Thanks for all the responses - sorry I was unable to reply as I was out in the Gulf since January. The problem is pretty much resolved now - I'm a civilian once again... Now I have a different issue - see this thread if you can help: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/employment-problems/216272-question-about-leave-entitlement.html#post2382307 For information, godpikachu was closest to the final answer - after a few disciplinary offenses they got the idea I wasn't happy and cut me loose. Although that poses another question - I've been told that it's possible to reclaim disciplinary fines on leaving the Navy; anyone know if there's any truth in this? Thanks again for all the help.

Hi again, I've just (3 weeks ago) been discharged from the Royal Navy, however during the past 12 months I've not taken any main annual leave (didn't help that I was in the Gulf for 7 months of that!). At the last count I had upwards of 30 days leave accumulated (including some carried over from the previous year) and as far as I'm aware it's all gone! Although I know that the Armed Forces aren't bound to legislation governing leave entitlement and I fully understand the reasons behind that - surely that doesn't give them the right to to take it all away from me, does it??? If anyone knows the answer, or details of where to find answers I'd be a very happy man. Thanks

I've had a quick search but haven't found anything on this topic but hopefully somebody here might have some ideas that may help me. Basically, I joined the Royal Navy 5 years ago but desperately want to leave. Normally you'd simply have to submit your 12 months notice in order to leave. However, I joined as an Artificer and as such have with a lengthy return of service to complete - currently 3 years left. What's puzzling me at the minute is whether the requirement for 12 months notice is perfectly legal and binding - I've heard many rumors to the contrary but nothing solid. Also, I'm curious about the return of service following the Artificer training I received. I perfectly understand the Royal Navy's need to recover the cost of the training, however, the in my case the training was not required. The end result of the training I received was a foundation degree in Engineering, but I already held a bachelors degree in Engineering from before I joined up. This was brought to the attention of the relevant authorities but was repeatedly ignored - does anyone know if this has any effect on the legality of the return of service? Another twist is that the Artificer branch has been phased out of the Royal Navy and the job I originally signed up for no longer exists. Since I'm doing a different job to what I originally agreed to and hence agreed to do the return of service for, will this effect the the legal aspects of the return of service. Obviously there are other (much quicker) ways of leaving, namely a "dishonorable discharge". Does anyone know if this method of release bodes badly with future employment prospects? I'm very grateful to any help or advice anyone might have. Fingers crossed somebody knows more than me.

Hi, This particular mission of mine has been on the back burner lately, but I've just finished drafting a rather sternly written letter (included a line insisting all further correspondence be in writing - thanks hellhasnofury). If and when I get a reply I'll keep everyone posted. Also, something else I'm trying to get me head around is how they calculate interest for such front loaded schemes. I'm quite good at maths but I can't get it, it looks as though interest is calculated as normal for equal payments, but surely this is wrong and the actual interest should be a lot less. I'd intended to add a complaint about this in the letter too, but because I'm unsure I've omitted it.

Ok, so I found the T & Cs in an old boxfile, seems being out of the country for prolonged periods is fine if your in the British Armed Forces - so no joy there - but that death due to war, terrorism, etc isn't covered, is this enough to claim I was mis-sold? As none of this was explained! Also reading some else's thread got me thinking. My original loan was for a £1200 laptop in 2002 and now the settlement figure is still £2345. During the intervening years hfc twice contacted me saying that because of changes to their interest rates, they could save me money and to pop in for a chat. On each of these occasions a new account was opened to settle the previous account with a small (£200) cheque passed on to me. All the time my montly payment remaining the same at around £100 a month. Now I've wised up to their tricks, knowing that they never want to save customers money and they just wanted to fix me to them for another x months. But another thread hinted that on each time the loan is re-financed, at new ppi is opened without cancelling/refunding the old one. If that's the case that explains why I'm paying so much. How do I find this all out? do I send an SAR to hfc or the insurers? (is it hamilton?) or both? Thanks again for any pointers Karl

Hello, I originally started a thread in the HFC forum but may be I'll find more answers here. This is my original post: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hfc-household/110366-ppi-nightmare.html#post1074872 In addition to the questions raised in my previous post I was wondering if anyone new of the exact terms & conditions of their PPI and in particular the part about being a UK resident. I'm curious about this because I've been a serving member of the Royal Navy (a fact known to the salesman) for the duration of my loan and have been deployed abroad for a good portion of the duration. thanks for any advice anyone may have Cheers Karl

Hi all, I'm sure many people are in the same boat with this one, just wondering if anyone has any solutions. Even after a lengthy conversation with the salesman about me being in the armed forces and the benefits that brought greatly outweighing any need for the insurance the damn thing still got put on!!! Anyway, I figure that it's pretty much my own fault for not checking what I was signing properly and have wrote off any chances of a refund for what I've already paid. Now, after several letters and phone calls trying to cancel the policy for remaining length of the loan (just over 30 months) I was finally told that cancellation will only benefit me to the tune of about £50 because of the way the repayments are weighted toward the beginning of the loan. I understand the logic behind this weighting but from my calculations I seem to have paid 95% of the PPI in the first 50% of the loan period - do those figures make sense to anyone?? In all the paraphernalia that comes bundled with the loan paperwork is a page entitled "Personal Loan Agreement" which details the repayment schedule. This schedule clearly states the amounts repaid per month broken down into loan repayments and PPI repayments (£80.13 and £20.07 respectively) and makes not mention whatsoever of the PPI repayments being variable. Yet HFC tell me that cancelling the policy only equates to a refund of less that £2 per month. OK, so here's my real question. I'm no expert but surely a document such as the on I just described, signed by both parties, constitutes a legal contract and as such HFC must honour it?? Does anyone know if I'm right?? Don't really fancy shouting my mouth off to HFC just for it to blow up in my face at it turn out I'm wrong... Thanks in advance for any advice anyone may have... Cheers Karl

Thanks Michael, I didn't know the AQ was supposed to to be enclosed, but re-reading the letter it makes perfect sense. I found the links for the online pdf versions, I'll just send one of them shall I? Only thing is, is it N149 or N150?? Thanks again for the help Karl

Hi all, I recieved this defence this morning and was quite worried til I read this thread and discovered it was a fairly routine trick. From the looks of it I got word-for-word the same defence as mum23kids did. Since I only used the CAG templates am I right in thinking there's no need to ammend? Another thing that's confusing me is the covering letter, it reads: "To all parties A defence to this claim has been filed The claim has been transfered to the court covering the area where the defendent lives or carries on business. Please read the accompanying documents carefully and note that the allocation questionnaire chould be returned to the Portsmouth County Court. All further communication should be addressed to: [Portsmouth County Court]" except the underlined passage has been lined through with a biro. Does this mean that the AQ should not be sent the Portsmouth or merely that the documents reffered to aren't included?? As the only document included was a leaflet on mediation... Also, just like mum23kids, Lloyds kindly deposited a £750 "goodwill gesture" into my account in the time between filing the claim and receiving the defence. Do I have to tell the courts this and effectively ammend the claim amount?? Anyone any ideas??? Thanks Karl...

Thanks again, The rejection letter's on it's way but I'm still unsure whether I should send copies of the settlement offer and rejection letters to MCOL, I'm just tring to cover all my bases... If anyone has any idea's it'll be greatly apprecieated... K

Hi again - I'm back, Just checked my account online and it seems the £750 is there, I was just wondering if, since I've already started a claim with MCOL, I need to send them anthing to let them know... I would expect I do but I've not seen any mention of it here... K

Ok then, been doing a little more reading and it seems that the best option is not to opt for a default judgement but offer the bank a little more time. Also the letter I now send to give them a "nudge" and offer more time - I'm assuming that's to the registered address, the Gresham St one, is that right? Also, as thing are moving along, does anyone know of a way to change the title of the thread so I can keep everything under one roof... Cheers K

Thanks Barty I will do, While I'm here I've another quick question. I'm just reviewing some paperwork and noticed that the "notice of issue" sent to me by MCOL shows that my claim was issued when I originally drafted the claim and not when I payed for it (which was last week) - is that normal??? As such the defendant (lloyds) had until today to reply and hasn't, just logged onto MCOL to find a "start judgement" button... Should I press it??? It's very tempting... Thanks again, K

Hi all, Just thought I'd let everyone know that just a week after paying up to MCOL and starting the claim ball rolling Lloyds sent me a letter offering £750 as full and final settlement. Obviously I'm not going to take it, I'm already drawing up a letter to decline it. The problem is that I recieved the letter this morning (2nd may) and it's dated 18th april, the letter says the money will be credited to my account within 10 working days and as of today (the 10th day by my reckoning) the money isn't in my account. Should I ammend my letter to make note of this? Also the letter talks of complaining to the financial ombudsman and how a booklet is enclosed with an address and telephone number, but there's no such booklet, just the single page letter of settlement - their ineptitude astounds me. Well at least this letter was signed be a human and not a printer, can't have everything I suppose... Everybody keep up the good work... K

Thanks for the speedy replies, if I did decide to resend a schedule to the bank, would I have to give the bank chance to respond and wait a time before filing the claim? If that's the case I may just go ahead with the claim rather than wait another couple of weeks.