Thankyou again. I'm starting to get nervous now!

Yes, I can print off the transactions, I'd not thought of that! How many copies of everything do I need to make do you think?

Yes, I've got together his contract of employment plus the original offer letter, which shows when he got his first salary payment. I can also get either the monthly statement from kensington showing the payments or a bank statement, plus I have my award letter for DLA.

Yes, at Birmingham Civil Courts there is a CAB court welfare office (can't you tell we've been there before!) and as long as you get there early, they will come in with you and speak on your behalf. Would the fact I am disabled help us in any way? Also, the fact that Kensington wouldn't agree to anything beforehand, would that be worth mentioning? As we've tried to come to an arrangement and also maintained increased payments for 2 months (next one is due after the hearing), would that also help us? On one hand I'm nervous as we've got such big arrears and no full payments for a long time, but on the other hand, I'm a bit comforted by the fact hubby now has permanent work and we've made 2 full payments, plus extra off the arrears. Actually, when I rang them to pay, both times they seemed a little surprised I was paying them, almost a little reluctant. Maybe it was my imagination Anyway, thanks again, you are such a great help and I don't know what I'd have done over these last few years without CAG.

I forgot to add a huge thankyou from both of us, you are a true star x

Can we not take it with us when we go? Hubby is at work and I'm disabled you see, unless we post it registered post?

I've done the budget planner now, it shows we can afford an offer of £150 a month, with a few pounds left over.

Thank you Ell-enn, I'm about to complete it now. Sorry for the delay in replying, my internet has been a little hit and miss.

Only one that Kensington supplied. Isn't there a template for one somewhere? I'm sorry, we've been through this before but it was a few years back and I can't remember what we did.

The arrears are big because of the time hubby was out of work - just over £13,000 and the mortgage has around 17 years left. Ell-enn, we have just sent the response back to the court, the one sent to us, well I did it online. I put in the response that we had made payments and the arrears came about because of hubby's unemployment. Kensington have had proof of hubby's job, I sent them a copy of the letter telling hubby his start date and when his first salary payment was to be made. It's the actual hearing I need help with, I don't know what to take, what to prepare or anything. Caroline59, they've done the same to us, upping the interest rate every now and again.

Yet again, Kensington are taking us to court for repossession in ten days, despite all our best efforts to come to a payment arrangement beforehand. In May 2010, hubby lost his job and we found ourselves unable to make payments, we told Kensington who, because I am disabled, put our account with their special needs team, whoever they are, to try and come to an arrangement, which didn't work. We even tried to convert the mortgage to interest only to reduce the arrears piling up, they refused. They only converted it when we asked for the third time and hubby had the promise of some work (which fell through), in September 2011. From when hubby became unemployed until a couple of months back, we have paid them what we can, when we can and have always kept them informed of our situation, including when we tried to sell the property, but found that we are in negative equity and so it would be fruitless. However, in January, hubby started a permanent, full time job, with his first salary payment coming at the end of February. I wrote to Kensington, told them this and than ked them for their understanding. Little did I know what they had planned. It seemed as soon as they knew hubby was back in work, they instructed solicitors to start repossession proceedings. When I rang them in February to make the first full payment, they told me that if we could come to an arrangement before the hearing date, we would not have to attend and the hearing would be postponed. We then went through the whole income and expenditure process, including providing copies of bank statements, and I was told over the phone that what we were offering (£100 extra) was affordable, it just had to be approved by head office. Today we've had a letter telling us that they've declined the offer. When I rang them, their reasoning is that we can't afford what we have offered, saying there is a £7 shortfall. I argued that seeing as how we have made 2 full payments plus an extra £100 since hubby has been back in work, we can obviously afford it. In their letter they also have been quite rude, saying that we have a lack of commitment to make payments and that it would be in our best interest to resume payments. What do they think the 2 payments we've made already are?!! Anyway, the upside is we are in court, again, in 10 days. We've replied to the court papers and have exhausted attempts with Kensington to make an arrangement, so I could really do with some help as to how to prepare for the hearing. Many thanks for reading this and sorry for rambling!

There really is reams to this story and it's not really practical to post it all. The car is a Citroen Xsara Picasso, 7 years old and in otherwise good condition. In approximately summer 2007, the exhaust failed and we had it replaced, apart from the catalyst which was fine. However, the system grounded out on the slightest of humps in the road and was blowing badly, so we returned it to the centre who fitted it and we discovered that they'd fitted a system for a different model, which was why it was grounding out and blowing. Also, because of their mistake, the catalyst had been ripped and we needed a new one, which they made us pay for! However, after much complaining, they agreed to refund the cost. But, because of the wrong exhaust, the tail pipe had been touching the bumper and had melted part of it, again after much wrangling, they paid for replacing it. Over the next 6 months, we ended up having another 4 or 5 non-original systems fitted as the engine warning light kept coming on and the car returning to limp mode. We also had to have a new set of lambda sensors, plugs and a coil, as the lambdas had caused a rich mixture, resulting in massive fuel consumption and fouled plugs. We were advised by Citroen that the none Citroen systems and lambdas were not up to the job and failed easily. The RAC also confirmed that the catalyst they had fitted, the none Citroen one, had failed and was running under the threshold. So, in February last year, when the car was once again misfiring and running like a bag of spanners and after many calls to the area manager, they agreed to replace the catalyst, plugs and lambdas with Citroen ones, which they did, apparently. At the time, we had a company vehicle and only used our car now and again. Although 15 months had passed since they replaced the bits and pieces, we had the engine warning light come back on. Oh, they also had to refit the whole system too and we'd actually only done 5,000 miles in it since they'd had their hands on it. After a trip to Citroen, they confirmed they catalyst had deteriorated which was causing the warning light. So because we had the cat changed only last eyar and they have a 2 year unlimited mileage guarantee, we took it back. Surprise surprise, because they had fitted authentic parts, they said their guarantee was null and void and didn't apply. However, I managed to get to speak to the area manager and got his number, who sent a technician to look at the car. He insisted it was the lambdas and agreed to change them, as a gesture of goodwill (!) at the end of September, when we returned from our pre-booked holiday. Well, we went away and promptly broke down on the way, on the motorway, with this and another fault with the wiring. I did phone the manager from the side of the motorway who promised to get back to me, after he'd spoke to the technician who'd seen us. That was the last we heard from them. He didn't ring me back and has ignored several calls and messages since. Also, no sign of the technician on the agreed date and time, when the lambdas were supposed to be changed. We've written, recorded delivery, giving them 14 days to resolve the issues. They've ignored that letter too. Our car is poorly, the idle is becoming rough again, if the lambdas aren't done soon, the car will start misfiring again and will need new plugs too. We are also consuming vast amounts of fuel as the lambdas are damaged and giving the wrong readings to the ECU. Also, showing the caring side of this well known chain, I'm disabled and they are quite happy to leave us like this.

We initially had our exhaust replaced by a well known high street repair centre who fitted the wrong system. This has resulted in over 3 years of wrangling and arguing for repairs needed to our car as a direct result of their poor workmanship. The final straw happened this year when the engine fault light came back on again, the dealer insists it is a catalyst problem and it needs replacing, needless to say the high street chain refute this and insist it is the lambda sensors and agreed to replace them after we had had a holiday. When we came back from the holiday, the technician failed to turn up and all our calls and letters have been ignored. I am asking for some advice on how to go through with our promise of court action for the repairs needed and loss of earnings incurred over the last 3 years or so. I know a little about the small claims process but, the certain high street chain has it's head office in Scotland, does this affect how we file the claim? Any help or advice would be very much appreciated! Oh and there is a lot more to this story but I didn't want to bore everyone or to post finer details in an open forum, for obvious reasons!

I've only just found out about ICE for her, just yesterday as she's tried e-mailing the CSA to complain and got no-where. I'll pass on your second post to her too and thanks again.

Thanks Rachie, that's much appreciated. I am worried for her, she's had to put up with enough, as so many have, without having to fight for what is hers. I'll pass on your words and hopefully she'll have some luck. Thanks again

Thanks, that's really helpful and I'm sure she'll appreciate your advice.

My sister has recently been awarded just under £60 a week for maintenance for her 12 year old son, after her useless ex shirked his responsibilities for 7 years and paid her nothing. However, despite them assuring her that the first payment he made of the arrears he owed would be in her bank account by last week, they have now informed her that no such payment has been issued. Her income support reduces right down to £13 a week from this week and she has nothing, other than a pathetic amount of child tax credit, coming in. The CSA are holding on to this money, just under £170 and are taking her benefits away, so what can she do? She has obviously got upset and is worried that she has nothing to live on, the CSA obviously couldn't give a flying you-know-what about it and just give her the stock answer of 'it'll take 7 - 10 working days', no matter what the question is. Is there anything she can do? Help much appreciated as I have no idea!

Brilliant, that's fantastic, thanks for your help.

Apologies if this is in completely the wrong place, but I'm after a little help. Hubby and I are about to issue proceedings against this lot, I won't go in to details for obvious reasons, but as their head office is in Scotland, how do we go about it? Any help would be gratefully received!

Excellent thread link by the way, thanks for that.

Huge congratulations from me too

Thanks again 42man. I went with her to the courts today and she put in her application to have the SD set aside. The CCA request has also gone recorded too so fingers crossed, all will be well. I'll post again when we have more news.

Thanks for that, it's something she may be interested in taking on, for the time being, she's just wants to sort this out.

Thank you so much, you have saved her bacon. I'll get her to get the forms in as soon as she can and we'll see what happens. Thanks again 42man, you really are a true star.

I have to admit to being a bit out of my comfort zone on this, I don't want her to end up with being forced into bancruptcy. She hasn't made a CCA request, yet, should this be made asap? Can I also please have some help with the wording on the forms? I feel so useless at the moment, this is a bit beyond my limited knowledge! She's also on income support, does she take the two forms straight to the court and does she have to pay anything? Thanks again.