I purchased a petrol strimmer on 13 August from a catalogue, but it does not work, and I have never been able to use it. I have been told by the catalogue that I cannot return it, and they have referred me to a third party to get it repaired. This is proving to be a long winded process and am getting increasingly frustrated. I thought that if a customer bought a product that is faulty, they could send it back to the catalogue within 6 months. Is this correct?

Hi. I'm looking for advice as to how to proceed (or not) with a purchase of a car. I took a test drive of a Freelander 2 advertised on a local motor trader's web site. It is an '07 GS Model with 50,000 miles. I liked the car and agreed to pay the asking price of £10,995 so long as they agreed to take my car in part/ex for the price I wanted, which they did. The Freelander's MOT lapsed in June 13. As part of the deal, the trader agreed to MOT and service it (oil and filter). MOT has 4 advisories: two were for deteriorated rubber bushes (wear and tear?), and one was to indicate that the under-tray obscured some components, and another to indicate that engine covers obscured some components. I paid for the car using a bank transfer, having borrowed the funds from my parents to fund the purchase. I collected the car on Wednesday 7th August at 11:00. The car fuel gauge indicated 3/4 of a tank of diesel. This 'Distance to Empty' display gradually rose to c 250 miles, and I drove about 240 miles. The fuel gauge dropped to just below half full. On Friday 9th August at 09:30 I was driving close to my home when the car went into 'limp' mode while driving up a hill. The error message on the dash stated "reduced engine performance" for about two seconds, then the car stalled and would not restart. I walked home and spoke with the dealer who, after some persuasion, agreed to return my part/ex car and bring a mechanic to assess the problem. The mechanic brought one of those devices that plugs into the car's management system and there were about 10 fault codes, but the one that stood out stated something like "reduced / no fuel pressure forced engine shutdown". The mechanic alleged that the other fault codes were not important or were related to the pressure fault. The mechanic insisted the car had run out of fuel. I doubted this and described the fuel gauge / DTE etc. He guessed that the fuel sender unit had jammed, and that the car had run out of fuel even though the gauge read half full. He put about 10 litres of fuel in the car and freewheeled the car somewhere flat, and restarted the engine. I was then offered the car back, and it was suggested that I keep a fullish tank while they ordered the part from Land Rover and fitted it later. Instinctively I declined, and asked them to take the car away and fix it and only offer it to me when the fuel system had been fully tested. It was explained to me that the repair may take a week. In turn, I responded that I was on leave for two weeks so it may be the end of August before I can swap vehicles again. Which brings me to my query. I have read through some of the threads on the boards, and looked at summaries of the SOGA 1979 and I guess I could ask for a refund, but I may have a fight on my hands. I like the car, and what I'd like to do is to have it independently inspected for any other faults before accepting it. Clearly I should have thought of that before agreeing to buy it, but I can't change that now. Or, can I write to the dealer and set out my rights under the SOGA and explain that if I accept the car, I will have it immediately inspected and I will return it for any necessary repairs? Any advice very much appreciated. Many thanks, Paul.

Anyone have any links to threads on reclaiming PPI from Santander/GE store card taken out in 199x please? I have a read a few posts where the responses from Santander have been negative, but cannot find any ongoing cases or helpful information. Thanks t

Evening All, Can anyone tell me is a mobile phone contract covered under Credit Consumer, if not could someone what covers a phone contract. Thank

Dear all I have been charged £25 by Santander Consumer Finance for a bounced DD payment that was collected successfully a few days later on reapplication. It was my fault so I am in no doubt that some sort of charge is justified but I regard £25 to be excessive for the cost of sending one letter and using an automatic reapplication procedure. For example, my bank charges £8 for the same process which is probably about right give or take. I wrote to Santander asking them why their charges were more than three times the cost of the same procedure at Barclays, citing COBS and saying that if they took the money they would be in breach of contract because they had a statutory duty to treat me fairly (this is not a current account, but a motor finance loan so COBS rather than BCOBS applies). I said I would be pursuing the matter further if they applied the penalty. I also mentioned section140A of the CCA in my letter. They have written back today dismissing my letter and saying that they have satisfied the FOS that £25 is "...a reasonable pre-estimate of the additional administrative costs in relation to the related breaches..." They have not responded to my request to provide an accurate breakdown of their costs. So, my next step is what? Send them a LBA or just sue them and see what happens? Grateful for any advice

Hi there, Just after a quick bit of advice. I've checked my credit file and there's currently an unpaid amount of £125 owing to MEM. This is from a few years ago, and ideally I'd like to clear it. I'm just wondering - £125 is the initial amount I borrowed, if I call them are they likely to tell me that the debt is now in the thousands because of the interest, or can I assume that since it's £125 on my credit file, that's all I owe? £125 is affordable now (it wasn't back then!), but the interest probably wouldn't be... Thanks

Hey guys n gals. Does anyone else find that the CCregister isn't working? I've tried several searches on several browsers (mac and windows) and they all get stuck at 'waiting....'. The link I used is this one: http://www.oft.gov.uk/ConsumerCreditRegister Cheers A

Hi there, Hoping someone can give me consumer right legalities with regard a purchase problem that we are encountering at present ? A year ago my husband bought me a gift and paid online to a premier division football club the sum of £395 for a memorial stone to be placed in a pathway near to the ground with an inscription on it of my choice. At the time of purchase he was given a logon to the site and reference number in which to go in and type in the inscription to be placed onto the stone. The club would then email me when the pathway had been completed to let you know the position of the stone so that you could view it. Soon after this we left the country for a year for work related purposes and I stupidly forgot to go back to the site to register my inscription. I have since returned home tried to enter the site, but it says my reference is invalid. I contacted the club to request a new log on and have been told too much time has elapsed since our purchase, all the stones have sold out and the project is finished and they will not refund my husband's £395 - Can they do this ? My argument is that £395 was paid for a stone, place in the pathway and inscription - If they were not able to wait for an inscription they should at least have notified me that they would lay a bare stone....but it seems that they think we will be happy to just kiss goodbye to £395 without anything to show for it.....they have obviously resold my stone to someone else without informing me first, so in effect they have received 2 x £395 for the same stone. Is there anything my husband can do to get his money back and any consumer rights legislation that he can quote them to show that he has legal recourse against them ??? Many thanks for your help,

Morning All. A bit of a strange one this and I can not find any direction so turned to you for help. Due to my work in 2009 I took out additional Life Insurance FP Level Life. However, in November 2011, as my job role changed it was no longer required and as my wife was made redundant, the money would be best utilised in the family pot. As time marched on I thought no more, foolish. I have recently been contacted by a firm of solicitors acting for the company I had the agreement with claiming their 'Commission Clawback' I wrote back asking for some additional information to save money e.g whether there was a fee agreement, as one is not mentioned in any paperwork I have, because I have read commission is sometimes offset against this and only the commission to the value of this fee may be requested therefore maybe only liable for the difference. I also believe on reading the FSA Website on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts the Terms of Business (TOB) agreement I signed may be unfair and in particular reasons for believing this when you use an IFA you should have a choice how you want to pay for the services - I was not given this, and the terms do not state clearly when and how much me, the customer has to pay the IFA so therefore not aware of the full cost of the financial advice. In addition I believe that my TOB agreement allowed the firm to reclaim an amount from me, the customer, if I stopped paying premiums and the IFA had to refund commission to the product provider as appears in this case. my interpretation of the FSA guidelines also leads my to think that this charge is a disproportionately large sum as I have not fulfilled part of my obligations under the contract. Surely a court would not enforce this over and above my rights to cancel this policy. I have also asked these Sols for my cancellation rights to which after a period of 1 month got nothing except a MCOL from Northampton. I also sent them a S10 DPA request as other members from the IFA had tried to contact me via text and email touting for business. In total the sum claimed is £1261 + Court fee made up of original debt £997.31 plus interest, a tracing agents fee because I moved and not told them £42 plus Sol fees £210 plus future interest. So, apart from acknowledging service can I assume this falls under CCA rules or send a CPR 31.14 request. Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi people i have a question re the agreements that you fill out for credit. ...i had a loan with provident about 5 yrs ago, due to a relationship break up and time spent abroad, i missed payments and overlooked it.. ..being back in the uk a debt company wrote to me about this provident loan , i asked for the agreement to prove it was mine, they sent a photocopy of the agreement to me.. .yes it is mine, i cant see any problem with the agreement with regards to the bits being filled in etc.. ..but my question can i insist on the original or is a photocopy sufficient for them to pursue the debt??.. ...thank you in advance...

We are seeing a few people report that they are receiving letters from Bailiffs in respect of defaulted pay day loans or other consumer debt. If you have received communication from a Bailiff company and it is not in connection with a warrant / fine / court judgment / council tax, can you please pop a link to your thread in this thread. We would also like to see copies of these letters - unedited - if you are happy to provide us with copies, please let us know so we can provide you with a secure / private email to use. Thank you.

Right, a friend of mine purchased some computer software as a consumer not a business. The software is not faulty in any way just that it needs alot of setup and after research its going to cost about £1000 to get someone to setup for me. my friend had the free version of this software installed and looks really good so contacted a reseller to purchase a licence. basically, my friend cant afford to pay someone to set the software up so decided to see if he could cancel the order under the distance selling regulations. He has now been told he does not have a cooling off period under the act as its an excluded item. "Software" he contacted the company and they refused to offer a refund but offered to setup the software for him a a really cut down price. however my friend just wants to get a refund. the software licence has been activated using the supplied licence key. He paid using a Master Credit Card. can he get a refund from his card company

Hello Folks, I have an interview for Santander Consumer Finance In Redhill this week and i wanted to do some leg work of what to expect from the consumer side... I have searched CAG and not really been able to filter it out... It will be for the Car element of the business but want to see just how bad they can be? Filee

Hi Where is the best place to get on this forum to get advice on my consumer rights regarding having just bought a second hand car that has a fault from a car dealer. J

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/~/media/pdf/Consumer_forum/Consumer%20Forum%20Minutes%20-%20%20December%202012.ashx Comments?

Hi everyone I ordered some grocery from Tesco online this week and received 2 packets of expired Maggi. The Maggi was expired in Aug 2010 which they sell in 2013:-x !!??? I wonder don't they check their products at all before selling? If anyone at home had eaten these 2.5 years old expired product, some serious/non-serious health issues might have occurred ..and this wasn't the first time , once from store i bought veg patty(clearly labelled as vegetarian) and found non-veg patty inside after taking a bite, since i don't eat non-veg i exchanged it with same price sandwich. Through this forum, I thought to share it with all consumers with intention to increase awareness. I intend to return these products but do you think one should take any action? if yes, then what action...that reduces their negligence?

Hi there, id really appreciate some help with an ongoing issue im having that is stressing me out at the minute, any help would be great. I purchased an IP Camera from an online retailer for £280. The day of delivery i set up the camera but was very disapointed with the image quality and could not get it to reliably record events every time. If a security camera cant reliably record all motion events then whats the point. I spent the full day trying to get it working correctly and half the following day then packed it back up. I contacted the retailer by email on the day after delivery that i was wanting to reject the goods and cancel the order as not fit for purpose. 3 or 4 days passed and i had no response so I called and was told that my cancellation would be passed to returns department but another 2 days passed with no contact. I called again and was told that again my message would be passed to returns department and within an hour i received an email telling me that they cant accept the item back without manufacturers authorisation and I should take up the issue with manufacturer. Straight away i called back and spoke to someone, I asked why my order could not be cancelled as within the 7 days DSR. I was advised that as i had tested the item the DSR did not apply. I was also told that if i return the item they are unable to test and it will be returned to manufacturer and if they could not find a fault i would be charged carriage both ways and for their time. The guy again asked me to take it up with the manufacturer but i explained that a week had passed with no contact and after the stress of the item and dealing with his company i was no longer willing to spend more time on it. I left the call with ill think about it. I had a look on manufacturers website and the process to get support would take up a lot of time i did not have and would involve more waiting. I sent an email to the company including the following, and opened a paypal dispute as that was my payment method. Within 10 mins i had an RMA number and a courier arranged to uplift goods today (25th). Goods were uplifted and my request for paypal refund was declined with a note that the goods will be tested and if found to be faulty a refund given. Ive got a feeling the company are going to pull a fast one what if the manufacturer can not find fault with unit, am i really liable for all those charges? If the unit is indeed not faulty but just pants and not fit for purpose surely the manufacturer will not admit this and im out of pocket. Really need some advice on where to go from here, can escalate my paypal dispute any time but thought it best to wait until goods have been received back. Sorry for the long winded post but thought it best to get all details in there. Thanks

Hi everyone.... In an effort to give up smoking i ordered online an electric cigarette and 4 boxes of refills which amounted to £44 something which was debited from my bank account on 16th January. The product was advertised as first class post,but never even arrived. I have tried phoning the company every day for the past week and all i get is a message advising me to email.So i then send emails but still get no reply. My next option is to write a letter to them and was wondering what i could say or whether to contact the cab? I'm not good at compiling letters. But surely this company cannot be allowed to take my money and not provide the service? Any help would be appreciated. Kind regards.

HI, First time poster so apologies if I'm not doing this correctly etc. I have read through a few similar posts regarding Santander Consumer Finance and was hoping I could get some advice on my situation. HP Agreement commenced - Nov 2011 4 yr term Located in Scotland As above my wife and I purchased a car using SCF in November 2011 paying by direct debit, the original direct debit was set up against another account we hold (long story but we though it was a good idea as thats is where my travel expenses from work go) we had finaly closed this bank account to ensure we were only operating one account. As part of this the DD to Santander was cancelled and we thought it would be simple to set-up a new one for our current account (incidentally with Santander) when my wife phone after work in November their contact centre was closed and she was directed to an automated payment line she made the payment that way with the intention to phone back within the next month to set-up the DD. with Christmas and various other things going on, we forgot we have not received any correspondence in the meantime. Last week a Repossesion company turned up to say they had been instructed by Santander to collect the vehicle as it was two months in arrears, I refused stating that I had not had any correspondence from Santander and would like to speak them first. I didn't realise my rights but I asked them whether they could take the car as it was on our drive and our other car was in-front of it, the gent conceeded that he could not but said he would wait until I had phoned Santander, I said no he could go away and wait to here from Santander. I must admit I was surprised that he accepted this and left. I then phoned Santander and explained that it was our fault but I could pay any arrears immediatley and reset the DD, the lady was less than helpful and said the agreement had been terminated and all she could accept was full payment, I asked to speak to someone else and she said that I wouldn't get any different opinion and beside no supervisor was available I ended the call asking for a call back from the supervisor, not happened! In the meantime I lodged a complaint with the financial ombudsman, I know Santander have eight weeks but I'm hoping a letter from them and I have a ref now might help. That same day I sent two e-mails to their complaints department stating what I have done so far and asking why they don't seem to want my money, no responce I then spoke to my brother who works for HBOS and he advised that they will argue that although I do not have the letter they have issued from their system. He told me to pay them by any means as that makes their case difficult, i sent a chaps payment (got their bank details from their website). I have sent them 3 months so that it also includes this months and then sent another e-mail to tell them this including the payment ref, I have told them that I have only sent the monthly payments bringing the account fully up to date (in fact slightly ahead) as I did not have any visibility of charges but was willing to pay their missed payment charges, I cc'd the ombudsman in this with their ref as well. Still no response and it has been three days, have I done the right thing and will they/can they continue their action? My brother said they need a court order to obtain the vehicle and I will have made the awkward by forcing payment and bringing up to date, is that right? Help!

I just want to say a big thankyou .... ..my husband fought Robinson Way for a debt of £1500 and it turned out to be statute barred. ..his account is now closed. Also I was also chased by Robinson Way for a debt of £78.78 (NEXT Directory)which wasn't actually mine ...the new occupants of out old house thought they would pull a fast one and order £70 of goods in my name ...I checked with Experian and Next themselves. ..Robinson Way have now got the proof the debt wasn't mine. Also I had a debt of £7000 with a Yorkshire Bank Credit Card - Marlin were in pursuit of this (I had to finish work 8 years ago due to disability and couldn't pay my credit cards) .. .I pointed out that this debt was Statute barred and have now received a letter saying they have closed the account and they will not be contacting me any further. If it wasn't for this website, I wouldn't have had a clue what to do. Debt can put you into an early grave - there are so many people taking their own lives due to debt. I have spread the word amongst my family and friends about this website xx

Could somebody please help. Is a credit agreement that was taken out prior to a trading name being added to a licence legal and enforceable? I have just found out that I took out a log book loan with a sole trader. So the sole trader had (his name) trading as **** he had made application to have the name he traded with me as added to his licence but this name was not added until after the date we traded by (8 days). The OFT have advised that it is a criminal breach to use a name that is not on your licence but will not state whether or not the agreement is enforceable. They say that is a legal matter and I must seek legal advice. The financial ombudsman states the same they cannot offer legal advice. So in your opinion is this agreement enforceable Many Thanks

Hi, As you'll have seen from my SpeedCredit posts. I have sent out CCA Requests to all the PDL Companies. I received a reply from MEM Consumer Finance Ltd aka PayDayUK. I have attached the letter and agreement they have sent me (omitting my personal details) It is reassuring they haven't tried to "lift" my signature from the letter. I've heard of some PDL and DCA organisations being dishonest about signatures... So the siggy on the letter wasn't mine! Anyway. Could some of you excellent and knowledgeable people please give me some advice on this attached CCA. Regards, NukeShark

This is a little different, i buy, sell repair used laptops and computers for a living, About 12 weeks ago, i was approached by a friend of a friend about a PC system, he wanted me to build, this was a high spec machine which included, screen, etc and windows 7 (licensed), I gave a price of £500, he asked if i did a payment scheme, i dont usually but because of who he was, i agreed, i also i stupidly let him have the PC, I had a deposit off him off £250, which covered most of the cost of the parts. The agreed repayments were £25 per week for 10 weeks, He has not paid a penny since, when i spoke to him he told me to eff off, The friend who recommended him was upset at the way i have been treated and has assured me that he is still using the PC and that it has not broken down, so he cant use that as an excuse. I have sent 2 demand letters to him, now i wish to issue proceedings for the balance, I am a business man and need payment, if i dont, then people will do this all the time, I know this is a consumer fourum, but i dont know where else to turn. He signed an agreement to pay, i havent even charged interest How would i set out the N1 form to reclaim the money, i know how to set out a letter to reclaim bank charges, but this is the first one like this i have done. i learned a lesson, no more credit, for any one

MY son got a £60 fine 2 years ago for driving without an MOT. Due to family circumstances he and his family had to move and he forgot all about it. Today he has had a letter from the Marsden group saying that the bill is now £300 and every time they write to him it will put more money on the total. He contacted the group and told them that although he could not pay what they were asking he had worked out how much he could pay a month and made them an offer which they have refused. He spoke to the magistrates court who told him the debt had not been sold but had been consigned to Marsden. The action taken by Marsden has almost pushed my son to the point where he would just drive his car off a cliff and it is only his young family that keeps him focused. What can he do.? What rights does he have and if he makes a reasonable offer of payment are they allowed to refuse it?

on twitter about 2 hours ago Bill confirms powers to increase consumer protection, includes better regulation of payday loans first laid in Parliament Jan 2012 #FSBill