On another note just realised I have never received a contract only an offer letter.. is this legal

Just another point that I would like clarification on. They have basically offered the other two sales guys a 10k pay cut to keep their jobs but not offered this to me.. I am assuming by Monday both these guys would have made their mind up about whether to accept this offer. Therefore my meeting on Monday is about offering me this deal if one of the other guys turns it down or saying goodbye if both accept. Their reasoning for making my position redundant, at the initial meeting was that "I had no industry knowledge" whilst the other two guys had 20+ years and they felt that they wanted people with networking possibilities. The fact I had no industry knowledge was one of the reasons they hired me as I could put fresh ideas on the table. My figures are not the worst out of the three of us. So could I claim discrimination on these grounds. Cheers

just on another note, assuming i do get the chop I'm assuming the clause in my contract stating that I can't work for a competitor for 6 months is null and void..

Unfortunately we are all,in our probationary period..

yep.. They're doing it with all the sales team.. Would I be right in assuming that because I'm in my probationary period they don't have to go through the usual procedures of warnings.. As this has kind of come without warning. We all knew our sales figures were down but it's across the board and not just one sales guy who's suffering...

Hi there, I recently started a new job, about 4 months ago. I had a 6 months probationary period.. At the same time the company took on 2 other new sales guys. Now 4 months down the line all our sales figures are quite poor as the industry is in a slump and the company basicaly tried to expand too quickly. The two sales guy who were already working for the company, there figures are also down. Me and the other 2 sales guys were called in today for meetings separately where we were told that they are restructuring the company and this means that atleast one of the sales positions has become redundant. They said that they wanted me to go away and think about alternatives to me being made redundant over the weekend and meet with them on monday to discuss. Out of the three sales guys I had no prior industry knowledge and the other two guys had years. I feel that if they are going to let someone go it will be me even though my sales figures aren't the worst. The guy who had about 25 years experience and has tonnes of contacts his sales figures are much worse than mine.. I really don't know what to do.. What do they mean by alternatives??? how should I present on monday??? and what rightys, if any, do I have? thanks, Tom

Sorry it took me a while to reply... The amount is for £264 so yes it is less than the £750... There was no change in circumstances also.. I told the council hoew much I owed and all other benefits we received and they still awarded it to us even though they shouldn't..

Hi, I was claiming Housing Benefit until middle of last year. I then received a letter from Haringey council stating that they had overpaid me. I did not have the money to pay them and was also annoyed that I gave the council the correct details so it was their mistake.. Anyway, and all of a sudden the letters stopped. Recently I received a letter from Newlyn Debt collectors. This was a standard letter and I didn't overly worry. I just sent a letter to Haringey council arguing the case again. I have now received another letter from Newlyn's that starts "warning of Bankruptcy". and goes on to say that their client has instructed them to file for my personal bankruptcy.. Can they do this? What should I do? Please help?? Cheers,

A couple of months ago I was head hunted for a new job role. It wasn't the perfect role but offered more money so I decided to take it. The job was completely missold to me and I absolutely hate it. So I thought I could look for another job and tell the recruiter/future employer that I was missold the role. However I wasn't getting any call backs on my CV.. I then saw a really good job and sent in my CV but omitted the new job that I had held for only 2 months. It reads as if I was still at my previous employer.. I got a call back from the recruiter straight away and they are doing a first stage interview tomorrow. Now I've got a problem as to what to tell them... My original thinking was that I would cross this bridge when I cam to it now I've come to it I feel that the recruiter is going to pass on me as firstly I pulled the wool over her eyes and this makes me a risk to put in front of their client.. Any advice would be appreciated.. Thanks

Hi, I handed in my notice on the 4th March and said I was available to work until the 4th April my contractual notice period.. I have also accrued 9 days holiday and 1 day in lieu. They asked me whether I wanted to take this holiday during my notice period. I declined as I wanted the extra money in my pay packet as am about to buy a house and every penny counts.. They have just come back to me and said that they are enforcing a clause in my contract that basically says "1.1 We may require you to take any or all of your holiday entitlement during any notice period, including a period of Garden Leave. My question is can they do this because I seem to recall that they need to give me twice the amount of leave in notice ie 18 days notice if they want me to take 9 days off.. Is this correct? Is there anyway around this?

No-one was replying to the last one... Sorry but I'm a little impatient.,.. so any advice???? please.....

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Thanks for your reply. I did see that letter but it doesn't seem to suit our situation. In the letter it threatens court action. I know now that the deposit is held with TDS. Do I still threaten court action. I have attached a copy of my modified letter below: What are your thoughts. Dear Sir, I am writing to you concerning my tenancy of the premises at - CONFIDENTIAL - I am rather alarmed at the way - CONFIDENTIAL - have dealt with the check-out from this property and are attempting to withhold a large amount of this deposit unfairly. I request that you return my deposit of: £????.?? - £???.?? extra rent up until 02/02/08 - £??.?? Lightbulbs ________ £????.?? As the premises were left clean and in good repair when the tenancy ended. Allowing for fair wear and tear, the premises were left in the same condition as they were in at the beginning of the tenancy. The premises were domestically cleaned and the carpets were professionally cleaned (receipt provided). - CONFIDENTIAL - are only returning: £????.?? - £????.?? extra rent up until 02/02/08 - £???.?? Cleaning Costs (This includes having the carpets professionally cleaned) - £??.?? Check-out Fee - £??.?? Lightbulbs _________ £???.?? - CONFIDENTIAL - were required to show us a quote for the cleaning costs, and were required to have given us a chance to clean the property to their standards before new tenants moved in (which we were fully prepared to do). We never saw this quote and - CONFIDENTIAL - cleaned the property, including the carpets, which we had already professionally cleaned without our consultation. A Landlord (or letting agent) cannot assume that the deposit is to be used for preparing the property for new tenants to move in. The deposit is our money and we need to give permission for any of the deposit to be used for cleaning purposes. They also charged us a check-out fee which we believe to be a hidden charge as this was not mentioned when we checked in. I require your reply to arrive no later than 14 days after the date of this letter, together with your cheque for any amount not in dispute. If I receive no satisfactory reply by then, I will begin a County Court action for recovery of my deposit without further warning. The Court can order you to pay back the deposit, and the proceedings are very straightforward. Also, the Courts are very sympathetic to tenants whose landlords do not fulfil their statutory obligations. I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days. Yours faithfully, - CONFIDENTIAL -

Hi, Wondered if anyone can give me advice on a security deposit dispute. We moved out of our flat on the 2nd Feb and straight into a new flat. Someone from the letting agents came around after we had moved everything out of the old flat to do a check-out. We were supposed to leave the flat domestically cleaned, with the carpets professionally cleaned. A cleaner from the letting agents was supposed to turn up and tell us how much it would cost to clean and what needed doing, but he didn’t and we had to leave quickly to pick up the keys for our new flat.. We were. The woman doing the check out asked us for a receipt for the carpets which I didn’t have at the time but told them I would call the company that did it and get a receipt for the Monday. We then gave them the keys back and went on our way. We then tried to contact them but to no avail and could only get through on Monday to find that they had charged us £110 for the cleaning and £80 to professionally clean the carpets even though we had had them done ourselves (we now have the receipt). They also wanted to charge us £66 for the check out fee which they told us was in the contract. This is what it says: “To pay costs associated with the checking of the inventory at the end of the tenancy and for the preparation of any renewal or continuation of the agreement”. What I want to know is can we argue these figures as the landlord or letting agents cannot assume that they can use our deposit for cleaning they need to OK a figure with us and give us the opportunity to correct everything before they go ahead and clean the property. Also with the check-out fee I find this clause quite ambiguous as I had assumed it was relating to any damages or cleaning that were found whilst the check-out was being done, not for the letting agents to hire an outside company to do the check out and then pass the cost onto us. Also, could this come under an unfair clause as it doesn’t mention an exact cost and it leaves it open for the letting agents to charge as much as they want. If I have a case how do I go about making a complaint, our deposit is kept with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Do I need to write a letter to the letting agents with my grievances and if so has anyone got a sample letter they can post.

Hi there, just found this site and I am quite far along with my case. So to recap on events from November last year. I sent off for my statements for the past 6 years. They arrived, Lloyds waived the £10 charge, gee aren't they generous. I then went onto MoneySavingExpert: Consumer Revenge - Credit Cards, Shopping, Bank Charges, Cheap Flights and more and found out how much I was owed, including interest. The grand total was £1190.00. So I sent back a template letter found on the same site reclaiming this amount. They sent the usual 'bog off' letter back. I then sent them the next template letter telling them to cough or I will take them to court. They replied by saying that it's my fault for going over my overdraft limit but as a "good will gesture" they would pay me back £450. I promptly cursed Lloyds-TSB with every bone in my body, logged straight onto moneyclaimsonline.com and started proceedings. This is where the problems began. Firstly, when you start a claim online it only lets you enter a certain amount of characters (I think it was about 1000) I only really had room to say Lloyds owe me this amount in unfair overdraft charges and that was it. I was a tad hasty and presumed that I would be able to enter particulars of claim at a later date. Also, I claimed for the whole amount and a few days later noticed that Lloyds had deposited £450 into my account even though I hadn't agreed to this payment. I then hoped that Lloyds wouldn't submit a defence, alas, on the very last day I received the allocation questionnaire. The defence that Loyds submitted was that the particulars of claim disclose no reasonable cause of action against the defendent, and that it should be struck out. What do I do now. Should I send a letter off with the Questionnaire detailing that Lloyds have since paid part of the claim or should I simply send off the Questionnaire and hope that it doesn't get struck out.