I'm not sure if this comes under 'debt' but dont know where else to post it. Apologies if it should be elsewhere. Am I correct in thinking that a company (in this case, BT) cannot pass a bill onto a debt collection agency or even threaten to while it is formally in dispute? I first queried the bill at the beginning of november before it was even sent as they told me what charges to expect in the final bill. I have had 4 very unsuccessful phone calls and sent two letters, only one of which was acknowledged. I was promised 3 times that a manager would ring me back and they never did. Today in the fourth conversation (with the complaints department) they have said they are not budging and I have opted to take it to the ombudsman.

Lloyds have sent a "formal demand" from SCM regarding an overdraft. In another piece of correspondence with Lloyds I demanded proof of my agreement to overdraft charges and received a reply that stated "we do not hold a signed contract as we do not have an obligation to do so". They are still adding charges and interest. I am drafting responses now and am considering CCA and SAR requests. Advice is gratefully received.

I had asked for the days i would be expected to work this month, up to january, which i was given around about a month ago. This had not included new years, which fell on my rest day. 3 days before new years, i had a phone call asking to work it, which i had said no to due to now having arrangments. i then had a phonecall telling me i would be disciplined if i do not work it, which i had responded by saying i must take the punishment as i cant work. Today i have had a call from the owner telling me i will be dismissed if i do not work, what can i do ? i work in a hotel , night portering. Many thanks in advance

hello, i am in a joint periodic tenancy with another person who is the lead tenant on the deposit protection service record. i gave 1 month notice to quit to the letting agency, however they refuse to deal with me and have responded to the lead tenant saying that i am liable for the rent until a new tenant is found to take my place, beyond my 1 month's notice obligation as these are the terms in the assured shorthold tenancy contract which lapsed and became a statutory periodic tenancy and such terms are no longer valid. i foresee that they will withold my deposit for the 'due rent' and the lead tenant will agree to the deduction and not dispute the deposit deduction. what will my recourse be then? must i sue the lead tenant, or the landlord? perhaps if i threaten the lead tenant now they will agree to put the deposit into dispute. or i could send a letter to the landlord. regardless, this sounds like it's about to get messy... this is all down to the DPS not supporting joint tenancy deposits. if they had held my deposit separately, as they should have, there would be no problem. i would recommend another deposit protection agency than the DPS. their telephone support is great, but their claims system is a pain. i settled my last case with their adjudicator, they sided 75% with me, 25% with the landlord. i feel i should have received 80%-90%, i had the receipts to prove everything. thanks for your advice

I am keeping my car off road therefore I did SORN online and also I sent V14 with TAX disc to DVLA by royal registered mail. But still they want 100pound penalty. Time lines: 1. Did SORN online on 23rd November12. Got email confirmation saying application made on 23rd November12. However website said SORN will start from 1st December12 (probably because my TAX disc runs out on 31st November12). 2. Sent V14 with tax disc to DVLA by registered royal mail post on 23rd November. I can see on Royal Mail tracking website that it is received by DVLA on 24th November. 3. Got a letter from DVLA dated 28th November that since your car is not insured or sorn as of 28th November therefore you have to pay 100pounds. Please can anyone help me what I am suppose to do now? shall I pay penalty and get rid of the problem or shall I apply for dispute?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RDNDH9NBULLWB/ref=cm_cd_notf_message?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx10XULVXI3OEO3&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx2BMVF0PY13ESF#Mx1VY6TJXUMFR5Z

Hi to Everyone. I wonder if you can help me. On 2006 on Dec 6th someone placed a bet of £1000 on criket match. I only noticed on the 25th Jan 2007 when I contacted Ladbrokes to report fraud,went to the Police to get a crime ref number,changed my bank card. I thought everything was sorted out,but this year I was advised that £1000 wasn't refunded back to me. So I had it investgated,got a refund of £25 for poor customer service for not getting the fraud investgation done. When investgated it they advised it was different IP address used,not the same ip address of the address I was with my partner,but they informed me that they wouldn't refund me because someone must have had my card to set up the bet. So I have passed it to the FSA,but waiting for the fsa advisor to get Barclays to explain their selfs. What else can I do ? I have had my partner has witness to prove that I wasn't at the place where the bet was made,the ip address number different to prove it. I will be looking forward for some help. Thanks

hi,i posted on here previosly regarding a letter i recieved from tax credits.they wanted proof that my ex partner didnt live with me and i had nothing to show them.they sent me an overpayment of 22grand and a 3grand penalty for lying.i went to cab who in the end were not much help and moved so slowly,ended up making myself ill running around,contacting people,mps etc..anyway in the end i managed to get some documents off my ex and they accepted these as proof.would just like to say this forum was such a great support to me at the time,like everyone else was off my head with worry,convinced i was going to prison and all for something i hadnt done!!so keep up the good work

Hi guys... very brief background: mobile phone debt with Lowlifes, defaulted back in 2008. Disputing as charge relates to outstanding air time following upgrade with same company which I wasn't informed of when they rang me to upgrade the account. I've asked on numerous occasions for copy of contract and statements to validate their claims and received nothing. My last letter to them stated that I believed this account was in serious dispute as they'd not provided the information required and i wouldnt entertain letter tennis any longer. received a letter last week stating they'll be asking one of their approved debt collectors (Fredrickson) to chase this debt. I'll obviously be asking Freddy the same questions and I'll no doubt get the same responses... My question is: I'm sure I've read on here about OFT guidelines relating to the passing/selling on of disputed accounts. Have I made this up? If not, can someone point me in the direction of this? My second question is as it's a mobile 'debt' and not party to the CCA - is me requesting proof and receiving nothing and then saying this account is in dispute actually enough for this account to be 'in dispute'? if that makes sense? BSBS.

hello I am new here and i am stuck as to where to post. I would like some help and advice please with a schhol fee's disoute i am having - can anyone please help me - thank you

How can i dispute my debt with QQ and what do i have to write, and what should i expect from their side?

Hi I'm waging war on some of the greedy corporations I've had to deal with lately!! I hate them with a passion right now. Anyway, I'm having a problem cancelling my car insurance policy with Co-op/Eco Insurance. I was insured with the Co-op for years up until March 2010 when my car was written off. Not my fault and claim was paid for by the other party. I had a full NCD when my insurance ended at that point (as I didn't replace the car). In June 2012 I took over the ownership of my daughter's Clio (1.2 ltr teeny weeny engine). I went onto Compare the Market for an insurance quote. I included in the fields that I had full NCD and was presented with several quotes. The small print in these quotes indicated that my NCD policy was not to be more than 2 years since it was active, but the Co-op one said they accepted up to 3 years since you last had a policy in your name. So I selected this and went ahead with the quote - can't remember whether I completed the transaction online or whether I rang them. Anyway, I get all my docs through with a request for proof of NCD. I told them to check their files etc. But it turns out that my policy is with Eco insurance even though the Co-op name also appears as the most prominent on the paperwork. Eco only accept up to 2 years since your last policy. The Co-op website itself (I accessed this via the car insurance link on my Co-op banking website) clearly states 3 years. So, Eco want to charge me a stupid amount of money to insure this little car. If I was going to lose my NCD I could have accepted any number of other quotes cheaper than Co-op (Eco). They won't accept this even though I've been arguing with them for months about it. I've reported them to the ombudsman who has sent me a form to complete and has also written to them advising of my complaint. I have to wait for them to respond. However, my last conversation with them they said it would cost me £200 to cancel. I refuse to pay it, so they will not cancel the policy, therefore making it impossible for me to insure with another company. It is costing me £130/month to insure the Clio when previously I had a beefy Mercedes insured for £35/month. I feel robbed, genuinely. Not just because of the price hike but because of the way they handle things eg putting me with Eco insurance and not the Co-op proper??? I can't figure it out. I've tried recreating the compare the market set up but the quotes page appears different than it did in June and I'm not getting that small print anymore that convinced me to take out the Co-op insurance in the first place. And they do not state up front that they will shunt you over to Eco when you take out a policy. Call centre staff are the worst in the world to deal with and I've got to the point where I don't want to call them anymore. I feel like they treat people as dirt and have no regard for people's rights as customers. They won't accept they've mislead me in any way. They just don't get it. I took out insurance with the Co-op - not Eco. How can I be at fault? Any advice before I complete these forms? I still haven't received a response from the Co-op/Eco or whoever. I'm wondering whether I need to write to the insurer to formally lodge my complaint even though I've told them over the phone that this is a formal complaint. And who do I write to anyway? Confused.com Thanks Eve

I (privately) sold 2 fairly large photo-copier sized printers on eBay and stupidly agreed to arrange for a courier to deliver them to the 2 buyers. The courier managed to get each machine to the wrong buyer and had to correct their mistake. The first I knew of this mistake was when the first buyer received the wrong machine and started making threats of a physical nature. After this, the machine that buyer initially received got to its intended recipient, the other buyer, apparently soaking wet. This buyer agreed to wait a few days until it was dry before attempting to use it. Next, the first buyer started arguing over the meaning of several, claiming it meant seven. He must have had the contact details for the second buyer from when the courier collected from him and told me he had contacted him. Next he claims that his machine is wet, despite signing for it as being in a satisfactory condition when the pallet reached him, thus nullifying the insurance. Then both buyers start throwing words like fraud etc around, claiming that I had deliberately shipped wet machines to them. The second one, by this time had his printer working but claimed that, as it didn't have full consumables, it wasn't in working condition so wasn't sold as described. He even suggested that common laser consumables were non-replaceable parts and ignored references to the manufacturers website and the printers manual showing them as consumables. By this time, both were messaging me stating that they were in collaboration and wanted to sue me. The second one became quite nasty and started making veiled threats about country court judgements, saying it would affect all the members of a household etc. Then he found some old electoral data for me and somehow seemed to decide that I was a child(!) and sent me some very strange, rambling messages, making me suspect that he was under the influence of some substance. e.g, something along the lines of "does mummy and daddy know about this, they soon will." and quite a few tasteless insults. This was the end of my communication with him. Meanwhile, the first one had started an eBay dispute requesting a full refund and for me to collect the machine from him after this... He flat out contradicted himself several times within the eBay dispute and made other threats against my person. He also showed some extracts of his correspondence with the other buyer, where-in the other buyer shared my not-ebay-obtained personal information with him. I asked eBay on several occasions via their live support service for help dealing with these buyers and the best advice(!) they could offer was for me to block messages from them. Not terribly helpful. I went through this "dispute" process which very obviously is intended for a refund to go to the buyer in any event. The buyer made several unsubstantiated statements which he refused to give evidence of, for example, initially telling me that he had attempted to call the courier and the courier had told him that they would only talk to me, then later claiming that he had talked to them and they had told him that I was a "difficult" customer(!) He gave a phone number for the courier to me which was quite different to the number for the local company I used. He also claimed to have been told by eBay on the phone that they couldn't make a decision on a dispute while it was in dispute but that he did have a valid claim... I put my case to eBay within the dispute but it was obvious that they ignored it when he messaged me again, saying that he had phoned eBay and they had decided in his favour on the phone and wanted my return address to send the item back to me. I phoned eBay and was eventually put through to an American woman who informed me that I should let him send it back to me now even though the dispute showed as open. She also said that the buyer wanted a refund and it was eBay policy to give a buyer a refund when requested. She wasn't interested in anything I had to say and basically said that they always choose to give the buyer a refund. I do have photographic evidence that the machines were working when I had them and should also have cctv evidence of their uplift by the courier. Paypal... When the dispute started, paypal gave my account a negative balance. I don't understand how this can be when no decision was supposed to have been made in the buyer's favour. Also, I had a $14.95 payment agreement with a hosting company on paypal. Paypal took £200+ to make up the shortfall on the negative balance via this payment agreement from my card while the dispute was still in progress. This shows as $14.95 on the transaction page but when you look at the transaction details, shows an unspecified payment for this amount between currency conversions... Thank you if you have managed to read this far! So, basically... I seem to have been defrauded by this buyer and god knows what I will get back from him if anything... eBay appears to have facilitated this and paypal seems to have helped them. They had no interest in my evidence or anything that I had to say and, as above, automatically give the buyer a refund when they open a "not-as-described" dispute. The dispute process appears to be a sham when they automatically put your paypal account into the negative to recover the refund funds when the process begins! I've had an awful lot of stress with this, not to mention many strange, threatening and abusive messages from both seemingly conspiring eBay members at all hours of the day and night. What do you think my options are now? I am in Scotland. Should I make a complaint about eBay/Paypal, look at suing them in Small Claims or..? --a bewildered eBay seller.

Hi guys I have an existing 'debt' that was with Virgin for a credit card in the region of around £25k, although I think I'm about to dispute the debt. Hopefully one of you lovely people will be able to help me clear up a few questions I have. Since the time of my original application for a CC from Virgin, they have been taken over or otherwise transferred to MBNA. After writing to MBNA requesting a copy of the original Credit Agreement, which was with Virgin, they have responded by sending a copy of an online form that they have printed out. Firstly, is the online form a valid agreement, based on the fact that it is absent of my signature but includes a sentence stating that by ticking a box I am electronically signing the document? Secondly, considering that the original agreement was with Virgin, does the fact they have issued me this printed version of an online form with MBNA as the party to the agreement instead of Virgin make it null and void? I could do with a little help and advice as to how I should proceed and what the response from them actually means. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, New to the forum but really need some guidance if possible so thanks in advance. I had a car accident in May this year. I was travelling down a dual carriageway on my way to the station on my normal daily route one morning. As I drove through a set of green traffic lights ahead there was a private recyling truck making an illegal left turn. In order to make the turn he had to swerve out into the overtaking lane and back across lane 1 in order to make the tight turn, effectively blocking off both lanes of the dual carriageway ahead leaving me nowhere to go. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid the truck mounting the curb and hitting a road sign on a little traffic island just ahead of the turning the truck went down. The driver did not stop but carried on with his journey. I got out to inspect the damage (smashed nearside bumper, headlight and front wing) and simultaneously the truck re-appeared at the same time as a police car coming from different directions. The only route for the truck driver to carry on with his journey was back past the scene of the accident which was co-incidentally right near my local police station. I flagged down the traffic police car and advised him that the truck had caused the accident. He pulled him over further down the road and then came back and collected me. I was present when he asked the driver what happened and he admitted to the turn but advised he was not aware it was illegal to turn there and the police officer informed him that it is not a legal turn there and that as such I would be claiming off of his insurance. He was reluctant to give his personal details but the officer reminded of his obligations. We exchanged details and shook hands. Subseuqent to all of this I have had to pay my £410 excess, take a day and half annual leave to sort everything out, a taxi or 2 but no major expenses beyond this. The third party insurer supplied a copy of the 1 page drivers report which is missing loads of information and just accuses me of speeding. I subsequently submitted a 10 page account of the events including photos of the scene including the "no left turn" sign etc. The third party insurer has not denied liability as such but they are simply not giving any response on things and just using delay tactics etc. It's now reached the point where my insurer is referring to their solicitors (under my legal expenses cover) but advises me they suspect they will advise there is no case to take to court because I did not hit the third party. Assuming this is the outcome, what are my rights? Surely me avoiding hitting the third party truck to avoid more extensive damage and risk of serious injury to myself should not be a good reason for them to get away with incurring the liability for causing this accident. Unfortunately there are no witnesses and the only other person who could give any account would be the police officer who no doubt would have no decent recollection of what was said at the time anyway. I could explore the CCTV avenue as I guess ultimately you're almost always on CCTV somewhere especially in a busy town centre. I'm at a bit of an impass though. If the solicitor says there is no case, what can I do beyond raising a formal complaint with my insurer and escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service? Surely I shouldn't need to take my own legal action through the small claims court if I have legal expenses cover. Any advice you can offer is much appreciated. Thanks Pete

Hi, Is this the most recent account in dispute template recommended to send to DCA? A long running Littlewoods account has been passe to yet another DCA who is now chasing despite a CCA request not having been complied with by the OC/first DCA. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?426-A-letter-when-the-account-has-been-passed-to-another-debt-collection-agency Many thanks,

Hi As mentioned in the title, this problem is in Northern Ireland where, unfortunately, there is no tenancy deposit scheme as yet. I moved out of my rented house after three years. It was thoroughly cleaned upon us leaving.My husband met the ll at the property to hand back the keys and waited while the landlord had a look around the house. The ll stated he was happy with the house and would forward the deposit. The next day, my husband got a text from ll who had completely changed his tone. He made various demands for things and this went on for a few weeks. Each time we contacted him there were new claims, old claims with the amounts changed, very ambiguous. He tried to say he needed £ to clean skirting boards and the toilet, despite everywhere being scrubbed and him agreeing it looked good! The amounts ranged from him wanting the whole deposit plus an extra £70, to offering £350, then reducing this to £250..his letters are so confusing it's hard to tell if he wants money off us or if he is giving it to us. We gave him a 3 yr old sofa and he even had the cheek to try to charge us £25 to clean it! Then after a few weeks he tried to say we had broken the agreement by having a dog, but we verbally agreed when we moved in that it was ok and he saw the dog at various intervals over 3 years! Plus, we wallpapered a room. He said this would be ok but now he wants £177 to strip it and put up new wallpaper. What annoys me is the house was put up for let with 'our' wallpaper still on the walls so I don't believe he's changed it at all. Our deposit is for £495 and I *think* he's now stating he's entitled to £350 of it. We tried getting a settlement with him, allowing a deduction of £150 to him if he proved the room was redecorated (by letting us see the room) or £100 without. He refused this so it is now going to court. We have text transcripts, all his crazy letters and dated photos showing the condition the house was left in. I think this has all arisen from sour grapes because we bought a new property when he wanted us to buy his. But that is by the by. I just wanted to know people's opinions, whether they think we have a good case here? The best he offered us was £350 but I was reluctant to take that as there was no proof of the room being done, nor receipts etc..but he won't let us have that now as 'punishment' because we didn't take it the first time he offered it :/ I know £495 isn't a lot compared to some of the amounts of others but it's a lot to me (especially after just buying a house!!) I'm so annoyed at the way he has treated us, especially as he basically lied to my husband's face when he got the keys back.

Hi everyone, My Lloyds TSB account was in perfect standing order 8 months ago until i couldn't pay for a bill that was debited from my account (was a payday loan of £200+). I have no overdraft with Lloyds and i tried to get one with them several times before but kept getting declined, so what gives them the god given right to provide me with an unarranged overdraft to cover the payment, then charge me £10 a day for it? My Lloyds TSB account was sitting at £0.00 with no overdraft facility, now 8 months down the line i'm -£970.00 because of them providing me with these unplanned overdrafts and all the charges included. I've tried to arrange 3 different repayment plans with them but i failed all 3 times, i'm now in a 4th one and they said it will be the last, i'm not going to be able to stick to this one either. Does anyone know of a good letter to send them to let them know i'll be disputing the account so they should keep the account on hold without any interest until the dispute is resolved? This debt has forced me to seek credit elsewhere to pay for other bills and has got me in a further mess! Thanks

posting here to see if anyone can advise what i should do next. i had 4 contracts with vodafone (me, wife & 2 kids). sept 2011 my son went over his allowance, £230 over on a £20 contract, i noticed this at begining of oct. called vodafone, flamed off at them for not notifying lead number and such but was told my responsiblitity. i asked what i could have done to prevent and was advised to call them and block that number. 3 days later noticed my son had exceeded his allowance for oct. called vodafone asked them to block number and advisor confirmed that it was blocked. 2 days later number still incuring charges. called vodafone registered complaint bout these charges and again asked to block number, advisor confirmed it was blocked. didnt hear from vodafone, dispite their complaints procedure stating 'a manager will call back in 24/48 hrs'. in november i called vodafone to see what was happening and was told a letter had been sent to me, i never got this so asked to resend. got letter cple days later, all it said was like 1st call to them, my responsibilitity blah blah blah. but nothing bout the charges for oct and why it wasnt blocked when i requested twice and was told it was. i wrote letter outlining my complaint. didnt hear from vodafone. called vodafone several times over next cple of months but kept getting no where. took complaint to ombudsman. report back, vodafone dont have to this, dont have to that, no evidense i made those calls requesting block, no shortfall in customer service. didnt accept report stating i would provide call records. requested call records from vodafone, called every wk after 4 wks i got, same day received ombudsman final decision in vodafone favor as i hadnt been able to supply call records. i had been keeping ombudsman informed of problems getting these from vodafone. complained to ombudsman bout this and original report. received letter 0n 29 may 2012 stating they had looked into calls and system notes say i was told that it was not possible to put a block on that number??? jan 2012 voafone cancelled all contracts and sent bill. this was incorrect as 1 contract was 12mths, they billed as 24mths, again called them and have heard nothing. any suggestions pls

I returned the keys to my rented property, as agreed, on August 2nd. I understand that my deposit must be returned within 10 days (presumably 10 working days) of this date. Apart from a receipt for the keys, which I asked for when I returned them, I have had no communication from the agent or landlord. We are now approaching the 10 day period by which time I should expect my deposit to be returned. If they wish to raise a dispute about this, is there a time period in which they must do this? And must they notify me of such a dispute? I have checked my deposit on the website this morning and, to date, no dispute has been raised. Many thanks for any info.

Hi all, A bit of a long post below so apologies! Please do bear with me! Basically, I think my employer might be trying to get out of giving me my full contractual notice entitlement, however I am not sure. The bottom line is, I think if am entitled to something, then they should be fair and pay it. I think I could be entitled to 2 months payment in lieu of notice rather than a week’s payment in lieu of notice based on the following: - My initial employment offer letter stated that my probation period was 3 months long and that the required notice in regard to termination of employment was 2 months, after the probation period expired. During the probation period the required notice was one week. (Please see picture LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-A ). - Page 12 of the principal terms and conditions of my employment dispute this ( please see LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P12 ), saying that confirmation of employment from the HR director is necessary for the 2 months notice period to apply, but on page 2 of my principal terms and conditions it says the offer letter prevails in a dispute between the offer letter and the terms ( http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P2 ). - My probation was extended to roughly 6 months ending on 5 July 2012. The letter at B below ( http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-B ) says that during this period (not after) notice period on employment termination remains at one week. - My employment was terminated on 11 July 2012, after the extended probation period had ended. I think it was due to be terminated on the 6 July 2012 but was delayed. Per the initial offer letter ( http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-A ) which states that after the initial probation period the applicable notice period is 2 months, I think the notice my employer should have given me, in regard to the termination of my contract would be 2 months, and that I should get 2 months notice pay, as my termination was after the extended probation period had ended. What do you think? Relevant document images are included as links below. It’s a long post thanks so much for reading and your time, any help is very much appreciated! Am pulling my hair out here! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links / Appendices: A: Extract from my initial offer letter detailing notice periods. Employment began on 9-Jan 2012. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-A B: Letter extending probation period to 5-July of this year. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-B My employment was terminated on 11-July, after the probation period had ended. It was due to be terminated on the 6-July but was delayed. C: Please find below links to images of the terms and conditions of my employment. (The first linked page states that offer letter will prevail in the event there is a discrepancy between it and the terms and conditions). Further image links: LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P2 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P3 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P4 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P5 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P6 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P7 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P8 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P9 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P10 T+C’s page 10 says notice only 2m after confirmation, however I would dispute this based on offer letter, which says notice changes without mentioning any confirmations required. T+C’s state offer letter prevails over T+C’s in a dispute. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P11 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P12 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/termnotice-P13

Case discontinued - Bill of Costs disputed - What next?? I have read through the Idiots guide to claiming costs, and followed the advice given. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?179849-Is-there-an-idiots-guide-to-claiming-court-costs They disputed my costs and made an offer to settle, however I have refused this as it was well below the 2/3 rule, and seemed based on a ££££ I had previously suggested were my costs to that date. Plus before knowledge of the Lip rate rise to £18. I have written and suggested a more appropriate figure - I received a response stating - 'we are considering the content of my letter and will respond when possible'. 6 weeks has passed and on number of occasions the claimants solicitor has stated that the Bank are under pressure from the recent technical problems highlighted in the media and that they will respond when possible. I'm concerned that the window of time will elapse for my costs to be claimed. How do I start the process of the bill of costs to be assessed through the courts? To proceed to a hearing? Have I missed something?? This claim against me went on for 2.5 years. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi, My housemates and I are currently having trouble getting a reasonable amount of our deposit back from our landlord. After various letters to and fro, we've eventually managed to get an itemised and priced list (a month after the end of the tenancy), and I would be interested to hear what others have to say about this before we reply. The landlord is claiming a large sum of money for cleaning services, on three occasions. Two were midway through our tenancy, when the landlord decided the house was too messy, and let cleaners in without our knowledge or consent (the contract states he is allowed to clean the house if he wishes mid-contract). The third was at the end of the tenancy. We had left the house in immaculate condition (far better than when we moved in), but the landlord claims he *always* gets cleaners in regardless of the condition of the property (this is written into the contract). My concerns here involve the illegal access to the property, the enforceability of the clause allowing the landlord to charge us for cleaning mid-tenancy whenever he wishes, and whether if the landlord *always* cleans the house at the end of the tenancy, regardless of the condition, then does that count as maintenance (and is therefore not deductible from our deposit)? We are being charged for cleaning carpets. A number of these were noted as being dirty when we moved in. There were seven of us living in the house, so many of the carpets were heavily trafficked -- can we claim some of the cost of this as wear and tear (and obviously entirely deduct the charges from the rooms which were already dirty)? Again, he has claimed for cleaning of *all* carpets -- surely this counts as maintenance? He claims he was taken to court because we didn't pay our council tax. We are all students, and therefore exempt. We registered our exemption a month before the end of the tenancy, and he has no evidence (because he didn't do it) of asking us to do this earlier, or telling us he was supposedly having legal issues due to us not acting sooner. He is claiming for his 'court costs' which we were never given the opportunity to avoid (aside from possibly registering earlier; but this has never been an issue for any of us in our long combined history of renting houses). He is claiming an enormous amount of money for supposedly 'repairing' paint damage from pins in bedroom walls. He has told us (and other prospective tenants this year) that he repaints the whole house every year (unfortunately no documentation of this). Admittedly there would have been a few holes left in the walls (and probably a few marks on some), but I don't think repainting an entire wall or room is a reasonable reaction to this, and I definitely don't think it was >£400 of damage. Any of your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Hi all.....as usual, a bit of advice is needed here as this is ridiculous now. After a credit app knock back , we did the usual thing and checked our Equifax report and noted it to be a bit "colourful". One of the reds is for a disputed Orange Mobile phone bill in January 2010, (Yes 2010!). A bit of history may help with the advice. We went on holiday (Africa), for 15 days, (2009) taking the Mobile phone and dongle with us. Being very aware of the costs of mobile/data when abroad, we purchased a local PAYG mobile and kept the data access to a strict minimum using the hotels wifi to surf and make calls over skype. Data and roaming on the phone was switched off, and the dongle SIM was removed when switched off. For the 15 days in country, of which one was on an isolated safari park, and the remaining 10 in two separate wifi hotels, we received a bill from Orange totalling over £2000.00. First bill was taken by DD for £500.00 whilst on the holiday. Bit worrying but because we run our own business we anticipated it was because of the busy period before we went on our jolly days. Next bill in jan 2010 was for £1569.00. Our holiday was from 28th Dec 09 - mid Jan2010. When I recieved the statement, I rang Orange to discuss the statement as it just had 3 sheets and no call information or details. Coming from a comms background and knowing the spamming culture of the country we had been to, I wanted to know the exact details of the calls made or the data downloads. I was quite specific in my reasonable requests...I wanted to know the Ip address of the local data transfer centre, the location of the local 3g node, and the geographic location of the alleged usage, and any other relevant information. I was generally passed between post and pole and assured the information would be sent to me. Orange responded by sending me 15 double sided sheets of statement listing the APN/Service Class as "business LAN access" with one "access" being 18 hours long!! No other details at all ie the information I requested. I then sent them a letter and e mails disputing the amount and to call me to discuss this urgently. 5 correpsondonces later I had still recieved nothing at all. During Feb and March 2010, my bank kindly rang me up and said "do you have your mobile with you at the moment because Orange are about to try and take £1569 on a direct debit from your account" I told my bank to refuse the DD and tag the refusal with the fact the account is in dispute. The bank refused it 3 times with the same reason. I started to recieve calls from Orange - two or three I think. Each time explaining at length my concerns and not wanting to accept the debt if the data card had been spammed or corrupted or faulty. The mobile and dongle were disconnected by Orange after the last call from them and my further request for information. I think my last words were, "if you can prove from the information you have that I actually made the calls, then I will pay it" And yes, you've guessed! The usual suspects appeared on the letter writing scene - Moorcrofts and DLS. They got the immediate fob off letter as my dispute is with Orange etc. and to be honest, they have backed off since my request for information is reasonable and relative. So we are in the same position that we were some two years ago! My belief is that I havent defaulted on payment, I have disputed the bill before payment. But Orange have tagged us in the Equifax report as defaulting. Both the debt collecting agencies seem to have dropped it, which in essence, could be an easy £1500 for them. So....what do we do now to get this removed from our credit report. Equifax have spoken to orange who have come back and said we have defaulted - (listed it as a dispute with equifax)- and we are still showing red. The annoying thing is that the payment records from Orange show us as regular payers, (between £150 - £300 pcm) Thanks caggers for any advice you can give. PS...it seems to me that there is a possible loophole in the data roaming billiing if the Telco does not provide the full detials of your 3g data useage...or maybe this is another post to be placed?!

I'm dealing with my new partners Tax Credits claim. So has a large historical overpayment that is being repaid by weekly deduction from her payments. Two days ago, out of the blue she received a letter demanding immediate payment of £1000+ or they'll send in the debt collectors. She has no idea why the letter has suddenly arrived as she has been on a repayment arrangement for years. I intend to investigate the whole arrears business as it seems to be a bit of a shambles. Question: Should I put in an FOI request on her behalf so that I can get the entire case history? Or is a different approach recommended? If FOI is the way to go then what's the appropriate address to send the request to? Many thanks.