Thanks

So no need to report this to Ombudsman for poor business practices?

@FTMDaveI just want this issue resolved one way or other ideally with the goods I ordered but as it stands my money is stuck for more than 2 months with me simply wasting time and efforts to no @dx100uk Thanks!! Can this behaviour not be reported? Not sure how it may sound to you but to me it sounds unacceptable

Using Debit Card. Who is my next point of escalation given that I am getting no response from Costco customer service or head office?

I purchased Nando’s gift card with £80 from Costco online towards the end of July which promptly arrived. However when I tried to use one of these I was told that it’s not activated. Not kicking a major fuss about this I contacted customer service and they took all card numbers and said they would check with supplier. However for a week I didn’t hear so I called again and was told to wait another week till issue is looked into. 3 weeks into this I contacted them again and was told they would raise this with head office and I would get a resolution, either activation or new gift cards in 72hrs but this didn’t happen for a week so I contacted again and was once again told to wait for a week as Head office has told branch to resolve this. Now after 10 or so days later when I contacted customer service again who said they would resolve issue by end of day and I made it clear I wanted either new gift cards, refund or activation by end of the day but I simply received email saying we have no further updates. Losing my patience, which I think rightly so as my £80 is stuck with Costco for 2 months I emailed and stated I wish to escalate this matter and since last two days I have no response again. What are my options here? I feel Costco is defrauding me by taking my money and sitting on it for 2 months. I say this is a more than reasonable time for any company to resolve issue, which they didn’t. They have not being reasonable in solving this issue either and especially when I never asked for any compensation for time, effort and distress caused. I believe this is breach of Consumer Rights Act 2015 and now I have written to them highlighting they are in breach of Consumer Rights Act for which I intend to write to Ombudsman and that any further remedies must include a compensation but again no response. Please help me with what are my options here? Am I right in thinking my next option is contacting Ombudsman?

Already looked at Vento Scale but basic question is that if they all count as 1 for the purpose of calculations or 3 separate Vento based calculations

Where can I find comparators and cases? It all started with 1 discrimination which leads to another discrimination and followed by victimisation and eventually leading to Constructive Dismissal. The employer wanted a Strike out for discrimination claim at preliminary hearing in tribunal but didn’t succeed. Therefore the asked for schedule of loss for possible settlement. This is what I am not sure about, if whether all discrimination should be differently calculated if there are common grounds?

Does anyone know how does multiple discrimination claim awards are calculated. For example if someone is claiming for (1) Disability Discrimination (2) Marriage Discrimination and (3) Victimisation will they all be individual awards based on tiers or is one lump sum award if successful? It will also be useful to know how to calculate these awards if someone can help!

It is very normal for solicitors to try and threaten you through out the process of your claim. They want to threaten you because the tribunal process is very costly and they want you to either back off from your claim or accept some really low Settlement Amount. The tribunal will not usually make cost orders and it is very rare for a tribunal to make cost orders (pay other side fees etc) unless your case was very weak/non existent. You may take a friend or colleague with you to Tribunal who can speak on your behalf.

All communication happened through email so there is no questions about any delays due to postal issues

Every union has a local on site rep like you mentioned and regional office where you can call and ask for a rep from another area independent of your company and your management and I would highly recommend request a rep who is independent of your work place. Regardless how high up she may be in management but grievance are always investigated by person higher than accused so in this would be her line manager at the least. Again it's highly recommended like previously you mention that she had threatened you nothing would be done against her therefore you need someone independent from her area of work to investigate this grievance and take unions advice on writing grievance

Sorry to hear what you had to go through. To answer your questions you are not over reacting to this. You should raise a grievance however you need to mention in grievance that being your line manager she had threatened to cause hindrance in grievance proceedings and therefore you don't believe grievance may be able to get the desired results and therefore would want this matter to be investigated by someone independent of your area of work if that is a possibility in your area of work. For example someone working in a store requests someone from head office to investigate grievance against line manager. Most importantly that is a breach of parking regulations so this be reported to parking enforcements and there is definitely a big element of bullying and harassment and even some discrimination against your disability so if you are part of union please raise this with them and they should give you some sort of advice and legal representation. Hope this helps

I agree you been devil's advocate but in that case it would be between their Physio and my brother's treating Physio, doctor and Consultant etc. But thinking in a least optimistic way I am thinking down the route of SAR to understand what have they based their decision on. To understand all medical history and evidence they considered to make this decision and their own observations. That way it won't be any feelings but only medical evidence vs medical evidence? Once I got that I will get him a solicitor or someone that can help may be from his own union. I also wonder the appropriateness of accessing him too late and if that could be a ground for challenge?

For now I am not even sure if insurers even considered his mental health side of illness therefore I wanted to see at their medical notes and video surveillance as even insureres maintain he used walking still with uneven gait all along. How will I be able to receive from GP? Will they still send everything to GP if I requested a SAR. I want to see all the medical notes and evidence they have considered including their notes from their accessor which they have based their decision on so it can be appropriately challenged? I am also thinking of saving some time by doing this. Do you believe that there is any element of breach as insurers were suppose to payout from September and it was not until January this year they decided to access him? If it is a breach then in your experience can we force them for a payout for such breaches?

Thanks Sangie your comment really helps as it gives another point of view. I am however not sure what you meant about there is no physical evidence of any issue? (he is been accessed by his doctors, physios and consultants and they all agree on his condition) To answer First and foremost on his condition and job which was your biggest area of concern. His job involves physically handling and caring for people some of them at high risk. There is no doubts on his physical ability as I can assure he can only do small distances that too with his stick and cant walk distances at all with or without crutches/stick. This is backed up by treating doctor, physio and consultants and even insurers say that in throughout surveillance he was seen to be walking with a stick and with an uneven gait. Therefore I was considering the SAR route to check what evidence is the insureres considering to decide this claim and what exactly does their accessor's report says about my brother? On his mental health side he has a long history of mental health issue since his probably his pre teenage days so its not something he started faking. This was quite bad at one stage however it receeded and merely bothered him later on. After this bullying and stress incident his condition has worsened and is currently back to its peak days including hallucinations and for this he is been under the care of Mental Health team for last 5-6 months uptil now and this includes various teams such as CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) and others something that seems to be clearly disregarded by his accessor. What is bewildering me is that knowing his job involves high level of care and physical activities how can insurers physio deem him fit for work when he cant walk without stick and is suffering from hallucinations? Also if his condition is triggered by work related stress (even though stress not being a medical condition) how will he recover if he is put back in same environment that caused him this issue in the first place? Other points I need to seek clarification is Considering he was supposed to be on Income Protection in September was it a fair practice from the company to get his evaluation done in January (approximately 4 months later) and how can assessing someone nearly 4 months after they should’ve been on Income Protection good indicator how their condition was 4 months ago? Finally what weight does company's insurers assessment carries over his own treating doctors, physios and consultants?

I haven't had much advice so I am likely to proceed by making a SAR request tomorrow and hope to see their evidence for rejection

Training day pay usually equals either normal days pay (contracted hours) for the day or actual hours for the day whichever is higher

Problem is the definition of Incapacity they quoted as "if you are unable to carry out material and substantial duties" I am baffled as he is in physically and mentally ill But their assessor thinks different to his treating doctors and consultants. They've also mentioned we agree he is stressed but stress itself is not a disease. But what they don't realise that he is so bad that he is not even physically and mentally around for his family so how on earth will he be able to perform material, substantial or even any duties specially knowing his condition is driven from work related stress in first place

Most certainly honeybee. Have you had a chance to see my thread? Please spare your thoughts if you could

Will subject access in this case will be relevant? I am thinking subject access might show their accessor's medical reasons and observations and my brother's own medical records that we can possibly challenge?

My brother currently has issues with income protection (another thread). His insurance's definition of incapacity was "if you are unable to perform material and substantial duties of your role"

I am starting this thread on behalf of my brother who desperately needs some help. He should've been on Group Income Protection by September however due to his bad health he never chased that up. He was then invited to attend a functional capacity assessment on behalf of insurer in January which itself was around 4 months later than when he should’ve started on income protection. He gave in his 200% in that assessment to a level that he ended up being with swollen legs and pain for next 2 weeks to follow. His illness started around March last year when he was getting bullied at his work place which caused him work-related stress and depression. The bullying continued and that lead him to a stage that he experienced paralysis symptoms in left side and lost strength in left side of body and he ended up being hospitalised. Subsequent tests and check-ups, physiotherapy (neuro physio), neurology consultants after thorough diagnosis ruled out stroke (luckily) and diagnosis were work related stress that caused his functional hemiparesis (losing strength in left side of his body). During this time, the management were still stressing his through different means while he had been off sick as a result his stress and depression got so out of control that it triggered Schizophrenia in him including hearing voices and hallucinations. Things like not being around for the family and being unable to carry out day to day activities worsening his condition and since then he is in care of Mental Health team. After a month, he received a letter of rejection quoting my brother doesn’t fulfil definition of incapacity and his claim was getting rejected. The basis of rejection was they believe there is no evidence of medical condition causing significant impairment in function and his reporting is inconsistent and unreliable (even though he disputes). They cited clinician believed there were number of inconsistencies in my brother’s reporting and his ability of walking and standing during formal testing were inconsistent with his reported left side weakness (even though he pushed himself over pain barrier to carry out these activities). They used around 1-2-day surveillance on him which was done approximately for around 1-2 weeks prior to his assessment and they quoted that surveillance showed him walk and stand unaided whilst grocery shopping and grip items and grocery shopping bags which doesn’t indicate functional loss. Even though they agree there is evidence that he used walking stick and displayed uneven gait throughout surveillance footage. He maintains that the bags referred to were very light. He also says that he doesn’t do these as day to day activity however on that particular day he was severely depressed as this shopping even though caused him physical pain but he did that as it gave him distraction and mental reassurance that he is not a burden on others. Now his mental health condition has further deteriorated due to further stress hence I am helping him with this and he has been given 90 days to appeal against this decision. I wish to get advice on following: 1) What should be his first steps to challenge this? 2) Given that he is physically incapacitated (as per treating doctor, physio and consultant) what weight does assessment from functional assessors carry when they say he is not functionally incapacitated considering they are paid by the insurers? 3) Does just lifting some light grocery bags justify him not being incapacitated? Even though he says it is not one of his regular activities and he did that to fight his depression and it caused him significant pain and distress? Considering that even they mentioned that surveillance shows him using walking stick and maintaining uneven gait throughout the surveillance footage) 4) Even if we ignore him moving with support and with uneven gait for the sake of argument agree with insurers no functional loss argument does high degree of depression and Schizophrenia including voices and hallucination not constitute incapacity considering his job involves high physical activities and care? 5) Considering he was supposed to be on Income Protection in September was it a fair practice from the company to get his evaluation done in January (approximately 4 months later)? 6) Is assessing someone nearly 4 months after they should’ve been on Income Protection good indicator how their condition was 4 months ago? 7) What should happen for the time between when he was due to be on Income Protection and till they assessed him? Any help is highly appreciated

Guys after a long painful journey I manage to win my claim. I contacted Retail Ombudsman and sent them all my evidence and correspondence. After all procedures and timelines Saverstore failed to respond to any queries from Retail Ombudsman. Retail Ombudsman couldnt have pursued the matter further as Saverstore were not part of any ADR scheme. However using this in addition to all the case and evidences I contacted PayPal. PayPal following their procedure gave Saverstore the opportunity to explain. Once whole matter was concluded PayPal ruled case in my favour and their decision was to refund me my money and allowing me to keep my item. I really appreciate for everyone who has helped me during the course of this matter and hope this will help others in similar situation to fight against online retailers who false advertise and dont fulfill their side of contract!!!!!

I've had a little update. My insurers called me on Friday and told me that they are calling for my car's valuation. I was surprised at first as why they want to do valuation on my car but during the course of the call insurers informed me that since the repair bill on my car will be £2000 they have decided to write my car off as CAT C. To make the issue worse they only offered me £1000 as car's value. I was furious as firstly I wanted them to repair the car instead as my car has been properly looked after but then understanding most insurers would write the car off I was furious at the £1000 offer. I asked them what is their valuation based on? Their reply was "Fair Market Value" based on age and mileage of the vehicle. I argued that my car has 4 New Tyres, recent service and is a luxury edition and I could've sold it for far over then £1500 (a fact) but they kept insisting its a Fair Market Value not the value the value it could've been sold as the value I believe my car would've been sold is my opinion not Fair Market Value. I asked if they have engineer's report and insurance agent said engineer's report is only for accessing damage and they dont have it as the insurance agent was responsible for valuation rather than valuation being based on engineer's report. So at that stage I said I would look for similar cars and send them details how much they sell for but he insurance agent still said some cars sell for more some for less we are offering Fair Market Value. I know they are offering me less than the car is actually worth what are my options at this stage?

I dont think this to be an issue. There's an arrangement being made between friends who want to compensate your father in law for the petrol, car usage and his inconveneance. If your father in law was picking up other random people or he was doing this as a profession I would've said he needs private hire insurance. However in this case I say he is fine. I am not a professional though lets see what others think