Hello all, I post in this place like once every 10 years because most things I can deal with myself, but thank God for this place because when i don't know what to do regarding some advice / legal advice, I know this is the place to come to. Anyway I am having an issue with a self storage company in London (one of the big ones). So basically I gave them 7 days notice to close today, and they said they have to charge me £15 because the 7 days 'crosses over' which is basically bull****, I know they're just trying to screw me for money. This is the first issue. The second issue is they sent me back an e-mail saying they 'require the unit to be cleared during office hours for the sake of thealarms on the units' which again is crap, because I was with this self storage company for 6 months and I could take my stuff in and out as I please 24/7, at midnight, outside office hours, weekend, whatever, it wasn't a problem. But now that I gave them 7 days notice to close, they're saying I can only take my stuff out Mon-Fri 9-5, otherwise I'll trigger the alarms. Which of course, if I do, they will promptly charge me like £30 admin fee or something. And bear in mind these 7 days (9th January - 16th January) I've already paid for last month, but they're imposing this new set of conditions. This really is a problem for me because I need to move my stuff out in the weekend, and of course they'll probably put the alarms on in my unit, which they shouldn't do, and then when I move it, it will ring, and they will say they can charge me for this. Is there some Ombudsman that I can go to complain about this? Can I also tell my bank Barclays to block any payments taken out by that company? (They said the £15 they will charge me because of 'cross-over' will go out automatically' Thanks all in advance, and mods, if this is posted in the wrong sub-forum, kindly please tell me where to post it so I can get maximum exposure to this post. Thanks a lot all for reading.

A shampoo ruined my wife's hair through no fault of her own. We've been through the letter route. They only responded once and that was to an email we had also sent, but they acknowledged receipt of the first letter in that email. Exasperated with their denial of liability, we're pursuing them through the small claims court. When I submitted the claim online, the company address I gave was taken from their website contact us page. I'm now having doubts if this was the correct address to use as 1) their registered company address is different 2) The Royal Mail signed for letters never got marked as delivered - it was only by chance the email they had sent mentioned they received the first letter (with the photos). I travelled to their address and saw it was a business unit address possibly used for storage (i.e. a little smaller than a 2 bed terrace). What should I do now the 14 days + 5 days for issuing the court notice is nearly up? They haven't as yet (and are unlikely to) responded to the claim - it is tempting to just ask for judgement, but then I don't want it thrown out of court or find it impossible to collect from them. Any advice apart from see an expensive lawyer which would then make it not worth the costs of it all?

Hi, I took a contract out with DW Fitness 5 months ago purely based on the fact they had certain cardio equipment I intended to use over winter listed on their website. I’ve only used the gym 5 or 6 times since and only for weights as the weather was good so I’ve had no need to do indoor cardio. Ive since been back to use the cardio equipment and it turns out the gym don’t even have the equipment, it’s listed clearly on their website in the cardio information section of the club I joined. Essentially I’ve been paying for months for the privilege of kit they don’t even have! ive contacted them several times to ask them to cancel my membership due to the fact I was misled by their website and the fact they don’t offer the facilities they claim, however they just ignore my communications and they don’t answer the phones full stop. I’ve obviously kept a electronic record of all of my attempts with , my last email I informed them if they neglected to reply to me again I’d simply hold them in breach of contract for failing to provide me with a resolution due to a lack of engagement. They still continue to ignore me. The staff at the gym are no help, they say to complain electronically which comes to nothing, or say theyll get back to you and never do. Where do I stand on this due to the fact it was false advertisement that got me to sign up in the first place, plus their reluctance to engage or assist me with the problem. Can I just cancel my payment and cut contact with them and treat them with the same contempt? thanks for your time

We lived in HA housing in a rural community of about 40 houses. The lady next door to us moved in about 18 months ago and seems to be a very nice and polite person. However about a year ago she started a hedgehog rescue which is very commendable. We thought that charities which are a business were not allowed to operate from HA properties. However she is not removing droppings regularly or disinfecting and piling up bags and bags of their compost. Consequently in summer we had a plague of flies and blue bottles plus on hot days a terrible stench over the neighbourhood. It is now winter and for the first time in 8 years we are still having an issue with flies and bluebottles. Yesterday she had another load of crates delivered which means even more hedgehogs on a piece of ground that is not larger than 65sq metres. This is of concern to us especially as I have rheumatoid arthritis and my immune system is low. Hedgehogs apparently can transmit salmonella to humans because of the bacteria in their droppings. I not sure if it can become air borne, but I am wondering why I have been suffering from a sore stomach for awhile plus other issues. Just to add we have 3 Yorkshire terriers and 2 cats. Only one cat ever leaves our property but never goes next door. The pets have been with us for several years. We want to issue resolved but do not want to fall out with the neighbour so are not sure how to approach the matter. Please advise. Thanks.

Hi folks, If this isn't in the right place could the mods move it please, it concerns a boiler I had installed in April 2016. When my wife and I moved into our current home in March 2016 we had the heating system replaced by a company called Ecovolve. Ecovolve have subsequently gone out of business. The boiler is an Alpha 28KW model. The boiler has developed a fault whereby it loses pressure over time. I have had my usual heating engineer out to inspect it and he has diagnosed a faulty pressure vessel within the boiler itself. After pressurizing the vessel and filling the system it will continue to operate for a period of time before the same thing happens. It is confirmed in each case that the pressure vessel has lost pressure. I have contacted Alpha (by email) to inquire about a repair but they have responded by offering me some sort of service plan, which of course they want me to pay for. My understanding though is that any fault should be covered by the Sale of goods Act, or am I wrong? Any help much appreciated, I'd like to be more knowledgeable before responding.

Hi all, so this is an interesting one, I joined a gym.. locally.. online.. they had a separate finance firm ‘Debit Finance Collections’’, and it’s a local trust gym.. to cut a long story short, just after joining I went on a course at work and was out of the area for a while and pretty busy, when I got back I realised I just wouldn’t have time to use the gym and to be honest there’s one closer to my work which is better placed.. I called up DFC (bearing in mind I haven’t set foot in the gym, picked up my card, had a letter.. nothing..) and that was when I was told, as I was two days over my cooling off period, I’d have to pay the full £450+ cancellation charge... I did try and reason but no dice.. I then contacted the gym as they do have the power to allow you to cancel early.. aaand again ‘sorry sir but our terms state that outside the cooling off period you owe the full years fees’.. now, as I’ve never been picked the card up, been in there or actually had any service at this point, I’m tempted to cancel the DD, speak to the finance company and say it had been set up fraudulently / mistakenly by someone else.. and deal with it like that.. or is there a better and more legal option? I don’t want to affect my credit rating or have DCA’s chasing me so any advice would be appreciated.. my contact with Debit Finance Collections has only been a quick call where they told me I couldn’t cancel.. below is the terms from my one email confirmation, thanks in advance!: “email Terms & Conditions Definitions: Service Provider = "we", "us" or "our"; Customer = "you"; Debit Finance Collections Plc = "DFC" Terms of your Contract PERIOD OF COMMITMENT -You are agreeing to subscribe monthly for the services provided by the Service Provider and contracting to remain a subscriber for the minimum period of the contract ("Minimum Period"). -Once you have completed the minimum number of Direct Debit payments we will automatically continue to collect the agreed Direct Debit payment amount on the frequency chosen at the time of setting up the Direct Debit Instruction. Your contract will continue until terminated in accordance with these provisions. -You may cancel the automatic renewal of this contract at any time by providing at least 1 Months notice in writing or by e-mail ([email protected]) to the Service Provider or to DFC. COOLING OFF PERIOD -This contract commences once you have indicated your acceptance in the Declaration section of this contract. You have 14 full days after signup to cancel this contract for any reason. To exercise this right, you must inform us of this by post, email or telephone using the details provided. Alternatively, you can notify DFC in writing or by email to [email protected].. If you exercise this right to cancel, we will reimburse you all joining and subscription fee payments received from you using the same means of payment you used for the initial transaction. If you have used the service before requesting to cancel, then we will reduce your subscription fee refund by a pro rata amount equal to the number of days from signup to the date cancellation was requested. -Your subscription starts immediately. -You will be entitled to all the rights and privileges extended to you for the type of subscription chosen. TERMINATION OF SERVICE, LIMITED RIGHTS TO CANCEL -During the Minimum Period you may cancel the contract only: 1. If we fail to maintain the standard of service you would reasonably expect. 2. If we alter the operating hours of the services unreasonably resulting in you being subsequently being unable to access the services. 3. If you develop a medical condition which prevents you from using the services on an ongoing basis. An appropriate medical practitioner must provide written evidence that this is so. * 4. If you move away from the area by a distance which we consider, at our sole discretion, to be too far to travel to the services for regular use. We shall require evidence that such a move has taken place. * 5. If you lose your employment and are subsequently unable to keep up your repayments under this contract. You must produce documentary evidence and we may, at our discretion, suspend your payments for two months. We will then review your financial situation with you. * 6. If you become pregnant. You must produce documentary evidence and we may, at our discretion, suspend payments for three months. We will then review your situation with you. * PLEASE NOTE: points 3-6 require documentation, this can only be accepted from the date of receipt. TERMINATION PAYMENT FOR EARLY CANCELLATION -If you cancel your subscription during the Minimum Period, other than in the circumstances set out above, we shall be entitled to a termination payment ("Termination Payment"). -The Termination Payment will be the total of: 1. Any arrears; 2. Any accumulated late payment charges that have been or will be incurred; and 3. The monthly subscriptions that would otherwise have fallen due before the end of the Minimum Period. -You will be given credit for early payment, and this will be in the form of a discount applied against the total that you have to pay. For details of how the discount is calculated, please contact DFC. MISSING PAYMENTS -If you miss two payments, you will be deemed to have breached your contract. GIVING NOTICE TO CANCEL -DFC will continue to collect your monthly subscription after the Minimum Period. Should you not wish to continue subscribing after the Minimum Period, you must give notice to cancel the contract at least 1 calendar month before the final payment of the minimum period. If you wish to cancel the contract at any time after the Minimum Period, you must give at least 1 calendar months notice. The notice should be in writing or by e-mail ([email protected]) and sent to the Service Provider or DFC. COLLECTING YOUR MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS -DFC is our agent for the collection of your monthly subscriptions. DFC will collect your subscription monthly in advance on our behalf by Direct Debit. -If you fail to make a payment on time, you will incur the following charges: 1. Fail to pay the subscription on the due date £15.00. 2. Fail to pay the missed subscription within 7 days of the date of a reminder correspondence £30.00. 3. Fail to pay the arrears and accrued charges within 7 days of the date of a Final Notice £45.00. - Late payment charges become payable immediately when they are incurred. -Other Charges include: 1. Payment other than by Direct Debit £5.00. 2. Any cheque returned unpaid by your bank £10.00. -DFC is also our agent for serving notice and collecting any Termination Payment which becomes due. Any notice served on you in accordance with the terms of this contract, will be deemed to have been delivered to you the next day after it is despatched by us, or our agent. -If you would like to make a complaint with the service you have received from DFC, this should be in writing or by e-mail to ([email protected]). You may also request a copy of our complaints handling policy. If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than 30 days, then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including the costs in tracing you should you have changed address without telling us. PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION We take great care to ensure that any information we hold about you is kept safe and secure. This section explains how and why the Service Provider and DFC use your personal information. The Service Provider and DFC need to collect and process personal information in order to be able to provide you with the services. The personal information required includes: - your personal details (such as your name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email) - financial information (such as bank account details) - medical information (which is provided to the Service Provider) - ethnicity (which is provided to the Service Provider, but which is completely optional) Your details and financial information DFC requires this information in order to collect and process payments. It will also use the information for related purposes, e.g. keeping records of financial transactions for a number of years (as required by law and the Direct Debit Indemnity) or to pursue unpaid debts. DFC may anonymise and aggregate data (so that it no longer identifies you) and then use it for analysis and reporting purposes. Some of the information DFC collects and processes will also be shared with the Service Provider (e.g. details of a missed payment) Medical information In order to take out a subscription the Service Provider needs to know a bit about your health and any conditions or injuries you suffer from (this is to make sure that you can make use of the services safely and without risking injury). When subscribing via DFC's online portal you will be asked to provide certain sensitive personal data about your medical history. This information is provided on the basis of your consent, and you do not have to provide it. However, if you choose not to then the Service Provider won't be able to provide you with its services (e.g. gym membership). If you do decide to provide this information it will be sent to the Service Provider (DFC will not store or have access to it). You can, of course, withdraw your consent to our using this sensitive personal data whenever you wish. However, by withdrawing your consent you will also be cancelling your contract with the Service Provider (as it will no longer be able to provide you with our services). If this cancellation takes place during the Minimum Period, you will be liable to make a Termination Payment (as set out above). The Service Provider will also be provided with details of your ethnicity (if you choose to provide this information). for its own equality monitoring.. This information is completely optional and there is no need to provide it (and it you can ask for it to be deleted at any time without consequence to you). For further information on how and why the Service Provider and DFC use your personal information, and details of your legal rights (including the right of access) please visit: Removed

Hi there , Just a quick question i need help with guys , i have been a customer of perfect homes for 5 years and had a few items off them and most of them are paid off , i have currently 3 items left with them and 2 are nearly paid off , my question is with the final item , if i decide i do not want it anymore , and i refuse to pay for it , and i have told them i do not want it and to come and pick it up , can they actually do anything ? The reason i ask is the 3rd item is a 2ND HAND TV they sold me over a 4 yr period they charged me £3843, it was a 55 inch curved tv , i have paid over £1200+ on it so far , and have now come to the conclusion i actually do not want to pay another £2000+ on an item i could go out and buy for a whole lot less , ( the reason i had it in the first place was i had a 65 inch tv off them previously and it didnt work properly , so i handed it them back and the only other tv they had in stock was the 55 inch tv 2ND HAND !! ) i took that as i didn't have another tv , am i in the position where i can keep it after i have paid so much off it , or should i just cut my losses and just hand it back , because i refuse to pay another penny on it ? Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance Badboy09

Hi all, I was looking for some advice. Hopefully this is close to the right place! On October 5th I signed myself up to be the captain of a six-a-side football team in a league ran by a company known as Soccersixes. We have played in such leagues before and although I was aware they use underhanded tactics and are all about the money, we have never had any major issues. We played our first match on October 15th and at the time is seemed to go okay; however, I was then informed on October 17th by the league organiser that the referee had reported an incident that would result in one of our players being banned for one match. The issue with this is that the incident was not raised during or after the match at the venue, and as a result no one knew who the alleged culprit was. The referee did not know the name of who was involved, and everyone in the team denied that it was them (no one actually saw it happen and I have doubts that it happened the way the referee described). In addition, we were unaware that the league dealt with discipline in this way. In every other league ran by Soccersixes that we have played in, a fine was always the result of an incident rather than a banning, unless it was reported to the County FA which in this case the organiser told me that it hadn't been. This is backed up by the terms and conditions on the website: "Discipline: Any player receiving a red card will be fined £10 which is payable before playing again. Any serious discipline will be reported to the relevant County FA." The problem we had is that we really only had a base of six people who could play, so if we showed up and someone couldn't play we would have been a man down, or if we showed up with seven and the referee couldn't point anyone out we would have had to play with a sub which no one wanted to do. I told the league organiser that we wouldn't be showing up as we did not sign up to a league that could ban players on a whim, but was told that if we didn't we would be fined our match fee and our opponent's match fee for every week until a replacement was found. After this, I tried to pass the team onto somebody else who could get a team together, and was told by the league organiser that if they register their interest online, he will swap the details over. This was done, but the league organiser then said a match will have to be played before the new person can be held responsible, before details can be passed over and before the team will be put into the league online. This was weird, given that my team was put into the league online before we played a game and given that I was held responsible immediately upon signing up. Fast forward to last night, October 22nd, and we took the decision out of principal not to go to the game. My thought process was that Soccersixes have broken their own terms and conditions by banning a player, so how could they find us in breach of the rules if it went any further? The terms and conditions for not showing up to a fixture are as follows: "You will pay us full match fee for cancelling a match. If a match is cancelled on less than 48 hours’ notice and we are unable to arrange your opponents another game you will also pay us the opponent’s match fee." And: "If a team cancels then the opposing team must still turn up for a friendly if the game is provided by S6. The team will win 5-0 and pay for the match as normal." Knowing this, I thought I best go to the venue when our match was being played to see whether or not our opposition team were playing a friendly; from past experience, when a team does not show up, the referee just asks one of the teams from the match before to stay and play again. The team was playing, so I recorded this for evidence, and I also asked one of the guys who I kind of know if they had paid and he said yes. Today, I received a text from the league organiser asking for £68 within 48 hours, or the situation would be passed on to debt collectors. Knowing that £68 equalled two match fees, I asked him how he arrived at this figure, to which he replied that our opposition "did not play a match". When I told him that I know this to be a lie, he changed it to say that our opposition "did not play a satisfactory match". When I asked him why he charged our opposition their match fee and is also asking for the same match fee from us, he initially refused to respond, reiterating that we owe the amount stated. Hours later, he then said that they would be receiving credit back due to it being unsatisfactory. Obviously he is still requesting the £68 from me, but given that they seem to be breaking their own terms and conditions left, right and centre, I really do not think that I should be accountable for anything. Thoughts?

Situation as I know so far: Tenant moved into property in 2014 and contract stated the deposit was protected by 'Barclays Secure Client Account' - nothing more. rental was done through a lettings agency and rent was paid to them. About 18 months later the tenant came home to a man waiting in his car outside the house who identified himself as their landlord - had ID and paperwork. Agency had vanished and he hadn't been paid rent for around four months. He accepted the tenant had paid. It all checked out and the tenant then paid rent direct to landlord. He never has got round to renewing contracts but tenants have continued to pay their rent and life seems to have bumped along, presumably on a periodic tenancy. He wanted to know how much deposit they'd paid as he'd not been sent any paperwork. He's recently been in touch to say the agency has gone bankrupt and the tenant will have to contact 'them' to get their deposit back. I have asked the tenant to go back and find out who 'them' is. They aren't quite sure if he means the agency or someone dealing with the bancruptcy. So, on to the questions. Is it really up to the tenant to recover their deposit from anyone but the landlord? If it's all on the landlord must they do something about it sooner rather than later? They are happy living there and don't particularly want to sue their landlord but don't want to be told years down the line when they do go to leave that they should have done something sooner. It appears the landlord has a number of properties in the area and they're run as rentals under a company name. Does this make any difference to what they should do/how their deposit should have been protected? They don't want to fall out with the guy. He's been shafted and has been perfectly reasonable with them. They don't want to move and everyone is happy barring this deposit issue. What's the best way forward?

Hello Caggers! Not sure which category this really should go into... It involves both EBookers & Halifax so wasnt sure where to put in Holidays or Halifax so have put it here for now... Anyway, I have managed to get into a sticky situation with Ebookers and Halifax (Section 75 team) and could really do with some advice with this as have exhausted all avenues now and have hit a brick-wall with both Ebookers (owned by Expedia) and Halifax (Lloyds Banking section 75 team). This is rather a long post so I can tell you everything that has happened regarding this. I would grab a cuppa before continuing, and I’ll try and keep this brief… Here we go! My sister travelled to Spain in July this year and had booked a Villa through Airbnb. On arrival this turned out to be unsuitable for a number of reasons (this is being dealt with separately with Airbnb). This turned out to be quite upsetting after the first night so my sister rang from Spain to see if there is anything I could do. At this point I quickly realised from the pictures I received they needed to get out of their and find somewhere else. This is where the problems began! I went off to Expedia, Booking.com, various websites etc looking at hotel rooms around Lloret de Mar for 2 Adults and 2 Children (8 and 3). Eventually, stumbled across a hotel being sold by Ebookers which was all-inclusive and the room stated it was a family room with 1 Double & 2 Singles – Perfect! Phoned my sister back, said I found a hotel, blah blah, send link over so she could see photos etc. Told her that I will book on my credit card here and we can sort out the money when you get home. All good, so went off and booked. Total cost £1,144.37 for 9 nights. Confirmation email arrived, forwarded over to sister who was then in car travelling to hotel. Sister arrives at hotel, checks in etc and goes to room to find a small room with only 2 Single Beds. They go back to Reception to be told initially that is a family room! Sister askes where the kids are going to sleep. A lot of ‘flap’ ensues with Reception phoning different people. Told to go back to room and someone will be along shortly with a solution. Sister messages photos over WhatsApp and basically says not sure what is going on… I told her to sit tight for a bit and see what happens. Eventually she went back to the hotel reception and spoke to a manager. They explained that the hotel keeps having this issue where Ebookers place a booking with them, but the rooms are not suitable for a family of 4. They apparently have made Ebookers aware of this but it keeps happening. The only ‘solution’ the hotel could provide was to put another 2 beds into the room. By this point it is gone 7pm in Spain, my sister and family went off for dinner whilst they waited for housekeeping to add the extra beds into the room. However, when they got back to the room, I can only describe from the description and photos sent that the extra beds were basically shoehorned into the room. Literally all the beds are touching together (one huge bed – kids loved it!) however, you now could not open the balcony door at all, had to climb over the beds to physically get into bed, couldn’t open drawers because the bed was touching them, and was very difficult to get into the bathroom, let alone trying to move with 2 suitcases in the room as well. Anyway, this is now up to 8.30pm and the kids are tired. My sister now getting very upset, returns to Reception. Manager has gone home. Asks if this is really the best they can come up with and there are no larger rooms available? None. All rooms are the same size. Asks for a manager who is just the night manager who says he cannot do anything until manager returns in the morning. Sister then rings me in tears, doesn’t know how they will be able to stay in a room like this for 9 nights, is fed-up, tired etc. Told her to calm down, the kids are fine (and loving the huge bed ), told her I will call Ebookers and get them to step in and try and sort this out or get them to move the reservation to a suitable hotel. I then call Ebookers, and spend basically the next 3 HOURS on the phone dealing with the *worst* customer service I have ever experienced. All ‘contact’ is with Customer Services in India who in my opinion have no empathy towards the customer situation, and I ended up just getting transferred to multiple people who couldn’t do anything and kept trying to refer me to the hotel. I even ended up getting transferred to Ebookers ‘wholesaler’ of rooms, HotelBeds, who were surprised to even have a customer on the phone. Ended up telling me sister to go to bed, nothing can be done tonight and will sort out in the morning. I then spent the evening looking at other hotels in the area, and cross-checking details to make sure the room was actually suitable. Found a couple of places, but both more expensive. Called up the hotel the following morning and spoke to the manager. Explained everything that happened yesterday with Ebookers and the hotel and made it quite clear that the current room set up was unsuitable and either a larger room needed to be provided or transferred to another hotel (the hotel is part of a chain and has a number of hotels in the area). Manager said give me 30 mins to check with his reservations team etc. Called back and was told that there was a room available in a hotel further up coast (20 mins away in car) which was large family room, but as this class of hotel was different, there would be an extra charge of £400 (£400 something – can’t remember exact figure). Told him this would be fine and go ahead and change the booking. Sister and family had breakfast and packed up and travelled up to other hotel and finally began their holiday. So, upon their return to the UK, got all the details, photos, confirmation emails etc etc altogether and fired an email off to Ebookers customer services. Waited and waited and waited (14+ Days – no response). Called up, asked for this to be escalated as had not heard anything. Apparently, the reason I was hearing nothing back from Ebookers was because the difference of name on the email and the reservation. Was advised that it was not Ebookers issue and to take it up directly with the hotel. Refused and told Ebookers that I booked with them, not the hotel and they are the hotels agents and they need to deal with the hotel. Complaint went back into Ebookers system and silence continued. Got fed up with this and emailed CEO of Expedia and Head of UK Customer Service for Ebookers. Complaint was then escalated internally to ‘Premier’ Customer Service at Ebookers. After some emails, back and forth, Ebookers refunded the £400 or so to change hotels, along with £100 compensation. Refused this, explained that due to spending upwards of 8 hours dealing with this, I would like a full refund of the initial £1,144.37 paid also. Ebookers refused. Told Ebookers this is your final chance to ‘put this right’ and learn from their ‘mistakes’ before I asked Halifax to put a chargeback through. Told there was nothing further that could be done. Emailed back to the CEO explaining my full disgust and disappointment with whole situation etc etc. Called Halifax Credit Card and explained briefly all the above. Told that this was enough to on. Halifax then sent a letter about a week later asking to send more info and this could be emailed across. Did this, hear nothing for weeks. Chased, told they would be in touch. Eventually this escalated into a complaint with Lloyds Banking due to no contact (was 30+ days since sending info). Then received two emails sent by different people at Lloyds apologising over delay. Turns out they had lost emails etc. Re-sent info over and asked if this could be looked at as a priority. I then receive the below via email from Halifax on Friday 28th Sept: Dear Mr 123NeilyB Card Number: **** **** **** 1234 Transaction Details: Ebookers.com Transaction Amount: £1,144.37 Transaction Date: 19/07/2018 I am contacting you regarding the above transaction. I am sorry to learn of the difficulties you are experiencing with this merchant. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 covers purchases made using the card costing between £100 and £30,000, where a misrepresentation or breach of contract has been proven. I would advise that you as "the cardholder" are the debtor in this agreement and therefore must establish a valid claim for breach of contract or misrepresentation against the merchant to whom you made the card payment. In this instance, the agreement is between yourself, and the merchant, Ebookers.com, who have fulfilled their obligations by passing the funds to HTOP Olympic Hotel. Any breach of contract is by HTOP Olympic Hotel, who is not a party to the credit card transaction. If you accept this decision and you still wish to pursue the matter with Ebookers.com, you may want to seek independent advice, perhaps from your local Trading Standards Office or Citizens Advice Bureau. I am sorry that this may not be the outcome that you were hoping for however I hope that you will understand this decision. Yours Sincerely, A.Person | Customer Service Advisor | Section 75 | Card Operations | Lloyds Banking Group  Andover Credit Card Operations, BX1 1LT  [email protected] Now, to me, this email in itself contradicts what it is trying to say. I called Halifax Credit Cards to try and get an explanation. Told that ‘Section 75’ team do not deal with inbound calls, and advisor could not see actual email above but could see the correspondence between Halifax Section 75 team and Ebookers. After pushing the advisor for an explanation of how Section 75 have come to the above, it transpires this comes down to the fact that Ebookers have responded to Halifax and according to Ebookers terms and conditions of booking, they accept no liability in the accuracy of information on their website. This left me rather astounded. In my eyes they have just ‘wriggled out’ of this by relying on their T&C’s. I have responded to the above email to the Section 75 team with the below email (not mentioning that I have called up and spoken to someone and know about Ebookers trying to wriggle out by relying on their T&C’s) Dear Mr Section 75 Advisor. Thank you for your email. I have tried to call and discuss this but apparently the ‘Section 75’ department is not ‘customer facing’. I find the below email misleading. Let me break this down piece by piece: I would advise that you as "the cardholder" are the debtor in this agreement and therefore must establish a valid claim for breach of contract or misrepresentation against the merchant to whom you made the card payment. Correct – The merchant in question is Ebookers.com In this instance, the agreement is between yourself, and the merchant, Ebookers.com – Correct up to here - who have fulfilled their obligations by passing the funds to HTOP Olympic Hotel. Any breach of contract is by HTOP Olympic Hotel, who is not a party to the credit card transaction. Incorrect – it is not my job as the consumer to identify breach of contract between the website and the hotel. I booked and PAID to EBookers, not the hotel. If a reversal is performed, then it is up to EBookers to recoup their losses from the hotel. At the end of the day, due to a mistake either by either EBookers or HTOP Olympic Hotel, my sister and her family suffered due misrepresentation because the website was misleading. So, as I do not accept this ‘decision’, I would like this escalating higher within Halifax/Lloyds to be re-assessed. Kind regards, 123NeilyB So, fellow Caggers, thank you for reading all the way to the end! Note, I have DSAR’d Halifax already to get ‘everything’ they have regarding this as they refused this give the info over email the other day. Just to see what they have been 'discussing' with EBookers... Also, I don’t think I will get anywhere by going back to Ebookers – they have already stated their case. The hotel I am pretty certain will just point me back to Ebookers. Just a note. If Ebookers had been cooperative at the beginning and the problem had been sorted on the evening this all happened, then we would had no issues paying the booked rate at all. It was the subsequent failures by Ebookers that have really upset us and that is why we were looking for a full refund. Thanks a lot. Neil & Kim

HI, Wondered if anyone could help - I'm posting this for a friend of mine: Female with 3 kids under 18 lives in home previously shared with ex partner, who left 3.5 yrs ago. He has left BG bill in his name for all 3.5 yrs and and said he'd been paying it all along. BG have NEVER written to the female partner. On Saturday ex partner decided to try and take his own life and was sectioned. BG letter arrives on doorstep next day and my friend opens it to find its chasing £1700 bill (all still in ex partners name, not addressed to my friend (the female)) She's called BG and explained, and only after she explained he'd been sectioned would they even speak to her. They have as a result told her she is responsible for the full amount and have almost forced her (wouldn't allow any other options and basically said take it or leave or we';ll send debt collectors after you) onto a 50 month repayment plan for the £1700. She lives int he house and she uses the utilities. She has not has a bill in her name from BG in the entire time she's lived there. it's always been in ex-partners name. Is there any legal route out of paying this money due to BG being threatening (They were on the phone) and the fact is his debt not hers? Many thanks in advance.

Firstly I do apologize if this is in the wrong place on the forum: My partner received a letter from Judges Demand demanding just under £2,000 for unpaid nursery fees dating back 4 years ago or there about's. Now when the letter landed on the doorstep enclosed with it was a "Contract" which printed was my partners name and previous address. Overleaf was a signature that they claim is my partners which is far from her signature used on things such as driving license. Within this said contract there was a term "If payments are more than a week late then entry will be refused until the balance is brought up to date". My partner is insistent the correct notice was given to end the placement within the setting. A claim the client strongly denies. There was an invoice enclosed within this which stated figures only. Not detailing what the figure was billed for. We sent an email across to ask the following: Could your client please provide me with a true copy of the contract that you claim I've signed as the signature is nothing like my true signature. Evidence of this can be disclosed upon request. Could your client also please provide me with attendance records along with any correspondence that relates to this matter. Can you client explain why a debt of almost £2,000 was allowed to be accrued before seeking recovery of the amount. Surely as per term one if payments are behind then entry would be refused. Surely at £170 there must of been some common sense used as to when to begin recovery for the outstanding balance and not allow it to exceed a specific amount. They have said they would like to see a copy of my ID with my signature although have advised doing so would not alter anything to do with the amount they are claiming, To date they've now replied to say that they are unable to provide attendance records based on the time that has elapsed and they are entitled to claim the balance they've raised due to 6 years not passed. They also cannot provide us with any correspondence sent across to address this matter before passing it to a DCA. They've completely dismissed the quote around allowing the debt to accrue so high before pursuing her for monies. They've said that she's openly admitted liability for the amount therefore they want her to pay - All correspondence by email. Upon checking the emails there is no liability admitted whatsoever I'm keen not to just ignore this as I too received one of these that I was liable to pay and I stupidly ignored it now I've received a letter from the county court bulk center wanting me to answer. The one for me is significantly lower so I don't want to ignore this one. If anyone can shed any light as to which direction i need to go in. We only have around £10 per week disposable income between us once our debts are satisfied.

My partner has a llyods loan and has had 2 holiday payment breaks in the last year (contract stated 2 in 1 year) she is at the maximum but is finding it hard financially after having a baby. She ideally would like to put the loan on some kind of a hold until she goes back to work full time (around 6 months time) Is there anything that she can do? it would help massively as the loan repayments are around £400. If not she will just have to soilder on thanks guys

We are about to buy a 4x4 Shogun and have put down a deposit. The car has brand new tyres all round on the drive wheels. As an after thought I inquired about the condition of the spare tyre. It has 4mm of tread so legal however the tread is different to the tread of the new tyres. On a 4x4 it is important that the treads on the same axle are identical otherwise you could damage the diff. Can I reject the tyre as not being fit for purpose to use on the 4x4? We like the car as it is immaculate otherwise and is being sold by a reputable dealership and we were thinking of a 50/50 arrangement for a new tyre to be fitted.

I purchased an engagement ring for my fiance and chose it off a stock ring they had in store, however I wanted a bigger stone. The store showed me a mocked up version of the same ring but with a bigger diamond than I requested. The bigger ring had a gap which the stock ring did not and I specifically asked the question (would my purchased ring not have the gap) as I preferred it without. The shop assistant presumed it had the gap because it was a mock up and may have been rushed. I wanted a stone sized between them both, which after speaking with the assistant thought it would arrive as planned because she'd reassured me. I waited a month for the ring to come in store and I was picking it up the day before I was leaving to go on holiday where I planned to propose. When picking up the ring I noticed that my ring did have a gap between the middle stone and the halo diamonds and have since come home and they have offered to fill the gap with silver (the one I have purchased is platinum), to make it appear more like what I originally saw. I just wondered where I stand on this as I feel that I haven't received what I was promised and although they're trying to rectify the issue, I would have much preferred the ring in its original form without any filling but just as I'd seen it. I was also advised to get the ring in a size M because I didn't know her exact size but did say she had skinny fingers. The ring is 7 sizes too big and because either side of the stone there are diamonds, she cannot have the same band made smaller because they can eventually fall out due to the amount of pressure put on it to make it smaller. We are quite disappointed with that as obviously she wants the ring that I proposed with but now we must have a totally new band and have all of the diamonds transferred into the new band. We were also originally told that this would take 2-2 and a half weeks and it is now taking 3 plus the time to fill the ring and transfer all of the diamonds across so it will be more like 3 and a half in total. Seems like such a polava considering it is a big purchase to make.

Hi, I have read a few of the debt recovery questions and threads and lots of good information, however, everyone is a little different which brings me to my query. In my case I did not do a runner from any debt and tried to settle everything legally before I left. In 1996 while working out in UAE I bought a vehicle on finance (Oman Bank renamed to Mashreq Bank now were the financiers). I made the repayments regularly until I lost my job a couple of years later when the company was sold and the new owners wanted their own people in. I had difficulty making the rest of the payments and some debt accrued but I managed to bring my payments up to date by bringing money from the UK. In mid 1998 I decided to leave the UAE and return to the UK so contacted the bank and agreed to return the vehicle to them to sell it off and deduct what was owed to them and give me the balance of the money as the vehicle was worth at least double the outstanding amount. For a while upon my return to the UK (Northern Ireland) I did not hear anything from them until a few years later when I received a threatening letter from some agency/solicitor (I really cannot remember). I called them and they threatened me with court cases and arrest upon travelling to any Mid east country. I did explain that it was the bank that owed me money and it seems they were asking for the full amount of the remaining debt plus interest which made me to believe that the vehicle was either sold for a small fraction of its value or for just a nominal amount which again means I was defrauded by the bank or the person who was dealing with the case. The person who I spoke to was unable to provide any paper work. In the meantime I traveled to Oman and Kuwait in 2003; but now a shade over 19 years since I have left UAE I have received letters from a solicitor in Manchester threatening me with legal action within 7 days if I do not settle the debt or contact them to settle the debt. I live in Northern Ireland and own my own property. I am also the nominal director of a company registered in England (I do not own the company nor receive any benefits from it). What is the general advice that I should follow? Ignore the letters or write to the UK solicitor asking for all the documents in English? the solicitors seem to operate from a small office in Manchester and a search showed another solicitor registered there so I assume it is one of those solicitor offices that uses various names although the lady in question seems to have been registered by the SRA. I strongly deny owing any money and again strongly believe that I am owed money. The vehicle was valued at over £4000 while the debt was about half that (in UAE Dirhams). By the way, I have no desire to return to that country due to a lot of bad experiences and although I have been offered work a number of times (companies contacting me directly) including from trusted friends, I have refused to entertain the thought of ever going back there. Sorry for the long post but I thought it is better to provide all the information in the beginning. Cheers and thanks in advance for any help, direction and advice.

Good Morning, I recently finished a temporary contract at a local firm and when I inquired about my holiday pay, the agency turned around and said they don't owe me anything. They said that if I did another assignment and complete my 12 weeks, I would get it then but it was my understanding you build up holiday pay immediately? I have been on holiday since being on the assignment as well. I was there for 9 weeks at 37 hours per week. Surely you can't just automatically lose what you've built up? I would appreciate some advice here because I am not sure if this is right or not.

Hi there Im new to this forum and need some advise please. Heres the story My friend has received a "Issue of warrant of control" letter a few days ago , hes confused as to why this is, we checked on his credit file and noticed a ccj that has been placed by Lowells, how surprising! its weird as some guy knocked asking for my friend a week ago he said he was from resolve call! not sure why as i said he isn't here s the guy just walked off. Not sure if he was connected to Lowells or the same debt. he has never received any court claim forms at all prior to this the debt is with littlewoods online catelogue. Please can you advise on what is his best action. Hes on a low wage only works part time hes worried now as we dont want bailiffs at the door , they would go straight for the car! Any help is much appreciated.

Dear all, I mistakenly filled in a credit application for Screwfix in 2013 for a trade account (for a company I used to work at). This company has recently gone into administration and I have been sought after to settle the outstanding amount (nearly £1000) - as apparently the credit application doubled up as a "personal guarantee". Their credit app was not clear to me & it was blurred out and photocopied on a number of occasions. (yes I know I shouldn't have signed something I couldn't read) In addition I resigned and left the company in 2014. How can two different legal entities sign a credit app (as director) but also as personal (for a guarantee - without it being made clear?

Hi all, Myself and two others were due to sign contracts to move into a 3 bed flat this Saturday, but one of my prospective housemates quit his job and pulled out last minute. Me and the remaining person can't find a replacement, nor do we want a random off of spare room. Problem is, we paid a £338 holding fee each and have now lost this as a result. The person that pulled out originally said they would pay me and the other person back the £338 each that we'd lost, but has now gone AWOL. The other person is furious (I tend not to fret) and we were wondering if there was any legal action we could take to get our money back off the person who caused the move to collapse? Thanks

Hi all first post, as I'm new to all this any help/advice would be appreciated. I received a letter on Saturday 26th May from Nolans solicitors..... Debt is under 2k.. Excerpt from letter.. NOTICE OF INTENTION TO ISSUE A SHERIFF COURT SUMMONS Our Client:- CABOT FINANCIAL UK LIMITED TAKE NOTICE that unless you make payment of this debt IMMEDIATELY application may be made to the courts to issue a SHERIFF COURT SUMMONS against you. DETAILS OF DEBT £ ****.** due in respect of TESCO PERSONAL FINANCE INFORMATION ABOUT A SHERIFF COURT CLAIM If a Claim is issued a court fee and costs will be added to the debt. interest may also be added. If Decree or Judgement is made against you this may make it difficult for you to get credit in the future, HOW TO PAY =========== Various methods of payments explained.................................................................................................................................................................................................. To communicate with Nolans via email. contact the person dealing with your account at E mail*******************. You should ensure that your name and account number ( *******) are contained within your e-mail. To protect data of a sensitive or personal nature we recommend that you use an email account in your name and to which you have exclusive protected access. ============================================================================= after reading forum I was going to send them both CCA request as NS has supplied an email can I deal with them by email and a letter to Cabot or letter both if this is the best way to proceed at this stage. TIA.

Hello, I have received a number of letters from DRP (the debt recovery company that NE Parking Ltd use). My car was parked outside a hotel that has been closed down for over a year from 8-11pm at night. put a ticket on the windscreen so far down that I didn't notice it was even there until 3 days later when I turned my wipers on to wash my windscreen. The picture they included on the original letter shows my car but doesn't have the ticket on the screen in the window. I have ignored about 6/7 letters from them and now have received a 'final settlement offer to avoid court action'. Has anyone else got this far with them? Do they actually issue in Court? Thanks in advance.

hi guys this is my first post. I appoligise if I accidently break rules. Background I been using a waste disposal broker for my sandwich bar. All was going well until I received an over loading invoice which had 2 dates that i had apparently over loaded. Charge amount 69.05 10/01/2018 overload by 25kg = £5.25+vat was using 660ltre bin allowance 42kg 31/01/2018 overloaded by 249kg = £52.29+vat was using 1100ltre bin allowance 70kg Total = £69.05 between these 2 dates I had actually received a larger bin so when the collection happened on the 10/01/2018 i was using a 660 litre bin which had a 42kg allowance then on the 31/01/2018 I was using a larger bin which is a 1100litre bin which has an allowance of 70kg Grounds for dispute My dispute is if I only went over by 25kg on a 42kg allowance how have i gone over by a Wapping 249kg on a larger bin which has a 70kg allowance. Also that is a lot of weight to put in a 1100 litre bin please my own rubbish there’s clearly a mistake when i raised this issue with the broker all they kept telling me is they have tracking records from the bin collection. However that’s not what I’m disputing (if that not what they had on their records then they wouldn’t be charging me in the first place). I’m disputing the legitimacy of the charge IE did they register the correct bin when they did the lift, I know they collect multiple bins from the same location maybe they lifting another bin by mistake. How do I know they didn’t receive a back hander from someone to throw there bins away and decided to place it in mine Now they have basically refused to credit the charge although I have had one of their own member of staff admit the figures do look off. I feel there just trying to bully this amount out of me. As brokers the waste company they are contracting to collect the waste are the ones provide them with the collection/lift info. I feel they can’t be bothered to investigate with the waste company what’s gone wrong Actions taken I am still using them to collect my waste as I am contracted to them till April 2019 and pay my waste invoice but u haven’t paid the over charge. So I have received a letter stating 1. they now will add a charge of between £40 to £60 to the charge ( haven’t actually stated amount) 2. the next course of action is to commence county court proceeding to recover debt and will result in added interest and fees I know in my gut there just trying to bully me into just shutting up and paying. Can anyone advise what action I should take? Thank you

Need a bit of advice here for a friend who cannot afford a solicitor. Quick run down. Friends is a masseuse, working in many different areas including hot stone massage. She is very professional and has done many years in training for what she covers. A client has decided to sue her using one of these no win no fee companies and has lied stating that my friend didnt get her to sign a disclaimer etc, well I know for a fact she had signed and she has the paperwork to prove it. Now this client has stated that she had a torn ligament from this hot stone massage, now if anyone has had the pleasure of one of these you would know its nigh on impossible to get a torn ligament, Ive had one myself and its the most relaxing form of massage, not to mention when you tear a ligament which I have its bloody painful and the pain is instant and this client showed no signs of being in any pain when having this procedure. Now this friend of mine has no liability insurance, only does this part time and has literally no assets to her name, she is also a single parent. We feel that this is either someone trying to discredit her because she is a new business or they have some other vendetta against her. Why we have no idea as my friend is the most loveliest lady you could ever meet plus extremely professional. This is a bit out of my comfort zone but she has requested that I help. There is no way she can afford a solicitor and she is scared that this will reach the court stage and will lose what little she has if this woman wins. Any advice at this stage would be greatly appreciated.

I have been having issues with the cancellation of my Xercise for less membership. I completed the online cancellation form on 14th November 2017. At the same time, I cancelled the DD with my bank. I realise now that they do state on their cancallation form that you must give 30 days notive, so in hindsight I did cancel my direct debit too early. After this date, I started to recived email/txt/letters stating that I owed money. I initially read some posts on this webpage and I ignored the correspondance. It went through the usual form: Harlands adding admin fee / CRS txting saying they need to speak to me urgently. I noticed that each correondance from CRS was getting higher in the amount owed. Finally landing at around £180. I decided to try and sort it with Xercise for less. I spoke to them on the phone last week. They saif they could reduce the pice to about £60, which was for my months membership that I didn't give notice for and the buy back fee for the dbt off CRS. They said that would "stop me getting issues with my credit rating, and make it all like it never even happened". I refused, I told them I would accept the £14.99 1 month membership for cancelling my DD too soon but I will not pay anything extra. I also asked why, if they received my cancellation reques form, did they ignore it and coninue to rack up dept on my account. He said because I did not follow the terms of cancellation and cancelled my own DD. I then sent an email (copied in parts from one I saw Slick write on here) about my change of address - as letteres went to my old one - and also regarding the nature of the intimidating letters. I reiterated that I would pay 1 month membership and nothing else. I recieved a phone call a few days later which I ignored and emailed them to tell me to put anything they have to say in an email to me. I have now received an email to say that as a good will gesture they will remove all CRS charges, however as I did not update my address upon relocating they will charge me a £25 admin fee plus my £14.99 outstanding membership payment. So £39.99. Should I refuse this? - also, I moved house AFTER I submitted my cancellation form so it is irrelevant to them where I live at that point. Any advice I what I should reply to them with would be very much appreciated. Thanks