Hi, does anyone know if Argos are flexible in regards to the 30 days thing on their returns policy (with a bit of persuasion)? I bought a gas BBQ at the start of June, but didn't realise that gas for the bloody thing would cost more than the actual barbeque...so ideally I'd like to swap it for a charcoal one. In the past I've known Argos to be fairly flexible in regards to their returns policy...would they give me store credit for it? It's in perfect condition and hasn't even been taken out of the box. I just spoke to someone on their "customer services" helpline who said there is literally nothing they can do about it...I don't believe her.

Hi, has anyone tried to get out of a phone contract due to them not providing a service? i have two contracts with Orange, paying just over £70 a month, since about September a mast has been down in my area, Orange have confirmed this and it has basically been a waste of time trying to use either of my phones in Wakefield. I sent an email to Orange customer support about this and they knocked 10% off my bill, I wasn't in an argumentantive mood so said this was ok, however since then one of my kids had a medical emergency and I was unable to be contacted on my mobile...so effectiely **** just got real. Basically the service I receive is nonexistant in Wakefield, in Leeds it's fine, so it's deffo a network issue and it just isn't good enough, tbh. Do I have sufficient grounds to try and leave my contract?

Hi, I wondered if anyone can advise regarding my latest gas bill from BG. I've had various discussions with BG about my bill over the years, but my actual usage, regardless of the price has always been fairly consistant in terms of gas, between 6-8000kwh annaully, which is fine, however my most recent bill has just hit and they reckon i've used 14,000kwh and as a result has doubled my bill. i only have my meter read once every 6 months, but even so, i don't believe my annual usage has doubled in 12 months, especially as we don't have the heating on 9 months of the year. i rung them to see if they had any advise and they said to turn everything off, take a reading, leave it a couple of hours and check it again, there was no change, so as far as they are concerned the meter is fine and their attitude was basically "lulz, tough ****" any ideas about it? i know there is a problem somewhere, but not sure where... :s

could anyone advise with the following, to see if it's worth the fuss? i've just had the day from hell trying to get home to wakefield from york, got the 15:44 train home, and after a variety of mishaps / cancelled trains / signal faults etc trundled into leeds at 19:30 with no prospect of a connection to wakefield, so ended up getting a taxi home the customer service person on the train suggested that i keep my receipts and write to the train company to attempt to get some compensation...does anyone know if they will even entertrain something like that or if its worth it? i've spent a small fortune getting home on top of the train tickets so getting something back would be awesome any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi, could someone please advise regarding an account I have with Barclays Personal Finance for something I bought on credit a couple of years ago. Ordinarily I pay them via direct debit on the 5th of each month, but unfortunately had to cancel their debit this month due to my partner being off work ill for a month, and as she works for an agency doesn't get paid (a rubbish agency, who haven't even sorted out her SSP yet?) for days sick. After cancelling the debit they attempted to contact her every couple of days, they were told that she works in the week and to call after 6pm but they never did, on around the 8th or 9th of August we received three letters, each with a different date on, advising that a £20 fee was being applied to the account, then received another today, advising that another fee of £22.50 was being applied to "cover their costs" So according to maths, that makes 4 late payment fee's in a single month, totalling £82.50, to cover the alledged costs of a dozen phone calls. Can they do that? I would assume that as banks can only charge £12 or so for a late payment, and can only do it once per instance, that the fee's Barclays have applied are a bit excessive? My second question, I have accrued late payment fees and bank charges amount to a couple of hundred quid, which would have been covered by my partners SSP whilst she was off work (they tried to wriggle out of paying it, HMRC werent impressed when we rung their helpline), does anyone know if i could get my employer to accept liability for the charges, seeing as they resulting from my partner not being paid SSP in a timely manner, in accordance with HMRC guidelines? Sorry for the long winded waffle, but any help is greatly appreciated.

Just a quick update to inform everyone that my refund was cleared into my bank this morning, I am so happy and glad that this is finally over with to a satisfactory outcome. Lee, thank you very much for all your help with this matter and for the very quick resolution to my problem. Your help has been gratefully appreciated! You can now mark this thread as resolved

Hi, Just heard from Lee who has cleared up the issue of the cheque for me, the credit still on my mum's account should be in my bank within the next 5 working days *fingers crossed* Just want to thank Lee for his time spent sorting this out for me

Hi, yes apologies. After Lee advised me just over a month ago, I emailed the Vodafone Web Team and emails were exchanged, I was informed that a cheque for the credit of £136 would be on its way but to allow 30 days for it to arrive. @Lee I have PM'd you my email address as I seem to have misplaced the email whilst switching email clients :-|

Not happy!!! Over 30 days has now gone by, and the cheque that is supposedly on its way to me has not arrived. I'm really sick of Vodafone now, I've been chasing this issue since October 2009 and had 3 promises of cheques on their way to me only to not receive them! Lee, please could you update me on this so that I can get it sorted. Many thanks, Sue

No problem. Many thanks once again. An email has been sent

Hi Lee, Thank you very much for your response, I will certainly do that. Please could you clarify what you mean by credit card? Would a bank account / sort code do or do you need a specific card details? Many thanks, Sue

Hi, I've tried asking them to transfer the money to my contract but because it isn't with Vodafone, they won't allow this. Which I do understand. The part I don't understand, and which infuriates me, is the fact I was told at least 3 times that because I didn't have a Vodafone account, the money could be refunded back to me.

Hi, I am just asking a question regarding Vodafone's procedures regarding claiming money back from an account. My mum passed away last August leaving £136 of credit on her phone. After numerous phone calls to Vodafone, they said I could claim the money back as long as I sent in her death certificate with a cover letter and I would be reimbursed via cheque. However, today I have received a response from the letter that I sent to them stating that I cannot receive any credit via cheque/bank transfer but must transfer it to another Vodafone account. This poses a problem as everyone in my family has contracts on other providers, therefore no Vodafone account to transfer it to. When I phoned customer services this morning, they told me the decision could not be overruled as it was Head Office that had sent me the letter and all I could do was write a letter back stating my circumstances. Surely, because I've been told by the head of the deceased accounts department that I can receive the money back via cheque there is something they can do? I'm going to ring an ombudsman on Monday regarding this matter, but was hoping someone on here may be able to shed some light for me. Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Sue x