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bluetack

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  1. Hello all, We've never been in this position before hubby lost his job a few months ago and had to sign on for the first time in his life (he is 60 and so completely destroyed). Finding another job at this age is proving very difficult. We have a mortgage. He is now getting support of £83 a week. I receive incapacity benefit for a progressive illness. It seems that we are entitled to help with the mortgage interest payments but won't get this help for 39 weeks. How do people pay their mortgage in the meantime? That's almost 10 months for us to wait and I'm pretty sure the house will be repossessed after 3 months of non-payment (our mortgage is interest only). We are very confused. Our total income without mortgage help is around £850 a month. Our monthly direct debits total £1000 approx. not including food. We know that we will have to cancel unnecessary things like sky etc. but there is still not enough income. Other people seem to get their rent paid so why are we different or am I missing something? Also, because he is signing on, hubby is expected to attend all sorts of courses and 'activity' days. With just £83 unemployment benefit a week how are we supposed to pay for him to get to these things and look for work, attend interviews etc.? Any help/advice would be appreciated.
  2. Below is the reply from Very about my complaint. Interestingly, they have removed the suite completely from their site. This means that I cannot see the description anymore. Thanks for emailing us about BRODIE 3 + 2 SEATER SOFA (6AYWR1P). Th etechnician has advised there are no manufacturers faults . Therefore , if you want to challenge this you would need to submit your own independent report advising what the actual manufacturers faults are . This would need to be done on letter headed paper and it would have to advise what the costs for repair would be and what the manufacturers faults are Kind Regards Kind Regards, Colleen Mullen
  3. Would not recommend this to anyone not worth half the price I paid for it Cons: Sofa loses its shape quicky, Very enigineers came to view sofa and said that I had to fluff the cushions each day to get them to sit right, not happy with this at all Plump cushions regularly to maintain fullness. The suite is a 'Brodie'. Above is a review from someone else I copied just after Christmas. I've pasted in the bit about plumping the cushions (doesn't say daily as the inspector told me to do). Can't seem to find the other bad reviews, I wonder why??
  4. Thanks for your advice unclebulgaria, I will follow it and write to the Chief Executive this weekend. I've checked the suite reviews on the Very website and there are many people with this problem. I'll post the response here as I'm sure I'll need further help. There's no other place better than cag that's for sure!
  5. Not sure if anyone can help but am throwing this out there just in case. Bought a 2+3 suite from Very last June on buy now pay later. Payment not due until June 2016 but have been paying it off anyway. A problem started to develop in November when the base and back cushions were distorting so badly that you sank into the corners when sitting down. It was not a cheap suite at £1800 before sale price of £900. I contacted Very who said they would send a specialist out but if no fault was found we'd be charged £45. The inspector came last week and completely stripped everything down to the bare bones. He took all the base and back cushions out of their fitted covers and told us they needed re-dressing. He proceeded to pull apart the filling material then pummelled them repeatedly with his fists. He said that because a cheap cotton wool type filling had been used this would have to be done with each cushion every day. He then struggled for a good 15 minutes trying to re-fit the covers (he was sweating). I asked how I was supposed to do this daily given my obvious disabilities and arthritic hands but he had no answer. He also told me that if the catalogue description said 'plump cushions daily', this would be Very's 'get out clause'. The description does say this but I would have thought that this would refer to the scatter cushions that come with the suite. Very won't answer my emails apart from telling me that no structural fault was found and I have been charged the £45. I've never bought a suite before that requires removing the cushions from fitted covers every day and then having a full upper body workout in order to make it useable again! Does anyone out there do this to their suite, I don't know what to do now apart from contacting trading standards but not sure of my position?
  6. Something very serious is about to happen for my husband with his employment and we really need some advise. He has worked for a large, high profile company for 10 years now and loves his job. He has never taken time off sick apart from the odd day, no more than 10 days in the whole 10 years and has never had any work issues such as any disciplinary action etc. Everything was fine until about five months ago when the company brought in a new manager for the sales team and my husbands position was altered. He took on his new role and performed well. There were rumours that this new boss wanted to replace the sales team - he wanted to bring in people he had previously worked with. Anyway, he started to micro manage, picking holes in everything my husband did and making his life unbearable. Things came to a head at the beginning of December when my husband had lost so much sleep with worry that he had to see his doctor, he was signed off for two weeks with work related stress. On Friday 18th Dec he was called into the office for a meeting with this manager. A member of HR was present to take notes. He was basically told that the company didn't think that he could handle his job anymore and that they were going to put together a severance package to pay him off and that he would have 10 days to accept. They said that if he refused the package he could still return to work but not in the same roll. We believe that the offer will be very small so that it will be rejected forcing my husband to accept another roll within the company but in the same team, in other words he will still have the same boss who we think will then start disciplinary procedures which will lead to the dismissal he wants. My husband is nearly 60 so will find it almost impossible to get another job, especially with this type of thing on record. We thought he'd be with this company until retirement. I think my husband needs to see a solicitor but he is reluctant to spend any money knowing he'll soon be out of work. I don't know very much about this sort of thing but it sounds like constructive dismissal to me, can anyone help please?
  7. In 2011 we had a bill for £19000 for alleged tax credits overpayments. We argued and appealed and asked for a tribunal. We sent loads of paperwork to support our appeal. We have heard nothing since apart from a yearly letter in June stating that we are not entitled to any tax credits (we don't claim any) and that £19,000 is still owed until they make a final decision. I call them each year but they just say that we should have had a tribunal by now and they will put a note on the records that I have rang. I am at my wits end with this. Four years have passed and I'm terrified that one day we'll receive an astronomical demand because they have added interest! We have written numerous letters and receive the same reply 'We are looking into your query.' Does anyone know where we should go from here?
  8. Thanks Stu, I hadn't even thought of that! I'll have a good look, Friends Life are not giving out any contact details except their own and all their paperwork has a PO address.
  9. I have kept an email+paper+telephone trail for all dealings with Friends Life. I have made a written complaint and their answer was along the lines of 'we may deal with it in a few months time'. There's no point in contacting the ombudsman until you've written a formal complaint letter to Friends Life and waited for their response, they have a time limit of 8 weeks to resolve your issues. I am now talking to TPAS (The Pensions Advisory Service) who are very interested in what's happening with Friends Life and their reluctance to send out any claim forms. I've sent them everything and pointed them towards FL facebook page where they can actually see the people complaining about the same thing. Follow this link http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension-problems/making-a-complaint/how-we-can-help Choose 'ask us' then webchat in the left column and you can talk to them straight away.
  10. I've been waiting for the forms for 5 weeks. Not too long I know but I wanted to get this rolling before I go away in June. I have contacted the FL pension advisers by email and phone but I keep being told the same thing 'We're sorry you haven't received the claim forms yet, we'll get them to you in the next 7 days' then nothing arrives. I make another call and the same thing happens! (They won't accept a request for a claim form by email). I was told that I'd have full payment 4 weeks after claiming but at this rate I'll never see it.
  11. Hi honeybee, Yes I'm over 55 and it will be a triviality payment and it's a personal pension. Just frustrated that I keep being told I'll get the forms within 7 days and nothing arrives. Been told this 3 times so far!
  12. I'm trying to cash in my pension. It's very small so as a small pots payment should be easy, nothing ever is though. Friends Life aren't even sending out the claim forms and they've told me that they don't know when they will be able to do so. I'm furious! The money should now be legally mine and earning me interest, but it seems the pension companies are going to hold off payment for as long as possible by not sending out the claim forms. Their excuse is that they are inundated with requests and have a huge backlog. This is twaddle, they've known about the changes for over a year! Surely their must be a way to charge statutory interest from the date claim forms were requested? Any ideas on this would be appreciated..............
  13. All you say is true, my case was closed today after a very long 4 years. I wasn't ever looking for advice about the case just knowledge of part 36 counter offers and how they should be presented. I'm now talking with someone who is willing to help me and I'll post up anything that might help someone else in the same boat. Thanks everyone, this is a great forum!!
  14. I really wanted this to go to court (have a very big risk appetite lol). My solicitor (trainee) would not support this. i was told to either accept the offer or find someone else to act for me who would pay all costs incurred so far. I only have 3 weeks until the hearing - no-one would take this on now. I can't afford to pay costs, my solicitor wanted £32,000 and god knows what the defendants cost would be! I am left permanently disabled and was lead to believe my case had a very good chance of success - until my solicitor left.
  15. Thanks. I have asked her the question and asked for copies of the letters sent but she said it was done by phone. Too late now for me as the case was closed today. It was due in high court next month with a value of £50,000+ but the defendants admitted negligence and denied causation. I had to accept £3,000 or pay all costs. Thinking of suing solicitor as they admitted by email to being negligent in the way my case was handled.
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