured I might have something underlying, a hidden infection or breathing problem etc that might need investigating. I certainly did not want sleeping pills, but I would not have ruled out trying them if the GP thought they might help in the very short term, to releive the 3 weeks of sleepless nights I had had. The GP did not ask me any questions, any lifestyle questions about how much I drink, if I smoke, which I don't, or if I had been feeling unwell, all they told me was, in a pretty stern way, 'YOU'RE NOT HAVING ANY SLEEPING PILLS' and after that all they wanted was me out of the office. It was as if I'd just told him I wanted 20 Valiums to flog to kids on the end of the street or abuse. I don't have any history of abusing medications, or alcohol, I was pretty shocked and upset by this. This doctor was in a high position too, I'm not saying what because I don't want to be identified, but they were more important than most of the GP's there. I honestly don't know how you find a GP who will listen, and treat according to the problem you present and not out of some manager's handbook. A doctor who actualy wants to help you instead of get you on the latest wonder pill, pocket the drug company bonus for prescribing it, and let you be. I can't get a refferal to a gynecologist for further investigation my menstrual pain & PMS problems because I refused to take Citalapram for it, so I'm classed as refusing treatment and being uncooperative, a treatment I have reacted very badly to in the past (Prozac) the two are simlar drugs. I'm in Mansfield, which I think comes under Nottinghamshire PCT, I would be willing to travel within a bus ride distance to see a GP if I had to, but I don't even know where to start trying to find one that's any good. If anyone knows of anyone in this area, please let me know!

Usualy any system that allows the imput of data, allows that data to be edited. I'm not sure of the name of the computer system the NHS uses as a whole though. It could be that different PCTs use different IT systems. If you're looking for proof of a medication, if that medication was prescribed, the pharmacist it was dispensed by might have a record of you and all medications dispensed to you, this might be worth looking into. Also, most prescriptions come in 2 halves, one is usualy a repeat slip if the medication is on repeat, and one half the pharmacist keeps. Also if you've seen other medical consultants or specialists, they should also have a record of you, even if your GP does not or has tampered with it.

thanks you so much for your help I'm composing a complaint in writing, which I feel is the best course of action in the first instance. Also, I need some advice on health & safety law pertaining to a venue not instructing visitors of their fire procedure. I have spoken to other people who attended, and confermed that they were not informed of and health and safety procedure or where the exits were or what to do upon hearing the fire alarm, or where to assemble in the event the alarm should go off or a fire be discovered. Could the venue just turn around and say it was our responsability as the 'hirer' to do this, dispite the fact we were also not familier with their procedures? Wouldn't that be a bit like putting me in a building and expecting me to know what to do in a fire or other emergency without giving me any instructions? If this is the case, if they do have a duty to point these things out, I will also include it in my complaint.

Hmm that only talks about it if I were sending it to a bank, this is more like a small community establishment. First off I'm going to try just asking for it in a polite way, saying there's some things on it I would like to check. I don't see why they wouldn't be able to give me a copy as it contains nobody else's data or names etc. I am also going to write them a letter of complaint, pointing out that we feel the services we paid for were not received in full, or in the case of the tablecloths and some food items, were not received at all. I have plenty of photos to prove these items were missing, all I need is the checklist to make double sure this is what was agreed. Chances are if they know they did wrong, the checklist won't exist anymore, that's when I might have to make some sort of request under the DPA.

Thanks. They did go over a ticklist with is which contained details of what we had ordered and asked for, but as I said in my OP, they have it, not me. I don't know how to go about obtaining it. I understand what you said about changing the CD's, that is probably the only thing they got right! So the host service was there, it was just extremely under par to what we had asked for. I was also concerned about the others in the building, as this could have easily led us into the situation where they did damage or smoked inside, and because the hall was hired in our name, we would have been liable for it. Also, as I said, we had a lovely day and everyone who didn't know what we had paid for was happy

Ok, first off the title should have said 'Seriously ripped off BY wedding reception venue, not MY. If a mod could edit this for me I would be very grateful. I love the new forum layout, thanks CAG! Anyway, on Friday 13th of August (last week!) me and my partner of 5 years were married. We'd decided on a low key wedding with just over 25 people. We got married at the local register office, which was simply amazing service, NO faults whatsoever with how it was all conducted, in a very timely, polite fashion. However, the reception venue we had chosen, a local community center (no names because I feel this could turn into a case where we might need to approach it legally) which prided it's self on being 'non profit' and able to put on a more tailored, personal spread than pubs or resturaunts, let us down, big time. We had ordered our party from a checklist of their services, and discussed our needs for many long hours with them. They offered everything we needed, right from a host service to a choice of 3 buffets, the first one being very basic, and the last one being hot sit down meal food. we ordered the middle one with some of our own choices too. It all seemed perfect, not too expensive, but then not so cheap as we got a slap dash job with little personal touch. Because I have Asperger Syndrome, and sometimes struggle to organise myself, we had paid for a host service, who would do things like announce us into the room, call the toast and speech, and we had also asked for the desserts and savouries to be served seperatly, as we expected a couple of young children to be there, who would obviously want their chocolate gateux before their sandwhiches! When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was a dog in the building, and the TOS stated no dogs other than guide dogs were permitted as it was a food service venue. The owner of the dog looked poor sighted, but the dog had no guide dog harness on, and certainly was not behaving as a guide dog should. We had also been told that there would be no members of the public in the building other than us during the reception, and I noticed many. Part of the booking TOS was that we left a refundable deposit of £100 incase any damages were incurred, what if damages were incurred by someone not affiliated with us, and then us, as the 'hirer' would have been liable for the costs, as I was told we would have to prove who had done it in order not to be! Now the host service, which I had specificaly paid for and given instructions for was NON EXISTANT. I knew this after only a few minutes of being there. Me and my husband were stood outside the main hall, waiting to be announced in as we had asked, for quite some time, and the 'host' had to he chased to be asked to do her job. Even then, it was like she couldn't get away fast enough. During the party, if we needed the 'host' we had to chase after her, often to no avail. She didn't come into the room par to change the music CD, so really, there was no host service we had paid for! They did not come in and announce any speech, or toast, or anything we had asked them to do. We had also asked that they make their rules and smoking regulations very clear from the start of the party as part of the welcome, as I was not chasing smokers around telling them where to go. This was not done and the smokers had to be moved to the correct area more than once. We had also asked for them to tell people about the Wishing Well, where they could leave cash donations as we had asked not to receive any gifts other than cash as we have everything, this was not done, and we had cards and money floating all over our table. The food was pretty good, but again, the layout and presentation of it was pretty poor, the sandwhiches were cut into tiny squares like you'd find at a kiddies party, not a wedding reception. I had asked for smoked salmon on baguette slices, which is my favorite, they agreed to this, and guess what, we got prawns stuck to cream cheese on baguette slices, YUCK, that made me feel sick and I didn't even pick one up. Thanks a bunch. We had paid for white tableclothes with a black one over the top in a diamond shape, we got a black diamond one flung over a drab brown tabletop! Again, this looked so lovely, NOT. They have the ticklist of things we agreed to, this makes it so much worse trying to piece it all together and most important of all, prove what we paid for was not delivered My mum, who also feels a bit disgruntled as she contributed some cash towards it, says I should put all this in writing and send it to them as a complaint. Which I intend to do once I have collected the refundable deposit. I might also consider a FOI request for the ticklist if asking them does not get me anywhere, because I don't see grounds for them to refuse it, as it only contains info about myself and my husband, so there is no confidentiality issues or other people's data in there. We have reciepts for all the money we handed over, just no details as to what it was paying for. There are plenty of photos to prove the presentation wasn't up to much, but I feel the host service, which I am most angry about, will be very hard to prove as they will say they were there, even though they didn't do what we'd paid them to do. Once I'd had time to think it over, I wound up in tears, it has upset me a lot and it is a marr on my wedding day. It's making me feel like I should throw another party somewhere else to make it up to myself and other people who came, many from miles away. It saddens me that I could have paid a pub half what I paid this place, for a simlar layout, and got value for money and no frills, not asked for a few extras, paid for them, and did not get them. I opted for this place to give it a more 'wedding' touch, make it feel a bit more special and avoid the rowdy folk a pub can sometimes have. I honestly don't know what to do as far as seeking a refund is concerned, my mum has given me some pointers by email which I will try, but I think I will hit a brick wall asking for the ticklist. Would a FOI request get me anywhere if this is an issue? I would like to go over it to be double sure of everything. My day did go very well, and it was very positive, my guests didn't really know what we'd paid for, so I think they were happy, it was only really me, my mum and my husband who knew we were not getting anywhere close to value for money. I also felt a bit fuddled having to sort everything myself, tell people where the toilets and smoking area was etc, everything I'd paid someone else to do. I asked at the beginning about smoking in relation to to the ban, and I was told they would make sure everyone left the building to the correct smoking area, and that in an extreme case, we could be liable for the commercial £20,000 fine if someone lit up inside!!! It's all wrong, and it's really, really upsetting me. Any help would be welcome, if I've not made anything clear, please don't hesitate to ask, I'll be popping on & off to check for replies.

Hi there I am posting this as a warning to anyone thinking about signing up to a contract with Talk Mobile, the Carphone Warehouse's own network, that uses a vodafone signal. Me and my partner went out for the day and decided to get our new contract mobiles while we were there. My partner liked the mini pro after some web research, and I liked the HTC Desire, so that's what we got. Basicaly what it is, the Android phone x10 mini pro, here: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro from £20 on contract - The Carphone Warehouse We got the phones home, charged them and booted them up. Mine took about 10 minutes to sort, I had everything my contract is set up for with Orange, texts, minutes and internet, all there. We booted his up, he could call out, send texts, but could he get on the internet? NO. We tried and tried, we called the hotlines, we put codes in, nothing. Eventualy he got fustrated and took it to the Carphone Warehouse near to us. They took out the sim card and put it in another phone, everything worked, including the internet access. They put another sim card into the mini pro, everything worked, put the mini pro and the Talk Mobile sim card together, and they are not compatable, they said. They never have been and never will be, yet the phone is on sale on Talk Mobile at every Carphone Warehouse! If you select this handset on Talk Mobile, you will not be able to use the internet, yet they are selling it as such! This is a warning, and just to let this forum know how crafty Carphone Warehouse are being here. We managed to get my partner's contract revoked at the shop he bought it from, with an hour's journey and lots of fustration. The local shops said they couldn't do it as every shop has it's own budget, so again, more fustration. He now has another phone, which works fine. So, do not get the X10 MINI PRO mobile on TALK MOBILE, otherwise you will not get the services you pay for! This is a countrywide issue, but it is debatable if it has been withdrawn from sale on that network. :-x:-x

Agreed, but how does one sue for slander if they cannot access the said data to see what it contains? Would RLP have to respond to a FOI request with the person's data?

What about the little bit that says 'you must please give me £50,000 first! I think the biggest thing that makes these two scams alike is the use of fear, guilt and shame. Those are pretty much the jugular of scams, if you are wise enough to realise this, then you're risk of being scammed drasticaly reduces. The retailers themselves are being ripped off by RLP. The more the consumer wises up to their game, the more people will be wary of shopping in stores like Boots & TKMaxx. I for one avoid these shops if at all possible since reading the list of stores using RLP, and if I am in a RLP store, I am always extra, extra careful to pick up a basket and not to pick items up unless I fully intend on buying them. This prevents me from buying some items, simply for the fact I will be wrongly accused of stealing them. Such as small items that can slip inside other items in the supermarket trolley, and I really don't like looking at cosmetics anymore for this reason, so yeah, they lose. I'm sure there's many more people like me out there now. It would be interesting to see how much say Boots would get back for a stolen lipstick, worth lets say £5, from RLP, who want you to pay like £130 for it!

What does the data commissioner say about this? I reckon this is a far bigger problem than the money [problem], they have absolutly no right to hold people's data, none whatsoever, nevermind let it be set free on the internet.

I expect all of you know of the 'romance [problematic]' from African countries such as Nigeria & The Congo. I've received a few in my inbox over the past few years. After hours of reading, and watching a tv program about romance scams, I noticed RLP are on a simlar, scary wavelength. The [problematic] are very, very specific, very detailed and very smart, sometimes they make their mail look as if it has come from some sort of authority or agency. They cook up some really fantastical tales of kidnap, bribery, piracy and betrayal, sometimes [problematic] strike up relationships with their victims which have been known to go on for many months. All the time the victim is totaly unaware they are falling foul to a [problem], and bang, after you have fallen in fale love with them, the demands for money start. They use a mix of fear and guilt to make you pay, just like RLP does. Another trick in their book is to make YOU feel shame, to make you feel guilty, often of a crime you DID NOT commit, so you pay up out of that guilt & shame. Just like a romance [EDIT] tells you if you do not give him £100,000 he will be beheaded etc. Their well worded mail is designed to strike a nerve and convince you of your guilt, even where there is none, which is often the case. The backbone of a good [problem] is to make it believeable, set it apart from other scams, gain the trust of your victim to the point where they feel they have no other choice, this is almost like hypnosis, and can be acheived using a mere few words, all said in the right places. RLP as I understand, have no powers to collect money, and would never rick a court proceding as the result of taking someone falsly accused of shoplifting to court could well be having their [problem] blown out of the water. So instead they send a set of computer generated, very well worded letters, hooking you in, making you believe you WILL go to court, and your future WILL be effected by non payment of their [problem]. Just like the sad Nigerian man tells you he WILL go to jail or WILL be executed if he does not pay that certain person by a certain time. They might use a few loose terms, and things that are fact, some agencies such as councils can go to court to recoup monies owed to them, so RLP try to convince you they have the same power, when infact, they don't, and won't. RLP going to court would be like someone robbing you and then shouting 'I DID IT' right outside a police station. RLP make themselves sound like a huge corparation who you really shouldn't mess with, when infact they will be nothing more than maybe 10 people and 100 computers, all churning out the same spam, just like the African [problematic], who are now sadly worth millions in scammed money.