Just as an update to this. Finally after 3 months of arguments, they agreed to refund me in full for the Silentnight bed on the grounds that it was unfit for purpose and I was not happy to accept a replacement as I no longer had any confidence in Silentnight products I do have a new thread now though as I'm having a hard time ordering a replacement bed through Fashion World. It's like they are deliberately making it hard for me to re-order a replacement. Thanks for your help DX

Wow, I just re-read through that now that I've calmed down, and it sure is a lot of rambling. I guess I just don't like being lied to and told that an order is all confirmed and a delivery date set only to find that it hadn't been ordered at all. Twice! The main question for me really is, can I ask for the money back I've paid in interest over the last 12 months? The bed was not fit for purpose and has been refunded in full, but only into my credit account - I've paid roughly £130 in the last 12 months on the bed in interest at 34.1%, so should I get that back as well, and if so, paid into my bank? Thanks

Hello there, and thanks for reading Back in December 2012, I complained to Fashion World that a Silentnight bed I had bought from them in March 2012 was completely useless. After 3 months, they have finally agreed to refund me my money and allow me to order a replacement. Great! Or so I thought... I rang through on Monday 4th March and placed an order without problem, put in a 10% off voucher code, the chap I spoke to (didn't get his name) adjusted the order to reflect the 10% off, and said that he would also adjust it so I wouldn't have to pay the £55 delivery fee. On the Thursday 7th, I received a letter that stated that Fashion World were unable to supply the bed I had ordered and that an alternative had been ordered instead. I rang them up to find that the bed they had replaced my choice with, was unsuitable. I asked them to cancel that order, and I would find a replacement myself. I attempted to place the order online, but the voucher code I had previously been given was not being accepted by the system, so I rang the order through. I spoke to a delightfully helpful (not being sarcastic) rep, who talked me through the order. She said that it had come up on her system that I had to pay a 10% up-front fee before she could complete the order, when I asked why as I had never had to do that before, she said, don't worry about it, it's just one of those things that come up from time to time. She placed the order, adjusted the total to reflect the voucher code and once again, removed the delivery fee. Job was a good'un So this morning (Sat 9th March), I logged in to find that no order had been placed I've just got off the phone having been told that they will not place the order unless I pay 10%, and nothing I said would make any difference. I was told that no order had been placed on Monday, or on the Thursday even though it was showing on the system as cancelled! So here I am confused as to why I now have to pay 10% on a catalogue account on which I have nearly £2000 credit available. I am unable to pay the 10% as I don't have it until I get paid at the end of the month. I'm on the verge of telling them to shove the whole thing and get the bed from elsewhere. One question though, I have been refunded into my credit account the value of the original bed, but not as yet the £55 I paid extra for delivery. As I have paid interest at 34.1% for the last 12 months, can I ask for that back too? If so, can I have it paid into my own bank (that I paid it from), or would it have to be credit account? Many thanks in advance if you are able to help me

Thanks DX, Unfortunately, I paid via credit account with Fashion World. It's a mail order catalogue with a credit agreement. Basically, I'm still paying for it, and will be for the next 12 months or so...

Okay, I've been trying to dig through the wealth of information on the direct.gov site for consumer rights etc. It would appear that as we have had the bed over 6 months, it is up to us to prove that we have not mistreated the bed and the fault is not down to wear and tear, not sure if I got that right though? As I'm in my 40's, my days of jumping up and down on beds has long gone, and the bed rarely sees any other action, if you know what I mean lol I'm medium build and weigh 12 stone, my partner while much younger is of similar build and only weighs 10 stone, so a combined weight of 22 stone is not exactly pushing the bed. Reading through some reviews of SN products online, there does appear to be a problem with the springs sticking through the top, and the base creaking etc, so one could argue that they are not fit for purpose. Still passing emails back and forth, but currently waiting for FW to get back to me. I would ring them, but it's a premium rate number, and from past calls, they don't exactly rush the calls! Is there much chance of getting a refund (or partial refund), or will it have to be a replacement? If I do have to accept a replacement, can I request a slightly better bed? TIA

Hi, Around 10 months ago, I bought a bed from Fashion World online catalogue. We desperately needed a new bed, and didn't have the money at the time which is why we chose Fashion World as I have an account with them. A couple of months ago, it became apparent that the bed was falling apart, it creaks every time you so much as move a muscle and the springs are sticking up through the mattress - it is extremely uncomfortable. We've taken to sleeping on a spare duvet and blankets to make it bearable. Around a month ago, I contacted FW and explained the situation and said that the bed was non repairable and would need replacing. I heard nothing for a few days and was then told that I must ring Silentnight Beds directly and they would help. I contacted SN as requested, but was lead on a merry go round ride through different persons/departments etc before finally being told that I would need to contact FW directly as they are the retailer. One month on, and I'm still waiting for a proper answer from FW. They say that if I agree they will instruct SN beds to pickup and replace the said bed. I have said that I'm not prepared to have another SN miracoil bed as online reviews are all slating them. I have requested a full refund so that I can purchase a different brand bed from FW. I have so far been told that SN beds are unauthorised to refund my money??? I am under the impression that as the product is under 12 months old, and as it appears to be unfit for purpose, I am entitled to a full refund. Is this right? Assuming that I am entitled to a full refund, do they have to pick up the bed? It's a kingsize, and I had to pay a £55 delivery supplement (£58.99 total) when I purchased the bed. I certainly can't afford that kind of charge to get it back to them! Any help anyone could give would be great... TIA

My mistake, it was not when I first started the cover, it was after I changed my car. Same basic principle though, they unlawfully took £20 from my account when I was told they would not. This was back earlier in the year. Can I claim interest at all, or is it not worth it? Thanks.

Hi, I used to be with Budget for my Car Insurance. When I first started the cover, I was 'fined' £20 for not returning a form I was never sent. Eventually and after costly phone calls, I got the form, sent it back, but never received the £20 back I was told I would. I recently sent them a letter stating that I wanted £20 plus the cost of calls to them for their mistake. The total was £25.37. I was phoned by someone in their complaints department who promised me the money within a few days. 2 months on, I'm still waiting. I want to send them one more letter before I take this to the small claims court. My question is, can I ask for other things to be added on such as my time and the cost of the letters, or the electricity I have used for computer time etc? The last letter I sent them cost me £1.55, so if I send another one, that would be a total of £3.10 that their actions have cost me (in addition to costly phone calls) in order to get my money back. Can I add this to the total to be paid back? I basically want to send them one last warning letter that if I don't receive my money back plus other costs accrued so far, I will be taking legal action. Thanks in advance

Thanks Ell-enn and brassnecked. So, I'll draft up a covering letter for them. Would it be worth putting something along the lines that I'll be complaining to the OFT/ other governing body and that I do not give them permission to turn up at the property again? Not sure on the ways around this seeing as BIL is actually living there. As for the warrant for arrest, are they legally allowed to do that? I thought it was only a police officer that can make a full arrest. I'm guessing though that if this did happen, BIL would be held in court holding cells and would be put up in front of a judge in which case he could request a means hearing? One other thing regarding the statutory declaration, to say that there is no items belonging to anyone else in the property is not strictly true as BIL has clothes etc. Not sure if that counts or not. Meant to say, the bailiffs are from Marstons PO Box 308, Waltham Cross; anyone have their full address as I don't think you can send a recorded letter to a PO box. Thanks everyone

Lovely, thanks Ell-enn, I'll pass that on to MIL. Should the covering letter by from my BIL since it's his problem, or would it be best to address it from my MIL? @ brassnecked, thanks. I'm guessing that if BIL is seen driving any car by the bailiffs, they would assume it was his? Shoot first, ask questions after type of thing. I'll warn him to park away from the flats either way. Regarding the debt itself, and as the bailiff hung up on BIL, how would my BIL go about making arrangements to pay? Should he contact the court and ask for a means hearing? Thanks again for all your help

Brilliant, thanks Ell-enn Probably a daft question, but what does my MIL do with the letter once it's been notarised? Also, is there any steps that can be taken to complain about the bailiff? He got into the block of flats on false pretences and was quite happy to tell anyone that would listen all about the debt etc, surely, they have rules they have to adhere to? Thanks

Hi hallowitch, thanks for the reply. I don't have the paperwork at hand, I'll try and get FIL to scan it and send me a copy. Yes, it was a magistrates court that imposed the fine. BIL was aware of it. I'm not sure of the ins and outs, but reading between the lines, I would say that BIL to a large part ignored the warnings etc. BIL has been in and out of work and has never really been in a position to pay back large fines. Trouble is, I don't think he realised it would catch up with him. BIL was living at the same address at the time, then moved out for a while before moving back in last year. I'm guessing that he was warned by paperwork etc that he was being taken to court for non payment but sat on it. BIL's van is a company van, so its not his - can they still clamp it? As for statutory declaration, what does that entail? Surely, it would be down to the bailiff to prove otherwise, or can they literally just levy anything they like? MIL rang the police for advice, they suggested getting receipts for all the items in the house to prove that the good belong to MIL. Sounds daft to me, receipts don't prove who owns what, only when they were bought and where. Not sure on this though? Thanks anyways....

Hi, I was over at my Mum-In-Laws place yesterday with the kids, when a bailiff arrived making threats to gain entry. Long story short... MIL lives in a flat with a central buzzer system (not a camera system) used to open the main door to the block, her buzzer went off and the delightful chap said something about an arrest warrant. MIL thinking that it was the police pressed the button to let him into the block. MIL met him at her front door to find that he was actually a bailiff who said, "I have an arrest warrant for name." BIL was not there at the time, and the bailiff was told by MIL that he would not be back until 8pm. The bailiff said that he needed to know where BIL was so that he could arrest him. MIL said that as BIL is a courier, he could be literally anywhere. Bailiff left a card and said "I'll be back." There was more of a conversation than that, the bailiff was quite happy to tell MIL all about the debts, how many times they had attempted contact with BIL, and that if BIL did not pay the full balance on the spot, he would be arrested, he got quite nasty when told that BIL has only just started working again and doesn't have the money to pay in one hit etc etc. Very unprofessional and very rude IMO. So anyways, the card that the bailiff left was a distress warrant issued by the county court and said amongst other things that they could turn up as and when they wanted with a locksmith and gain entry to levi goods. Now, the flat is in MIL's name and the contents of the flat also belong to MIL and FIL, my BIL is staying there at the moment until he gets himself back on his feet. The amount the court is claiming back is nearly £800 which was the result from court fines for driving without licence back in 2006, so it was a criminal bailiff not a civil bailiff. BIL is unable to pay that back in one hit as requested by the bailiff. BIL spoke to the bailiff on the phone and said that he didn't have £800 but would be happy to set up a payment plan, the bailiff said no and hung up on BIL. I did a bit of digging on google last night, and it looks like criminal bailiffs when issued with a distress warrant can literally break into a property where the defendant lives and take what they want (correct me if I'm wrong). MIL is obviously very worried as the contents of the flat belong to her and FIL and are not the property of BIL. BIL is worried as the bailiff refused to set up a payment plan, so he's not sure what happens next. So the questions are; Does my MIL need to complete a declaration saying that the contents of the flat are hers? As MIL opened the buzzer for the main door, does that class as the bailiff gaining entry? How does BIL go about setting up a payment plan? Can the bailiff really arrest BIL? I thought it was only a police officer that can make an arrest. Many thanks for your help in advance

Anyone? Could really use some info... Thanks

Yeah, sorry, I didn't get any notifications... until I checked my emails, and there it was

Thanks cerberusalert, might explain why I couldn't find the thread I should add to that, a few weeks ago, my solicitor said to me that she didn't think I'd have to pay anything back, and at the same time, she knew that I was striking up deals with the DCA's. One of the deal ends in a few days, and I've bombarded her with loads of emails/phone calls etc to gee them up so that payment would be made on time. Surely, if she knew I wouldn't get any money, she'd have told me not to both trying to reduce the debt. I've lost so much sleep over the last week or so worrying about getting the settlement plan paid etc. It would really put me down if I got nothing. The house was joint, but I paid all the bills while my ex say on her huge @ss all day, I also put 60k into the house as it was near derelict when we bought it. On top of that, she refuses to let me see my kids, and took the entire contents of the house after changing the locks and refusing me access. Part of the solicitor negotiations were trying to get back some of my things, I gave up with that in the end as she just wouldn't budge. ho hum.....

Hi, sorry to jump in on someones thread. I have a query regarding the final settlement from my divorce. Basically, my ex wife filed in Jan 2009, I got a solicitor and the fun started! We had to go through the usual mediation procedures which my ex backed out of. Decree-nisi was granted in October 2009, but my ex refused to absolute until the financial matters had been sorted. We had a house which was sold last year leaving £10,600 that is currently still being held by the estate agents solicitors. This whole time the argument has been over how much of a split we each got. I wanted 50%, she however wanted all of it! (greedy cow, but that's another story). Anyway, 4 months ago, she finally settled for a 65/35 split in her favour. At the same time as this, there are two debts that have to be repaid from the equity, I managed to strike up a deal with both to reduce the final repayment by 1/3rd. A consent order was filed and agreed/signed in court, and now finally, the debts are being paid off, and I was hoping that I might actually got something out of the whole thing. The debts come to 5,270 which leaves around £5,330 of which I was thinking I'd get 35% or around £1860. I could really do with it too, cars on it's last legs, and money is really tight. However, I had a phone call from my solicitor earlier who said that the money would have to be paid to them so that they could sort out the legal aid, and she was not sure I would get any! This would be a real kick in the teeth for me, I was under the impression that legal aid only has to be paid back if the case went to court, but as we agreed out of court (albeit through solicitors), I would be okay. The solicitors were only used to start with to sort out the divorce. Does anyone know if I would have to pay it back? Looking on a couple of forums, one says that I get back anything left once the solicitor has paid the LCS, another one says that I keep the first £2500 and anything over that is used to pay the bill. TIA.

Thanks everyone Well, letters were sent out, Lowell have stopped hassling FIL, and Three sent a reply to the strong letter of complaint; I haven't seen the letter, but apparently, it basically says that they are unable to get the required information from the account numbers quoted in the complaint letter, and now want the telephone numbers too. Strange really as it was those account numbers which they quoted to Lowell. No kind of apology or anything with their letter, no sorry you are having trouble etc, just a short 'we need more info'. Very rude IMO. I've written up a quick reply basically giving a table with their account numbers, Lowells reference number, the telephone numbers, and the dates the contract was in place. It does sound very odd to me, an account number is just that, if they can't get info from it, how could they suddenly notice that the account number was in arrears. Anyway, the reply letter is going out tomorrow (monday), so hopefully, that will be the end of it... Watch this space as they say (whoever 'they' are) lol

Cool, thanks elpulpo Very slow website though, took ages to load up, and it's still very vague... typical government type document lol I had a chat with MIL last night, well I tried, she did most of the talking lol. Apparently, the boss man regularly visits the new care home as it's still getting it's ground etc, so what we decided to do was hand deliver a letter marked for his attention to that address, if we can get someone to signed a bit of paper to say they got it, that should take care of it. MIL will do that Monday, so we've changed the letter giving him until next Friday 1st Apr. The recorded letter that is coming back was listed as undeliverable on the Royal Mail system, it didn't say anything about refusing to sign for it, but I can't see any reason why RM would not have been able to deliver it, it's not like they lost it. Hopefully, when MIL gets the letter back, it will show somewhere why. If he has refused the sign for it, then that will look bad on him if it does go to court. MIL rang CRB, they won't send a letter confirming that they didn't receive the request, but they gave her an email address to write to, they will reply to that with confirmation, so that should be good enough. Nothings every straight forward is it lol Thanks for your help so far, and watch this space...

Thanks elpulpo and ashmk Hand delivering is not an option unfortunately, but I'll try 1 more email with 24 hours to respond. I have his own email, and that of the general enquiries, so I'll send one to both marked FAO. So, say he doesn't respond and we need to start litigation, does anyone know what steps are involved, who we see, or where we get the forms from, and how much it costs? Lots of questions I know, and your time is appreciated, but I want to get this right... Thanks again

double post for some reason???

Thanks elpulpa and Atlas01 Trouble is, he lives in Middlesex which is too far away from us to travel. Not sure what else to do, if we start litigation, will we look 'in the wrong' for not actually getting notice to him?

Well, an update on things.... Firstly, I sent an email on MIL's behalf Sunday with a confirmation request. The request was ignored, but I can only assume he got the email. As for the letter, apparently, the letter is on it's way back. Not sure if it was because he refused to sign, or Royal Mail were unable to deliver it. Royal Mail obviously haven't lost the letter, and I can't see that it would be undeliverable, I've checked the address, and it's correct (as shown on their website). Not sure what to do now, the deadline was tomorrow (Friday) afternoon 5pm. Do we just 'go for it' and apply to the courts, or do we need to confirm that he has got something in writing? Also, what steps do we need to take to apply to the courts, and what does it cost? Thanks again

Thanks elpulpo Well, I just tried sending an email to one of my other emails, but sadly there is no guarantee that it had been delivered and opened. There is an option to acknowledge receipt, but it can be ignored if so wished, so we would have no idea if he actually opened and read the email or not. Not sure what else to do

Thanks elpulpo If you think that's good enough, I'll fire one off at the weekend. I'm pretty sure my MIL has his email addy, I'm sure I can track it down if she hasn't. I could send it with a confirmation request, so at least I'll know if he gets it, providing he accepts the request..... Watch this space lol