It would appear that Sainsbury and Asda are currently under a huge strain with regard to their online shopping/delivery services. I logged into my Asda account, booked a delivery slot for the 27th March.. (earliest slot available) and filled up my basket with my normal order.. no panic purchasing. Went to the checkout, and everything seemed to go through with no problems. An hour later, I logged back in to add something I had forgotten. Clicked on my order.... message to say that I had no orders - however, my basket was still showing as not having been checked out. So I tried to add to the order.. not working.. tried to check out.. not working. So, I thought s&d it will try Sainsbury - dont even go there, it looks like they are fully booked with their delivery slots until 3 weeks into the future and that is as far as they are taking bookings. I was unable to make contact with Asda to find out what was going on, they are not taking calls on their help line. I have managed however to empty my trolley at Asda and have managed to purchase all my requirements at the local Farm Shop . I do appreciate that the larger supermarkets are under enormous pressure - but you would think they would at least ensure their help lines are working.

Here is the link Ruby... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/face-to-face-health-assessments-for-benefits-suspended-amid-coronavirus-outbreak

I guess there is one good thing to come out of this virus disaster.. no one seems to be bothering about Brexit anymore !.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8116793/Shoppers-queue-buy-CANNABIS-Holland.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed_desktop_news This one is priceless.. Forget loo rolls, shoppers queue for Cannabis as the stores are ordered to be closed

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IMHO, they should return Nadine Dorries to Parliament and lock all of the MPs inside.. Food and booze can be delivered to them there. If they are so confident that the herd mentality will resolve the problem.. then perhaps it might make them consider what their constituents are likely to be facing.

Crikey, that was a huge discrepancy - IMHO, I would just have the refund and look elsewhere for the product. Making sure of course that the price quoted is actually that which you will pay.

2 recent articles which are quite interesting. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/13/uk/uk-coronavirus-response-boris-johnson-intl-gbr/index.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/coronavirus-safer-shopping-travel-trains-buses

And from newspapers.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSJab0Re2fA

It was an HP error code, but I think the problem has now been resolved.. instead of showing the result on the page, they have emailed it to me Thank you.

I completed the self help test on this link, but then keep getting an error code

That is what I thought I needed to do and did - however, that was when I started to receive the "we miss you XXX" emails lol

Since my Husband passed away, in 2017 - I have kept his Email address open so that I can continue to close accounts and have the Companies/Organisations remove him from their Data Bases - unsubscribe in order to prevent emails and Snail Mail being sent to me. Aside from which, it was a shared email address and keep in contact with some of his ex work colleagues and friends using that address. In October 2017 - I unsubscribed him from the Health Lottery - I had already cancelled the Direct Debit to them. I only look at the email account every couple of months, but noticed the Health Lottery continue to send emails.. with Headings such as... "Douglas, we want you back !" - "Happy Birthday - use Code Ref to receive Free ticket" - "Remember us - Spend £2.00 and get 50% extra " and.... "Hi Mr CitizenB We've noticed that it's been a little while since you last played The Health Lottery, so we’ve put together an exclusive offer which we think is just too good to miss! Simply spend £2 and you'll instantly receive 50% extra.* Use promo code SURPRISE1 when logged into your account before you purchase your tickets to receive your bonus. You'll then have three days to use your bonus on any draw you like, so don't miss out. Mr CitizenB, good luck!" I tried asking nicely, I tried sarcasm.. in response to "Douglas we want you back"! I pointed out, that so did I.. but neither of us were going to get our wish... But, the emails continued. a couple of days ago, I pretty much demanded they remove him from their data base, that it was pretty insensitive - they came back quick as you like - they needed a copy of his Death Certificate in order to remove his details and that they had not received other emails from me ? I did send a copy - but now they have come back and said.... "The Name on the Death Certificate does not match the name on the account ? "We are sorry to hear of any distress caused by this matter. We can confirm that we did not receive the e-mail you sent in July 2017. This appears to be due to the e-mail being sent in reply to a marketing e-mail that you received. In the marketing e-mails it advises not to reply to them as unfortunately it is an outbound only e-mail address for sending marketing e-mails and replies will not be received. We can confirm that we do indeed need to see a death certificate for a customer before we close their account. This is so that we are taking reasonable steps to protect our customer's accounts and we can verify that the account needs to be closed. We are unable to close an account based solely on an e-mail received from a third party who we have no way to identify. Finally, the name on the death certificate sent does not fully match that which is on the account. Can you confirm if you husband went by any other first names please so we ensure we are closing the correct account?" Having responded to the above.. with .. you are Joking ?? They have now decided that the name on the account - despite the email, postal address, etc are correct.. the name on the account is totally different !! However, they have finally decided that they will Close the account ?? Not sure I am looking for advice as such.. I just needed to vent !!

An update for this thread. My Son has now found employment in London - with a small law firm pretty much involved with what he was doing prior to moving to New Zealand/Australia. So all is well on that side of things. He just needs to find somewhere to live for 3-6 months until he can sort out permanent living arrangements. The DWP were of no help at all really and seem to make up the rules as they go along. Thank you everyone for your help and advice. Much appreciated.

Appreciate all the comments and information. Son went to appointment yesterday and found it to be not too stressful, in fact probably quite positive. He was however, puzzled why someone who could roll off their NI number, produce a British Passport (which clearly states place of birth as London) along with confirmation by way of a birth certificate plus proving that he had worked for the British Civil Service for over 10 years, is then questioned as to whether or not he is a British Citizen! He will fall in with their plans eg, logging on each day, commitment to meetings and any other 'demands' whilst continuing to search for employment under his own steam. Will keep you all updated.

Hi BN, no, he had not used that calculator - he has just gone for his assessment - so I will know more and will no doubt be asking more questions of you later on. Many thanks for your help

Hi Brassnecked, Many thanks for this information, I will pass it on. From what you say and the article provided, looks like my Son will not be entitled ! x

My Son has been working/living abroad and came back to the UK when my husband passed away a couple of years ago. He looked for employment in the first six months he was here, nothing suitable so he joined a voluntary group abroad for six months. When that contract finished, he returned to the UK again for a further six months again seeking employment. He signed up for a further six months with the Voluntary group and has now returned to the UK permanently 2 weeks ago. We do not appear to have a Job Centre as such, he had to go to the Local Municipal office for information and was told he needed to register online, which he has done. I was quite surprised at some of the information they required.. such as. Debit/Credit card number including the CV number ! He then needed to verify himself via one of several organisations.. eg Post Office, Experian and others. He has now been given an assessment date and I would like, on his behalf, some idea of what can be expected when he goes.

Yes, I thought I had lost the plot as well.

Thank you, I am pleased to hear I am not the only one

Not sure if this is the place to post this, please move to suitable section if not. I wanted to send a message to someone this morning only to keep being told my inbox was full. This should not have been the case as I emptied it a few months ago. Messages received... "Used 3476% messenger storage". Along with another message saying I have over 1,738 messages (going back over 10 years ?) with a limit of 50 messages ??? It is going to take me ages to delete all these as you can only delete 25 messages in one go !! I also noticed a message at the bottom of this post saying I have used up all the available attachment space ? "You have used 138.68 MB of your 48.83 MB attachment limit." Again this should not be so because I had deleted all attachments a while back.

I would have thought that if we keep the food we produce instead of sending it to Europe, then this will correct, HB. I think supermarkets and the like are encouraging panic buying - you only have to notice shopper habits when there is a bank holiday and the likelihood of a store closing for more than 24 hours to give their staff a break lol.

Stories like the following are fuelling the scaremongering about running out of food ? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/18/uk-running-out-of-food-warehouse-space-as-no-deal-brexit-fears-rise https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/27/no-deal-brexit-amazon-blamed-uk-lack-of-food-warehouse-space https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/brits-buying-up-brexit-boxes-15677814 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/8211660/tesco-buys-up-freezers-to-stockpile-extra-food-for-no-deal-brexit/ I have never seen the need to import food stuffs - we managed before joining the EEC... !

I think it is probably safer to pay by credit card for online purchases - they seem to be able to have your money refunded very quickly if there is a problem- whereas with debit cards there seems to be a different system. This company does not seem to be very popular judging by the reviews !

Looks like I am late again to the Party. Well done RMW for sticking with this - great result.