Hi, The same has happened to me, I was called, offered an excellent deal on a loan and was told the paperwork would be sent out. They said no funds would be taken until a loan agreed. Got the letter through, realised it was a [problem], and phoned them to advise not to proceed, they asked if money had come out I said no, they said they would delete application and no funds would come out. Guess what??? They took the money the next day and also sent my details to their fake company Ralph Marlon Ltd. I contacted them and was told to follow their refund policy, advised this is not a refund as unauthorised and I wanted an immediate reversal, no joy. Bank were the same, they say that by giving my details I had entered into a contract, I disputed this and they are treating as a dispute, but still no money back yet. Today I have got a case registered with Kent police (their local force - I highly reccomend you all do the same), the financial ombudsman (they sent a letter), and OFT (the OFT have just received a super complaint through from CAB regarding this matter http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/markets-work/super-complaints/cita) if this has happened to you, now is the right time to make a complaint. Don't let them beat you, I think that things are going to change in this industry very soon, and the more noise we all make, the faster it will happen. If anyone wants help pursuing this matter let me know as I do not want them to [problem] another penny! Thanks guys James

Hi, Here goes... We moved into our current property in October '09 and since we have been here there has always been a nasty smell in the basement, we have mentioned this to the landlord on numerous occasions, we have also had problems with flooding downstairs. Last weekend this all culminated with the mother of all floods in my sons room which turned out to be raw sewage from the flats above and from the mains pipe. I immediately contacted my landlord to rectify the problem and he sent out a drain flusher. I then requested that he contact environmental health to work out what was spoilt and what germs we were dealing with as my wife and children have both been ill. On this request he went away and phoned back an hour later to say that he had another flat for us to move to whilst he got the problem sorted. It then transpired that this had happened before, firstly the drain guy with his limited knowledge of plumbing told me the pipes were massively inadequate to deal with seage and there is another pipe running the length of the downstairs that is incorrectly laid, when questioned my landlord admitted it had happened before and he had failed to rectify it. so we moved into this other property, he also stated that I could carry on running my office from the previous place to keep my business going. He originally stated we could stay there until the beginning of August, however the other night whilst I was working I had a call from my wife telling me that a lady had let herself in and accused her of being a squatter. This is the future tenant for the property we have been moved to. She eventually left and I contacted the landlord who didnt say much. Last night we had arranged an meeting that I had to cancel, however the landlord turned up with the future tenant, let themselves in and even though I had asked them to wait they both started shouting, swearing and bawling at me. Basically they were trying to bully me into moving out of both properties. The landlord had bought with him some kind of device for checking for damp, whilst she stood in front of me to block me he hurried downstairs to do some tests. ** (this may be a separate issue) Whilst he was upstairs my blood was beginning to boil and I am afraid reason by the point had all but failed me. I asked her to leave, she refused, I asked her again and mentioned that as she was trespassing I was able to use reasonable force to remove her as she was not welcome, she still refused so I held both her arms and walked her towards the door, she then started to fight back so rather than descend into violence I backed off and decided to phone the police. After this my landlord came upstairs and said he saw me hitting her and I would be done for ABH (yeah right, luckily I know my rights to a certain dgree)*** After this the Landlord exclaimed you F'ing T**T there is no damp down there at all, threw a letter at me and demanded I move out. Luckily at this point the police turned up as I was really losing my temper, I have 2 children, one of them registered disabled and I really feel pushed against the wall as you can imagine. The fact of the matter is I am not concerned about the damp, it is the germs, I did not ask to be moved out it was his idea and I feel frightened in my own home now. I have been to the council and have a meeting on Wednesday and they have said for me to send him a letter and have no further contact until then. My main questions are, what rights do I have at the temporary property? Does my tenancy agreement cover this property? As you can imagine I am now very angry, wheras before last night I was not thinking about taking him to the cleaners, after the stress and heartache he has put my family through, I want to see him get his rewards! I also wonder what I can do about the intrusion? I know I am quite a scatterbrain so I hope someone can pick up the pieces here and help me get back to normal, I just want to feel safe with my family again. Many thanks :-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:confused::confused:

wasn't looking to you LP but thanks twas more of a general outburst

I know exactly what you mean, I have had a couple of half assed attempts at things like getting my bank charges, arguing whether I owe money or not, I have CCJ's coming out of my ears, the bank have warnings flash up whenever I go in and I am not allowed to use telephone banking! So it hasn't really helped, I am so trying to get my life in order at the moment, I have just been made redundant, my boy has been diagnosed on the autistic spectrum (I believe I have similar issues) and everything is just spiralling out of control, for the first time in my life I do not know where I am going or how to find out. Woah look at me going off on one, sorry guys, it's just reading this whole thread has really engaged me, and yet again I am bristling with ideas and energy with nowhere to direct them. This is possibly not the done thing so I will stop now, but thanks to anyone who is listening. And good luck Frettful I am so eager to hear your result, you are so lucky to have had LP, it has been so amazing the detail he goes into when arranging everything. It's been emotional guys!! peace out

Can I be in it please?

This is epic! You go Frettful! I would also have responded positively to LP's rants, sometimes we all need a bloody great kick up the arse!!

You ar eright Zamzara, I have been misinformed, and that is the nature of the problem. The good news is though Bezzer, they admit they were in the wrong, and I have a case for compensation. The main reason for my question is that I was hoping there might be a way to move things along more quickly, I really can't wait for the time it taskes to write read and respond to a letter, I will be ok in a few weeks, it's just now, because of this I cannot afford to pay my rent, and I am worried my landlord might start the eviction process.

Hello, I have just returned to work after nearly a year on Incapacity Benefit. On Monday I was advised by Jobcentre Plus that i would get a 'run-on' of my IB for 4 weeks after I start work. Now when I checked my bank today, I noticed they hadn't paid, :mad::? I phoned payment office only to be told they don't do run-ons, if I had known that I would have delayed my start date, as my family are now penniless, i went into the branch (during work time i might add - new job and all) and they admit they have mis-advised me, however, all they can tell me to do is write in and complain, this is not suitable as we will have no f!"£$%^& cash this weekend,, my little boy is ill and my family need to f!"£$%^&*() eat. I am so angry, and feel stuck. Can anyone suggest somebodyt I can speak to now, is there a secret depaqrtment somewhere who can handle my complaint, anything..... I really need your help guys

Hi guys, firstly apologies for not starting my thread sooner, things have been so hectic of late, what with my 11 month old wonderboy Hugh, as well as my wife being pregnant again!!! She not been well recently. Plus we have had an ongoing issue with Family Tax Credits and have had to get my MP involved. Anyway I digress, I have been with the Halifax for a number of years, and having always lived on the breadline have incurred a lot of charges which I have always thought of as unlawful. I originally ordered my statements 2-3 months ago and after lots of chasing they finally arrived today *hallejuliah* albeit incomplete, as well as only sending 4 years (due to the fact they downgraded my account 4 years ago they reckon i need to order seperately) they also missed out a lot from the start of this year?!?! WTF!?! which they obviously tried to charge me seperate fees for (so far i have got off all the fees through complaining). So heels are being dragged. I have worked out from the statements I do have and info from their call centre that so far on this account they owe me at least £1884 (i can't wait). I am going to submit the first claim now and wait for the rest of the statements to come through which will form my second claim. Now having spoken to the guys in the chatroom they say the charges can go back further than 6 years which is fantastic as I incurred even more when I was a youngster (which is probably the reason I am in the mess I am in now.) Although it would be nice to get the defaults removed, I am not too interested in this as my credit rating is rock bottom anyway, so i think i am just gonna go for the cash, which is greatly needed at this moment in time! It is inspirational reading everybodys threads, I think this is a great site and hope I can inspire others as much.

Although I am not qualified on this subject, this sounds to me like they are threatening you without anything to back it up, see what others say, but i would stick to my guns

Hello, I have been charged a couple of thousand pounds over the last 6 years, I have been to my bank many times to ask for help and say these are unfair charges, now finally i believe I am going to get some of this back, good work guys!! Thanks for the advice, I am with the Halifax, and really struggled when my baby boy was born, I contacted them before this but they did not care just carried on charging me, I now want to take this as far as I can, I am even willing to go to court if I have to!! I do believe that these organisations have been unlawful for so long and it is high time they start to pay back a little!!

Hello, I have been charged a couple of thousand pounds over the last 6 years, I have been to my bank many times to ask for help and say these are unfair charges, now finally i believe I am going to get some of this back, good work guys!! Thanks for the advice, I am with the Halifax, and really struggled when my baby boy was born, I contacted them before this but they did not care just carried on charging me, I know want to take this as far as I can, I am even willing to go to court if I have to!!