Okay. Will do. Also, we received a final letter just now from Lloyds saying that they are outright refusing to refund the charges because of the test case, and referred us to the OFT. Still waiting on the SAR though. Is it worth going through the FOS? Thanks, C J

Aye. Thanks. Replied.

UPDATE: Okay, so Lloyds TSB have sent us a reconstituted agreement, with a lovely letter detailing all the OFT guidelines on "not having to provide the original", and (to paraphrase) "stop trying to wriggle out of paying, and give us your money". I'm going over the agreement with a fine-tooth comb to see if there are any errors. However, they seem to be on the ball with this one. They included a lovely paragraph about them "not entering into further communication about this matter" too. Can anyone poke me in the right direction from here? Thanks, CJ

very late reply. (just noticed I hadn't updated the resolution) I found the managing director's name on the internet. And from their email system I figured out his email address. ([email protected] isn't that hard to guess). I sent him a very curt email detailing everything, and asking for his input within 7 days or we would seek legal counsel on the matter. Within an hour of me sending the email, I got a call from his personal advisor who took our story, and said she'd go away and see what she could do. The next day, she called back with an approved VW repair centre 20 miles away, who would collect the car and return it, and she arranged for a hire car to be delivered on the same day to cover the repair time. The car was taken, repaired and returned valeted. They hadn't used original VW parts, but it looked as good as it did anyway. Awesome. The only kicker came when reinsuring the car. The quote we received for renewal was the same premium price we paid initially, with the exact added cost of the repair on top. Needless to say we went with Direct Line after that who have been amazing. Case Closed. Thanks for everything!!

Okay. The CCA, Charges reclaim (found out she had a current account with them too, and they were charging her upwards of £70 a month whilst she was in receipt of benefits for three years), and the SAR request have all been sent today via recorded delivery. And now we wait. Thanks for all the amazing advice on here, I've noticed a significant improvement in her mood since we posted the letters off, seems like a large weight is slowly being lifted. We'll keep you posted as and when they reply. CJ

haha! Just read this on BBC news. How long before they ask for another bail out?

UPDATE: We're printing off the necessary letters and heading to the post office this morning. Just gone over everything with her, and she wants to pass on her thanks. x We'll keep you updated when we get a response.

In her name. Long story short, he played the "Oh, I've not paid the {insert bill here} can you pop it on your card until I get paid?" line until she was at her credit limit, sadly. Basically, he spent all his money and left the household broke and she tried to cover it using credit cards. She's paid one off already, and it almost killed her financially. Glad she kicked him into touch I'm much nicer

Downloading and reading now. I'll pass them on to her when she's awake and coherent. I plan on taking this as far as I can, seeing her upset is the worst thing for me. Thanks for the advice. I'll keep you posted. CJ

Hi guys. My girlfriend has been hiding from the phone for a few months, and finally broke down in tears to me last night. Her ex left her with a £3k credit card bill in Autumn 2003, and she had difficulty paying, incurring charges She contacted Lloyds soon after with an arrangement to pay a small amount each month. This ended and returned to regular payments. Later on in 2006 she made another arrangement to pay smaller monthly payments In April of last year, the agreement ended and went back to scheduled payments, in all the time she's been paying, her total balance is still £2850, despite paying over £2500 to them in the time. She suffers from depression and ME, so is in receipt of Incapacity Benefit and cannot pay very much. This is driving her up the wall, and putting massive strain on our relationship!! Can anyone give us some advice? She struggles dealing with stress because of her ME. Is there any way I could deal with this in place of her, or would the OC require her to put something in writing? I have a funny feeling that she is paying PPI too... Agreements in 2003 pretty much had it tacked on by default if I remember. Many Thanks, CJ

Update: Still stonewalled... They have agreed to let the car go to an authorised VW centre, some 100+ miles away and apparently it's my responsibility to get it there and back... They just keep referring to the T&C outlined in the contract.

It says in the policy wording: Section A But you can only access the policy wording once you have taken out the insurance... What the hell am I paying for?

They have an itemised estimate from the dealer we got the car off (fairly priced, if you ask me), however as there are a couple of things on the estimate that aren't backed up with photographs (i.e. the damage is to the internal supports, and photographing them is nigh on impossible without removing the front end) they are ignoring them from the estimate. Their response to my requesting an authorised VW repairer was "There aren't any in your area that we deal with, and it's your responsibility to take the car to one if it is further than 30 miles away" Although I did manage to get the direct number for the 'claim technician' handling the case from the lovely bodyshop guy at VW, so I've resorted to direct phonecalls instead of emails.

Hi all, Just after Christmas we had a bump with a stationary van (our fault). We took the car into the VW garage (it's a new polo) and got a quote for repair. Now Swiftcover are denying that half the damage is due to the accident, and will only settle for £24/hr labour charge. I have contacted several bodyshops in the area and the average working charge is about £30/hr. Basically, they are pushing us into using their two-bit repair shops rather than a VW-approved one, which I'm not comfortable doing as the car is still under warranty... Where do we stand on this? Thanks