Hi Can anybody help me out I have an issue with a website called 'The Mini Pages'. They rang me about 4 months ago asking if i would be interested in advertising with them. I told them on the phone that i was interested to hear more. At this point the business had not been set up, it was very much still an idea and hadn't been registered with Companies House etc. I assumed i would receive some kind of agreement to review / sign but nothing ever turned up. Now this week i have received a letter from their 'legal department' threatening court action in 14 days if i don't pay them £144. Can you help with a response to get these off my back? Thanks\ Shane

Morning guys HFC are holding firm in their approach to refunding me what i believe is due in terms of my PPI refund. Their current offer is £1,570.97 whereas the sums calculated by very helpful members of this forum indicate that my claim is worth in the region of £2,332.61. I have checked that there are no discrepancies in the periods which both me and HFC are calculating the refunds but they mirror each other. The difference lies in the monthly PPI premium which i believe is £22.50 because that is what's stated in my loan agreement however when breaking down their figure without interest it works out to £15.42. I have requested a complete breakdown of their offer however they only say in response that the offer is calculated in accordance with FOS rules etc. They only give me the calculation as follows: Paid PPI premiums and interest thereon: £1,094.71 8% compensation on PPI payments made: £476.26 Can you guys give me some sensible advise. I am half minded to just shut up and accept their offer but then there is part of me that says i have a spreadsheet that shows my claim to be worth in excess of £700 more. HELP PLEASE Shane

Quick information update Account with Abbey started 13/08/2001 Defaulted on 14/09/2006 (SB'd Sept 2012 i guess - irrelevant now i've settled i know) One thing to note after reading more of the forums is i dont ever remember Abbey putting a default notice on my credit file. Are link entitled to do this when they are sold / assigned the debt? Thanks Shane

Hi Can anybody help me with Link Financial? 5 or so years ago i got into diffculty with an Abbey National overdraft which i didnt pay back. They closed my account and then assigned / sold the debt to Link Financial. I have now paid the disputed amount to Link Financial and have asked them to clear the Default from my credit file for the reason that i dont believe they served the correct notices when they took over the debt. They've told me on the phone today that they can get a copy of the Default apparently served by Abbey National but i am wondering if this is sufficient? Should Link not give me a period of time to repay the debt prior to Defaulting it in their name? If the Default served by Abbey is provided is this sufficient for the relevant legislation? What information do they need to provide in order to properly satisfy their obligations when defaulting an account? I've read several posts on here that intimate LF make widespread mistakes in their service of notices etc. so i am wondering if i can persuade them to remove the default on the basis they didnt serve the notices correctly etc. If that's not possible do you think the cap in hand approach would work? Thanks Shane

UPDATE Ladies & Gent My mother has just recently settled her complaint with HFC Bank of mis-sold PPI. She got a refund 'without any admission of liability' of approximately £3500 which she was really happy with. Thank you to everyone who ever gave a bit of advise on this issue!! Onto my claim - i received my first refund offer from HFC on Saturday just gone for approx £1500 however i am going back to HFC and am holding out for a higher amount. The sums calculated by the various members of this forum amounted to approx £2100 last october so i really think HFC are 'trying it on' to see if i'll just accept their first offer and go away. I've wrote back rejecting the offer so will see what they say shortly. Again thanks for everyone's help on the above. Shane

Ladies / Gents Quick update - ive had a letter from the FOS stating HFC are willing to make me an offer to settle my complaint without any liability for mis-selling being admitted. The FOS have said HFC will be in contact in the next 14 days with the offer. Fingers crossed for a decent offer : ) I'll keep everyone up to date. Thanks Shane

So me being ever the optimist is wrong here then lol! Im going to make a point of sending them 'chase up' letters every month. I've no doubt this will not turn their lack of response around however it will help me build a file of evidence! FYI - The FOS have my complaint and are dealing but just today i got the letter 'we are getting 5000 complaints a day, it could take us a year to resolve' Thanks Shane

Hi I'm not sure if anybody has experienced this in the past (i hope not!) Basically i suspect that our attic has a rodent infestation. There is very noisy, frequent scratching noises that i can hear from one of our upstairs bedrooms. Anyway in an attempt to solve it my mum rang the council to get someone out to solve it...pretty reasonable request for a council tenant you would think? Well yes it is but they say you have to pay £38 for the service. Is this legal? Can they really charge a rental tenant £38 to investigate what surely is a public health issue which is probably occurring due to the reduce refuse collection services put in place in many areas in the UK. This has made me quite angry so would be interesting to see if anyone else has had a similar experience and how they solved it? Thanks Shane

Hi guys Just a quick update. Since the High Court ruling on PPI i've sent a couple of letters to HFC asking them what they intend to do about my PPI complaint. I've not heard a thing from them so i wonder what their global policy will be on claims? Ill keep you all up to date with any exciting news (wishful thinking) Thanks Shane

Hi I am writing on behalf of a friend who is in a spot of bother with Welcome Finance and now DLC (Direct Legal & Collections). The story is in 2008 they purchased a car from Welcome Finance on a Hire Purchase Scheme (no PPI was involved in the agreement thankfully). In 2010 they decided to voluntarily terminate their agreement having paid over 50% of the total amount due. The car was collected by an agent of Welcome Finance and was signed off as having valid MOT and in GOOD condition. Fast forward to May 2011 and they now have DLC chasing them for the balance of the loan agreement. Welcome Finance are saying over the phone that the car was sold for £400 at auction due to its condition so they are entitled to the balance of the HP agreement. The DCA are as usual threatening doorstep collections / court action etc s o i have said i would write a letter to them nicely telling them to go away. Can anybody with experience of either of these companies help me out with a template letter to send out to Welcome Finance. I already have a template to send to DLC stating no debt is acknowledged to them. Thanks in advance Shane

Hi Elche Thanks so much for your posts - really, really helpful. She is on an annual salary contract and is paid approx £18k which is paid on 25th day of each month in equal payments. Hope this bit assists? She has been in the job approximately 2 years and touch wood is on the verge of moving (interview tomorrow) however every worker in the office at one point or another has complained about having to do this work without being paid properly. The company in question have lost a lot of staff recently and have not replaced them so it makes the 'on-call' responsibility come around much quicker. Take this weekend for example; 9am and one of her customers develops a serious fault on a line and despite not being on the phone / laptop all weekend my GF was monitoring the status of the repair and had to keep in regular contact with the customer throughout so it has once again taken over her weekend. According to her boss she is only entitled to claim money for the time spent on the phone and most of the time this is quite minimal however she is not free to do anything socially because of the nature of her work means she needs to be near a PC when an out of hours telephone call is received so she can log the fault etc. If she wanted to escalate this dispute what process would she have to adopt? I have thought about writing a letter on her behalf but i wanted to check that i was on the right track before doing so. I appreciate your help. Shane

Hi I am writing this question on behalf of my better half. She works for a telecommunications company and as part of her employment she is required to take possession of the works out of hours mobile phone and laptop to provide support for issues that arise out of normal working hours. Her boss says that she is only entitled to claim money for the time actually spent on the phone dealing with a fault. I have read elsewhere that if you are on call at the beckon call of the business you are classed as working - is this correct? Does my girlfriend have rights to claim for money at her normal hourly rate for any time when she is classed as 'on call' regardless if the phone / laptop is being used? Thanks in advance Shane

Hi DJ I've decided to keep quiet - i'd only get another fob off letter from HFC so i'm going to ride it out and see what the FOS say. I'll keep you updated! Thanks Shane

Quick update: I have received a reply from the FOS simply to say that they have received my complaint forms safely. They will now assign it to the applicable party. They warn that the amount of complaints on the PPI topic is immense. Is there a set time limit for the FOS to decide on a complaint or is the PPI complaint on a as and when basis? Is it worth writing to HFC / Beneficial Finance telling them i have formally complained just to keep a letter trail or shall i leave it simply to the FOS? Thanks Shane

Hi everyone A quick update. My boss done what had been recommended above i.e. raise a dispute with ebay. My boss also at the same time said he would give a full refund if the bike was returned to him in the same condition it was taken. The response that has come back is that the buyer is NOT going to raise a dispute with eBay, he is going to do so with with Paypal for a partial refund. Does anybody have an idea of what implications this would have on the seller i.e would they get a charge from Paypal later on down the line? Thanks Shane

Hi Thanks for all the replies. The eBay sale was only concluded over the weekend. There was no eBay complaint raised as of yesterday so we were just of the opinion that the buyer was trying his luck! I'll get an idea of the latest developments at some point today. Thanks Shane

Hi Conniff It was a sale by a consumer to a consumer. Thanks Shane

Hi people I wonder if you can help. My boss recently sold an item (off road / trails bike) on Ebay which was collected over the weekend. The buyer came down viewed the item, paid cash and went away. My boss has told me that when he viewed the bike they guy was very non explorative i.e. he wasnt really even interesting in performing a proper check. My boss insisted on starting the bike up before he left just to satisfy himself. Anyway 2 days after the sale has been completed the guy has come back and has said to my boss that the bike is not as described. My boss had the item as 'well maintained i.e. after each use he oiled and washed the machine. However the buyer is now saying there are suspension faults and has intimated that he wants approx 50% of the auction fee for the repairs that are apparently required. Can anybody advise how he would stand on this? Thanks Shane

Hi Angry Cat My complaint was made via Consumer Direct who very quickly passed it onto the OFT and then to my local Trading Standards office. They have promised to investigate and report back to me within 7 days. I am expecting a response early this week. I'll keep you up to date Thanks Shane

My complaint with Link is regarding an old Abbey National account. They constantly ring my parents phone, my work office number and my mobile number and will not acknowledge any of the letters asking for information that i send to them simply stating 'we are a telephone based business, we dont write letters'. I have reported them to the Trading Standards myself.

I guess i'll see what happens in a couple of month or so!

Hi I have a default registered on my credit file for an old mail order catalogue bill. I am at a loss as to when it should be removed from my credit file...can you help? The experian report has conflicting information and im not sure which date applies: The report shows that the account defaulted on 11/04/2005 a CCJ (Default Judgement) was registered on 5/5/2005 Are they supposed to be removed after 6 years and which date takes precedence? Thanks in advance Shane

Hi people I hope i have posted this in the correct section of these forums...apologies if i haven't! Well here goes...i guess i like many took advantage of the free iPhone 4 case program that Apple issued in response to signal issues on the iPhone 4. I opted to get the Griffin Etch from Griffin Technology Anyway i got the case, fitted it and thought about it no more until over the weekend i decided to remove the case to clean the phone. After taking the case off i noticed what looked to be a stain in dotted areas all over the back of the glass back. I attempted to clean the area with proper cleaning solution however no effect. I decided to report this to Apple and this is where i have become suspicious. I got through to the normal overseas technical support centre, explained the issue. After being on hold for 5 minutes the rep then came on to say that he was tranferring me to a colleague in Apple's head office in Cork, Ireland. I spoke to a senior manager who took what i perceived to be quite an unusual but gratefully received interest in the problem. I have had to send pictures off showing the staining etc. After all the above ranting i am wondering if anyone else has suffered a damaged phone as a result of using one of these cases on their iPhone 4? I cant see any information on problems reported on the internet!

hey people Just a quick update to say that i have finally gotten round to sending my complaint to the Ombudsman for their review. I decided i wouldn't wait around for the Judicial Review result as HFC / Beneficial wanted me to. It will be interesting to see now if the ombudsman agrees that Beneficial mis-sold me the PPI Policy. I guess ill have to wait a fair few months but i will post updates as and when they come through. Fingers crossed Shane

Hi Martin Nothing has happened since my last post. HFC wont decide on my claim until the Judicial Review has been completed. I really must get around to submitting to the FOS for review. I am wondering if this will take longer than the actual decision in the review?