A minor issue - more annoying than anything. Having some horrible concrete paved over. Got a builder and he said go to this company, they're pretty good and I use them all the time. So I go on said company's website and order a 100 of 450x450 slabs. As he starts to lay these slabs, he notices that the measured size seems to have grown as the slabs aren't covering the area as they should. So we measure again and come up with our original sizes, so we measure the slabs - instead of 450x450, they measure 440x440. Bugger. Phone the company and they waffle about 'minor variations in size due to the manufacturing process'. So how come they're ALL 440x440? Any ideas what I can do?

Bumpity, Bumpity, BUMP (again) SEE PREVIOUS STATEMENT - search thecatsdad (Sacked from driving job) and ditto. Very long story short; HMRC caught up with me after 10 or so years of an outstanding tax bill of around 6k; the final bill after penalties, late payment fines and etc; - 36k. No, I will write that out - 6,000 pounds morphed into THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND POUNDS. Still feel like throwing that brown envelope into the bin? If so, dig it out, wipe the fag ash off it and start facing it. Because, I did that - for many years - and when I finally had to face it, it cost me a load more than it should have. OK, you may feel that the bill is wrong, you may feel persecuted or put upon, you may feel the colour of brown envelope is offensive to you. Whatever your reticence is in dealing with the HMRC is, bin THAT. Because (bad grammar), they don't care, they'll just keep on racking the charges; I know, I have that T-shirt. I'm not an advocate of the HMRC, I think they are incompetent **&^%*&^!"£ but that wont stop them taking your hard earned in shameful charges that YOU will be aware of. They tell you that in the letters you're binning. Anyway, I went to Court, got a payment order of a grand a month over 36 months, also got a Tomlin Order as I would have lost my sensitive job with a Government Agency if I had to declare the Court Order - this involved telling lies to my employer unfortunately, but needs must. I also had an excellent Accountant who managed to get me about six grand off the bill - John, I love you. I have now paid all the money back - in fact the HMRC found that I have overpaid to the tune of about eighteeen hundred quid and have refunded me some money recently; dont ask, I don't know, although I did ask; but I did ask for - and got - written confirmation that the full and final bill was settled. That was a happy day I can tell you. I know I sound sycophantic, but I was a totally ignorant prat for a lot of years - I knew I owed the money but chose to ignore it, which is why for three years I was skint - no holidays, no car, no little luxuries which make life interesting. I also contemplated the final solution when I knew I was knackered. I drove my Wife to a life-threatening illness. My life was dead-ending in my opinion. BUT, I got through it, it was hard, it hurt my loved ones, but we're through it and if a lazy **** ('scuse my profanity) like me can do it, YOU can do it. Thank you all for your support - you may not have contributed directly to me, but reading your advice to others helped me make it. Your work is more important than you realise.... Ian

Unfortunately, so

BUMPITY BIG BUMP As is my occasional wont, I visit this fine site intermittently, usually when I have a small issue - compared with others here - or just to have a browse. In honesty, a few years ago, I was hip deep in the smelly stuff, but with good fortune, a very tight belt and the help and love of a very good wife, I've got through it, so it is possible if you try hard enough and get the breaks. Anyway, one of my personal gripes - and i'm probably not alone - is that after people come on here with terrible issues and get advice - good, bad or indifferent - we never hear the outcome. Even if things don't go right after being on here and absorbing the said advice, it would be useful to know the outcome so that the advisors know their advice was right - or wrong. So to that end, I'm going to fill the blanks on a couple of my post's tonight. Firstly this one. The story is above so I wont re-hash it. I filed an ET claim against the Company my brother worked for - this was allowed under the time limit constraint as I had hospital records showing he was in hospital at the three month limit; ACAS became involved - as they do - and they mediated between us. The Company was a complete pain in the posterior, refusing to negotiate, being abusive and basically painting my brother as an unreliable worker. (He undoubtedly was, but as they didn't keep records of his 'warnings', they managed to shoot themselves in the foot). ACAS were very good, I think below the surface they had sympathy for our case but were too professional to show it outwardly and they negotiated a cash settlement which was very favourable to us, allied with a written reference which swerved the issue of them giving 'no reference'. So a win. In reference to the medical issue here; brother was diagnosed with 'sleep apenoa' (spelling might be off there), which was related to his weight and work lifestyle. Did DVLA get involved? Probably not. Did I advise him to seek incapacity benefit and get away from driving? Yes I did. Did he get it? No. Is he still driving? I don't know, but probably, yes. (We have since 'fallen out' and don't speak to one another now). So thank you to all that took an interest and I used some of the advice, disregarded other, but got through it. You are - generally unheralded - stars. Ian

"Although convicted, it will not show on a standard criminal record, but it will on an enhanced record check. If you are a policeman, lawyer, nurse, teacher etc, civil service, then they all require an "enhanced" check. Equally, the US Embassy could also check the record if/when you apply for any visas etc". This - technically - has nothing to do with this thread, but it sparked my interest for another reason. The 'US Embassy' cannot 'check' the record of anyone; what happens is that you have to apply to ACPO for an output of your criminal record if you're applying for a Non-Immigrant Visa. The US - along with many other Countries - Canada, Aus/NZ, etc - now ask on landing cards whether you've been convicted of any offences and if, like me, you lied and said no but subsequently got found out, then you wont get in without a Visa interview. I would point out that if you've ever travelled to the US and on the landing card where it says have you ever been arrested or convicted of any offence of Moral Turpitude (MT) and said no and the truth is opposite then you could be on dangerous ground if they pull you for interview at the Border. I always said 'no' to the turpitude question as it sounded to me like, well, nasty stuff and I've never gone anywhere near there. However, I found out to my cost that MT means ANY offence of dishonesty - including our old friend, drink-driving.

Just to update this; BHF offered all the PPI back plus interest but no compensation. I wrote back to them saying that I wasn't happy that they hadn't offered any compensation, but they wrote back saying 'tough', basically. So i'm going to try again to them but ante up a letter of complaint to the FOS/FLA. Funnily enough, in their settlement offer letter, they tell me that this complaint can't be dealt with by the FOS as it was issued between 01/12/01 & 31/03/03 and from 14/01/05 onward and that I have to go to the FLA. However, in their rejection of compensation letter, they tell me I have to go to the FOS if I'm not satisfied....

going on my own experience, BoS are contacting customers who have paid PPI with a view to settling. I have a letter somewhere which says just that.

Thank you

As far as compensation is concerned, I'll take anything that is offered; goodwill would be enough. FoS guidelines? Not something I'm overly familiar with, but (oh God) I'm assuming BHF have adhered to them. There's is 1168, mine are 1184 but that could be a date related thing and for the sake of the odd £20, I'm not overly bothered and mine didn't take into account the tax deducted which was 60 quid (this is BHF). BoS didn't deduct any tax that they told me about. Ian

Carried on from 'Successes' at the behest of DX. Hopefully the mods will cart the rest of my posts over here to save me re-writing them!! Anyway, an update is that I have written to BHF telling them that I like the offer, but am disappointed that they haven't ante'd up any compo. Letter only went today, so I'll post outcome when it comes. Because the BoS settlement kinda came out of the blue, I didn't realise that compo might be a part of it so didn't ask for it. Might I go back to them retrospectively and ask for compo? I've re-read the letter BoS sent and there is no mention of tax being taken, so does that leave it to me to settle with the Inland Revenue?

Umm, didn't have a thread, just hijacked this one....so need clarification

I did, the figures are slightly different - in fact, mine are lower - but the difference was only £20. And yes, they only took the 8% from the interest. A question, as the BoS settlement didn't take the 8%, do I have to tell the taxman and ante up the tax?

Couple of stories; All this PPI buzz was kind of going over my head as I didn't think it 'applied' to me; yes like some, I had credit and I had credit problems, but had never seen PPI as being on my radar. So, out of the blue last October, I got a letter from BoS, telling me that they had been applying PPI to a credit card account I had through Sainsbury's and as they couldn't find a signed application for it on my account, they had decided that they were going to refund me. A month later, I got a cheque for £890.00. I then started looking at other accounts I hold and came across an account with Black Horse Finance and their subsidiary Cardif Pinnacle. Looked on this fine site, found the letter template and sent it off - suitably modified - to BHF. a week later I received a questionnaire which I completed and sent back and today received a letter and an offer in full and final for just over £1100. Not sure if I'm going to accept this - no goodwill or 'consequential' payment - and they took £60.00 in tax from the interest which was something the BoS settlement didn't do. Anyway, thanks for the good advice, letters and general pleasant experience which abounds on the CAG site; I shall be donating from my ill-gotten gains in due course. Many thanks

I've checked the 3 month limit and if you can prove sickness then it's extended to 6 months, I think we can do that easily. So far they haven't sent him squat, the letter he got from the hospital is clearly marked as his cc but pointedly addressed to his employers. It's statement and evidence gathering time now methinks. 'preciate your help:)

Hi Godpikachu Yes, when I asked to see the letter of dismissal, he did say the employer didn't give him one at the time, but stated they wold post it out - that was three months ago, still no letter. He has a copy of the letter the hospital sent to his employers and it is graphic in it's description of his condition. He is under a specialist at a hospital in Cambs who is testing him to discover what his condition actually is. Thanks for the CAB/ACAS info, I shall get straight onto it. Again, we are both most appreciative of your help.