Hi You can phone them and ask them to explain their decision. I did this and they wwere very nice and happy to do so. It didt change the decision but I felt better about it once I understood it.

Hi Mrsfoot This is wonderful and you have done well for us all. Which MP is it by the way? It all sounds very positive and hopefully things will move forward for us the consumers. Well done

HI Sorry to hear your troubles.I believe you can contact the benefits officeand explain your situation and ask for a post office account for your benefits to be paid into and they will pay by giro in the interim. Then cancel all dds etc at your bank and start the process of claiming the charges back by sending a SAR. At least that way you will have your money for you and your child. Good luck

Hi I found that on the trading standards website you could find your local area and a phone number to call. I did this and found them very helpful. Try that. Have you also thought of contacting Age Concern they might be able to advise you.

Hi Westwell Thats the same that I got. Mine was because it was over six months since I bought the property so no longer with in the time frame to be able to appeal their decision. They were very good though and did look into it and then were very happy to explain the decision. Hope that helps.

Hi Have you thought of contacting Watchdog? They usually like to take up this sort of thing.

Hi How did it go?

Hi No I can't appeal because I'm outside the 6month time frame, but when VOA officer explained things our banding is correct. These house were origionally banded as 2 bed and now they have all had loft conversions and are 3 bed so it seems all the other houses have not been correctly rebanded when they have been sold which they are now going to look at. So it seems that I may have in advertantly stirred things up for everyone else........oops!

Hi I wrote at the beginning of Jan and got my decision on Wed this week. Unfortunately they say mine is in the correct band and it is the other houses in the street that are in the wrong band and should be higher!!!

ad'enuff comes up with no matches have you got a link?

Hi Westy Thanks for that will take a look.

I will be very interested in what you find out about the banks misappropiation of benefits. My daughter is a single parent and only has benefits as her income. She banks with HSBC and in Nov they allowed a dd out which took her overdrawn and charges then got applied. She ended upp with not being able to have any money for 2 weeks untill overdraft cleared. I gave her a copy of Letter of Appropiation to use to be able to buy food and nappies. Bank staff said they didn't know what it was and that they didn't have to help her and she should be more careful with her money.... no sympathy or understanding at all. We had to lend her money to get by and I will now help her to get charges back; but the point is the banks and poorly educated in these matters and I feel flaunting the Banking Code and MP's need to do something about it. Midge

Hi Sharman Well done. Can't believe that you had to go through all this when I started at about same time as you and they settled at A&Q stage with me. Well at least you now have success. Enjoy! Midge

Hi all Still nothing from the court. Rang them and they said they have not recieved Shabbeys defence and told me to file for Judgement. I said should I not wait a bit but lady said if they can't be bothered to file get in with judgement. So I have. Just waiting to see what happens now!!

Hi We are on same timeline more or less. I filed on 5th Jan deemed served on 8th. Abbey acknowledged and deadline for the defence was 6th Feb but they have not done so according to the court. Will follow your thread. Midge

Hi all I recieved a letter dated 1st FEb from Shabbey today. It contains a copy of their standard 11 point defence. I have not had anything from the court and I'm sure if they already had recieved Shabbeys defence I would have stuff from them by now. Will wait a couple of days and then ring court if nothing comes. I'm sure I read a thread where Shabbey sent copy to claimant but forgot to file with court. Anyway I've not had any GOGW from Shabbey probably because I no longer have an account with them....but it would have been nice of them to offer. I feel quite left out lol. Should I reply to this letter or wait for AQ to arrive?

I saw this at the beginning of Jan and checked mine. All of our street except 3 houses are Band B 1 house with very large extension is band D 1 4 bed with integral garage is Band C and us a 3 bed end of terrace with small extention (all other houses have larger extention) is Band C Ours was changed in 1993 I assume due to a sale but I lodged an appeal. Spoke to the local VOA office aaand although we have been here 6 years they say they will consider it and give me their decision in 28 days (which is up next week). The lady I spoke to said if they agree I will be re-banded and refunded but if they don't agree then I cannot take it to tribunal as I am outside of the 6month time limit. So I am just waiting to here from them.

Hi all I haven't been around much due to familly issues but have decided to spend this evening getting everything up to date. I am now well into this claim with Shabbey. I filed my claim on 8th Jan and they have until 5th Feb which is Monday to file defence. I did recieve a letter from them after filing asking for my contact details but have not heard anything else. I'm rather hoping they forget and I can have the pleasure of filing for judgement. Case no:7TA00016 Claim amount £4,675.54 + £120 fee + £1.25 daily rate I have been having terrible problems with Nat west (next on the list) cancelling dd and refusing to set up new ones etc. Got so Pi**** O** I thought I'd have a go at getting another account. Lloyds had written to me after settling to ask me to reconsider going back to them!!!!!!!! That one kept us chuckling for a whole day! In the end I tried A&L not really expecting to get accepted but I did for a full Premier Direct Current account so I'm really pleased with that and I'm sure they will be when they get the steady flow of cheques for returned charges lol Hope everyone is well in this New Year Midge

Hi all Sorry I haven't been around but we just seem to be lurching from one crisis to another lately. Anyway have decided to spend this evening updating everything. Well Crap1 conceded just before defence was due and refunded just over £600 - not the complete amount claimed for but at the time I didnt have it in me to continue the fight so accepted the paaayment which just went to reduce my card bill. Still another win though. Midge

Hi all I have not been around for a while due to familly issues. I am a subscriber to www.annualcreditreport.co.uk which allows you to see an online credit report for free once you register. They then send out monthly news letters. In todays were two things I thought would interest everybody; 1, We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Scrap plans to allow the banks to share bank account details with others, without getting permission from individual account holders first. More details Submitted by Richard Goedegebuur – Deadline to sign up by: 09 January 2008 – Signatures: 742 http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bankdatasharing/ The Government proposes to allow the banks to share details of 33 million bank accounts with others, without the need for the banks to get the permission of individual account holders first. We believe this to be fundamentally wrong, and breaches the privacy of consumers. It goes against the common law principles of banking confidentiality, data protection laws, and article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. 2,As we celebrate the beginning of 2007, we’re certainly not nursing any hangovers here at annualcreditreport.co.uk. The 2nd of January saw the launch of the National Identity Theft Assistance Centre – NITAC, available on annualcreditreport.co.uk. Based on the guidelines laid down by the National Consumer Council, NITAC is the only free, Internet and telephone-based service of its kind in the UK. The service does not cost you a thing and can help prevent you from becoming a victim of ID Theft, or reduce the impact should you become a victim. There is no need to spend up to £100 per year on hyped-up subscription services. Hope this is of use Midge

Hi all Well Crap 1 have started the phune harrassment again!!!! I am going to write to them again and enclose a copy of the OFCOM rules on autodiallers. I have also lodged a complaint with OFCOM and whilst they say that they do not deal with individual complaints they do say that they monitor the volume of complaints and if there is a large volume about a particular company they will then step in. So perhaps if everybody that is suffering at the hands of Crap 1 complains they might do something.

HI all Right MCOL completed today. 6QZ90836

Hi Heres the link We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Force the banks to repay unlawful bank charges and remove the six year time bar, forcing them to pay back everything from at least 1980.

Hi all I have just signed up to the Phil Whitmore petition and there are only 22 sigs so far. Surely it would be good to get it put somewhere more prominent on the site and get every site user to sign.

HI This is a bog standard reply. You stick to your timetable. After 14 days send your LBA. I've just sent mine but today I had a second reply to my Prelim. Don't think they know whos doing what there!