Yes as has been said- we're only human and mistakes do bloody happen.

It wasn't clear. If it had been I wouldn't have gone as far as this appeal. As far as I was concerned I was on JSA. I'm not supposed to know all the ins and outs of it.

I have sent an appeal, I hope that they see sense: Dear Sir/ Madam, I am writing to lodge an appeal about my case. I was on Jobseeker’s Allowance from the 15th August 2014 until the beginning of September. When I entered the surgery I was asked what benefit I was on and I stated I was on Jobseekers Allowance. I ticked the relevant box and thought nothing more of it. I received a letter from yourselves today stating that I was liable for a fine as you were unable to confirm I was in receipt of Income based Jobseekers allowance. This naturally panicked me and I telephoned the Jobcentre plus office to double check the dates I signed on. They confirm I was on Jobseekers Allowance on the above dates but I even had to ask them to confirm exactly which Jobseekers Allowance I was on. I was totally unaware of the differences between Jobseekers Allowance entitlements. They have confirmed I was on contribution based Jobseekers Allowance. Now clearly I accept that I was at fault but plead mitigating circumstances as I had no idea that there were any differences in JSA entitlements. It wasn’t made clear by anyone at any point and had I known I would have paid the dental charge without a second thought. I would please ask that you waive the penalty charge and accept my apologies. I am a law abiding citizen and have never ever been in trouble. This is just a genuine mistake which will not be repeated. We have no problems paying the standard dental charge of course. Kind Regards ----- ----------

I have just received a letter from the NHS who have fined me for my dentist visit in August when I was on Jobseekers Allowance. I obviously ticked the JSA box as I was on it. It turns out that you're only entitled to free treatment when on income based JSA. After calling the Jobcentre yesterday for confirmation, they informed me that when I was signing on I was on contribution based JSA which doesn't entitle me to free treatment. It was such a genuine mistake- I was totally unaware of the differences between Jobseekers Allowance entitlements. Now clearly I accept that I was at fault but plead mitigating circumstances as I had no idea that there were any differences in JSA entitlements. It wasn’t made clear by anyone at any point and had I known I would have paid the dental charge without a second thought. Do I have a leg to stand on?

How frustrating! I’d typed a long reply and my internet gave up! 
Well to sum up I don’t think it’s necessarily about miles at all. I’d argue my 12 year old 190k could be fresher than a 12 year old 120k car. It’s evidently spent the majority of its life on the motorway, and motorway miles are kind to the clutch, gearbox and other oily bits. In fact if the car is still ‘alive’ at those miles I’d say its very encouraging. Most people are telling me that the faults I have a very minor and happen to much younger cars. Which to be fair doesn’t help me right now fixing them but is seemingly true. My car has had a new cam belt, new brakes and tyres all round in the last year. Every record of oil changes since new, on time every time. Which to me made it worth paying the premium. So yes, I took a bit of a gamble. Most 10+ year old cars are. As long as the engine goes for a couple of years or more without any major issue I’ll be happy.

Genuine rubbish. Yes, it has high miles. But there are plenty of TDI's of this vintage (VW passats & A4's) with 200k miles+ on eBay at the moment. Most are £1,500+. Why? because the engine itself is good for very very high miles IF taken care of. The turbo, if it does go, can be refurbished for about £300. I will see, out of interest, how long this car can go ignoring A/C issues and the likes. If the engine itself works for a long while I'll be happy.

I paid via bank transfer with him next to me.

I have been offered £130 by the dealer to fix the issues which clearly isn't good enough. I'm just wanting him to fix said issues- but afraid that if I say I don't want his £130 that he will not offer anything at all. What should I do? Consumer direct says that he is a professional and will have known that these problems existed when sold so he should fix them. However, being fair, I do understand the car is old and will have some faults. But not immediately and as costly to fix!

The front demister does not blow any air. At all.

Well my reasons remain valid. Factor in all the job and money spent on it recently and it seemed a good deal. Re demister- I waited long enough to know it's simply not working. The car on the advert was described as: If your looking for a nice VW Passat you have found it! Factory Sat navigation system. Alloys. Air conditioning. Climate control. Heated seats. PAS, Electric windows. Remote locking-2 keys. Maintained regardless of cost. 189,000 miles with full up to date service history- mostly from VW main dealer. Serviced 1000 miles ago. Thick pile of receipts showing recent Timing belt & water pump. New premium tyres(all 4). New brake discs and pads. 12 Months MOT, taxed until November. Fully valeted. Drives like new. This car is in exceptional condition and must not be confused with tatty abused wrecks offered elsewhere, its a real credit to its previous owner.

No both were at fault with regards to engine temperature. That + labour cost me over £200. The point is it's not about the price. But ok let me explain. If you buy an average passat for £500-£1000 (and I did see a few). Few will have any service history, even fewer will have stacks of receipts showing every regular, on time oil change since new Most will have bald tyres, or mismatched Most will need a cam belt (as most haven't been done for years, or they haven't got a receipt to prove it's been done) Very few would have new brakes all round. Factor all of these to do on a cheap passat and it starts to make more sense, especially for someone without the know how to do it himself.

The thermostat and the coolant sensor was at fault. I never thankfully said the A/C worked. The exact words exchanged was: Me: Does the A/C work? Dealer: That I'm not sure. Me: Well I'm not sure, it does feel cold Dealer: Yes, I think so. But neither of us were sure, that is for sure! Demister is front window- which is not ideal in this wheather... He would never have put this right though, his argument was then that it was an old car- which I agree with but it doesn't mean it should cost me 100s to fix within 3 weeks! I have spoken to him- he just kept telling me everything was fine, not to worry and has since not answered my 3 calls. The seller is someone selling cars from a unit, he does so regularly and I assume in the eyes of the law this makes him a dealer? He is selling 5 cars at this moment in time.

Please?

It's a 2002 Passat estate with nearly 190,000 miles. Yep, worthless in theory. But I paid a couple of grand. And a couple of grand is a couple of grand. I went to view it, and to be fair it has loads of receipts, it's been cared for, new brakes, 4 new good tyres, new timing belt, recently serviced by previous owner. Went on a test drive with dealer (well he drove it as he didn't let people test drive) and he said it was spot on. Which is was in all fairness. No nasty bangs or anything. We even tried the aircon and it seemed cool enough so I drove away happy, I admit. However a couple of days later, I noticed the car didn't reach operating temperature. I was a bit peed off but thought if that's all I have to worry about it wouldn't be too bad. £224 later it was fixed. I also noticed that in fact the aircon didn't work- now this peed me off quite a bit. It felt ok on the cold day we test drove it but clearly it was just the blower. I've now found out that the window demister doesn't work either, which now is getting annoying. I'm no mechanic and need to pay a mechanic for every fault and by the time I've fixed these issues I would have been better off buying something much nicer. I accept it's a very old car but with having to spend hundreds of pounds to fix it it now feels like a very expensive banger... I just don't really know where to go with this.... Help!?