I would like to clarify one important point regarding this matter. After the funeral arrangements have been completed I will contact the Court of Protection and inform them of the situation, hopefully they will be able to decide what is to be done with the balance of my brother's account. I have no intention of touching the remaining balance.

About eighteen months ago my brother was admitted to a care home suffering from Parkinsons and dementia after it was deemed that he no longer had capacity. I was made an appointee by the council for the purpose of handling certain financial affairs of his...rent and council tax etc. Last week I was informed that my brother had passed away. Shortly after I received a phone call from a person in the council who explained that his doctor would have to issue a death certificate which I would then have to take to a registrars office to have his death officially recorded. All of the above is fairly straightforward, however I am my brother's only surviving relative, he was divorced over twenty years ago during the months leading up to his being admitted to the care home I took care of his credit card ( this was never in my possession it was always kept by him), each time I visited him I would do his shopping and buy whatever else he needed and pay for his dog's veterinary bills. After all the vets bills had been settled and his card had a zero balance I phoned the credit company and had the card suspended. I have since destroyed the card. My brother also had a ( current ) bank account with a little over £11,000. I had his debit card which I would use whenever he would ask me to take money out for him so that he had money to pay the gardener, the chiropodist or get his hair cut...little things like that. The only other time his card was used was when I took money out when he was in the care home, this was £700 paid into the care home's bank account to cover toiletries which they would buy for him, and also again hair cuts and chiropodist...pocket money. For the first seven months that he was at the home I would take out £100 each month, deposit it into my account and then transfer it into the care home's account, I have all the ATM receipts and bank records as proof. I withdrew no more after that as he was hardly using any cash. The problem that I now have is that my brother's body has been taken to the local hospital on Monday I will pick up the death certificate, go to the registrar's office and register his death. After that I will need to organize his funeral which I cannot afford, also the funeral director that transported my brother from the care home to the hospital will have to be paid. Now, I could pay with my brother's debit card as we both have the same surname and first initial, this would not pose a problem and as it is for my brother would not seem to be morally wrong, but what about the legality of it all. Also what of the balance of his account after the funeral. Some months before my brother went into the car home he asked me if I would take Power of Attorney, I refused, perhaps I was selfish but I felt awkward about it. Anyway that's history. The thing is, my brother's body is at the hospital, the funeral director needs to be paid and funeral arrangements have to be made. My gut instinct is to settle all of the above with his debit card but really I'm just winging it. Can anyone help me please.

Thanks Surfer01, but it seems that digital is not allowed, can't imagine why....It would be easy to pinpoint and make a note of anything that you wanted to take issue with. We have to play by their rules, they're out to do a hatchet job and we just have to try and make our case solid.

Thanks stu007, I read the article, I guess we have to track down a twin deck recorder now....to be used only once, how wonderful !.

OK Nystamite, I understand that but was worried in case they try to stipulate what kind of device. I phoned my local MP's office and got some worrying facts....Capita's brief is to reduce all claims by 20% and that the Birmingham area ( where we are ) has the highest rate of dismissed claims, also Capita are paid for each assessment they make, for example a friend of my son opted to have his assessment in his home....the woman was there no more than fifteen minutes and left saying that she had to rush for her next visit in Dudley....he failed his assessment !. I was also told that not all assessors are " highly trained " for the job, some are ordinary doctors, some are nurses and some others are medical assistants.

Hi everyone, My son has a PIP assessment next Tuesday, this will be his third...the first one they failed him but we appealed and went to Tribunal and won, the second (eleven months later ) he passed. We intend to record this time, when I phoned Capita they said that I would have to give them a couple of days notice as they would have to ask the assessor as some " won't allow " a recording. I told them that it sounded a bit arbitrary and that we intended to record. Anyway she noted my son's details and that seemed to be that. When I asked her about what type of recording device we could use she said either cassette or cd would be ok but nothing digital ?, can anyone give me some advice about what type of machine we should use.

OK, I'll send the letter off tomorrow with relevant copies and get it recorded delivery. Thank you.

I've already had laptop repaired by Knowhow (PC World). They have replaced the faulty hard drive which I have in my possession (boldly marked "faulty part"). Argos say that I must go to another IT shop and have the faulty hard drive tested again just to verify that the repair was genuine. As if I'm in a conspiracy with PC World...they really need my £187 !!. I will write to Argos tomorrow. Do you think that an email to Sebastian James relating to Argos' "inadvertent" reference to PC Worlds integrity might also help.

Where to start ?. I phoned Argos and explained the situation, they took the details and said that I would have to take the hard drive to a third party to have it inspected, they would not accept just Knowhow's finding alone, that I would have to find a VAT registered company. .."one that had no financial interest in the matter" ??. and see what they decided. I tried three computer repair shops but each said that as they do not have the volume of business they would have to alter their price structure. One suggested that I contact Trading Standards, which I did. I spoke to a woman with a very loud dictatorial voice who during the rather one sided conversation said at least a half dozen times that I should have gone to the trader first. I tried explaining that as the laptop was out of guarantee I did not think I would have any joy with them, I also asked her why such a large company as PC World would have anything to gain by giving a false finding, but she kept banging on about going to the trader first and asked me if I had the number for the Financial Ombudsman. I also asked Argos why they would not accept Knowhow's finding and that going to another company to have it re-examined would only serve to push up the final cost, but he repeated that it needed to be examined by a "neutral" company. I dearly wished that I could have reached down the phone line and grabbed that loud woman, It was like listening to a party political broadcast. Does anybody know what my next step should be.

I just got off the phone with Knowhow, they said it would be reasonable to expect the hard drive to last for around six years. I'll post as soon as I've phoned Argos.

unclebulgaria67.....Thanks for your help, I'll phone Argos first thing tomorrow morning.

I'm sorry I don't understand. The laptop was ordered over the phone and delivered by courier, do you mean that I should go to an Argos store with my claim, I'm quite happy to do that but what do I say when the store manager tells me that the item was out of guarantee when the fault occurred. I looked at the CRA (fit for purpose) but which part specifically supports my claim.

OK...Consumer Rights Act...is there a standard letter which I can adapt to my case ?.

I've collected the laptop and Knowhow have returned the old hard drive which they have described the issue as being caused by " a faulty hard drive ". My next step is to contact Argos regarding claiming back cost of repair/replacement. In the event of them knocking me back is there anything that I can quote from the " sale of goods act ".

I'm picking the laptop up today, Knowhow said they would enclose full report of repairs..as for the old hard drive they said a request has been made to return it to store, but strangely enough they said seemed unsure whether they would be able to return the hard drive.

Hi Uncle.......The tech' at Knowhow was very helpful and said that they would send a full report of repairs along with laptop when it was returned to PC World, hopefully this will be today or tomorrow. I have the receipt for initial £60 and of course I'll have the final bill. Right now I'll phone them and ask that they also send back the hard drive.

Hi everyone,...back after a long time !.... My son bought a laptop from Argos fourteen months ago, last week it would not boot up we took it to Curry's who said they suspected the hard drive was shot. I paid the initial £60 and it was sent to Knowhow for repair...another £127. When I spoke to the tech' at Knowhow he said that the fault had not been caused by misuse and it was in otherwise exc' cond'. He suggested that I contacted Argos and claimed back our costs under the " sale of goods act ", he said that we had every right to expect this item to last longer than fourteen months , it had not been damaged by dropping nor had it been hacked. Can anyone advise me on what action I can take... ..thanks.

They'll be posted by Wednesday.

Hi dx100uk, I've looked at the last letter from Cabot and there is £4238 outstanding and being paid back at £1 per month. The FOS wrote to them last week so I should get a reply soon, but I'll get the CCA's off this week so we'll see what that stirs up.

Yeah, I see what you mean...self policing. i phoned the FOS and they took all the details regarding the phone call to my sister-in-law, they also wanted Cabot's ref' number for the account, the credit card number and also the company licence number, they said that Cabot have eight weeks to respond, if they do come up with a final response letter I'm to call FOS with details, I'm not sure what FOS will do if they don't reply. In the meantime I'll get a CCA off to them and also to the other two creditors. But even if they do reply saying "sorry about that it won't happen again" what will or can the FOS do apart from issuing a stern "smack knuckles" letter.

Hi dx100uk, Do you think I should not write to CSA.

unclebulgaria67 and dx100uk also suggested the CCA route so I'll get on that this week, and kris_barb recommended a complaint th the CSA. Also I'll get one off for to the FOS. As soon as there is any reaction I'll post again...Thank you all.

what should her action be after getting the cca's.

HI, Back again.... ...The credit card was Halifax and the balance is a little over £2000. This debt goes back about eight years. There are two other debts.. .One is a Halifax loan and the other is a card from Capital One, this also goes back about eight years.

Thanks again to you all.