Yes, they seem to be preying on the elderly. My dad paid the £1000 on his debit card. Do you think there is a chance of getting a charge-back from the bank? Thanks.

It's Plumbers 24x7. http://www.plumbers24x7.co.uk/ The contracter signed the invoice only with the name 'Toby', no surname. The company check shows they have liabilities higher than their assets so I guess that's not a good sign either. https://companycheck.co.uk/company/08259036/PLUMBERS-247-LTD/summary http://www.reuters.com/article/plumbers-24x-idUSnBw165119a+100+BSW20130916

Hi Bankfodder, thanks for the quick reply. Should I refrain from posting the company name on here? Their website has been down for a while but I found a press release from the company on the Reuters website from 2013 about the code of conduct for their contractors.

Hi When my Dad's boiler broke, he called a company from the phone book and the engineer they sent told him he needed a complete replacement of the boiler and quoted him £2600. He charged him £1000 deposit and said he'd be back the next morning to replace the boiler. The same evening, we found another gas fitter who came over that evening and found the problem was with one part and replaced it and serviced the boiler for £370 in total. So the original engineer mislead my father into believing the boiler needed replacing and he didn't do any work. I'm not sure what the best approach is to get the deposit back from the original engineer. The Consumer Contract Regulations stated there should be a 14 day cooling off period where services can be cancelled. There's a template letter for this over on the which website. There is also the The Consumer Protection Regulations which gives consumers 90 days to "unwind" a contract and claim the money back. This seems to be the better option as it is specific to traders misleading their customers. Does anyone have experience of claiming back from traders using this method? Is there a template to use for this? Many thanks

Hi BRIGADIER2JCS. Thanks for replying. I was referring to this sentence in the Experian statement: I was assuming the settlement date would always be after the original default date. Could the settlement date ever be before the default date? Thanks

Hi I know this is an old thread but thought I would reply for people who might be searching for an answer to this. A default will drop off from your Experian credit report 6 years after the original default date, not 6 years after the settlement date. It does appear the person Justhadenough was dealing with at Experian gave out incorrect information about this. http://help.creditexpert.co.uk/help/CreditExpert_OOS/Credit_report/howlong_default Thanks

Thanks rdm Here is the message he left: http://final.markblackmore.com/content/download/390/2167/file/message1.mp3 FOS contacted today to make complaint. Will write to the OFT tommorrow. Cheers

Well, apparently my account has been passed on/sold to JB Debt recovery. I can only guess at this as they haven't sent any letters, but have been calling my dad at home. Had an answering machine message the other day with a robot voice saying "Phone 0871 664 9080 urgently". A google search reveals this number to be a premium rate number belonging to JB. Then another message last night which was a scottish guy saying "You clearly know Mr xxxx as you took a message for him last friday. I'll just send someone round to confirm it, ok?" No name or return contact number was left. Pretty sure this is verging on criminal behaviour from these people.

Apologies if this has already been posted. Interesting link on MSE: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2011/05/guest-comment-bank-charges-fight-still-alive

Thanks dx, that's good to know

Hi dx The letters and phone calls have been pretty much constant since the 'test case', first from metropolitan now from moorcroft. The OFT quidelines on disputed debts say: This to me sounds a bit vague, ie who decides if a debt is confirmed or not?

Hi A quick background on my situation. I had a claim against HSBC which was stayed in 2007. My account was closed with an overdraft balance of £1600. HSBC have passed my account to metropolitan and now to moorcroft. After sending numerous letters explaining that my account remains in dispute and that I have written to the court and HSBC stating my intentions to amand my claim, their response was that the banks won the test case and therefore the account was no longer in dispute. Here is the latest letter form moorcroft 'home collections division': I will be sending moorcroft a copy of the letter here, but want to know if I have grounds to complain to the OFT, ie would they consider this debt genuinely in dispute?

Hi I decided to start a new thread for my claim post "test case". After DG applied to strike out my claim and requested my proposal for repayment of my overdraft, I sent a letter to DG and the court based on Pete Castlebest's letter, indicating my intention to change my POCs. Here is the reply they sent: Does anyone know what the best approach would be in replying to this? Thanks

I have drafted a letter to send to HSBC regarding the default I have on my file. I'm not sure if this is the correct way to go about this so, as usual, if anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.

Hi Jimjamer I had the same letter in the post yesterday (phone us within 24 hours etc). It seems they're sending these out to everyone with stayed claims whose accounts were held 'in abeyance' before the test case