I am having a dispute with Volkswagen over a turbo that failed on a car I bought from one of their dealerships. The car had done around 6,000 miles when I bought it but just a fortnight after the three-year original new car warranty expired the turbo failed at around 23,000 miles. The repair bill would have been in excess of £3,000 but whilst the dealership paid half of the labour charges and as a 'goodwill gesture' VW paid for all parts, I was still left to pay just under £400. I have attempted to recover this from Volkswagen but they have refused to pay. I am arguing with them that under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 they should be responsible for meeting my costs as a part as major such as a turbo should have a life expectancy of well beyond 3-years and 23,000 miles and should probably last for the life of the car. I am now considering taking legal action against VW to recover the £400 that I am out of pocket and my legal insurer have advised me to issue a 'Notice of Intent' but I am not sure how to do this or what the wording should be. Can anyone help please?

Thanks again

I have just wirtten the following to Moorcroft. Let's see if this gets any positive response. I am aware that members of your company are continuing to make a nuisance of yourselves by telephoning my house after I advised you by letter that I will not discuss my financial affairs with you except by letter or e-mail. By continuing to call me after I have told you to refrain is an act of criminal harassment and I am sure you are well aware of this. A caller informed somebody at my home that I had not replied to any of your threatening correspondence. This is completely untrue. I replied to your first communication of 17 January 2007 by Special Delivery on 22 January; Your 2nd and 3rd computer generated threats of 10th and 24th February were duly answered in my letter of 27 February. I have already reported this matter to your local Trading Standards Office and I wish to advise you that if you persist with any further telephone calls then I will insist that the appropriate court action is taken against your company. I am not aware of having any contract with your company and unless you can produce an appropriate Consumer Credit Agreement that entitles you to approach me then you know as well as I do that you are acting outside of Current British legislation. This matter will also be reported to the appropriate authorities with view to having your licence revoked. You have now been warned for a 2nd time to stop harassing my family and I. Yours faithfully,

Many thanks Priority One for your concise reply to my query. A letter will be going off tonight to Moorcroft. Incidentally, I made a formal complaint by e-mail to the Trading Standards Office in Stockport where Moorcroft are based over telephone harassment. The reply has advised me to contact the OFT and they also said that they can only respond to the "home address" of the person at the company who is making the calls. I don't think this is correct and I am certain that the local TSO are obligated to follow up my complaint, investigate it and prosecute when necessary. Your knowledge please and anybody else's views will be appreciated. Regards Bob B

Thanks for your reply Priority One. Can you briefly explain please what the CCA ruling is about? Am I right in assuming that whoever is chasing the debt must be in possession of a consumer credit agreement that the debtor has signed? I am going to pursue the legalities of this because it appears to me that the DCAs and the Credit Card companies are continually flaunting the law and getting away with it. Maybe it is time to start fighting them back by using the letter of the law. Cheers BobB

Does anyone know the legality that allows debt collection agencies to pursue a deby on behalf of a client such as a bank or credit card company. Surely, when you take out a credit card your contract is with that company so if the debt is sold on is there no loophole in the law that can protect the debtor? Can any friendly solicitor provide the answer?

Hi Mike I have written to somebody called Katherine Blunt. I understand she is something called a Legal Compliance Specialist and she can be contacted at: Capital One Bank (Europe) Ltd Trent House Station Road Nottingham NG2 3HX I wrote to her and sent the letter by "recorded delivery" on 10th August but have so far not had a reply. Regards Bob

Hello Everyone I am fairly new to this forum but as you can see I have already posted about the harassing tactics of MBNA and Capital One Bank. I feel it is about time that the Government got their fingers out and started hauling these ba*****s in front of the Courts for the tactics that they use and the lies they tell (a bit like the Government really!). I am going to be contacting my local MP to push him to raise the issues in Parliament. If the Government are as concerned as they claim about the levels of debt in this country then they should be acting on our behalf to try and help those of us who have got in this position, often through no fault of our own. From what I am reading there is wide scale harassment being directed at us that is illegal yet nobody in official circles seems to want to prevent it from happening. If the credit card companies, banks and others are acting illegally then they should have their banking licences withdrawn ... plain and simple. The Government should also control the ridiculous APRs that some of these banks are charging and force them to charge a reasonable amount. Not enough is being done to stop this kind of villainy in this country and it is high time that we got on our soapboxes and forced Government to act to protect the people of this country.

I am being harrassed to death (well almost) by Capital One as well as MBNA and had some freak on today from Capital saying that they can phone as much as they like and that the calls will continue until I pay off my arrears. I informed him of the law by which time he started calling me "Pal" I said he was no Pal of mine and "how dare he suggest he was". Anyway, the point is this ... these credit card companies seem to be blatantly breaking the laws with regards to harrassment all of the time and I wonder if anyone in the forum has ever taken legal action for this? Best wishes Bob

Hello Dave P I am having similar problems from MBNA and also Cspital One Bank. I am self-employed and through no fault of my own my business has slumped and I am now around 80% down on turnover. It has taken me 30 years to build a decent business and suddenly it is all falling apart. I have written to MBNA to explain the situation but they don't answer. Instead they are phoning me at work and at home day and evenings as well as early in the morning. Capital One has been doing the same thing. This is criminal harrassment under The Administration of Justices Act (Section 40) and the Protection of Harrassment Act 1997. I have raised the matter with the Financial Ombudsman and I am waiting for a reply as well as the Office of Fair Trading, I feel it hight time that the Government got tough with the antics of these companies who are only too keen to up your credit limit when times are good and then prove most unhelpful when you meet difficult times and genuinely need help. I believe in cases like mine (and seemingly yours) there is a csse for irresponsible lending but who know how you would ever bring an action for this? Are there any no win no fee lawyers out there prepared to take these companies on? Regards Bob