Dear Members After initial assessment, I was told that I meet the criteria for HSBC Premier (salary) but I was advised that I should buy a Protection product. The issue is that they are charging £599+VAT for arranging Protection product Is this normal? the Premier Relationships Manager sent me an email "Please be advised that in order to arrange an Investment or Protection product with me you would be subject to an advice fee which is a minimum of £499 + VAT" I replied that I would not need advice as I would just purchase the protection product. I am waiting for their response The HSBC Premier account would be useful when being overseas and transferring money from different accounts without charge Thanks in advance for your advice

Dear members In the last few years, I had been receiving excellent service from MINI, unfortunately, I have received poor customer service. I noticed that my mileage allowance per year was very low (sadly, I did agree with it on day of making HIRE Purchase agreement) Back in April (I have been accumulating charges that I will need to pay unless I purchase the car at the end), an advisor called Liam told me that I should pay £20 in order to receive a mileage quotation. He told me that I would receive the quotation after 5 working days. I made the payment. After more than 3 weeks, I had not received quotation and I made another phone call and spoke with Dan (on a saturday). He apologised and stated that the quotation would be sent as soon as possible. He also told me that if I buy the car, no quotation for allowance was needed. I told him that I wanted to have my options open. After few months (July) I made another phone call to find out about quotation. I spoke with Emma, who confirmed that MINI had decided to not to proceed with the quotation and the money I spent was refunded but I was not notified of it. I was not informed of this and MINI did not even had the courtesy of informing me after they have failed to send the quotation in 2 occasions. I have been a trusted MINI customer for years and both my wife and myself have chosen MINI as our preferred car. We always found that MINI strength was outstanding customer service. The way this was handled by MINI was not in line with the excellent service we have been receiving in the last 6 years. I found the conflicting approach and lack of transparency from MINI appalling. MINI showed a shameful disregard for my personal situation. I can only think that they want to ensure that I would buy the car and sadly, they have achieved the opposite. I would like to warn you that these type of companies appear to care for the client while the reality is the opposite Be careful when signing documents and agreeing with a mileage quotation on the day of Hire purchase Thanks for your support Omar (DrO)

Dear Members If you are thinking to buy an ACER ior any tem in the online store Expansys, think twice. I am not the only person in the UK experiencing a customer service nightmare: I don't like being extremist but after the experience that I had with this ACER item I feel that it is my duty to comment on my case After buying the ACER DX900 nearly 3 months ago, I feel compelled to write this thread. As soon as I opened the box I noticed that the item was evidently faulty. The nightmare started when I contacted Expansys for help and they told me to call ACER. I called ACER, they told me to call Expansys returns department. I called the returns department and they advised me that I should request ACER to repair my PDA because they would be able to quicker than Expansys. ACER reluctantly accepted to repair the item. They had my item for several weeks and they were not able to give updates in the meantime. Last week the supervisor Angela Foster told me to wait for a replacement yesterday, the item did not arrive. I called them , and they told me that they are not able to replace the item, neither repair the item. Outrageous. I have been doing research on the internet and there are several people in my same situation. The quality of service of ACER is appalling . They put you on hold for ages, their representatives are rude and unknowledgeable. I have looked for legal advice because as a doctor I rely on PDA applications in my daily practice (like British National Formulary)With ACER DX900, I was trying to have 2 phones at the same time, and now I don’t have anything. I strongly advice that if any person is considering getting an ACER device is doing that at their own risk. I was one of the first doctors in the UK to try this device (normally they use 2 phones) and sadly I have to report and spread thisn i n order to prevent them from buying one. I have found these serious complaints on the internet: they are written by reputable IT experts: Colin DiPonio Computer Consultant (Cheshire, UK) Blog Archive Acer Customer Support Fails to Deliver Buy Acer laptop? : Read this before you buy Acer - very poor support - Page 4 Acer Laptop Complaints - Surely the worst Acer sucks too! Sadly, they are not replacing my item. They are not willing to pay for the full cost of the item as well. The approach of them has been very unfriendly despite the fact that I have been for more than one month without my device. I have to say that debt collectors and baillis are more friendly and courteous When I found that my item ws not goign to be replaced I requested to speak with Angela Foster (the manager who called me 7 days ago saying that the item was going to be replaced) She called mepretending that she did not speak to me before!!!! When I told her that I had the contract number that she provided me with it, she had to acknowledge that she called me. She told me that I should have had insurance and stated that ACER may pay only £56 because "I only paid that for the phone" her tone of voce was very hostile and far from apologetic. After that, I tried to speak with George from Expansys return Department on friday at 17:00, he was not there, but the Expansys person told me that ACER is liable to pay for the full price of the item because it was purchased via an expensive contract with Tmobile. The Expanss representative never mentioned that Expansys will replace or refund the money for the item. At this moment neither ACER or Expansys have agreed to return a brand new PDA, in the meantime I have been without it. I had to buy two mobile phones (to replace the ACEr dual sim mobile phone) This has caused me plenty of problems because I use my PDA for medical applications.Expansys should have provided a brand new item because itwas faulty from the first day. This is outrageuous, from now on, I can only advise to people NOT TO BUY ACER products in Expansys, particularly this poorly supported PDA ACER 900DX. Why? because if you device happens to be faulty, instead of replacing it, Expansys will tell you to send it to ACER, and ACER won't repair it. if you are lucky to have your device repaired you will have to wait for ages and spend expensive and time consuming phone calls. You can view in this link in the consumer complaints board called: ACER POOR SERVICE AND SERVICE DISGRACE http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/poor-service-and-service-disgrace-c258688.html I deeply regret buying the item with Expansys, I have been a loyal customer for long time. I strongly feel that they let me down. My only consolation is that I will keep insisting to my medical colleages that if they want to buy that item they should be doing so in a "more traditional" store. For a medical professional who relies on PDA devices, 40 days without it, is a disaster! Many of them are getting them directly with the mobile phone providers. Since I was one of the first doctors to try this item in Expansys, I don't think that they will be purchasing this item here. Hope you have a good Sunday.

Dear all I cancelled my contract with orange in June, they had told me that I was able to pay the penalty fee in instalments. now they are telling me that if I don't pay the lump sum £340 they will disconnect my mobile broadband until I pay the whole penalty. They explained that they will be doing that because my mobile broadband was linked with my phone, accoring to them the mobile broadband it is going to be disconnected until the debt is cleared. They also told me that this is going to be in my credit report. i thought that if I arranged a convenient monthly payment, there was not going to be a report in my credit file. Shall I pay everything now? I believe that if I spend 5 months paying £340 my credit file will show that I am missing 5 payments to Orange. Maybe you can give me a little bit of advice Thank you very much Omar

Dear members I apologise if this question is very simple, Can the police/officers still issue a speed ticket without the need of stopping your car (after they detected you with radar/laser gun for example) or in order to issue a speeding ticket : Do they always need to stop and ask to pull over the car? Thank you for your great support Omar

Dear members I have read carefully your replies and Knowledge is power! thank you for your valuable help, I really appreciate your time and support. I will do what you say, I won't do anything apart from ignoring them Warmest regards Omar (DrO)

Dear crem Thank you very much for your helpful reply, the only thing that worries me is what they say: "failure to pay the charge within the time period described may result in your case benig transferred to a debt collection company ..." but Still not sure whether if I should pay the reduced charge... What do I need to do? best regards DrO

Dear members I have a special situation here: I have received a parking ticket which says: “charge certificate” “Civil parking charge notice” Exceeded free parking duration at Lidl … “parking charge of £90” “we have obtained your name and address from the DVLA, any appeals should be made in writing within 14 days…” “If the parking charge is paid within a period of 14 days a reduced parking charge is payable (£45)” To be honest, I always park there because I am a member of the gym next to Lidl, and as members we are entitled to park there for 4 hours, providing that we give our registration number to the Gym receptionist. I forgot to do that, hence I got the ticket. They sent me a picture of the car entering and leaving the car park, but I cannot see myself in the car… My questions are: 1)Shall I contact them and tell them that I am a member of the Gym and give them my Gym membership details?…or 2)Shall I contact them asking for prove of identity? 3)What happens if in the appeal process I exceed the 14 days of reduced charge period? Do I have to pay the higher charge? Any help will be much appreciated DrO

Dear members The ACPO guidelines for speeding prosecutions set out the minimum figures at which a Fixed Penalty Notice would normally be considered appropriate for a speeding offence, if there are no other aggravating circumstances. For instance: in a speed limit of 30 mph, the speed for a fixed penalty with 6 points would be 35mph. my question is: What happens if I am driving at 32 speed, and I am detected by a Speed camera? Can we drive under that threshold with the peace of mind that we a re going not to get a fixed penalty? (it is not my intention to drive above the limit, it is just in case that I am distracted for example) I would appreciate your support DrO