Hi everyone I need some advice. A company I work with have a number of properties most of which are commercial but a couple are regulated. One of the properties was the sole tenancy of a man who we understand was in a Civil Partnership and he has unfortunately recently died. We need to be fair and do the right thing by his partner however, we also want to protect our investment and make sure that there is not a further succession of the tenancy as it is already way below market value for the properties which are highly sought after. Any advice on what we should do would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. A n d r e w

Cigarette smoke odours are very difficult to get out of a car and febreeze may not do it. Recommendations from my beloved Rover forums suggest: The best soultion would be a valetter with a fogging machine which should do it once and for all (a full valet will also give the new car feel - worth doing if this is your car to keep for the long term) A bowl of distilled vinegar in the front and another in the rear as the smell of the vinegar will take the smoke smell with it when it goes Bowls of instant coffee granules left in for a couple of days as they absorb odours Also if you are keeping the car Change the pollen filter (if fitted) as these things put all sorts of smells in the car (under £20 to buy for my Rover) Get an an air conditioning cleaning aerosol (under a tenner) Finally hope everything is now sorted after your torrid time.

When my wife took out additional learner insurance they contacted her out of the blue saying "her warranty had nearly expired" which was a surprise as: She has never owned a car My car, the insured one, is a Rover 75 purchased after the company went bust so has never had a warranty Based on this I would not trust them as far as I could throw them. For piece of mind I have a trusted garage - they do exist - a comprehensive recovery service and an excellent marque specific internet forum where I can get excellent advice whenever I need it (for my car google mg-rover forums and .org and you will find the one)

My understanding is that both cars were in the intermediate category. However, it is the following that is the basis of my frustration (taken from their e-mail to me when I queried the size of the Honda): Dear Andrew, Thank you for your recentenquiry regarding your reservation for pick up in Dubai - Airport on Fri,18 Mar 2011. As CarTrawler is amulti-national rental company operating with over 500 car rental providersunfortunately we cannot guarantee a specific car type within your selectedcategory. We do guarantee the category and capacity of your selected vehicle.The vehicle category you have booked is a Intermediate, which has the capacityfor 5 people and 5 pieces of luggage. The vehicle displayed onyour voucher is in this selected car category. Please be advised,that the example of a vehicle on your voucher is a sedan model, whichis more spacious than the standard Honda Civic, that is why it is in theintermediate car group category. Kind regards, Kasia CarTrawlerTravel Advisor The text in red is simply not true!!! One more thing - the staff at Dollar in Dubai were excellent and ex and the presentation of the car was first rate.

Heidi, Thanks for taking an interest. The car was actually supplied by Dollar. I accept the car was the same class and it is not this where my issue lies. It is the incorrect advice given before rental and the fact that it would not do what it said on their website in terms of people and luggage capacity. If they can confuse a petrolhead like me - what can they do for others who know nothing about cars?

Hi, I arranged to rent a car in Dubai through Car Trawler on the basis it would be Mondeo sized and be able to carry the number of passengers and amount of luggage stated on their website. When the confirmation came through I noticed it was for a Honda Civic Sedan and queried this with the rental company who assured me by e-mail that it was larger than the hatchback we are familiar with in the UK. On arrival in Dubai the car was significantly smaller than a Mondeo and we were almost unable to fit everything in the car. What annoys me is the following: I was given incorrect advice (I would have changed to a bigger car otherwise) When complaining to the company all they have done is referred to terms and conditions and not acknowledged that I am complaining about giving wrong advice Surely a rental company should know what they are renting out My complaint has never been addressed but they consider it closed (they have stopped answering e-mails). All I wanted from the company was an appology - nothing more - however the arrogance of their customer services department has really upset me so I want to take this further . I have a copy of the e-mail chain with customer services - including my query about car size before rental - but not the original advert. For info I believe this company is based in Dublin. Any help and thoughts on the next steps would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. A n d r e w

With issues such as the litter a common problem is that nobody may be sure who actually owns the bit of land in question and therefore who is responsible for it. I agree that badgering the TOC is the best idea as they may do it even if not strictly their responsibility.

All the train companies I use (East Coast, Grand Central and Northern) are very good with some excellent staff. My only gripes are: East Coast are very expensive (however their trains are always busy so its not stopping people) Grand Central have lousy catering and are not always good with info if something goes wrong - although they have some of the nicest staff, give free coffee to standard class passengers and are really cheap Northern seem to have got their trains on e-bay as they seem worn out however, I don't think this is down to them Compared with the alternatives of driving or flying to most places the train is very good. Travelling to London most weeks for the last 5 years I have only had serious delays (i.e. more than a few minutes) on a handful of occasions.

East Coast have just started to introduce 'print at home' tickets and I have received them when I have changes a journey. I travel so much this happens a lot! If the journey is for a change you would need the original tickets as well. Not sure how it would work if ticket was for a 'new' journey. Whenever I have had a problem with EC (or its predecessors) I have made contact with their customer services operations through their website and have always had my issues resolved without problem. Incidentally I think this is the best website for booking whoever I am travelling with. Please note that I am writing this as a regular traveller (2-3 journeys most weeks) and have no other connection with the company.

Intersting point. The initial focus at present is discussions with the bank and the organisation they are 'piggybacking' on. My wife - unlike me - is rather organised. Thanks again

perplexity - thanks for this - very interesting.

A big thank you for posting such considered replies so quickly. I will let everyone know what we do next. Thanks again. A n d r e w

I hope this is posted in the right place as my wife and I feel deeply agreived by the actions of a magazine. I have anonymised the text below deliberately. My wife has a very small business which she operates as a sole trader and was apporached by a magazine to place an advertisement which she did. This was only done as the publication in question presented itself as being something it wasn't i.e. affiliated to a specific and respected trade organisation which it was not. My wife has done the following: Telephoned the trade body - who claim this is very common for this publication and they are highly frustrated by their actions. Telephoned the publication itself who - unsurprisingly deny any wrongdoing and had the audacity to accuse her of libel (difficult for a phone call!) She is going to contact trading standards (but I know they have their limitations hence this thread) As the advertisement was taken entirely as a result of this publication misrepresenting itself (primarily by omision and slight of hand rather than overtly) is there anything that we can do as the money spend (c.£600) would be useful for the business and would not have been spent with this publication if they had been honest with us. In short we feel we have been conned. Thank you in advance for any help. A n d r e w

There will be several. This seems a good summary of the whole HGF issue. "The K-Series Head Gasket" - excellent technical article. - MG-Rover.org Forums If the original poster joins and sets down their questions on that forum I am sure they will get appropriate answers - I have to any queries I have ever had regarding my beloved Rover 75.

The K Series is a good engine but HGF is a known problem (even though some other engines are just as bad). For any technical issues or information on any remedial works necessary to address HGF go onto this site www.mg-rover.org as there is as much information as you will ever need and enough knowledge there to answer any query you may have.