To be honest, I wouldn't even waste your time any longer with their 'hotline' or with them anymore. They are just fobbing you off & giving you the run around & hoping in the end you will give up & go away. But don't give up with your fight for justice on this matter. This is how these company's get away with it when the customer believes what they are told & walk away. I would never back down if I knew I was right, Never !

On BBC1 every day at 11am, there is the consumer program Watchdog. Its live every day, a nd they give a phone number etc if the public have something they want them to take up for them. get in touch with them. I bet there are lots of others who have been fobbed off like you & Watchdog would let this be known. Get in touch with them, you certainly can't lose that way . Best wishes

This is very dodgy ground, Nursing homes. Its been in the media so much over the past months & I would be wary giving advice. I had a relative in a nursing home for a few years & the things I saw in there with staff made my blood boil. I complained many times about staff treatment toward residents. Who has complained about your relative, is it a resident/residents relatives or other members of staff?

I would go to the trading standards. It sounds to me the are pulling a fast one with you. If you know nothing was spilt in the laptop then stick to your guns & dont give in to them. You have a warantee for twelve months, so its covered for twelve months. I would go to trading standards & tell them what the company have fobbed you off with & you are not prepared to put up with it. Its disgraceful they are trying to get out of their commitment to honour your warranty. You bought the laptop from PC world so the contract is with them not the manufacturer. Tell PC world you either want your money back or a new laptop. I would go in there when its busy & kick up a stink in front of all their prospective new customers. Dont let them get away with it because I most certainly wouldnt. If you tamper with the laptop yourself that would invalidate your warranty.

Now thats a difficult situation. If it were a manager who was asking me to falesify data to make money for the company I would probably spill the beans if I was confident the company woud back me. But, as its the actual company who are blantantly fiddling the data sheets to defraud the customers its a completely different kettle of fish. It would take a brave person to do this as I'm sure your head would definately be on the chopping block. I dont think they would appreciate a member of staff bringing to their attention they are fiddling !!! In the real world they should be 'outed' , but I think if you were to tell them you are not happy with what they are doing you would be out of a job. Its not right at all but the weight of the company would outweigh you . Its a sorry state of affairs when corruption outweighs honesty !

Also, if they wont let you view the cctv or all transactions/activity on that till for that day, how the hell are you supposed to prove your innocence? If they wont let you see that evidence, surely they should still obtain it and view it themselves, thus proving your innocence and catching the culprit. I would have thought it was the first thing they should have done. This whole thing sounds like a bit of a set up. How unprofessional of them to come out all guns blazing at you without even checking the evidence they have to hand? Good luck and keep us posted

Thats the spirit! Persue this to the bitter end. It seems they have CCTV installed around the till area which is a waste of time. Its not your problem they have CCTV that records the back of the assistant doing the transactions. I hope you prove them to be wrong and get the apology you deserve. am I correct that the person who 'opened' the till to put the Mastercard transaction in the drawer noticed the money was missing?? How on earth did that person know there was money missing, or if thats when the money went missing did they take the money and you are getting the blame. It looks like there are ways to open that till that you didnt know about, and thus others could have had a field day tucking in and letting you take the blame!!. The plot thickens.... Keep us posted how it pans out.

Wow, Wow, Wow !! Fantastic news. I'm so very pleased for your son & for you too. This is such very good news & has brightened my evening. Its good to see some employers do have compassion & can see that not all their staff need the heavy hand to sort things out. I'm totally on your side with the way you feel about your son. As you say he's your blood, & I like you would fight tooth & nail for my blood too. Who cares if some think you are over bearing with your son. He's your son & thousands would do the same too. Very well done, I feel proud of you and your son too. x *

Its also apaulling that the HR woman said to you before your son went in that they had already made their minds up! I bet she got a talking to after for saying that. By saying that she was inferring it was pointless your son appealing, which is disgraceful conduct for anHR employee to utter those words. I am with you all the way, and yes he done you proud today. On a lighter note, loved your reply to the MD about the suit being second hand, PRICELESS !! Take 48 hours rest & clear your head for now. x

But it wasnt actually theft. He never left the premises with the item. He owned up when asked if he had the item and told them he was going to borrow it to do his fathers car. Where I used to work, we were not allowed to give a bad reference. We would be sent a 'questionnaire' from ex employees prospective new employers . The questionnaire asked questions regarding time keeping, work experience etc and also asked 'would you re employ this person'. Although we could not actually write a bad reference, of course if you put a X in the 'would you re employ this person', it would probably ring little alarm bells. I still think the company are being very harsh on this lad.

Wiggles, that might be the best outcome for your son. I dont think an employer is allowed to give a bad reference, and hopefully its no skin off their noses to give your son a glowing reference. He didn't actually take anything. He was totally honest when challenged, and he has acted with respect throughout ( maybe not to you lol). I hope he and you get the outcome you will both be happy with. Its such a shame this has all been blown out of proportion for your son. If it were me, I would have just called him in when it all happened and read the riot act, then that would have been the end of it. I think they have been very harsh with your son, and are maybe just trying to make an example to the other members of staff of ' if you dare think about borrowing any items of equiptment thats what will happen to you' . I hope it all turns out well for your son x

Its wierd isn't it how they are supposed to be ' legit', yet they are still bartering to get at least some money out of you!!!! This is ludicrous. I've never known a company who says you owe them money for 'breaking their law' to have to offer evidence of the proceedings they have/nt carried out to try to coax people to hand over their money . This gets more like Dick Turpin every day. I would think they turn up in court in a cape and mask shouting 'stand and deliver' !!! Fools.

Agreed. Both the son and the MD have been put in awkward situations. I don't think this was an official appeal as such, I think the mum and son were clutching at straws by getting in touch with the company and asking to be allowed to ' explain his situation' and hopefully be able to reserect the sons employment. Never the less, it is a sticky situation and hopefully some good will come out of this all in the end.

I do somewhat agree with you Nagasis. This could make it very awkward for the son to work with members of staff after having to 'spill the beans' on those who 'borrowed' the equiptment previously, but not with the MD asking who the sons loyalties lie with. That was a little bit crass of him when he was/is prepared to end this lads apprentiship for a stupid mistake. This has turned into a bit of a mess. Like you say, wait to see what the outcome is first, & hopefully it can be turned around.

I think its great the MD is going to hear you out before your son goes to his meeting. It can't do any harm for you to speak with him & lets hope hes a decent human being with compassion I really hope they give your son his job back. He meant no harm with his actions & they will see he is truly sorry. Will be waiting for the good news ( Hopefully) tomorrow. I know exactly how you feel toward your son and thousands of other parents would act the same in your shoes. Its good to see parents who will take on the world for their kids, rather than the parents who don't give a damn and their offspring cause havoc . Im dfinately in your camp. Good luck with tomorrow. Bestest wishes x

Hi Wiggles, The letter looks good to me. Lets hope this company have some compassion and reinstate your son. If they don't they are a heartless bunch for sure. Let us know what happens tomorrow. We will all be rooting for him. Take care x

Hi Wiggles, I would also get him to put a lot of 'sucking up' in his letter. Maybe something along the lines of ' I was so grateful for being given the opportunity of carrying out my apprentiship with such a wonderful company, and since the stupid error on my part regarding anticipating borrowing the equiptment, I feel such remorse. I can truthfully say If I am given the opportunity of being reinstated, I would never breach the trust of the company again. Maybe the company has a heart and will allow this lad to continue to work there. They seem to be rather harsh for something that never really happened as such. Lets keep our fingers ( and toes) crossed. Good luck for him tomorrow x

Hi DBC, Yes it was from Lidl's head office. Sorry, I thought you thought It was from the supermarket where I got the 'Parking charge'. I would assume they are responsible for hiring the PPC and looking at the reply from them, they are cosying up together!! I wonder if they get a percentage of money extorted from motorists who unknowingly pay up. I'm sure they must do, otherwise whats the incentive to have them in their car parks driving motorists away! As I said, I'm not going to waste my time replying to either of them. Its just like spitting in the wind !!

DBC, the letter was from their Head Office, not the supermarket. I've thought about it, and to be honest I'm not even going to bother replying to either of them. Not Lidl or UKPC. Im not going to waste my finger tips, printer ink or paper on either of them . I will just file the letters I have received with the rest of them, shredded in the bottom of the hamster cage. At least my hamster is benefitting from the letters they are sending !!

Thanks for your reply's. I will send Lidl a reply asking the aformentioned question regarding proof of the law which makes it legally enforceable. I will report back when I get their reply. Many thanks again

Well.... I took the advice here to write to Lidl head office, and Friday I received this reply: We refer to your recent correspondence with our Customer Service Dept regarding the Parking Charge Notice issued to you. As you are probably aware, Lidl UK GmbH is a national retailer. As such we have stores in locations with limited parking space and in common with many of our competitors, our store car parks are abused to significant and detrimental extent. The car park is private property and the restrictions in place are legally enforceable. The regulation pertaining to the car park use is clearly indicated on the numerous signs at the location. Therefore in light of the above, we are unable to cancel the parking charge incurred. UKPC will request payment, in writing, in due course. We would like to thank you for taking the time to contact our Customer Services Dept and hope that this matter can be resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Yours sincerely Pam Waite Car park services. What a cop out letter. How very dare they !! No mention of thanks for being a Lidl customer etc etc. And the folllowing day I received the Final Reminder from UKPC for £90!!! This leads me to believe that Lidl and UKPC are working very closely together. I am fuming that even after I enclosed evidence to Lidl ( my till receipt) they have just more or less said 'go forth and multiply' ! I am not paying UKPC anything at all. No way. Does anyone have any comments re the Lidls letter? Thanks guys and gals for all your assistance.

Jeeze, thats unbelieveable. How the hell would they have known if you left the site other than to follow all the customers who park in the car park and follow them wherever they go until they get back to their cars. This is outrageous. Please don't pay these morons. It gets more unbelieveable what lengths they are going to to [problem] innocent shoppers. I have a similar thing going on with them too. They are expecting me to pay them £45or£90 for the pleasure of me shopping in Lidls ( they have 'taken over that car park) for six minutes as their 'attendant' who sneaked a 'penalty charge' on my windscreen whilst I was in the Lidl shop for six whole minutes. The car park doesn't have pay and display manchines so as far as I am concerned I didnt not display a valid ticket, I didn't not pay the appropriate charge as the car park is free, I didn't leave the car park, and I didn't over stay the parking time as the limit is 2 hours. Idiots. They can swing for the money because I have no intentions of paying them, ever.

Thanks everyone for the good advice, I will act on all of it, especially the trolley load of frozen goods. What a wonderful ideal. I still have the till receipt for the goods I purchased on that day so hopefull this may help, but even if I get no joy from Lidl I will not be paying UKPC one penny of my hard earned cash !

I've just rung Lidl's head office and explained what is happening within their carparks. I explained my dialema and how unhappy I am and that UKPC are extorting money from Lidl customers for the pleasure of shopping in their stores. I am totally flumexed at the response from Lidl. The person I spoke to said ' you will have to take your compaint up with the parking company' ! I explained I was shopping in their store, giving them my money and had done so for quite a few years and I would not shop there again if they feel their customers are not important to them, but the lady whom I spoke to said, ' thats your choice, you have to take any parking problems up with the parking company' !! well, thats Lidls off my Christmas card list.... Tesco here I come