In principle I have to say that if the bank misleads you for some reason other then there is definitely a chance that you should be able to recover your expenses from if you have to go for independent help. However you need to give us far more detail as to why Barclays said that you couldn't claim.

Thanks for the update. Unfortunately the usual rule is that the case should be heard in the defendant's local court. If you simply expressed a preference that a hearing should be in your own local court then the chances are that they will not agree. We would have suggested a form of words which would have increased your chances of getting it heard in your own local court. I hope you won't mind me saying that I think in future if you have forms to fill in or anything else to prepare that you should let us know in advance to take our advice. If you go it alone then you won't necessarily do the best for yourself. I notice on the Facebook group there are over 20 people now who are members and who are complaining that they haven't been paid. One person has apparently owed over £2500 and yet are not aware that he has actually sent them a letter of claim. If you have any way of encouraging these people to start threatening and then bringing their legal actions, it would be probably helpful to all of them if you would do so by posting up on the Facebook group. Once again, I'm frankly amazed at how so many people who apparently business people and therefore should be worrying about their balance sheets have been prepared to go along with all of these broken promises again and again and again and without taking any action and without getting anywhere. I'm not surprised that future comms is continuing this business practice. They are probably amazed as well how they can get away with it. Anyway, as I said, thanks for the update – but I suggest that you come to us first before taking any further action. It's completely free so there's no downside. Once we've given advice then you can disregard it if you want

Did you explain in your letter of action that it was going to be a foreshortened letter of claim and the reason why? It might simply be an idea to do that so that everyone is clear – in case there is any challenge in court. In terms of seeing at the registered address and enforcement – this is a good point. If you are sure that the place of business is stable and unlikely suddenly to be changed then that would be a good thing to do. On the basis that you win, you should not have this enforce by bailiffs. Because it is clear that the value of the claim is more than £600 you should have the matter transferred up to the High Court and enforced by High Court Enforcement Officers

Well I'll deal with the questions as well I can. Normally speaking you would be required to give 14 days notice. This is a protocol and so it's not completely fixed. I would suggest that you at least give seven days' notice so if you give notice today by email then it would be reasonable in the circumstances to begin an action next Monday. I will explain in the email why you are shortening the normal period of notice and also point out to the fact that he has been uncooperative so far whereas the circumstances are extremely clear and your rights under the consumer rights act are extremely clear. I don't know any way that the case could be expedited – but certainly when you receive the directions questionnaire then you should explain to the judge at that point the urgency of the situation. You will have to put some amount so if I were you I would estimate the maximum amount of likely damages and then claim for a figure "not exceeding £XXX". Of course that will mean that you will be paying a higher claim fee. You could explain in your letter of claim that this is what you will be doing and why you're doing it. You don't need to put a lot of detail at this point. Have a look at that and see if it sums up your case correctly. Sue them at the registered address. Get all information you can from the mechanic including photographs et cetera. Also get your independent report. You were not needed at this point to issue the claim but it will be extremely helpful later on. You will be able to claim for the cost of this as well.

I think you need to give us much more detail about the story here. It's impossible to advise you on the extremely scant facts that you have provided

You will need to unravel the story before you can do anything about it. Send the SAR. Also an SAR had better be sent in your father's name as well

I think you will need to start telling us which company it is, what kind of utility you are talking about. Then you should send the company an SAR. You have probably better understand now that it is extremely difficult to clear this kind of thing from your credit file. However if it is a case of mistaken identity then you may have a chance.

You could certainly send a copy by email – but of course they are entitled to verify your identity. It might be easier and more straightforward simply to send the request in writing, signed with your usual signature which presumably they are familiar with.

Firstly, on the basis of what you say – nothing will happen because no one knows about it. However, it's very nice of you to feel so embarrassed and ashamed – and it means that it really is out of character, as you say. Why don't you simply return the item – maybe with an anonymous note of apology. Learn your lesson and try to understand why you did it and avoid doing it again. I think that understanding why you did is probably a very important step

You are quite right. Please would you mind crawling over the site and finding anyplace where you think there should be changes and flag it up to us with a suggested form of words and will have a look. Thanks

I'm afraid that it is an extremely unforgiving system – regardless of fault. It's extremely unfair and frankly it is quite disproportionate but there is nothing that you are going to be able to do about it. In terms of how long a late payment marker last on your file, I'm really not sure. Maybe somebody else can answer. I'm sure it is longer nine months and I'm sorry but I think seven years is correct. However if it's any consolation, a late payment marker is not massively serious – it's certainly not a default

I'm sorry but we don't make references or recommendations of this kind. Also, you need to be careful of no win no fee deals. For instance, you need to be certain that if you lose then the value of your losses is covered. Also if you lose, the value of the other side's costs are also covered. These would be quite unusual arrangements. No win no fee is not all it's cracked up to be

I suggest that you follow the advice of @Emmzzi on this – although I'm pretty certain that they will agree that even if there is a tiny element of holiday pay, you should certainly claim it as well. Given the circumstances that you have described to us I would recommend that you go out of your way to get your pound of flesh on this.

14 days or you will do what?

I think you are going to have a lot of difficulty – but you certainly can challenge it – but I think that you will probably end up having to make a county court claim and possibly with only a 70% chance of success which is not the kind of odds that make me feel comfortable on a claim of this size. On the other hand, maybe Europcar as well wouldn't feel comfortable and they might simply pay you out rather than go to the expense of defending. Are you saying that the damage didn't exist or simply that it was so small that on your own inspection you wouldn't have seen it? I'm afraid that with all car hire, you should photograph or carefully video all around the vehicle – including the top of it – before you take control of it. I suppose Europcar will say that the vehicle was checked earlier on and so they didn't need to check it again. When I rent vehicles from Europcar or any other car rental company, I'm meticulous about checking and I make sure that I bring the rep out and point out any damage. You could challenge the extent of the cost of the tyre and also the administration fee. They certainly seem a little bit excessive – but once again you will probably be looking at a county court claim in order to make them cave in.