My wife received a letter from Lowell/Brian Carter with a return address of a PO box in Huddersfield claiming a debt owed to JD Williams. We live in Northants. My wife does not acknowledge any debt to Lowell and if/when these parasites issue a CCJ Can I demand the presence of a Solicitor from Brian Carter in court to be cross examined as to the validity or indeed the existence of the alleged debt? Rhino69

Ever since Sunday 09 November, I have been unable to log in to ebay without having to verify my account as they claim I am using a different computer (RUBBISH) I have used the same computer and broadband connection for over ten years. After giving my verification, they then send a PIN to my email address but i HAVE TO DO THIS EVERY TIME! But today, After giving my verification, they did not send an email after five whole minutes. What the hell is going on with ebay? :mad2: Anyone else had this problem?

I received a letter from HMG in early January 2013 to say that I was entitled to £130.00 towards my electricity costs. I immediately called the Warm Home Discount Scheme and gave them my details. They assured me that my supplier (British Gas) would credit my pre-payment meter with this amount. By March 13, no payment had been received so I called the WHSD and was told that British Gas had been given the information on 11 January and advised me to call British Gas. I called immediately and after giving them all my details, was told that the payments would be going out that week and the next week. 25 March No payment! Called WHDS again who told me that by law, the payments must be made by 31 March. I called British Gas again, giving all my details again and was told that the information would be passed to the team handling the payments. (whoopee F=====ing Doo!) 02 April Still no payment. I called British Gas again, explaining that I had spent my last £4.00 on electricity that would only last 2 days. I was told that a 'Tag Number' would be sent to my address and the meter would be credited with the £130.00 by Thursday 04 in the afternoon. If not, to call them again. 04 April Electricity ran out at 10:30hrs on Thursday morning and I had to use the £5.00 emergency facility. I called British Gas complaints dept at 17:20hrs. Gave all my information AGAIN and was told that it would take 4-5 days to process a complaint! I asked to speak to the MD Kevin Roxburgh whose name is on the back of my bill as a person to complain to at this number and was told that I could not be connected (Of course not!) Today, Friday 05 April, I called the complaint number, 0800 072 8633 to file a complaint. I could not understand the person on the other end of the line. I asked three times for her name without success. I asked to speak to her manager and was told that he spoke in the same accent. I asked where she was speaking from ahd she said,"AFRICA!" WTF! I tried again and called British Gas on 0800 107 7102 and surprisingly was connected quite quickly. I asked where they were speaking from and she said 'Edinburgh'. Slight improvement! Details given yet again, and was told that my details had been emailed from one department to another that was dealing with the problem and there was a delay to the bank holiday. (poor excuse, as the payments should have been made BY LAW by 31 March!) It seems to me that employees at British Gas have shown less than professional diligence in this and could care less about customer's hardships despite raising their prices and bosses wages! My wife and I suffer with arthritis and have had to choose between heating or eating for the last few freezing months. I have notified my local MP about this and hopefully, action might be taken!

With regard to gaining information. Can I request the full details of the names and addresses of all personnel involved with my account from the chairman down to the post boy? If threatened with court, can I demand the attendance of the Chairman/CEO and all personnel involved in court to be questioned about my account, their actions and explanation of their charges and interest and demand full disclosure of the amount that my debt was sold to a DCA for? I believe that if the company in question had to have all of these people attend court, then they would think twice about their losses. Ry

I have just looked up the definition of 'USURY' 1 : the lending of money with an interest charge for its use; especially : the lending of money at exorbitant interest rates 2 : an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest; specifically : interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money Following receipt of the letter from Barclays about this charge for going over the O/D limit by less than £2.00, £20,00 was paid into my wife's account two days later (Within their 5 day limit). Even Loan Sharks only charge 10-20% of the amounr borrowed, so why should Barlclays not be charged with Usury or Loan Sharking??? Barclays maintain that this Reserve Fee was initiated because my wife did not choose to 'Opt Out'. I think that I shall now write to Barclays and say that I shall charge them £30.00 for each letter that they send me unless they choose to 'Opt Out'! Rhinoceros nunquam victus ab hoste cedit. The rhinoceros never turns away defeated from the enemy.

Obviously,I'm not an expert on this, but surely, unless Barclays can show a true signed copy of an agreement that my wife agreed to this Reserve (Which she did not!) are they breaking contract law? Otherwise, why can't customers send a letter to Barclays to say that Barclays will be charged £22 for each time that they fail to respond to customers compaints unless they choose to 'Opt Out!' We Should write our own 'Terms and Conditions!' Grrrr!

My Wife recently sent a letter to Ms Deanna Oppenheimer Chief Executive, Retail Banking, Barclays Bank PLC, I Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP expressing opposition to these charges and claiming a refund unless they showed conclusive proof that they were fair. I sent the letter by Recorded Delivery on 29 April and received this reply today (14 May) Shown with contact details. Freepost RLTA-CSUE-TCHC Head Office Customer Relations London E14 5HP 0800 282390 Fax 020 7116 7563 QUOTE: Thank you for your letter of 28 April addressed to Deanna Oppenheimer. Ms Oppenheimer has passed your complaint to me and asked that I respond on her behalf. I am sorry that you are unhappy with the £22 Personal Reserve Fee applied to your account. Having reviewed your account, I must disagree with your suggestion that you have been charged and that this exceeds the cost of processing your transaction. The Personal Reserve Service, which was introduced in August 2008 is a facility which enableds (sic) qualifying customers to make use of a reserve limit in addition to any authorised overdraft they may hold. Customers were sent details of the Personal reserve Limit available to them and the fees they could expect to pay for using the service, Letters were sent out in June and July 2008. We have no record of your letter being spoiled i.e. damaged when it was originally printed, as any spoiled letters were re printed at the end of each mailing run. In addition to the personal letters issued there was extensive press coverage together with adverts in national newspapers to support these changes. We also included messages in customers' statements throughout July and August. For those customers who use our branch network we arranged for in branch marketing material to be available in addition to briefing all our customer contact staff, including our telephone banking advisors, to talk to customers about the Personal reserve Service. In addition for customers who do not use our branch network we also ensured this information was relayed through our online website service. Our Personal reserve Service is clear and transparent and provides an additional service to customers with short term borrowing needs. Customers had the oppotunity to opt out of the service prior to it being launched and as you know, are able to elect to have it removed from their account at any time. I have reviewed your account performance and am satisfied the Personal Reserve fee was correctly applied to your account following a card payment to W M Morrison PLC. On the basis that the changes were communicated to you and that you were given a notice period of at least 30 days to opt out, we believe the fee has been validly applied to your account and are therefore not in a position to refund you. I appreciate that this may not be the response that you were hoping for and confirm that you may now refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service for review. I have enclosed a leaflet that provides further information on the service they provide should you wish to pursue this option. Please note that you will need to refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of this letter. I am obliged to inform you that I do not believe that the Financial Ombudsman Service will uphold your complaint as it relates to a commercial decision by the bank about the terms under which it is prepared to do business; however that id for the Financial Ombudsman to decide. (Damn Right it is!) Yous Sincerely, (Signed) Jo Fussel Customer Relations Manager Executive Support Team Telephone 0207 116 4386 Unquote. My Argument is this: My wife did not agree to, or sign a contract agreeing to these charges and that these were initiated because she did not 'Opt out' If my wife sent a CCA request for a signed agreement to the bank that they obviously could not supply, do the same rules apply under the new OFT guidelines???

After My redundancy and both my own and my wife's illnesses, she found it hard to keep up payments to JD Williams. After visiting our local CAB, they helped write a letter to JDW asking for them to accept payments of £4.00 a month to them. J D Williams agreed to this, asking that payments be sent by the 24th of each month. My wife set up a Standing Order with her bank to pay this on the 10th of each month. On one occassion, My wife received a letter from JDW/Reliable collections to say that they had not received the payment and that a £12.00 penalty charge would be added to her account. After checking with the bank, it turned out that the bank had failed to pay this on the correct date and that they (The bank were at fault) and refunded this money. Recently however, my wife discovered that reliable collections keep changing the date of payment to an earlier date, then claiming non-payment and applying further charges! Can they do this? Is it not illegal for the DCA to add ANY charges extra to the original debt, never mind these additional charges. My wife has acted in good faith and set up the Standing order for the 10th of each month, but recently, this was paid three days later as this was Easter weekend. After checking with the Bank, they agreed that a Standing Order should be paid on the date agreed! A letter was sent off to JDW on the 29 April by recorded delivery giving this information and on checking the tracking, this was not recorded as delivered! Can I now claim the extra charges levied by JDW/Reliable from the Post Office! It seems that for each step forward, we are force two steps back. Rhino69

When I gave up on BT over ayear ago, I got tesco sim cards for my mobiles and just before Christmas, I got a Mobile broadband dongle from 3 mobile and this was the best thing I ever did. I only use pay as you go and this id perfect for my needs. I refuse to deal with or transact any business with any Company by phone and insist on written communications only. Companies do not like paper trails so don't waste time phoning - write to them and insist on written replies!

I am given to understand that some (If not all) Debt Collection Agencies purchase the debts owed at a discount. They then add on certain dubious charges and then demand sums in excess of the original sum owed. Can the DCA be forced to provide evidence of the amount that they paid for the debt? - If so, why should anyone be forced to pay any extra than the original debt owed?

My wife recently received a £12.00 charge against her Barclaycard account - even before she had received her new statement that showed that she had made a £20.00 payment off her old statement. I wrote a five-page letter to the person whose name was on that statement, holding him directly responsible for all charges and actions against my wife's account now, or in the future. I demanded repayment and expenses within 48 hrs and a written response within 7 days or less. I told him that he and everyone involved would be liable for prosecution under the Theft act and may also be found guilty of collusion to fraud and money laundering. I told them that they had deliberately allowed my wife's account to go over limit in the full knowledge that this would give them their excuse to apply charges and I stated that under no circumstances would my wif'es account be allowed to exceedthe limit and it was their responsibility to ensure that it did not. I also told them that any letter from them that did not say that the charges had been refunded would be considered to be their final determination and Walter Merricks, Chief Ombudsman would be immediately notifed. I referred to previous precedents and told them that I should need witnessess, proof of evidence and other information if they wished to challenge this. I also demanded £28.55 to cover my expenses in pursuing this claim against their illegal actions. ...Seven days later, my wife received a letter saying that although they did not believe that all my arguments were valid and that their charges were fair, blah, blah, (Yeah, right!) they had credited £48.00 to her visa account!

Yes, but it's supposed to be HUMOUR!

Following my recent battles with Lloyds and their intransigence,I opened a parchute account with HSBC, (I did apply to Nationwide first to open a BASIC ACCOUNT but was rejected by them!) On Monday 18 June, I opened my new BASIC ACCOUNT with HSBC. I then went across the road to Lloyds and told them I wanted to cancel my Direct Debits. "Which ones?", I was asked. "All of them", I replied. I was told that All my Direct Debits had now been cancelled. The very next day, in plenty of time before other DD's were due,I started to call those with whom I had Direct Debits to notify them that I had a new Bank Account. The TV Licence people did this instantly over the phone. I called my Insurance broker, only to be told by recorded message that their number had now been changed to an 0845 number - so I hung up! I called the Town Hall about my Council Tax DD they said they'd send a mandate straight away and I was to return it ASAP. (It took a week to arrive, and I took it to the Town Hall well in time for the 01 July Payment, but it took them so long to process, I now have to pay double on 01 August! I called the Water Board and they sent a mandate about three days later. After work that Tuesday, 19th. I visited my local tax office and told them I wanted to change my bank details for the (Alleged) overpayment of tax credits that these ********had stuck me with. They said I should phone. I told them that I do NOT call 0845 numbers. After a short discussion, they agreed to call the office responsible for me. Despite having the reference number that was on the letter that they had sent me, they could not find the information, so I gave them my Nat Ins number. It's as well that I had not phoned as this took well over 20 minutes. They said they would send a mandate and to return it asap. Same as the Town Hall - took a week! After visiting the Tax Office, I drove the three miles to my insurance broker. When I walked in and gave my name, the guy looked a bit embarrassed, and I asked why. he told me that their head office had sent me a letter asking why I had cancelled my Direct Debits and did I want to pay off my balance in full! It seems that Lloyds Bank had immediately notified those with whom I had Direct debits, telling them that I had cancelled. In the following days, I had letters from Orange, The Water Board (Who I had already spoken to!). The Council, The Income Tax idiots and the Insurance expressing concernthat I had cancelled my DD's! I do not belive that it is the business or the right of Lloyds to notify those with whom I have DD's. I immediately notified all those concerned myself about my new account details. I believe that Lloyds were p*****d off as I had cancelled all my DD's and my Wage payments into their bank! Wait... the best is yet to come. This Friday, 06 July, I had a letter from Lloyds to say that they had made all the payments from my account and that as this now exceeded my overdraft limit, another charge of £30.00 would be taken on 01 August! THERE WERE NO PAYMENTS TO MAKE - I HAD CANCELLED ALL MY DIRECT DEBITS!!! My Lloyds account is now effectively closed, and if they are stupid enouigh to keep adding charges, where do they think they are going to get the money from? I have personally delivered three letters to the branch, addressed to the manager, but he has just passed these to another office to deal with. IN MY OPINION, this manager is a useless poltroon without the guts to deal with his customers in person or by letter and is not fit to hold the position of manager as clearly he is incapable of managing customers accounts or dealing with customers complaints. Rather than hiding behind the bulk of the Black Horse again, IN MY OPINION, he is not even fit to clean out the stables!!!

My wife received this from a friend in the USA. I must confess, I was thinking about doing something along similar lines. Shown below, is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times. Dear Sir: I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows: IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH #1. To make an appointment to see me #2. To query a missing payment. # 3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there. # 4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping. # 5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature. # 6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home . #7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated, at a later date, to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier. # 8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7. # 9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. # 10. This is a second reminder to press* for English. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call. Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year? Your Humble Client (Remember: This was written by a 86 year old woman) 'YA JUST GOTTA LOVE "US SENIORS" !!

Hi! I was with N&P and got a load of crap from them until I wrote personally to the Chairman, Matthew Bullock who responded himself. David Presland is in my opinion a waste of time! Write to him at the Peterborough address or hand i your letter to your local branch and get a proof of posting signature. Rhino69

I received my BT bill on Thursday 07 June from BT. They expected me to pay this by 10 June! I have not made any calls from my BT line as I have Orange Broadband, and all calls are by mobile. They charged for a late payment (Which it was not) and a £4.00 'Processing Fee' I called them and told them that firstly, it is inappropriate to expect me to pay this within three days of receiving the bill, especially as the payment for line rental is IN ADVANCE and that most businesses have 30, 60 or even 90 days or more to pay their bills and asked if BT paid their suppliers within three days of receiving the bill! This met with a confused babble, followed by silence! I then said that I was willing to pay the bill there and then if they dropped the late fee and the 'Processing Fee'. They said that they would drop the Late Fee, but not the processing fee. I then said that I would send a strong complaint and refuse to pay the bill unless this 'Processing fee' was dropped. They said that they would note that I had entered a complaint. I felt rather sorry for the female that I was speaking to, as she was a very nice Irish lady . (edit) I then called the Post Office and arranged to have my number transferred to them, which will take 16-21days

Paypal have made it clear in their T&C's - if you don't agree to their terms or let them give your personal info to whomever they want, you can cancel your agreement. Not much of a choice Eh? Both ebay and Paypal have got just as greedy as the Banks, thinking that they can act like a cartel to the detriment of their customers! Ebay also recently made it difficult for UK sellers to have their items viewed on ebay.com in the US unless searches included title and content. Simple searcges did not show UK items and most sellers have recorded up to 90% loss of sales!!!

If I receive an unkown number, I first dial 1471 to find out if the number has not been witheld. I then call the numberfrom a mobile phone, making sure that my own number is not sent out. If it is a 0900 or o8xx number I cut off as soon as possible after hearing th name of the company. I then use Google to check the STD code, and some websites will also give a geographical location of the exchange. I have found that many of these calls are from call centers who have had your number passed to them or who have bought the information from companies that you have dealt with legitimately. The worst offenders are television programs that ask you to call or text to win a prize or to vote. See my thread athttp://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/95048-disturbing-information.html This is worrying! Rhino

My company who has not made a profit for over 4 years, last year took on 3 directors and several staff from another company which has declared insolvency. This in itself is suspicious, as both companies had been talking about merging for up to a year previously! I also believed that a person who had gone bankrupt could not hold a directorship of another company Last month, the workers were called together and told that the Managers and Directors (From the bankrupted company) had bought out the existing comapny which was now re-named. A couple of weeks ago, all workers were given new contracts to sign and were told that it would be illegal for them not to sign! When I was asked to sign my new contract, I refused, saying that my existing contract was valid, and that I did not agree to the terms of the new contract, which took away most, if not all of my rights under the employment act as well as the human rights act. One of the directors tried to force me to sign by saying that I had been illegally employed by my previous employers - strange, as I have been there for over 10 years without any problems. I told him that if he continued to try to get me to sign a new contract by giving me false or misleading information (Which he had!) or used undue pressure or harassment, we would discuss this at a tribunal! So far, nothing else has happened. As it is the general consensus amongst most of the workers that the new idiots in charge will make this firm bankrupt shortly, we're just hanging in there!

Just a thought? Considering the positions of Judges, Bank managers etc, Has anyone thought to ask for disclosure of membership of the Masons amongst these people and that any membership of the Masons or any other organisation may influence the outcome of any court case? Many years ago, whilst suing my landlord, I discovered that he and the judge that was due to hear my case belonged to the same lodge of the Masons and I Insisted that another judge try my case. The case was dismissed and I received over £5,000.00 in compensation from my landlords!

Following my ongoing disputes with various Banks, etc., I received numerous unwanted and intrusive telephone calls, many of these, hang-ups I wrote to each company in turn insisting that ALL communication MUST be in writing. I continued to receive calls from Lloyds and Direct Line as well as mystery calls from unknown callers. What I found most disturbing was the fact that my wife received at least three calls to her mobile phone, which when I traced the number turned out to be from a Company called Portal Solutions in Cardiff. How these people got my wife's number, I do not know but checking further, I detemined that this company is a member of an organisation called The Customer Contact Association. (Info below) Customer Contact Association __ Home Page And Board members are: Professor Charles Munn, Chief Executive, CIOBS Anne Marie Forsyth, Chief Executive, CCA Ewan Gowrie Rob Pike, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Michael Stock, BBC Peter Sunderland, Re-Active Marc Michaels, Central Office of Information Sally Jones-Evans, Lloyds TSB Formed in 1999, the Foundation Partner group is an established forum of both corporate and public sector influences. Its success to date can be demonstrated by the successful launch of the CCA Standard Framework. Organisations investing in Foundation Partnership have the opportunity to participate in the benefits of corporate membership and are also invited to participate in a wider range of activities which assist CCA in promoting best practice and professionalism and offer the group the opportunity to be involved in driving the collective voice for the industry. Foundation Partner Group includes: British Gas BT Capita Department for Work & Pensions HM Revenue & Customs NHS Direct Royal Bank of Scotland Group Royal Mail Sky Subscriber Services Tesco Vodafone Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 141 564 9384. Call Centre Association __ List of Members (List of Members) Checking out the list of members reveals many Banks and Finance providers and also disturbingly many foreign callcenter companies to whom information may be passed. I have sent a complaint to The Information Commissioner about these unwanted intrusions and believe that the information may be of help to CAG members. Regards, Rhino69

Have you read The Theft Amendment Act? This states that anyone involved in taking goods or money without the intention of returning such to the owner is guilty of theft! This should include the person writing the letter up to the chief exective? Am I Right? Any Barristers reading this??

It would be simple to avoid exceding one's overdraft limit if the banks did not deliberately allow Chip & Pin Transactions or debit card transactions to be processed knowing that the customer does not have the funds in their account! Account information is also misleading - When I have checked my balance at an ATM to determine my balance and then drawn out cash, leaving (As I believe) enough in my account for direct Debits, etc, I have then received letters (A week or more after charges have been applied) saying that there was not enough in my account! I have received different sets of balances after checking the balance at an ATM, withdrawing a mini-statement as well as a full statement within minutes of each action. The banks in my opinion deliberately mislead and give false information and in some cases deliberately hold back some debit payments thus forcing overspends to allow them to apply these unlawful charges. A few years back, if one paid by debit or credit card and there was not enough in the account, the transaction would be denied. I for one am not embarassed when I am told at a checkout that I don't have enough - I simply leave out a few items of shopping! It's just another example of the bank's peremptory actions in grabbing as much as they can from their customers!

This is good news, but Walter Merricks, Chief Ombudsman needs to step in more forcefully against the banks. Why have the banks, etc, not been charged with contempt for their deliberate procrastination and peremptory actions and continued failure to show up in courts, wasting the courts time?

Since I was unable to make my monthly credit card payment to Lloyds last month due to Unlawful charges applied to my current account, I have received three threatening letters in the last week, and also received four or more phone calls, which,when I called the number found by dialling 1471 which was 01268297654, all I got were three tones and a disconnect. I found out that the origin of the call was in Basildon, Essex. The last call was on Sunday, and I believe I read on one of the forums that it is illegal for any firm to call you after 20:00 hrs or on a Sunday. When I called BT tonight, they told me that the call came from Lloyds. As I have previously told both Yorkshire and Direct line, I shall not tolerate ANY calls to my home phone and all communication MUST be in writing. I intend to report Lloyds to Ofwatch and Oftel for harassment, and if I receve further calls from them after asking them to desist, I shall report them for harassment under the prevention of harassment act!