Hi All I am looking for some advice please. I reserved a new build house aprox 4 months ago under an assisted purchase scheme that they were running at the time. The builder recently telephoned me to tell me that they were cancelling my reservation due to me not having a buyer, the Covid 19 had a major impact as we all know and nobody could come to view my property, I told them that I did not want them to cancel me as I still really wanted to go ahead and now restrictions had lifted somewhat could I have more time to sell, anyway they said no, so they cancelled my reservation. Today I have received an invoice for the best part of £1000 from the solicitors, I cannot believe it, they have from what I can see done nothing, surely this invoice must be the responsibility of the builder not me?? I would be very grateful if anybody could please give me any advice as I do not know where to turn and I cannot afford to pay this bill, but am I really responsible for it in the first place??.

Hi all Thank you all for your replies. I have checked my insurance and under the glass section it does not cover panoramic roofs. It does come under the damage to car section though, so I think the sensible option at the end of the day, and if Mercedes dig their heels in and wont help me, then that is the Avenue I have to go down. I know how difficult it would be to prove that it is a fault, by design or whatever else, I have already took screenshots of it happening to other people, some in the UK, but mainly in America. I agree that you have to pick your arguments in these difficult times. Thanks again for all your help.

Hi All I am looking for advice on an horrendous experience that has just happened to me whilst driving the car that I had only just bought a few weeks ago. I was driving and there were no other cars and nothing overhead when, bang, the loudest noise, like a gunshot going off, the pano roof had just exploded for no reason, luckily the screen was closed otherwise I would have been showered in glass. So the car got took to the local Mercedes retailer, who told me that it was not covered under the warranty, the car is only just 12 months old and 4,000 miles, I then had to contact the head office, who has come back with the same answer, not under warranty, no defects, so must have happened through outside influences. I have researched this and it happens quite often and to other manufacturer's too, I really do not see why I should have to claim under my car insurance when Mercedes know this is a problem, there was a lawsuit in California and the plaintiff won his argument. So the question is what are my consumer rights? should I take on Mercedes and take them to court, or the easy option, claim on my insurance. Is there a body that I should be reporting this incident to please?

In your post dated 5th June, you said that your interview is on the 14th, then in your post today, you have said the interview is on Thursday, which is the 15th. I just wanted to point that out to you as if you have got your dates/days mixed up you could well turn up on the wrong day, and that wouldn't be very good. Sorry I cannot offer any advice on the rest of your questions. I hope all goes well for you.

Hi All Many thanks for all of your replies, all very good advice and I will act upon it. I will get in touch with TS standards tomorrow. Regarding the importing side of things, I have noticed that there is a GB VAT Reg No. and something to do with London, but no telephone number, only an address. So I think that I do not stand a chance of getting a refund, but if I can save somebody else from buying these fake items and losing money and risking injury when using it, then it will be worth it.

Hi All Just looking for advice re a purchase I made via Ebay. I bought a Nutribullet in Sept 2015, it was advertised as an authentic model. It arrived, I used it about three times and put it away. I used it last Sunday and it blew up in my kitchen, plastic and smoke everywhere. On looking further I discovered that some unscrupulous traders were in fact selling counterfeit models on Ebay and alas I had fallen victim to this. I sent photo's of my Nutribullet to Highstreet TV who confirmed that it was indeed a fake. I contacted Ebay who basically said that as it is around 18 months old there is nothing they can do and I should go through the small claims court for the £100 that it cost me. The seller is still active on Ebay I paid for it through Paypal, and Ebay told me there is nothing they can do either. The seller is in China, another point I did not take on board when purchasing it, so I think the court route is a no goer. So do I have to just accept that I bought a dud and have lost my money.

Thank you Zanderland and ThedaBara, for your comments. I will check in from time to time and let you all know how it is going. For now I need to get my head out of this mess and concentrate on my work. Thank you all so much for all your help and advice. I will keep in touch.

My mind is boggling, so need to have a break from this stuff going round in my head. What should have been a simple explanation, is turning into something nightmares are made of. If only h, could orate excellently, then this maybe would not be snowballing, that is what I feel. If only they would allow me to speak to give them exactly what happened, when and why etc, it would be clear, but maybe they would still investigate further. They obviously think there is something to hide, but there isn't.

Sorry, ignore me, I was just being a bit thick, I know what DM's mean.

Sorry just thought about something else, I don't want to confuse matters, but as h has nothing to hide, but is a nervous wreck, I was wondering if we could request another interview, my h is going to love me for suggesting this, and go through some questions and answers as to the last round of work, and also explain the amounts on the bank statement, rather than let the solicitor just do whatever, as in not submitting the statements, I think that looks like h defo has something to hide, and then they can get the statements anyway, but that would take longer and then h looks like not to have co operated etc, making everything much worse. Why couldn't it just be kept to the simple facts, h informed of the change in circumstances via a letter, and commenced work, thinking he was not doing anything wrong, this caused an overpayment, to which can be paid back immediately, and with extra, should they see fit, why is this going into another dimension?

Hi Shoelover So after the interview, does the info thus far, get put in front of the fraud manager, or does the investigator still carry on finding out anything, if there is anything to find out. Then when more info is gathered, does it then go before the fraud manager? Sorry what are DM's?

Hi Shoelover The earliest date would be June'15, for the first part of work, then it ended, then latest date is Jan'16 for the few weeks he worked then. What is irking me is that I thought this would all get answered at the IUC, h had it all down on paper, the dates etc and h handed it to the solicitor, afterwards it turned out, only one set of dates came up, solicitor did not mention the latter dates, now of course on the statement, they will see the second set of dates, this is worrying me because again looks like h is trying to hide, and then how credible does he look, of course you could say "the solicitor said to only answer to the dates being questioned about" I hate this game, it is stupid, I wanted it all out and the truth be told and lets deal with what is going to happen, do solicitors play tactics? I think so, but who has to deal with the fall out.

Hi Neword, Thank you for taking the time to reply and explain what may happen, don't worry you have not scared me anymore than I am scared already, I do know that they may offer an administrative penalty if there is no case to answer to, so know that the total amount would be more than the overpayment. The investigator was wary of the letter, asking my h if he had written it, he had, they asked him if I had written it, I did not, all this was answered with "No Comment" of course we can prove that he wrote it, just ask me for a sample of my handwriting and they would see if is very different, they also got him to read out a paragraph of something, may be to prove that he can read, of course he can, he does not have learning difficulties, he just does not function under stress and has high anxiety levels, and waffles on, so I think the solicitor was worried he may incriminate himself, how I don't know, just tell the truth as to what happened and all should be well. I am not happy that that it was decided to do a prepared statement then, answer no comment to all questions, of course it looks suspicious, and if it looks suspicious to me, it must look suspicious to them, I know they are doing their job. The investigator asked how previously the contact had been via phone and now the IUC, a letter appears, the answer to that is they never answer the phone, or you have to hold on up to an hour in a queue and still not get through, very frustrating and as he was starting work, needed to notify them and a letter was the only way, but how cynical, and that is what worries me, because you do seem to be guilty in their eye's until you can prove your innocence. So the solicitor says not to submit the statements but instead keep to the fact that the ESA was not spent during the time, and can be paid back immediately, but I don't think the investigator is going to be happy with that, and wonder why would we not want to submit them, as the saying goes "if you have nothing to hide, then you hide nothing" I am also worried that when I asked the solicitor the question about income based or contribution ESA and redundancy payments and a bank loan I had, she did not know the answer, um that is something that she should know and especially If she is representing my h, bad advice could very well see h in court, if the investigator does not believe that he is telling the truth. There are a 2 large deposits over the claim period, these were pay off's from companies, a sort of redundancy payment, payment without liability, so we were allowed to receive these, as it was contribution based, and could put comments on the statement to that effect. The investigator did say that she was going to contact HMRC amongst other things. There is no fraud, we are hard working law abiding citizens, but it has had me checking over and over again dates etc, frightened to death that a wrong date may have been submitted to start the claim etc, and if it had, it would have been done in error, it hasn't been, thankfully, dates tally. I have stated before and I will say it again, I am now frightened about benefit's and hope to never be in this situation ever again.

Thank you all, very much appreciated, I will let you know how it all pans out. Have a good week end everybody.

Hi shoelover No he didn't, the solicitor thought it best to do the prepared statement because she could tell that he would waffle on, and not get the right words out, she said, he's an intelligent guy, but finds it difficult to express himself. I am wondering though maybe it would have been better to just answer the questions, would that have beenenough or would they still want the bank statements?