Hi, Yes I guess we'll have to see with regards to the expenses of the other parties involved if this claim will cover everybody, fair point. I just put it in my name because it was me that won the competition and dealt with ML. With regards to the travel, all four of us travelled from Norwich to London by train and were promised a restaurant evening meal for all of us which we didn't want to miss so we booked accommodation in central London (which was pricier being London) but it avoided the need to rush off to make the last train after the meal. Had the day been what we were promised we would have paid for that accommodation out of our own pockets but my argument is that had we known that it was mandatory we purchase photographs at several hundreds of pounds we would have identified that it was a 'swizz' and not accepted or found ourselves in London at great expense. ML kept that information very well under wraps to get us there and trap us. There was no 'prize' and what they did was clear mis-selling resulting in us spending money we otherwise would not have spent. I see what you mean about us having to eat anyway, you're right, but we would have eaten at home, not in Central London because if the day hadn't been mis-sold to us as a 'free prize' we wouldn't have been there. Obviously we didn't get the evening meal that was promised and I have since found out this evening meal was only a voucher to get free entry into a restaurant/bar where more money had to be spent- again more mis-selling. When I invited my guests to come I sold them the same information that ML sold me, that they would only have to initially fund their travel (M.L said the travel costs would be reimbursed by them afterwards but were not), any refreshments while travelling and then the hotel room which they would have to foot themselves. They thought they were getting the complimentary evening meal but as the meal didn't exist we had to eat in Central London (again expensive) and the cost had to be put on credit cards because it was unexpected and nobody had any extra cash. The whole experience was embarrassing and physically and mentally exhausting. The £700 consists of the £120 deposit, return train tickets for 4, tube tickets for 4 and the evening meal for 4 which was just a basic meal, no bottles of wine and only 1 drink each. We didn't include all the extras such as the £30 car parking fee at the train station, the holiday our husband's lost in taking time off work to accompany us in this farce or the extra refreshments we had as we considered this unreasonable. I agree with you, I'm not sure what a judge would make of the expenses. This remains to be seen but it's worth trying to reclaim because none of us are particularly comfortable with money and we incurred expenses as a result of their deliberate mis-selling and fraud. The way I see it is that ML should foot the bill, we'll see. Thanks guys x

Hi Guys, Back with an update. A little delayed due to the time it took to get hold of the Court by phone. Basically they've said that the reason judgement was rejected is because Makeover London have issued a part Admission and that this is on the way to me via post. So just waiting to get this now and then to work out where to go from there really. Thanks Elm x

Ok to all and thank you. I will call the court tomorrow to find out why judgement wasn't granted and let you know the outcome.

Ok, sorry about that. No there was no additional correspondence. I did send them a letter before opening the court case explaining why I was unhappy giving them notice of my intentions with Court action and the opportunity to resolve it with me first but they ignored it. Ok, I've attached the claim particulars in text form. Hope this is what you needed to see. Thank you.

Hello & thanks for responding. Yes that's correct, they were on Watchdog recently. I'm not very good with technical stuff so I will try & get my husband to help me get the claim for on here. Thanks

Hello, I wonder if anyone could help. I'm sure you've all heard of the Makeover Photo shoot con in London and seen them on Watchdog recently. I entered to win a free makeover by magazine this year and was called and told I had won. I was told I could bring up to 5 people and we would experience a celebrity style makeover with top London make-up artists and hair stylists, drinks throughout and an elite photo shoot followed by dinner in a London restaurant for us all. Naturally I was over the moon as I have never won anything before. I invited my friend and because we live 2.5 hours away from London we decided to bring our husbands for company/safety and to stay overnight in London, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to have the meal as we would need to catch a train home that evening and would be too late. They took a £120 deposit from me which they assured me would be returned and was redeemable against photos. What they didn't tell me was that the purchase of photos was mandatory and that the minimum cost would set me back £400. Had I known this I wouldn't have gone because I just don't have that kind of money. Anyway, off we went to London blissfully unaware that it was a complete con. We arrived and had a speedy and shoddy makeover by a very young just qualified Makeup artist who was also the 'top London Hair stylist'. The drinks served throughout turned out to be 1x orange squash. The photographs were awful! Really cheesy and tacky. When we were shown them we were stifling giggles because they were so terrible and we looked awful. We soon stopped laughing when we were told we needed to buy 11 photographs for £400 otherwise we would have to pay for the makeover and shoot which was worth £800 and would be subject to court action. We asked which part of the experience was the competition prize and were told the free Makeover and shoot was the prize but now we needed to buy the extortionate dis-proportionate pictures- or else! After it got heated we had to get up and leave without the return of my £120 deposit and with no evening meal as promised. We were absolutely starving, thirsty and shattered form all the travelling and waiting around. I'm sure if our husbands were not with us it could have turned nasty and I have seen that for some women it has, with locked doors and physically being held against their will till they paid. The long and short of it is that myself and my friend and our husbands are out of pocket because of them. We paid for train tickets, accommodation, an evening meal, tube tickets and refreshments plus our husbands lost holiday time from work in booking the time off to accompany us. We have lost over £700 being involved in this [problem] (including the deposit) and I have opened a court claim online against them in an attempt for reimbursement of our expenses. I opened the claim on 24th May, it was issued on 27th May and deemed served on 1st June. The Makeover company issued an acknowledgement of service right at the eleventh hour on Sunday 15th June and as at 1st July there was no defence listed as being received and I had nothing more in the post so I requested judgement on 1st July. I have logged in today to MCOL and it says that judgement has been refused. Why could this be please? I thought I had followed the correct timeframes and done everything by the book and there is no defence so why have they refused to grant judgement? In addition the makeover company have been calling my mobile leaving messages asking me to call them but I want everything kept in writing as evidence since this is now a legal matter and I will have no proof of anything they say to me. The way I understand it is that I am not obliged to speak to them over the telephone. I am sure if they genuinely wanted to negotiate with me and make an offer to resolve this it would be done by the book in writing. Going by the fact that they operate a business ripping people off, you can understand I don't wish to speak to these people on the telephone. How do I proceed with this now? I thought the timeframe for their defence had elapsed and with no defence should it not be judgement by default? They've had plenty of time to put their side across but haven't bothered yet. I don't see what defence they have to be fair, what they do is daylight robbery! In the meantime I'm an extra £60 down trying to get justice not just for the return of the expenses these jerks cost us but also to help stop them doing what they're doing to vulnerable girls and women. Please could somebody advise? Thanks guys x

Hello, My local council intends to serve my husband's employer with an attachment of earning's order for Council Tax. My husband is worried about others in the workplace finding out about this- especially as the person who deals with the wages is a gossip and thrives on things like this, it is sure to become common knowledge. My husband is very anxious and wants to keep this matter private..does he have any rights in terms of confidentiality here? Many Thanks

Hi there, Was just after some opinions on my situation with the online company sportsdirect.com. If you google for reviews you will see I am not the only person with a complaint about this Company, they seem to be known for being 'cowboys', shame I didn't forsee this before I visited their website and bought goods! On 12th June I ordered from their website 2 mugs and 2 t shirts as gifts for 2 people. The items arrived in good time however the courier remarked that he could hear broken pottery in the package. I signed for the goods but wrote 'damaged' on DHL's screen. On opening the parcel it transpired that BOTH mugs were smashed to pieces. The T shirts (which were white) had black smears down the front. Obviously having paid money I was not happy at being in the posession of 2 useless smashed mugs and two stained t shirts! How can you pass these off as gifts? I certainly wasn't prepared to start scrubbing the t shirts! I contacted Sports Direct and it turned out they expected ME to bear the costs of returning the items by recorded delivery. It was quite a large parcel and I estimate it would have cost around a fiver- a cost I could not later recoup as they claim the customer is responsible for returns charges. Why should I foot the bill for this having been delivered smashed faulty goods? Aren't I already out of pocket and inconvenienced enough? I know many Companies will foot the bill for returns when items are faulty- why should sports direct be exempt? I told them I refused to pay the postage and they offered me a freepost address as an alternative- however it says on their website t&c's sending the items back are entirely at the sender's risk. I sent the items back on weds 16th June and got a certificate of postage as proof of my sending the items- however as it was freepost and not recorded there is no tracking number- just a stamp, date, cashier's signature and recipient company name/address. Still proof enough of postage! I emailed advising them the items had been sent back and they sent 2 emails in response basically asking to see proof and advising me they hadn't recieved the items back. I scanned and sent the picture of the certificate of postage and in response I have recieved an email back saying it may take up to 28 days for the item to arrive as it was freepost! Hmmmm why ask to see proof knowing it may take 28 days then? According to the website t&c's they have quoted 30 days as a general timescale for refunds to be made ONCE they have advised eligibility for the refund. So effectively I could be waiting 30 further days once they recieve the goods back (which itself may take up to 28 days) for my refund! Possibly up to 58 days in total then? I find this disgusting! An item could arrive quicker from the other side of the world- just because it's freepost, why should that equal such a long period of waiting? Or is this timescale for them to retrieve the item from their po box? Any reponses to my emails have always been one or 2 lines long with no explanations, no acknowledgement of my comments and concerns- it would appear that if they have their way I could have to wait much much longer to get my money back. I intend to go back to the post office to see if they can locate the item. I believe it is already sat waiting in their po box and that they just haven't collected it- obviously cannot be bothered as the goods are damaged and worthless to them. I have advised I will be reporting them to trading standards as even without the unfair waiting time, I don't beleive their returns policy is fair. It would also appear they are known for their shoddy service- I am surprised they've not appeared on watchdog! Can anyone advise of their opinion on this? What are your thoughts? Many Thanks

Thanks guys. Sillygirl1:My grandad wanted to put this debt in with his IVA and it was going to go ahead until they realised at the last minute that my nan was not named in the IVA and it was his alone. They then refused to allow the debt to be put in with the IVA and pursued my nan alone for it, so it never went into the IVA. They also refused to write it off after grandad died because the loan term and life insurance/ppi had long expired. As I say, the original agreement was 60 payments of £163.33 which would make the total amount owing under the agreement £9799.80 I have just sat and trawled through the payments and she has paid £8645.44. So as the original amount owed was £9799.80 it would suggest she owes another £1154.36 under the original agreement. So she hasn't overpaid on the agreement. They claim she still owes them a further £1527.73- the extra £373.37 is charges for telephone calls, letters and returned payments. She was (until i stepped in) paying them £28.00 per month but was struggling to maintain it. In their latest letter with the SAR they have offered to accept payments of £15.00 per month. This would mean she's have around 101.8 payments to make- if she lives another 8 years! So it seems I can't claim she has overpaid because she's not yet paid the full contractual amount owing. Is there any other loophole I can use to get the debt written off? It's ridiculous. She will most probably pass away before she pays it off and it's already 20 years old. If she carried on with £15.00 payments it'd take it to 28 years old! Really it should have been placed into the IVA my grandad had. He was the one working with the income- it doesn't seem right they can still legally pursue his wife even if it was joint, she had no income. He was the breadwinner. Can I use this arguement? If I could, I could then calculate interest on the payments she made after his death and threaten court/press action if they don't write the balance off? What kind of outcome should I be pushing for here? Many Thanks again

Hi Guys, I'm back with an update but the situation has changed completely! Basically I sent a SAR and have today recieved all the documentation. It looks like my nan has got herself mixed up with a few key things but at the same time I question the debt's validity as it is extremely old. From my findings from the SAR it would appear this was a personal loan for £5000,00 and it was actually taken out in July 1990, 20 years ago! So it would appear this was a loan for something else- not for the windows which is something entirely different. My poor nan's memory is failing her a bit I guess. But who can blame her with it being a 20 year old debt! Anyway I have a photocopy of the agreement signed by both my grandparents. The details as follows: Protected payment premium: £487.50 AMount of Loan: £5000 Total Loan; £5487.50 Monthly repayment: £163.33 Rate of interest per annum variable: 25.7% Annual percentage rate of charge variable: 28.9% Number of monthly repayments variable: 60 signed and dated 16/07/90 As you know my grandad died in 1999. This debt was to be put into an IVA he had before he died and was going to go ahead until they discovered my nan wasn't part of the IVA and challenged her solely for the debt! After he died my nan tried to get the payment protection insurance/life cover they had on the loan to write off the rest of the balance but apparently the loan term had over-run due to them having fell into financial difficulty and were making reduced payments and so they refused to write it off and have pursued my nan ever since. They know she is only on a state pension and my grandad's small private pension and as I udnerstand she was up until recently paying £15 per month but between them my grandad and her paid a hell of a lot over the years- the exact amount I am going to have to calculate manually. I have a list of all the payments credited to the account and as soon as a payment is made the amount rockets with interest (which i don't understand) so that the balance never really reduces. I have papers of about 5inches thick showing payments made yet her balance is still just under 2k for a 5k loan 20 years ago! Ok so what I need to know guys is: is this debt legit? Should my nan keep paying or not? Do we have any loopholes to get this debt written off? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi there, Not sure if I'm posting in the right section but basically I was employed up until recently with a large Company. They offered various payroll benefits to purchase things. Last October I took on a hire purchase agreement for a computer and was paying through my wages every month for it. I have made around 7 payments (totalling to about £300) but I have now ceased employment with this company. I thought I would be able to continue paying the monthly amount through my own bank account for the computer but I have been told that is not allowed as it is only available for employees and the full amount becomes outstanding immediately and the hire purchase scheme terminates. I don't have the money to pay the balance in full so I am prepared to send the goods back. All packaging etc has been kept and the goods are in perfect condition. However I spoke to somebody on the telephone from my payroll who told me they would be looking to get the balance reduced with my last pay. My last pay is coming up and my employer's payroll said they intend to take ALL of this pay to reduce the balance on the computer!!! There is around £1000 outstanding for the goods but I'd only be paid around £300.00. If they did this I could not pay my rent! I can't afford for them to do this. I need my pay. They have already had this month's installment, why not stop the agreement and take the goods back? Plus, I can't pay anything else on the computer so it will ultimately HAVE to go. It seems like they won't take it back though and that I will have to pay the total balance which it looks like they are wanting immediately. Can I stop them for utilising the whole of my pay as payment towards the computer? And can I return the goods? As I say, I will not be able to pay my rent if they take my last pay away. I thought that hire purchase was exactly that and that if the hirer could no longer pay, the goods would be returned? Surely they won't take all my pay off me and then demand the rest of the balance after that immediately? And even if they did take all my pay I still couldn't pay the remainder so I would lose my pay for nothing and ultimately the goods would go back still because theres no other way. I don't have a copy of the terms and conditions of the scheme I'm afraid. Somebody from payroll who deals with this is calling me tomorrow. Does anyone know my basic rights here so that i can be prepared before they call? Thanks

Hi Guys, On looking at some paperwork today I discovered Paragon Personal finance seem to be handling this so called 'debt' on behalf of an original creditor named Universal Credit LTD. I have done the SAR addressed to paragon, also my letter yesterday. Do you think this will suffice or will I need to send these also to Universal credit- never heard of these and not sure where to obtain an address. I would ahve thought the broker, Paragon, would ahve all the info on my Nan and the account seeing as they are the ones providing statements and asking for payment. Thanks

Thanks guys. I'm going to print out a SAR this evening and get it sent off tomorrow. Do I take it that when a SAR is requested they have to provide sttaments of account including any payments made/statements? I don't really think my nan is totally 'with it'- she doesn't have a clue how much she's paid because it's been so long and I think after her husband died she gave up caring. She has been paying by debit/credit card over the phone- I'm wondering whether we should now report her cards as lost/stolen in case they try to charge her card now they know I'll not be allowing any further payment. Thanks for the advice, I will keep you updated as to what happens after the SAR and I'll take it from there. dx100uk- I will certainly try to locate and bring thios to the attention of Dom, thanks.

Hello and thanks. Yes unfortunately she has been paying them- for 11 years and still allegedly owes a lot more, in the thousands range. Thats a pretty expensive set of windows made from thin air right? I did think myself if communication and payment was being made the debt cannot be statue barred. It is so annoying to think she has stood for this and paid them all these years for absolutely nothing. I am hoping there may be some way in which she can get these payments refunded as she was effectively bullied into paying. Sadly she has not kept anything back from zenith windows or any bills of sale contracts etc so I have written asking this company for a copy. I just wish I knew about this sooner! Thanks.

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice on behalf of my grandmother involving an alleged debt going back to 1998. My grandparents were going to have a couple of windows put in by Zenith Windows in 1998 and this was going to be financed by a Company called Paragon Personal Finance. Some time later for some reason they never ever got the windows but this finance company insisted they still owed for them- some kind of contract clause perhaps protecting their interests if the windows sale fell through? I'm not sure. My nan has not kept any contracts or bills of sale as it was so long ago. To be honest my grandad had terminal cancer at the time and he was normally the person that would deal with things like this, so matters were let slip. My grandad before he died was made insolvent with some business partners of his so he took this debt and passed it onto the firm dealing with the insolvency for it to be wiped off. However, the company soon found out my nan was not insolvent only my grandad and so they wiped his name off the debt and started chasing her. Sadly my grandad died in 1999 and ever since then this company hounded my nan and she has been making payments to them ever since up until now. So we are talking 11 years and it is still not paid! My mum accidently opened some of her mail today when I was there and we found it was a threatening letter from this Company tleling her that her so called 'account' was in arrears and they added £80.00 onto the balance in telephone call charges. Firstly, what law in this country says a peron has to pay for goods or services they never actually recieved? Secondly the debt is several years old and in actual fact, is it REALLY a debt? How can my nan be in debt for windows that were supposed to be fitted 11 years ago and weren't fitted? Also my nan is an elderly widow on a pension and she has obviously been a bit naive and has poor understanding of the whole thing. I think it's disgusting! So I have written a long letter and posted it by recorded delivery telling them the account is now in dispute and that the debt itself is questionable and I shall be sekeing legal advice etc. I have also got my nan to sign to say that I am now her representative and she is not to be harrassed or caused any more distress. I also said no further payments would be made, challenged their ridiculous charges for telephone calls and told them it was my intention to have my nan reimbursed for all her payments made so far possibly with interest on top if it is found this debt is not valid. I also told them I would be contacting trading standards/OFT. I insisted that she is not called by telephone and a note made on their system of this, that all contact is to be kept in writing and any letters found to be threatening will be kept to build a case of harrassment. I also requested to see a copy of the signed contract or any bill of sale. So what do you think of this so called debt? Does it sound valid and is there any legal clause in the UK for goods/services like this that says they still need to be paid for even though never recieved? Additionally I would be so grateful if anybody could point me in the right direction with regards to what my next course of action should be. Am I dealing with this correctly? Many thanks in advance