I have asked her now a few times for the full history over the last 2 weeks since starting the thread. She said she would find all of that out but still hasn't. I will remind her to look again, if not she will just have to sort it by herself. Thanks again and I will update the thread if I get told that info

I only know certain details (will add more as I know) but thats so much to all who give advice. Truly appreciate it. Lets say it's like this for now (Don't punish me, i'm just the messenger): My girlfriend got a CC out with Halifax. For whatever reason she had problems repaying it. From what I heard her Monthly charges got out of hand and became more than what she can afford to pay back per month. She asked for an interest freeze and a repayment plan to be set in place.... They said nope. She has been trying to repay bits and pieces when she can (Literally on a shoestring budget for repaying). A while later she applied for a halifax loan.... Nope... as we could expect. Now what? Surely the bank should or would enter a repayment agreement? Having the whole sum with the current interest when they know she is having financial problems is better than refusing to freeze it, her entering bankruptcy and the bank losing out of around £1000 that is owed?

Thanks very much CagBmn. I think that seems like the option then (phoning them). I'm sure opening a new basic account would be quicker but the only problem then is I would have to change over about 7 direct debits and change the account my weekly wages go into. Thats a relief that it would be paid into the account, just means it's 1 less thing when/if Santander play ball. I dont understand their concept of "secure messaging". I always thought it was a system for people who don't have enough free time to go into the bank or wait on the phone to talk direct about account enquiries in their own time. However when Santander blatantly ignore the messages, it makes this form of contact useless. As I remember, I used to have a "basic account", however Santander upgraded that to a Current account with a "Visa Electron" card, without even asking me... They just did it. Then a while later the card was upgraded to a "Visa Debit".... again without asking. Anyway, thanks again for the reply, will try and get it sorted

Wondering if anyone knows about downgrading my bank account with Santander. They have been quite useless so far. In the middle of last year I wanted to downgrade my account from a Current Account (with a visa debit card) to a Basic Account (with just a cash only card). There is a logical and personal reason for this which I won't go into too much detail about. Anyway. I went down to the Santander branch to ask, they said they could not discuss it with me as I did not have photographic ID. I tried phoning them a few times but each time the line was busy and I was put on hold (Waited 30 mins each time before hanging up, I'm not running up my phone bill cost). I used the online banking "secure messaging" system to contact them. My first message was went in September... A few days later no reply. I sent a second message... Had a reply 2 days after that saying they had passed my request onto the relevant department and will be in touch very shortly. A month later and they had not got in touch with me, I sent another secure message and never heard anything back from them. Can they actually do my request or have they ignored me because clueless staff have no idea if it can be done? Another question was if this can be done, does anyone know if my account number will remain the same? Also I get paid weekly. I cant remember If I get a bank transfer to my bank account number or if they send payment to my debit card.... Will my money still go in if I downgraded my account to a "cash only" account with a cash card, and they were still sending money to my debit card? Thanks

Thanks all, I'll take that advice and contact them, also will order 1 there thanks honeybee. Ganymede. I guess that's a fair point.

Hey all, Not sure if this is the right section, had a look though and there doesnt seem anywhere else to post it. Just trying to get my first adult passport. Decided a few months back I was going to have a few holidays overseas, so of course I would need to get a passport. Complete horrified at the requirements as it seems like this government are forcing us to stay in this country. Problem 1: I have to send my mothers birth certificate and mine to them. As quoted from the government website "You must send originals - photocopies or certified copies won’t be accepted". Problem.... I only have a "certified copy" of my birth certificate. I have never seen my original birth certificate, perhaps it was even accidentally thrown away years ago. I'm not sure if my mothers is just a "certified copy" either. I know my fathers name wouldnt be on mine... but would that matter? Problem 2: Countersigning. Is that essential? I barely know any people but I have gone through the list of who can countersign and have already asked people who match that criteria. Either they don't have a passport or haven't known me long enough (So have refused to sign the form) This is really irritating me as I just want to have a few visits overseas before it's too late. At this rate I may as well just rip the forms up and forget about the idea

Thanks, Cant say im surprised with ebay being like that. It's highly unfair since ebay's profit comes from us seller's, so why should we have a 2nd class service. Ebay really need a kick up the backside or something. I'm still waiting to hear back from the person. They have had it a week or so and havent heard off them for a few days. I might do what you did. I'd rather have my account suspended than pay money back I simply don't have, especially with a potential loss of £500 on the line (if the customer has broke it)

Thanks, will suggest that to them, hopefully they do that. I really think they want it to work, they seemed really keen and happy to have it when they said it had arrived. If it isnt down to the way they have it installed then it could well be that they received it, realised it's harder than what they thought to get used to and so don't want it

Thanks dx100. The problem is its highly unlikely that it is a faulty item and at current I just have their word to go on, which I'm inclined to not believe (A new mid/top of the range bit of professional studio equipment is unlikely to go from working perfectly to partly not working during delivery). If SOGA was applied and they did co-operate and send it back to the retailer, the retailer would probably do extended diagnostics and more likely than not will find it fully working and so wouldnt have to issue any refund? Then it just comes back to the ebay seller, they cant get the settings working so in their eyes its faulty. I wont budge and issue a refund for a working item so they will open an ebay dispute. Ebay don't check the item, all they see is the buyer want's a refund, I wont give them 1 and so they will just give the buyer my address to send the item back to and take the money for a refund direct from my bank. A similar thing happened before with another buyer a few years back... I actually remember it now. I sold a boxed "Mega Drive" games console on ebay. It was about 16 years old. The buyer claimed it stunk of tobacco smoke (It couldnt of since it was in a smoke free home and had been in storage for years). They opened a dispute and ebay didnt take anything I said into consideration. The cardboard box could of gained natural dusty odour because of how old it was. Ebay favoured the buyer, gave them my address to send it back to and took the refund money direct from my bank . I lost out on £10 I paid for postage and it wasnt returned in the best of conditions (ripped box, scratch down the side of games console). Due to the extra damage, it re-sold for less than it originally sold for but the new buyer was really happy with it and when asked they said it doesn't smell of smoke. Ebay suck

Yea I agree with you. Usually with hardware faults either it works 100% (not just the demo tracks) or the whole thing doesnt work. or as a sign of excessive use over many years, 1 or 2 keys may stop working and could need re-soldering on their boards. Feels really frustrating just sitting and waiting because at any point the buyer could just open an ebay dispute to leave me out of pocket... We will see

Thanks, I'm not too sure with the warranty on it but it's highly likely it would cost me to have it repaired. As it was a sold as seen item by the retailer, I have no idea if the manufacturer would repair it out of their own pocket. Plus if they did, the ebay buyer could say it isn't fit for purpose or cant be "new>other" if it's in need of repairs barely a few days after receiving it. Just messaging at the moment, they said they are getting their friends who know a lot about them to test it in their studio setup's and they will be in touch soon. This Keyboard/Synthesiser's was made by 1 of the most renown names in the music industry. Their equipment is manufactured to the highest premium standards, multi million pound recording studio's use "Roland" equipment. Im still 99.9% certain that it's down to the buyer's fault. If they have done something to stop it working (Plugged wrong cable into wrong socket, or damaged it in another way), it wouldnt come under a manufacturer's warranty. If what I think has happened and they havent connected it properly or put in the right settings, it will be a waste of my cash paying the manufacturer to repair something that doesnt need fixing, and if a dispute opened and I was forced to accept the return, I will lose out on more cash when I re-list it as "used"

Thanks for the reply, It's the Roland Juno Di. The slogan on the box is something like "made to travel" because these are very well built and designed for both studio use and heavy gigging on the road, so I just cant see there being any fault with the keyboard as it would of only been plugged in twice (Once at mine and once at the person who bought it's house) I Googled for possible problems and fault's and theres only been a handful of problem's with these, nothing on manufacturing fault's. Most were to do with the person not using the right software configuration or not having it plugged in right and there was just 1 person who reported a fault with the key's (a few key's stopped working), but that was after 3 years of heavy, near daily use and taking it out on the road to use at gig's. It did seem vague, all they said was they can record the demo tracks the synth play's into their music production software, but when they press the key's, nothing happens.

The problem hasn't fully happened yet but it's on the verge of it and I could end up £500 out of pocket. I'll try and be brief. At the start of this month I bought an electronic item off a website (Music studio keyboard). The RRP was £520 but I got it for just under £500 as the box was a bit crumpled from warehouse storage (The item inside however was brand new and completely sealed). When it arrived I took it out of it's box and realised it's a bit too big to fit where I wanted it. I knew I wouldnt be able to get a refund as it's not faulty so I decided to take it on the chin and sell it on ebay at a slight loss but a lesson learnt to completely measure up before buying anything in the future. I gave it a 5 minute test and everything worked perfectly (as expected for a brand new item). I listed it as new>other and explained what I paid for the item and reason's for selling. I offered no return's policy as these specific items are known for working for many years without a problem. I received an offer on it for nearly £400 and as it didnt look like it would sell I accepted the offer (at a £100 loss). They paid and I sent the item in the same packaging it came in (boxed with 3 layers of bubble wrap and 2 layers of cling fillm so it wouldnt get damaged in the post). I spent the money on some other things and today they have been in touch saying that the item's sound bank's and demo's work but none of the key's work. I'm pretty certain that it's something they have done wrong and not linked it to their computer correctly or has not configured it correctly. Otherwise they have plugged something in wrong and broke it. They said they were getting a friend to test it who knows a lot about them and I should hear back from them shortly. Here's the predicament. If they do get in touch with ebay, ebay will always favour the buyer. Had a similar situation before with an item where they favoured the buyer (faulty good's), I was forced to accept it back and they took the money for the refund right out of my bank. Even though a few days later I relisted the exact same auction, it sold and the new buyer was more than happy with it. I don't know what to do because if I am forced to accept it back, I will be out of pocket massively. If they have indeed broken it, im going to be £500 down, if they just didnt use it correctly, chances are they wouldnt of packaged it back up in the same way they received it and I will have to sell it as "used" and have a total £250 loss

Thanks all, will have a look into the suggestions. Ummmm, forgot to say that was another mistake. I didnt sign a consent form. Well my original consent form was signed upon 1st arrival, when they ignored my local hospital's notes. The consent for was for a local anaesthetic nerve repair. However after it was delayed and I was finally called in for op, they changed it to general anaesthetic and the woman said "youve already signed a consent form so we can operate now".... I only signed a form for local anaesthetic nerve repair. Havent seen my consent form at all if im honest, I didnt have a copy or anything. Then after the operation which took longer than they said, the surgeon said he found a tendon injury also (Even though my original notes from my hospital stated that) It was clear they got it wrong because according to the NHS website and other health websites, Tendon injury's are serious, they need to be treated asap. My notes from my local hospital that I handed in said "tendon and nerve injury" (I know because I read them), however this hospitasl didnt read notes and simply looked at my arm and said its only nerve damage, thus the delay's as nserve damage is not as serious and doesnt need to be operated on asap. Nystagmite - I dont think its possible. Thing is, I dont drive and I dont know anyone who does, so I rely on trains, cant travel too far because some stations are hours away from the hospital

I cant recall if I posted about this a while back (I think if I did it was more to do with claiming some ESA benefit instead of the mistakes by them). I really think they have messed up my arm bigtime. So it was just over a year ago. I had a laceration in my left arm which cut through my tendon. My local hospital diagnosed it as a cut "Flexor" tendon and "Radial" nerve. I was booked into a specialist hospital in another town to have an operation and the screw up's began. Upon arrival they ignored the notes from my hospital and claimed it was just a nerve injury... So less serious. They delayed the operation twice and around a month after my injury they finally operated. The surgeon came and saw me after. The operation should of taken an hour, but when he cut my arm open he realised my hospital were correct with the diagnosis that this hospital ignored (cut tendon and nerve) and it took 2 hours. He explained tendon injury's are more serious and because I left it for so long before having the operation, everything had stuck back together in the wrong place and I may never get the full feeling back in my left arm. I corrected him and said that the hospital were the ones who delayed the operation, not me. He looked through my early notes and the look on his face said it all. When leaving the hospital they gave me someone else's notes to hand to my GP. The notes were some woman's who had breast treatment. I knew I would make up a complaint. I went for physio a few weeks later and was left waiting for 6 hours while other's pushed in. At about 5pm they closed the reception and 3 of us were left waiting and not seen. We questioned it and there had been a mixup with paperwork and so they didnt even realise we had signed in at reception. When I was seen they rushed me through and the guy took my bandage off and told me to go and wash my arm. Then said I will have to massage the scar tissue each day until the scar tissue is gone. He said it could take up to a year to fully heal and for the scar tissue to fade. I made my complaint to their PALS. I sent scanned images of the other persons dr's notes and they told me they will investigate and let me know in 6 weeks time.... There was delay after delay. 6 weeks came and went, then they said it will take another month, then another month. In that time I saw my GP and showed them the wrong dr's notes so they knew I wasnt lying about the hospital's mixup. They told me they will have to throw them in the bin because it's confidential information about another patient that I shouldnt of been given. Anyway.... At the end of January this year, more than 4 months after I put in my original complaint, they finally replied and I was sickened by what they had to say. It was excuse after excuse. They claim they made the correct diagnosis. They said they spoke to the surgeon and to put it simply he was a lying little B@stard (appologies for the language but that's the only way I can describe him). He claimed the operation took 2 hours because he was taking his time and making sure the operation went well. He said he was aware that it was a tendon injury and claimed that I made it worse for myself by delaying the operation (I never did as I mentioned above). Furthermore they sent an envelope to send back the wrong doctors notes that belonged to a different patient. I had already told them that my GP had thrown them away and that I sent scanned images in the email to them.... but they ignored that and basically said in the letter that they don't believe me and wont believe me unless I send the notes back to them. I just threw the letter to 1 side, I had given in the battle with them. After 4 months of phonecalls, email's, letters, they had twisted or ignored the facts and made up a load of rubbish to get their staff off the hook. Just didnt have the fight in me to carry on with their rubbish. So, forward things to now. Its basically a year since the operation, I had been massaging my arm every day and the scar tissue should be gone by now.... but nope. It's actually got worse in the past week. If I tap my arm I feel a shooting pain running down my arm and I cant even massage away the rest of the scar tissue because pressing on that part of my arm puts me in complete agony. What the hell can I even do now?? If I go to my dr's they will send me back to that rubbish hospital because thats the place that specialises in tendon and nerve damage in people's arm. Never going back there after this ordeal :/

Heres what happened... I always pay my orange bill via direct debit. My bill date is the 22nd of each month and Direct debit then comes out on the 7th of each month. In March I decided to pay my bill in advance via my card. This was so I didnt have to worry about my phone bill for a few months. As per their website regarding this it says: "On the top of all your bills you'll find your bill date. It's important because, while any payment before that date will lower your Direct Debit for that month, any payment you make after that bill date will go towards the month afterwards instead. It doesn't mean you've been double charged, but to avoid any confusion the best time to make a card payment is after your Direct Debit payment collection date, and before your bill date." That means if I paid money on my card after the bill date (after 22nd)... the direct debit would come out as usual on the 7th and the money paid in will count towards the following month. I first paid £40 in March, that didnt go through until the 23rd of March.... Of course 1 day after my bill date so the direct debit for March came out of my bank as usual. I then paid another £60 which cleared on the 20th of April (before April's bill date). Total balance on my Orange account was then of course £100.... Meaning as my phone bill is £33 a month I would have April, May and June's bill covered without them taking a direct debit. On the 22nd April (April's bill date) I had my bill for £33 and they actually took it off my balance on my account... My account then showed as £67. That had clearly been paid. However today they still took the direct debit from my bank account (Which put me overdrawn) and I look on my account and that £33 they took was reversed so my balance was back to £100. The charge will be £30 for going into an unauthorised overdraft... Am I thinking correctly that orange should have to pay that??

Well to update... result. Santander have agreed that I was given the wrong information (That my loan was cleared and £0.00 was outstanding, even though there was 1 repayment left). Which lead to me thinking it was cleared and taking the money from my account to spend on things. Thus I incurred the £25 "unpaid direct debit charge". Once I had money in my account again and realised there must of been 1 repayment left, I phoned them, they confirmed there was 1 repayment left and so I paid it instantly. I explained to their support about the charge and how it was unfair (since if I didnt have the letter saying my loan was clear I wouldnt of had the unpaid direct debit charge). The resolution was they refunded me my final months loan repayment (around £100) plus £20 because of the calls I made to them about this issue and also the £25 non DD charge has been wiped off. Have to say a great and fair resolution... Thanks Santander!!!

Anyone? Saturday 13th (yesterday) has been and gone... They actually didnt try to take the missed loan payment. Cant understand it. Since it was marked as paid and up to date of my credit rating, could this mean their systems are indeed a mess and they think March's loan repayment has been paid and received? Still in limbo with it all, no idea with missed payment charges, interest or anything. Emailed using their secure email support system yesterday and didnt get a reply

Hey guys, I took a 1 year loan out with them last year and I also hold a bank account with them. The loan was paid into my Santander bank account and repayments were made via Direct Debit from that account. Some time last month I had a letter off them which showed what amounts of my loan has been paid off. Repayment date was always the 13th and I think I had this letter before the 13th March. I had a quick read through it and it said all had been repaid, no missed payments. I checked on my credit report which updates every 30 days (last update was 9th April) and it shows Santander loan, all payments up to date this year, no missed or late payments. I had enough in my bank to cover March's repayment but due to the letter saying all was clear and paid I took that money out and bought myself some things. On the 13th march it showed in my bank account that they tried to take the direct debit out but due to no funds it was "unpaid". Santander have put a £25 charge on that unpaid direct debit. I checked again on that letter I had off them, checked the months and noticed the last payment was due in March, however this letter was received before the repayment date and it shows that March's payment was paid off. I think this is down to their computer systems. What I think happened was March 13th was indeed the final repayment date. Their systems detected I hadnt missed a payment of my loan and assumed I wouldnt miss March's repayment. They sent the letter before the repayment date which at a glance showed no outstanding payments due and showed the loan as cleared. Then I took the money out and bought things thinking I didnt owe anything but a few days later on March 13th the final repayment did come out and it bounced so theres that "unpaid direct debit" £25 fee (which I was only made aware of today via pre notification of charges that their ebanking system gives) Since the 13th March they have made no attempts to contact me. It seems that due to their system they are probably not even aware that I have 1 outstanding payment or otherwise I guess they would of tried to phone me or sent a letter saying the payment was missed and so theres a charge + extra interest to be added on. At very least it should have shown up on my credit report as a "missed payment" rather than showing as paid and up to date. The worry now is that it's the 13th again today so no doubt their systems will automatically try and take that payment again + interest and their charges (no idea what the amount will even be) and since I don't get anymore money in my bank until the end of the month its obviously going to be another £25 "unpaid direct debit" charge and also they will add another missed payment charge and interest onto the loan amount. A complete shambles because had I not received that letter saying all loan repayment amounts had been paid, I would have left the money in my bank in March and the loan would of been cleared back then.

Thanks, she isnt getting housing benefit or anything like since she owns the house outright. Im guessing that £60 pension credit must be made up of pension credit + carers premium to top it up, meaning she cant get more than £30 a week for underlying entitlement. So if I was to claim both CA and IS.... that would give me just over £100 a week and I could do a £30 weekly food shop for her or something like that out of my cash so she isnt losing out. Edit: Just rechecked her pension info form and it says she gets "Pension Credit guarantee credit" so that must top it up somewhat

Thanks, yea she is down as a carer from what the forms said (underlying entitlement) but wondering how much that is per week? so we can work out if its worth me going on it (like if I got paid more than what she gets for this "underlying entitlement", then it would be worth me claiming it instead). It doesnt say on any forms how much that would be and on her pension form it doesnt mention the underlying entitlement or carers premium

Ahhh I see, how much would that premium be that she could be getting? Basically I know a few years back my grandmother spoke to a social worker who told her she would not get anything for carers allowance so she never actually applied. Just strange that she had a letter as well as me saying that they know she has an "underlying entitlement" and that her pension paid is that high per week. Typical of the DWP they didnt actually give amounts she was getting. Trying to work it out because if she will lose £60 a week and I will be paid £60 a week, its hardly worth me becoming the named carer as I could let her continue getting that money and go on jobseekers

Thanks guys, well it could be 147. I only glanced at her statement a while back. She did say she had a pension form with her name and new pension rates for april and it didnt say anything about carers allowance on it, just pension credit. I know whatever the amount is, its over £100 a week thus wouldnt that mean no carers allowance top ups would be paid as you have to be on £100 or less a week to get carers allowance? edit: just seen her total amount from april is £180.67 per week something like £120 for pension then an extra £60 for state pension credit

Been a few problems with my claim... They send letters back saying my grandmother has "underlying entitlement" to carers allowance. Strange because she told me she has never applied for it before as she was told she wouldnt get it due to her pension. She gets paid something like £177 per week (Which shows on her statement as DWP pension credit or something like that). I have no idea how it will work out now, is £177 per week the normal for a pension? Would it mean if I sent back the forms and put myself as person to be claiming carers allowance that she would lose money? Thanks

Thanks for the reply. I guess it may be difficult to backdate my IS from the sounds of that. I guess it was almost like "I dont know" as back at the start of Feb when my ESA payments were stopped, I didn't know that would be when the DR would stop giving me sicknotes (1 visit I was given a sicknote, the next a few weeks later I was better and didnt need 1 according to them). Then the ESA people only told me about going on Jobseekers, since my fit for work form only gave me the option of saying I was fit for work and was claiming JSA or that I wasnt given a DR's note but still consider myself unfit for work