This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 2019-03-08. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/06/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/06/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/06/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

I disagree; there is little difference between cats & kittens. The result of trying to make introductions in a stressless way more than often leads to more stress. Any mixing of territorial species will always be fraught. They absolutely HAVE TO sort out the pecking order & stopping them from doing that only delays the inevitable or makes for thoroughly miserable cats. As long as they are supervised there is no need whatsoever for sprays, intervention (within reason, if someone is getting an eye gouged out obviously you intervene) etc. The only difference I have ever found is between domestic & feral or elderly/disbled cats. Apologies if my views conflicting with yours doesn't sit well but that does not make them wrong.

Sorry to butt in so late in the procedings but after many years owning & fostering cats I've mastered the introductions technique: leave them to it. There will be fur flying, there will be upset, there will be times when you could sit & cry cos your once harmonious home is now a war zone but they will sort out the pecking order & things will calm down. Until they have had the inevitable confrontations & someone loses the tension will unfortunately remain. I introduced a hyperactive, neurotic, stark raving mad, 3 month old oriental to two mature, laid back BSH's last year.... that was fun (not). They're fine now but took a good 6 weeks before all the hissing & growling stopped. Sometimes wish they'd all stayed the best of enemies as junior's managed to revert the 2 older ones back to kitten hood so it's like Heathrow terminal 1 in our house when playtime starts.

I couldn't agree more, I will never ever use E & L again for either pet or equine insurance. 1stly I had the same problem as the OP with my equine insurance (went from £20 per month to £37 due to add-on's) and to add insult to injury we had a real ordeal with them over the pet insurance. Whilst insured with direct line my beloved little Manson went missing. In very simplistic terms: phoned direct line, immediately told to start advertising & they would foot the bills, my poor little chap was found dead the next day. I phoned direct line & was unable to speak properly due to being so upset & the girl was fantastic. I didn't even have to send in details about his death to recieve the death benefit, they sent me the cheque & a claim form to sign along with a note saying to complete & return when I felt ready. After a while I got another cat & insured him with E & L. He went walkabout. Phoned E & L, eventually got through to them to be told he had to be missing for 30 days before they would "consider" refunding advertising costs. I went out of my tree, what good is that? If he'd been stolen he'd be well gone by then (Havana Oriental cat, very nickable). Phoned again the next day to be told ok, you can adcertise now but we will pay for advertising OR death. So, if you advertise & your pet is subsequently found dead you do not recieve the death benefit. Aparently this is all written down somewhere in the small print & no doubt it's also in there somewhere that each & every member of staff is allowed to make the rules up as they go along. Luckily almost the second I put down the phone from that 2nd call the little scamp started howling at the front door to be let in. Needless to say after a happy reunion I cancelled the DD to E & L as I wasn't so much as prepared to phone them back or email them to cancel the policy. I was completely & utterly disgusted. Back with Direct Line now, more expensive but a sensitive & speedy service at times when a pet is missing or has died is worth it to me. Luckily Cadbury hasn't repeated his adventure since, he stays within 2ft of me at all times.

Here I am again posting as my mind is going lol (by heck, it's just like the old days with YB). This actually happened to hubby back in 2005 with a different company so I'm gonna test the water & theory by sending a demand for monies owed due to breach of contract from back then. 5 year limit for the county court so may as well give it a go. Heck, all the judge can do is laugh & tell me to get lost & you never know, they might just pay up before we get to that. Either way it'll test the water for dealing with this bunch of clowns cos they're the one's I'm really after. I'll be looking up points of law over the weekend & a letter will be sent registered post on Tuesday. Shy kids get no sweets!

Hi Caro! Very nice to see & familiar & friendly face around. Hubby's employers don't have a clue the wrath they have just unleashed.... but they WILL rue the day lol. Big P*ss off factor about all this is that DH had 3 job offers last Oct & chose this one as they swore blind they were up to their eyes in work & they seemed to be the safest bet out of the 3. We live & learn. It seems inherent in the industry that if the books look like they might not balance the 1st option taken is to lay off employees who have been there less than 12 months, it's terrible. Hi Sidewinder & BB, thanks very much for your responses. DH started work on 7 Oct last year so it's 7 months in. Probationary period was 3 months so we're well out of that. Contract states 1 month notice. Letter of termination of employment states "for various reasons the company has had to make the difficult descision to give you notice to end your employment with us". Verbal reason was due to not enough work to justify his position. There are still contracts running & we think the new contracts director (& instigation of this cost cutting exercise) has taken on the work DH was doing. Now, here is where it gets "iffy". New contracts director was taken on due to him aparently bringing with him a LOT of contracts, however, none materialised so the general frame of mind is that to justify his position DH & his manager have lost their jobs to lower the wages bill & give new director something to do. Dilema: DH is on gardening leave for his notice period, his official last day is Tue. He has been promised a letter of reference but if he starts the grievance procedure on Tue I think we can kiss bye bye to that. So, is he allowed to start the grievance procedure after his employment is terminated? My train of though: I would rather not go down the ET route as I have the hard facts of a breach of contract in front of me. DH doesn't want to work for them anymore, we just want the extra months cash & car compensation to which he is entitled. To hell with them, he'll have a new & better job within the month. He & his manager were axed to show an immediate drop on outgoing accounts so we just want to hit them where it's gonna hurt most (on the accounts), pocket the procedes & run. As far as I can see it's a simple fact of them oweing money so I should, theoretically, just be able to issue a request & if it isn't paid take them to court for it..... or am I being too simplistic here? Thanks, TC

Quick update, I am preparing a case for breach of contract as said contract clearly states 1 months notice from either party. Unsure yet as to weather this has to be via ET or county court, I'm hoping to go down the small claims route as it should be cut & dried (have all the paperwork needed). Will update after a bit more research.

Hi Folks, I'm rolling up my sleves for a fight here but I'm having a bit of a problem re the 1 year rule so hoping someone can clarify. My DH is a manager for a medium sized construction comapny. Said company decided before xmas they would bring on baord another director & expand the company. At this time a memo was sent out to all staff outlining the plans & staing very clearly that "no employee" would loose their jobs to this process. Yes, you've guessed it, my DH has lost his job to this process. He got home early from work on Tuesday minus company car, phone & lap-top & with 4 days notice. How nice of them. Nicest thing of all is it would appear the descision to let him go was made that very morning. A 10am meeting for all staff was cancelled & he was called in to the office. His line manager was then called in after him (he lost his job too, he'd been with the comapny 11 months). Anyway, this is aparently redundancy due to there not being enough work to keep the two of them on. I'm pretty sure they've gone about this all the worng way & would love to hear from anyone who can clarify that for me. To add insult to injury they're now hanging on to monies owed. £400 expenses DH is owed should have gone in the bank today. Nothing has gone in. On phoning the accounts manager it will aparently go in on the 28th along with his last mnth's salary which will be a day late (so I now have to alter upteen direct debits). We know DH can always find work (tradesman before he went into management) but it's the principal of this whole thing that is really getting to us. The reason we think this descision was made is that next month is bonus month & we know the bonuses are going to be paid. Onviously doing what they have has saved them 2 people's wages & their bonus (equivalent of a months wage). We really & honestly do think it is a simple as that. A snap descision made that morning & action taken on that descison immediately. Does my DH have a leg to stand on here regarding unfair dismissal or are his employers correct in assuming because he's been there less than a year he's an easy cost cutting option with no rights? Many thanks for reading, TC P.S. Please excuse bad spelling & grammar, trying to quickly batter this out before I pick the boys up from nursery.

KAUPTHING SFPF do a lot of Insurance policy finance. Have you just renewed your car insurance & opted to pay monthly? TC

DCA's are popping up over there as absconding to the Costa's is becoming so prevalent. Obviously they don't have any real juristiction but on the other hand they don't have to abide by UK law so they tend to apply the pressure a bit (Spanish police aren't interested in them so no good threatening them with the law). Dean, if you haven't disclosed your whereabouts already then don't. TC

That all depends if you respond to their letters & phone calls or not. Have you been in contact with them since going over there? TC (one time ex-pat now back in UK)

I'm definitely going to be doing that Aequitas, the vendor might say it's no problem at the moment but you never know what the future holds. Hi Demon, I have kind of fallen for the place unfortunately. There's already a big fence at the bottom of the garden but I really don't want to have to restrict the kids. I've got this ideal in my head of our garden meeting the paddock & stable. This place would be just the thing without the big fence but unless I can get rid of this access right I'd have to keep the kids & animals all locked in Don't get me wrong, I don't want everything running free & the horse to be able to stick his head through the kitchen window, I just don't want the strict segregation there is at the moment. I don't know if this'll make sense but we want a house WITH a stable & paddock, not a house AND stable & paddock IYKWIM. Thanks for the suggestion hun TC

Thanks Joa. I'm going to ring the estate agent tomorrow to arrange another viewing with hubby. I'll ask them to warn the vendors that we're gonna be asking a lot of questions about the access issue. It's definitely a private right of way & it can't be due to the 20 year use cos the houses were only built in Apr 06. That leaves something in the neighbours deeds & I hate the thought of another property having rights of access over mine. It's not so bad at the mo, who'd want to stop an old chap taking his morgan out on a Sunday but as I previousy mentioned, you never know what the future might hold & I'd hate for the issue to bite us in the bum a few years down the line.

Hi All, Not strictly tennant/landlord stuff (sorry) but hoping someone might be able to help. We're wanting to move & I've just been to look at a house. The place is brilliant. House & garden then a paddock at the bottom of the garden. Problem is the owners have told me we'd have to give access to the neighnours to the back of their house via our drive & the bit of land between the garden ending & the paddock starting. This really doesn't impress me as the kids & animals would all be there. The neighbours have their own parking at the front & can get to their land via the side of their house (without having to go through their house) but it's not wide enough for a vehicle. Does anyone have a clue about access issues? Where would I need to look for particulars on the access? Would it be on the deeds? I'd have no prob whatsoever with the neighbours going round when I'm there but I wouldn't want them having a key to the gate & being able to basically come & go as they please across what's effectively the bottom of my garden where my kids will be playing & my animals roaming about. The current owners say the neighbours very rarely use it which is fine but you never know what'll happen if they sell, would be a nightmare if it was someone screaching round at speed all hours of the day & night. Obviously we'd get everything sorted via our solicitor if we decide the place is definitely for us but it would be great to have a clue where we stand before we get as far as solicitors. Cheers folks, TC

Brill news chick Well done! Mind & keep chasing them for proof that they're doing it. I think it's about a year now I've been harping on about it's not what you say to this lot it's how you say it. They prove time & time again that they're not interested in nit picking with individuals, they're bullies & all it takes is a brass neck to make em realise it'd be quicker to let the wasp out of the window than spend time chasing it with a newspaper. What chance do they stand against "Tarn" girls lol? TCx

Hi Flower, Lets get this sorted. It's exactly what was done to DH & I & ours was removed within 2 weeks. I think the defaults originate from our good friend Lesley ;-) One last attempt to turn the knife. 1st, don't deal with collections, they are an entity all to themselves & don't have a clue what to do with regard to anything other than taking debit card details, means statements etc. so cut them out of the loop completely. Phone cutomer services, just the normal YB call centre number & ask to be put through to Clydesdale Customer Services in Glasgow. Carefully note down who you're speaking to up there & state your case. At the end of the call tell them you'll be emailing a summary of your conversation & re0iterating your expectations. The email addy is [email protected] Here's the email I sent which summarises what was said: "Dear Ms Ferguson, Thank you for dealing with my request via telephone this morning for a default to be investigated on account number ******** (now closed, in the names of *****). Just to confirm our telecon: 1. I explained that I discovered this week a default had been registered against myself & my husband regarding the overdraft remaining on the above account. 2. I explained that on numerous occasions I had spoken & written to your collections department regarding these monies owed. 3. Letters sent (5 in total) regarding the outstanding sum always stated that I was not refusing to pay but I expected you to adhere to the banking code by not instigating collections activities whilst the funds were in dispute. 4. County Court Claim Number ******** is the dispute regarding the claim which was settled out of court. 5. The sum owed on the overdraft should have been settled by now as this was due to be deducted from our settlement payment. 6. I strongly believe that I always behaved in an open, up-front manner with your collections department & they have been aware from the very start about the dispute over the money. I am aware that I can take legal action to ensure this default is removed & will not hesitate to do so should my initial attempt not be successful as I believe you have sent information to 3rd parties that is inaccurate & unfair (a serious breach of the data protection act 1988 ). However, I am hoping we are able to settle this quickly & in a friendly, professional & mutually co-operative manner making such action unnecessary. My desired outcome of this complaint is to have the default removed from both my own & my husbands credit files. I am aware that you are able to make real-time updates to information sent to 3rd parties & so request the removal of this default be completed no later than Wed 8 Nov 06. If the default is not removed with expedience I will suffer the financial penalty of having to take out a car loan at a much higher than normal interest rate & I will seek to be compensated for monies lost, expenses incurred & the distress caused by having this serious derogatory information put on my credit file. Best regards, TC Then.... NAG THEM, do it by phone or email but insist on having an update at least every 2nd day. Here are my nag emails: 1: Hi, Could you please let me know of any developments on this issue? Feel free to contact me by telephone (***** ******) if it is more convenient than email (please be aware telephone conversations are automatically recorded for business purposes & I am unable to disable the software). Regards, TC Response was: Good Morning, I am currently awaiting confirmation of the removal of the entry from the relevant department and will contact by email or phone to confirm when completed. I trust this is acceptable to you. Regards Carol Ferguson 2: Thanks very much Carol, I'm very grateful for the speed you've dealt with this. The other departments actions will be acceptable as long as it's done VERY quickly & the default is removed, not just marked as settled. Could you please let me know the department name that is responsible for the removal for my records? Regards, TC No response recieved in 2 days so I emailed again. 3: Any news yet? I am standing by my Wednesday deadline (tomorrow) & will formally issue a letter before action requesting the immediate removal & compensation if the default has not been removed (not marked as settled) by then. Regards, TC Recieved a telephone call 30 minutes later confirming the default had been removed. Hope this helps hun but you've got all my contact details so just give me a bell or drop me a line if they start to mess you about. TCx

Great news hun. Some progress at last! Have a great weekend

That is really strange. I know I'm going back to cats again but the CFA would be very concerned about potential bad bloodlines entering the breeds, looks like the KC aren't. Have you tried Dogs Trust? I'm a Cats Protection member & at branch level if we hear of someone breeding irresponsibly we make a point of relentlessly nagging them to have their animals neutered & keep a close eye on what's happening. TC

Sorry I can’t be of more help but wanted to empathise as I’ve been through a similar experience with a Persian Cat. Due to an inexperienced breeder, inappropriate care & outright cruelty during her first few months we were left with a cat who: 1. Would not be groomed. 3 times a year she had to be anaesthetised & shaved by a vet. 2. Constant bowel problems & lifelong medication. 3. Out right refusal to use a litter tray or defecate outside the house. 4. Treacherous Cat Syndrome (vicious attacks should you try & pet or handle her). We were unable to do anything but report the breeder & make the 10 years with the cat as bearable & happy for her as possible. Re homing wasn’t an option as I honestly wouldn’t have wished her on my worst enemy. The only other alternative was to have her put down which I just couldn’t do. I feel ashamed to say I was relieved when she passed away although in a funny sort of way I did miss her. Very sorry you’re in the situation you are. The breeders (I use the word loosely) should be banned from keeping animals. TC

Ooooooo, I'm mad! For a week now I've been getting off-shore calls from a company who say they are called "Various Finance". They start off by saying regarding your mortgage on that property Mrs TC.... then when they have your attention (as you think there might be a prob) they launch into a sales script trying to sell you a mortgage. What worries me is these people know an awful lot of details right down to what company you have your mortgage with & what interest rate you're currently paying. We're registered with TPS, MPS & have always been careful to tick all the "don't share our details & info boxes" on eveything so where on earth are they getting this info from? Anyway, after 6 days of daily phone calls & me getting ruder & ruder to them I tried to take some action: 1. Phoned BT (my phone provider) - "sorry, it's originating off-shore so it's a TPS matter" 2. Phoned TPS - "Sorry, nothing we can do but make a note". 3. Phoned Tradig Standards - "Sorry, I've done a Google Search & can't find any info on that company but I've made a note of the name. If it's not UK based there's nothing we ca do". 4. Phoned my mortgage provider - "Our data is safe, perhaps you forgot to tick boxes saying not to pass on your info". I even had to force him to write down the company name & promise to pass it on hich I doubt he will. No one wants to listen or is even bothered! I am so angry about this! TC