Hi, I'm a newbie on here, so any help would be appreciated. Its a bit complicated so bear with me. We have been dealt a blow by our landlord in terminating our contract. We handed in our notice 4 days after the contractual period notice deadline ( last day of the month), offering to pay for the additional days we would be here. We understand that legally we have to pay the rent up until the end of the month. We had assumed mutual surrender as he did not inform of us this when we first served notice, and listed the property with two letting agents as the being available from the 1st September, suggesting that he accepted us leaving the property and him having time to make the appropriate repairs and retouches that needed to be done on his part. We placed a holding deposit on another property and gave him and letting agents free access to the property to show potential tenants around whilst we were away on a weeks holiday. We can only assume he has done a survey of the property in our absence. He pulled out lavender bushes and fiddled with the guttering, so he used that time to do some jobs ( without our consent) He waited 16 days to draw our attention to the clause stipulating his right. We understand that it is not mandatory for Landlords to highlight contractual clauses, but it was misleading, underhand and has put a total blow on our finances, having to cancel the removal services and do the removing ourselves, because we simply cannot afford it. We are a family of 5 with 3 young children. It's really disappointing as it has been a home that we have been very happy in despite the tardiness of the Landlord in the properties maintenance. (Part 2). Obviously we have to pay the rent up until the end of the month otherwise we will incure all the nasty charges he has put into the new contract ( £5 per day for late payment, £15 charges for letters sent etc). We would also lose our deposit if we failed to pay the rent and he can still come after us for damages to the property if the cost exceed the money held in the deposit scheme. This is the position he has us in legally. We of course want to protect anymore money being lost through the deposit holding scheme. Problems with the Property. Whilst we have been living in the property, we have been living in damp drafty conditions. We made him aware of this, but he chose to do nothing about it. We have lived with rising damp (salts and mould spores appear on the wall, with wallpaper / plaster peeling and rotting away) and falling damp ( failure to clear the guttering from the slate residue). We have 3 small children, one of which ended up in hospital suffering from Pneumonia in 2010, and more recently, this weekend my husband also came down with Pneumonia, hospitalised for the night and is physically unfit to help with the moving of the house ( which we have to do ourselves, see above). Would we be in our rights to claim for compensation for ill health caused by unfit living conditions? There is a gap between the floorboards and the skirting board in the bay area that caused a considerable draft to the single glazed property in the colder months, with astronomical heating expenses. Again we made him aware of this, but he said we had take the property as seen and that the weight from our storage units had caused the joists to bow. Is this relevant to his obligations in maintaining a livable temperature ( It was literally freezing in the house with the heating on). We have proof of our bills - can we claim expenses on lack of proper draft exclusion? On Mice: Who's responsibility is it to sort out problems with mice? The tenant or the Landlord? Because when we asked, he said it was our responsibility and that we needed to ring the council. We have written him a letter offering and asking for an explanation to the circumstances surrounding the date of our notice. He has not responded. Does he have to respond within a certain time? He still has not made it clear whether that he does not surrender the property, his correspondence simply draws our attention to the clause, but does not request that we remain liable for the property until August 31st. He is still advertising the property as available 1st Sept after telling us we are liable for the property? This is confusing. We have used our discretion as tenants, allowing major jobs on the property that would improve his rental chances in the future, but never did any of the jobs that would have looked after us. Feel like fools. Any help would be appreciated, as we are due to move very soon, and have limited windows to come to some negotiations. Many Thanks

Hi can anyone help? I recently left a property approximately a month ago which I had rented along with some fellow students through a private landlord. Following leaving the property, I learnt from one of my former housemates that the landlord planned to withhold £40 of my deposit (originally £150) due to a stain on the underside of my mattress and that he was going to pass on the remaining £110 cash to my former housemate to return at a later date to myself. I am adamant that this stain was none of my doing. During the tenancy I did not flip the mattress at any point. So further to this I checked with the 3 government back deposit schemes to see if the landlord had registered with a scheme – it turns out he has not. So I then emailed the landlord expressing my concerns with the action he had taken in regards to not providing any invoice, and his method of return of the deposit, as well as that the stain on the mattress was none of my doing and that I felt it was unreasonable that I would have checked the underside of the mattress at the beginning of the tenancy. Adding to this I expressed that he had not protected my deposit as required by law and I therefore requested he paid returned my £150 within 2 weeks. He has replied to this with the following message: Dear XXXX, My response to your letter is as follows:- I will be sending your bond cheque for the full amount of £150.00. You now have a choice; I will buy a new mattress which will cost around £100.00. I have a signed inventory check letter which is dated 30th June 2011.This document will be produced, along with photographic evidence to show there was NO stain or damage to the bed in your room, prior to your tenancy. It is signed by the person who occupied the room. You can re-imburse me £100.00 and I will not go on to seek recourse for a whole bed. I will be sending the evidence to your parents, who are probably not aware of your current position. I dont think you or your parents would like the slur of a county court judgement on your record which will adverse effect on your future prospects. In the tenancy agreement that you were asked to read before signing it states that you are ALL jointly and severally responsible for any damage in the property, how would it look if I took all of you to court to pay for an item that just you have spoilt. I'm sure the other tenants parents won’t be happy about that. As you stated in your letter you would prefer to settle this amicably. I leave you to decide which way to go. Yours Sincerely I am now unsure of the action I should take. I reiterate I am adamant that the stain is none of my doing, and the signed inventory that he is referring to; had no mention of a mattress with any stains. He is now also threatening to seek recourse for the whole bed if this goes to a small claims court – there were a couple of broken slates underneath the bed which I declared with him before leaving and he agreed to there being no problem with this. I have not seen any of the other evidence he claims to possess as of yet. If he pays back my deposit does this not mean that he is accepting that there is no chargeable damage? Would any court judgement have an effect on any future prospects? Originally I just wanted to use the threat of no deposit protection as leverage to get my deposit back and would like to avoid the ‘slur’ of court. If he returns my deposit can I still take him to a small claims court for not originally protecting it? Ultimately I would just like to take no action against the landlord for not protecting my deposit and just receive my full deposit without any charges. Is there any way of going about this? Any other further advice would be much appreciated Please note that I am student, and I have notified my parents contrary to his belief – not that this should make any difference. Regards

Large UK Company. Hired car for 9 days. Mrs AO 100% certain that car was filled up before dropping car off at location, which was less than 200mtrs from garage. Unfortunately drop-off place closed so unable to obtain Check-In signatures. Hire car company now says that car required XYZ amount of fuel to fill the car up. Unfortunately for us, Mrs AO no longer has the receipts for filling the car up. So far.. 1) We have emailed them, asking what the charge was on the bank card. We were not informed/nor invoiced for the charge. 2) They replied saying it was for fuel 3) We replied disputing the charge, informing them that the car was full. 4) They replied, saying send a copy of the fuel receipt and we shall cancel the charge. 5) We sent back saying we had disputed the charge, and would seek advice for a chargeback if they cannot prove the car required XYZ amount of fuel. We dont know if we would be able to obtain copies of the receipt now? Is that possible?

I have been in dispute with T Mobile for 3mths. After 6 yrs needed to leave as no reception at new house. They came up with charges not in my contract and then decided they had made a mistake. By this time had checked all my paperwork and they had removed a Loyalty discount applied when I intended to leave to go to new provide 2 years before. They had not written as itstated they must give 30 days notice. Told my bank that they had called for unauthorised payments and they recalled without telling me! In short been to debt collection who have now filed their papers ar T Mobile have not been able to substantiate the debt. They won't provide the contract they refer to which is different to mine and they won't supply documents after a data subject access request. Is this contract regulated by Consumer Credit Act? Found out today that they have filed default whilst we are still trying to get a response. Written to CEO, done everything and have sent to CISAS. Where do I stand surely this is not right that they can file a default and not deal with the dispute? They just say you owe us the money! Can anyone help please

Hello, I'm trying to find something that I can use to argue that a formal demand that was issued for an entire overdraft amount, while the account was in dispute, isn't legal. I understand that banks can demand the overdraft be repaid at any time as CCA doesn't apply to short-term unsecured loans but, The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance states: “putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive. This includes ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute.” I wrote asking that action on the account be stopped while it was in dispute, they just carried on adding charges (unplanned overdraft to cover the repayment plan I had set up but stopped paying because I disputed I owed it as it was made up of charges). I wrote again saying I wouldn't be making payments while the account was in dispute, they then issued a formal demand for the entire overdraft amount. I need advice on whether they were allowed to do this....was thinking of replying along the lines of When I opened this account, I did not agree in the terms and conditions that you could refuse to freeze action, including making formal demands and continuing to apply charges on my account, when it was in dispute. Furthermore, it was not explained to me anywhere when I opened this account that the OFT Code of Guidance would be overruled in such circumstances and that you would continue to take action while the account was in dispute. any advice appreciated, my ultimate goal is to try and prove that a default notice that was issued and recorded on my credit file, after the banks full and final response, isn't valid (I recieved one that stated the default sum, about £60, and demanding I pay the money immediately by contacting them the day I recieved the letter, doesn't meet the consumer credit regulations). The bank are currently saying that the default notice is valid because, 1) they issued a formal demand prior (when the account was in dispute). I think they are trying to say that they followed the right procedure before defaulting me ? But I don't think a formal demand while an account is in dispute sounds right. 2) that it was clear from a statement issued just prior to the default being recorded that the account was with thier consumer debt recover department Am I on the right track here ? Or is there something else relating to action on disputed accounts, bearing in mind it's an overdaft that was being disputed, that I can use ? Also do default notices issued on overdarfts have to satisfy the consumer credit regulations, in terms of the amount of time given to avoid the action they say they are going to take ? I am ultimately trying to remove the default notice, but realise I will have to start a repayment plan for the overdraft in the end as the test case wasn't successful. many thanks in advance.

Can anyone advise? My friend purchased something online today. Its a small retailer, He saw the advertised price on the web (could have bought direct online) but instead spoke to a sales person who set up a area for him to pay online - price difference was £300 discount! Anyway he made payment and received a email confirmation - and then had a call from the salesperson to say they had made a mistake in the price (should have realised with the price online) and could he pay the difference - he said no - you have sold me the price and I have paid for it, so that should be it The retailer pointed to there terms and conditions and said they have a right to cancel and refund any payments if errors are made. My friend also said he had previously checked with another branch of the same company who had quoted him the correct price - so when he had spoken to the sales guy who made the mistake - he thought his luck was in. Where does he stand with the retailer - even if the retailer has verbally give him a price and he then paid?

My daughter is booked to go on holiday with a group of friends but unfortunately due to medical reasons my daughter is not able to travel i contacted the travel agent to ask how she stood to claim a refund and was told that my daughter would be able to reclaim 50% of her outlay but the other members of the group (9) would be liable to pay an addittional £52.50 each due to under occupancy, group discounts etc My daughter has explained her situation to the other members of the party and offered to simply not turn up at the airport in return for them all paying her a £25.00 each (this will save them from paying the £52.50 mentioned above) my daughter received a text from the friend who is in charge of the booking last friday confirming that the other members would pay the £25.00 each to my daughter and she would drop the money off on monday 18th June 2012, unfortunately despite several texts by my daughter to the money has still not been paid to my daughter. we are now in a situation where in a few days time the refund from the travel agent would be reduced to 30% i have been told that i need to visit the travel agent and ask them to make a note of my daughters request to cancel on the booking and they must then contact the lead person to confirm Anyone know what to do in this situation??

Can anyone help me?!! My son bought a secondhand car for £3,600 in April 2012. Two dys after buying it it conked out and some diagnostic lights came on. He phoned the garage who said wait a while and try again its probably some dirt in the fuel pump? (or something like that) It did start and seemed to drive ok for 2wks then it conked out again. He called the garage and they said bring it in, which he did the following morning,9am. He didn't get a call back and had to call them after a few days. They said it needs a new turbo and will cost him £1200. My son is disputing this and feels they should fix it. The garage has refused to even discuss it. They did however call today (12 June) and again said they wouldn't fix it and that basiacally my son could take them to court if he wanted. My son has spoken to trading standards and citizens advice as to whether they can take the car, get it fixed elsewhere (as the garage has refused to do it for them) and bill the garage. They won't say if he can do that or not. What should he do? Thankyou, if anyone has any advice.

Hi I am currently a employed as a senior test and quality analyst. And my JD is as follows: ----------------------------- Work with the development and support IT teams along with business experts to ensure that quality software is delivered to business users. The job-holder will report to the Test Manager but potentially work with many teams. Analyse customer requirements for enhancements to existing systems as well as fixes to existing systems, and hence develop test cases and test scripts. Document findings and report defects appropriately. Provide advice to other members of the team/department on technical issues and mentor newer recruits. Provide consistently reliable test estimates to their Manager. Provide at least weekly progress updates to their Manager, highlighting any issues as they occur. The job-holder must work well under pressure and be adept at taking problems and seeing them through to resolution with minimal supervision. Show initiative in identifying and improving the internal test processes, and have sufficient perspective to suggest quality improvements to development life-cycle. Well presented and professional, an excellent communicator with good interpersonal skills and very client focussed. ----------------------------- Now as far as I am concerned I am a tester, and as a tester I decipher Business Requirements to create accurate Test Estimates, detailed and technical Test Scripts, descriptive Defect Tracking and informative Test Reports. But for this new high profile project they do not want to do in house testing (which in itself is crazy) but they have come up with a quality manager role instead. Below are the responsibilities which I am basically taking as a JD. Now instead of deciphering Business Requirements to create accurate Test Estimates, detailed and technical Test Scripts, descriptive Defect Tracking and informative Test Reports they now want me to sign off that someone else has completed all of this. I am not comfortable with doing this and consider this not in my JD and above my pay grade. What do you think? I am going to be forced to do this even though I have expressed I am not comfortable with it. Look forward to your thoughts. Quality Manager Role & Responsibilities: § Reports to the Programme & Project Managers. § Develop and communicate the Quality Strategy incl. Roles and Responsibilities, Processes and Criteria to all programme members. § Ensure that Project Quality Plans support the Programme Quality Strategy. § Measure and report on adherence to Quality Strategy, Quality Plans and Published Standards. § Specify the project deliverable definitions - ensuring that their purpose, composition, derivation, format and presentation are understood and agreed by all of the project stakeholders and that there is clear specification of the quality criteria by which each deliverable may be judged. § Establish template documents for all deliverables. § Manage and track defect levels in a central repository for internal & external development activities, whether manual or automated in nature. § Ensure test approach & test plans represent suitable coverage to requirements to measure quality.

There is a portion of land at the rear of my property that is owned by the local council. When I moved in ten years ago there was an annual rent of £250 on a lease. Soon after the lease expired and the council decided to no longer rent these offer these parcels of land for sale to the respective home owners. It should be said that this small portion of land is ‘dead’ land there is no access to it as the rear of the property is conservation land. they set a ridiculous anount of money to buy the land and at the time I along with my MP challenged the council and the council changed their mind. Now they are looking to charge a very large sum for annual rental which I have been challenging alongside the MP as profiteering as the land has no use - It has now got to the point where the council want to reposess the land - I received this last week……. the Councils Legal Service has been instructed to obtain possession of the land at the rear of XXXX Please provide me with written confirmation within 7 days of the date of this letter that you agree to give the Council posession of the land Posession proseedings will be commenced If I do not receive confirmation in writing by XXXXXX So what happens if I dont agree to give them posession? Can I legally withhold access to the property? What about the fence which they are bound to put up? Can they just do whatever they choose with that? It could be detrimental to the worth of the property. Thanks for your thoughts in advance! GIB

Cant really give names etc but am now helping someone with a claim against a finance company. Generally what has happenned the owners have bankrupted one business and bought out the ledgers with another business with a so go between business and have started to collect the loans which were owed to the first company.. The owners are the same except they have used alias names. However when a credit was queried the company tried to avoid paying or made its excuses. At the moment the claim is against the company that bought out the ledgers. A small claim was issued a few weeks short of the amount being stat barred. It has now got to a point where the judge has called a case management meeting. To set what track the claim runs on. Either small or multi track. the interest at the moment contract(runs in at three thousand six hundred and a bit). I will update as things go along.

Hi there I'm new to this forum so please be gentle! I sold a clock on ebay and stated on the auction - UK bidders only. Item was bought via a cargo company who ship to customers in the far east. The clock was packaged and sent recorded delivery plus extra insurance on May 8th and received with signature on May 10th. On May 18th the buyer contacted me to say they want to return the item because it was damaged. Ebay are no help whatsoever and paypal have already frozen the money in my account. Parcelforce are no help either because according to their small print in their five page leaflet they do not insure antiques ( nor anything else it would appear). The buyer wants to return the clock to me and is asking for a full refund plus postage costs. My argument is that if the box looked damaged when they signed for it, they should have checked the contents then and there. As it is, they had it on their premises - which is a warehouse - for eight days before complaining so there is a far larger chance of it being damaged there rather than in its original transit. I opened up a case against them with Ebay and so far all I have heard is a message saying I should talk to the buyer - which I have already done via email. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding this or am i totally stuffed for a full refund of over £200 plus my clock is now unsaleable? I really would appreciate any help.

Hi, Just before Xmas I sold 2 x brand new iPads on ebay. A week or so after selling them both one of the people that brought one claims it isnt the model I said it was and wants a refund. This was complete rubbish they were both the same, the other person didnt complain. Eventually the case was resolved and he was granted a full refund, however I had already taken all my money out of paypal after hearing about them freezing your money etc. So Paypal have refunded him and are now saying I owe them the money. Surely not?? I couldnt sell the iPad for half as much as I did originally because it was no longer brand new, the guy had unwrapped it and set it up etc. Now I am getting letters from GBP solicitors claiming that I need to have to pay or a CCJ will be issued, please help!

Hi all, am really hoping for some clear advice on this one. I left my last property about 3 months ago. This was at the landlord request, she wanted to move back into the property as far as I know. I moved out prior to my housemates due to a dispute that we had and have been living with parents since. I attempted to get a reference from the former agency that were managing the property. I then found out that my housemates had decided amongst themselves to withhold the last months rent, and therefore my reference was going to be poor. The reason that the rent was withheld, was that the bathroom had a leaking waste pipe and eventually the ceiling to the room below became very damaged, and technically uninhabitable. We had sent several letters and e-mails to both the letting agent and the landlord her self. It was viewed and nothing was done about it while we were still tenants. I understand the reasoning for them holding back on the rent, but I do not agree with their choice of method. 1. because I have now got a poor reference, stopping me moving in with my girlfriend, and 2. I will not see that deposit until the money is paid up. I have tried to e-mail my housemate and talk to her but I get a torrent of abuse rather than anything constructive. I was even willing to pay my share of the last months rent as per the contract. Should probably say it was a joint tenancy between 5 of us, and it was 3 that decided to hold back on the money, without consent from myself or the one other who also vacated early. I am not sure on what the next course of action is. I know that a good reference is impossible without that last month being paid, even if it was to come out of our deposit, we need all 5 to agree and i do not think that will be possible. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you

I own a coach house style property which has two garages underneath - one is mine and the other is used by the house next door. As it is part of my property it is leased out to next door and they have to pay me ground rent of £25 a year and a portion of my buildings insurance - in case they set the garage on fire or anything that could damage my house. It is all laid out in the deeds of my house and next door. I bought the house when it was built in 2001 and the neighbours who initially lived there paid me their ground rent etc when they moved out in 2003 and said the new owners would be in touch to sort out the arrangements regarding the ground rent. I then rented out my house for a while and didn't hear anything - but was hundreds of miles away from my house so couldn't see who was now living next door. It turned out it was bought and then rented out. Two years later the owner contacted me and paid me the amount for the last two years - but stated I had to put her name on my insurance documents - not really possible at the time as my house was being rented out and I had Landlords Insurance etc and once I moved back into my house - trying to get an insurance company to do that when the owner of next door didn't live in the property - was a no go. Plus my solicitor had never advised me to have their name on the insurance too. Some years have passed since they paid me (6 to be exact) and they have continued to rent out the property (however the previous tenant and current tenant are the daughters of the owner so probably not actually paying rent). I wrote to the owner using her business address back in January about the outstanding balance of the ground rent - I did not backdate or charge for insurance as her name hadn't been on the documents. I got no reply. I put a copy through the letterbox next door and sent a copy to her solicitor who had contacted me 6 years ago to arrange payment of the initial 2 years. I still have not had a response. I know she is still the owner of the property and perhaps is hoping I will give up. Am I within my rights to withdraw access to the garage due to lack of payment? I would of course release it back to the owner should they pay, or when they sell the property offer the same arrangement to the new owner. Surely as the owner of the property she uses to rent out - having the garage is a huge selling point for a tenant - so for the sake of £175 for the last 6 years of ground rent (please note I am also not charging interest) - surely that is better than no garage at all for the use of her tenants? Any advice is much appreciated. Many thanks.

Firstly, I have to say that this community is invaluable and I have come back for advice so many times over the years. So thank you in advance. My problem - I recently moved out of a property that I shared with a flatmate. We had a joint tenancy agreement that expired and I found someone to move in immediately after. We paid seperate deposits. In my last couple of weeks at the property there was an issue - we noticed black mould appeared in the lounge. At first we wiped it off as it's an outside wall, it had been raining and I have asthma, but quickly within about a week or so, it became apparent this was not normal and contacted the landlady in the usual manner to inform her. She sent in men and it transpired that the tiling upstairs in the bathroom had come away and it had been a sustained period which resulted in water running down the wall. I moved out while they were still examining and making repairs. But since it was a structural issue not caused by us, I didn't think anything of it. It's now a month later and no deposit. I chase and get a reply that due to the fact that I neglected to inform the landlady quick enough about the situation, she would be keeping my deposit. She claims that we *concealed* the fact that there was problem in the bathroom and as a result caused her to have a far bigger problem than if we'd let her know earlier. Serioiusly, this is such bull. When I moved in, the tiling and grouting was already in disrepair. I didn't notice any difference at all. If I had, I would have let her know. It's no skin off my nose and I hated the bathroom anyway because it was so unkept compared to the rest of the property. I am no decorator or builder - I genuinely had no idea there was a problem until we examined it when the mould came back. She quoted section 11 of the tenancy agreement at me: “Tell us about any repairs or faults that we are responsible for in the structure or outside of the property, in any installation or in the shared areas.” Clearly I did tell them about the problem when I realised there was one. I will be disputing her claim with the DPS because I honeslty don't think it's fair that I be held responsible for something I informed her of as soon as I was aware of it, but I just wanted people's opinions/advice about whether she is right or not here? It's quite upsetting. Also, you should know, that in the time I was there, I did inform her of any problems. There was even a time when water dripped into the living room on the other side and we told her straight away, but since it didn't happen again, it was just an FYI thing. We were very good with stuff like that. Thanks in advance. Claire

Hello, To cut a long story short i was forced to leave my job on medical grounds last year, at which time i had an o/s loan of £250 with payday express which i had been rollling over for months paying £50 a time. In November i emailed advising of my situation and asked them to consider a repayment plan. I received a message advising they needed proof of illness, benefits, bank statements etc. I sent these but my countless emails got ignored, plus my letter sent by recorded delivery. I just kept getting the same automated message asking for the info again, so was going round in circles. In December they went and swiped £50 out of my bank account, which is a weeks worth of benefit for me - so they left me with nothing to live on despite being fully aware of my situation and state of health. I emailed them to complain and advised that i now consider the £50 to be part payment of the balance of £250 to bring it down to £200 as they were WELL AWARE of my situation but chose to ignore me. I then cancelled my debit card with the bank so they didn't have the opportunity to do this again. I have emailed them twice more, the last email saying i can offer £10 monthly to the balance of £200, this is my final offer and if they do not want to accept then feel free to talke me to court. I am sure any court would see £10 is excessive in my situation. They have finally emailed me today with this: ___________We would like to inform you that we are willing to accept your proposal for a repayment plan arrangement for the amount of £10 per month. This would confirm that you will be making monthly payments of £10 per month to clear your loan of £315. It would be greatly appreciated if you could inform us of the date each month that you would like to make your payments, as well as the payment method in order for us to set this up for you. Once we have confirmed this information we will send you confirmation of your repayment plan. We will stop any further action on your account until 06.03.2012 to allow you the opportunity to reply to this email.______________________________ So finally after 2 months they have responded.. but i am not happy with paying the £315.. as by ignoring me they have simply added charges on. the last thing i want is for more charges to be added but would just like to know where i stand on this and whats the best way to go about it. My options are: 1. Pay £10 monthly until i have paid £200 then send a letter advising i now consider the debt to be settled and to take me to court if they are unhappy with this where i will provide evidence of having contacted them etc, and expose their unfair practices and high APR'S. 2. Advise them now that this is my intention and then risk going roung in circles again and more charges being added. 3. Send a recorded delivery letter with a cheque for the first payment, outlining my above proposal and advising if they cash the cheque they are bound by the terms of the letter (is this legally binding??) and then if i get any further harassment after i've paid the £200 i'll be contacting a solicitor. Am i within my rights to dispute the amount? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i have a long term illness and this is really not doing me any favours chasing after them all the time. Hayley x

Hi I dont know if anyone can help but I dont know were to start on here. My daughter was able to attend private school as her grandparents paid most the fees after a month of being at the school I realised she wasnt happy and was being bullied by the other kids. I made the school aware that I was not happy and felf they did not put adequate measures in place to protect her ie none of the parents whose kids were involved were informed. She started the school in the september and I informed them she would be leaving at the end of the term December and not returning. The school through a debt collection agency are demanding a terms worth of fees, you normally have to give a terms notice before leaving, this could not be the case as for one she was not even there a term at the time i told them she was leaving and two i feel they did not stick to their end of the contract ie their duty of care. I no longer have contact with my daughters father or grandparents and so can not afford to just come up with £2400. Any help would be appreciated. Can I take this to cc myself? Can I get legal aid for this? thanks

Please help! In a nutshell I walked out of my job on the 27th November and haven't been back since. My employer suspended me on full pay and arranged a disciplinary meeting for the 1st December but I did not attend. They re-arranged the meeting for the 5th December but again I did not attend. I received confirmation of disciplinary on the 9th December which states that my employment has been terminated. My problems are: 1) A payment of 36.5 hours which I had worked before the 27th November is still outstanding. 2) I have still not received a P45. 3) A payment of my holiday which I had accrued is also outstanding. I have raised the issue with the company's HR officer who has assured me that the matter is being dealt with and to expect full payment of any outstanding monies today (30th December 2011) but I have still not received anything. I have kept a record of telephone conversations and all written communication as a precaution. Am I entitled to this monies? Am I just being messed about? How can I pursue this further? All help and info would be extremely welcome:|

Hi guys! I need your help. I need an ATM Dispute form, but there is nowhere to download it from (or I can not find it). I left England and I can not visist any branch to take it directly from them. So, if you know any websites with atm dispute forms for LLOYDS TSB, please let me know. Any help will be much appreciated. Best Regards Simon

Hi everyone, this is quite a simple question: Apex have bought my old debt from Goldfish and have contacted me demanding payment. I have sent them a request for the original CCA. I then received a letter acknowledging my request from Caboot Financial, who are owned by Apex. Caboot however have given me a new reference number and they have a different address. They have also returned my £1 postal order. Should I send my letter to put my account in dispute to Apex or Caboot? It probably does not matter however I was thinking they do this for a reason... Your answers are much appreciated, Anthony

Hi we took our dog to the vets after swallowing something. It was out of hours and we rang first and were told to bring him in and the vet would make him sick to bring the item back up. When we saw the vet, we were told that we should not have been told to come in and they would not be making him throw up as it would put him at more risk of the item getting stuck. They apologised to us and told us that because we should not have been told to go in, then there would be no charge. We have subsequently received a bill for consultation fees. I have raised it as a dispute saying we should not be being charged, and they have threatened to increase the Invoice if we do not pay it immediately. (They say the amount charged is incorrect!) 1. Is there any point in continuing to dispute? 2. Can they increase the original invoice and chase us for the increased amount if we continue the dispute?

Hi, I'll keep this as brief as possible. Essentially I'm looking for advice, experience of this problem or pointers on when I can get some free legal advice. I left my teaching job last summer. I resigned in April 2010 and emigrated to Canada in August 2010. My school paid me in September and October 2010 when they shouldn't have. Prior to leaving the school I was advised by more than one member of senior management that I would be paid a months in arrears because I started a full time contract in the middle of a pay period coming off supply. Therefore I thought nothing of the September pay, but when receiving the October pay I contacted the LEA payroll and informed them on 1st Nov 2010. They told me they would look into it and get back to me to let me know if how much I'd been overpaid was correct and how it could be paid back. I give them my full contact details in Canada (phone, address, cell phone, email). Two weeks pass. Nothing. I contact them again and they apologise for not getting back to me and for bringing it to their attention. They said they would deal with it and come back to me. January 26th 2011 comes around and they send me an invoice REMINDER for the full amount and an offer to pay them back via a payment plan. I pick this up from my old address as I'd moved 1st January (still in Canada). I call them and tell them I'd heard nothing from them for almost three months and then an invoice reminder. No 1st invoice, no answer with regard to why I owed them two months pay and not one. They apologise, tell me they will put the invoice on stop and look into it. I give them my new full contact details (new address, new phone number, email and fax). Feb 1st I get an email from HR telling me I do in fact owe two months salary, despite being informed by the school I would be paid a month in arrears. I also get another apology for not keeping me in touch or getting back to me far sooner. I get another thank you for bringing this to their attention. Feb 7th I email them back (HR and Accounts) on the email addresses the provided me to tell them I cannot pay the full amount, but will happily set up a payment plan of a minimal amount and could they contact me with their bank details and discuss if my offer was agreeable. I hear nothing. May 3rd they send a letter from their county council solicitor to my PREVIOUS address demanding I pay the full amount by May 10th or I will incur legal processing, costs and interest. I receive this letter on June 25th due to it being sent to my previous address and postal strikes here in Canada. I know I owe them money, that I am not disputing. I am disputing their methods and incompetence in dealing with this. Can anybody help answer the following: Where do I stand legally? Where can I receive legal advice free of charge? Does anybody have experience of this situation? What steps should I take next? (I have drafted a long letter to their solicitor reiterating my offer and highlight the exact chain of events in detail and disputing their methods and incompetence). I would add I am no longer a member of a union and I don't teach here in Canada. I now work in the private sector. Thanks in advance!

Hello Would anyone kindly give me some advice regarding the below? My wife had an accident in May 2010. On a narrow country road (no way two lanes) she turned a blind corner at 5 mph and collided with the third parties car, she did not have time to avoid the crash and strongly denies being at fault. The damage to our car (we did not claim as it is superficial but would cost £500) was underneath the drivers side headlight (golf 2006 model) and minimal. There are no in dependant witnesses. We reported this to our company aviva as a 50/50, we believed he and my wife were not a fault. However the third party rejects thus completely. He says my wife failed to stop in time and caused this (he admits she was going 5 mph), says she was on the wrong side of the road etc. Confusingly he states that the two people in his car are witnesses (not sure he understands the term in dependant) and that he was stationary on the road at the time of the accident (who stops in a middle of a road...). Hilariously he put his speed as 30 mph then crossed it out and put 0mph. The damage to his car is again on the drivers headlight side for me that would suggest my wife was not on 'other' side of a one lane road but consistent with two cars turning in opposite directions. From the start his solicitors have been aggressive and sending over a threatening letter requesting my wife pay the bills (1000+) within 14 days or go to court. I have seen his report and cannot understand how he can win this. I am guessing he has only 3rd party so needs to try.... My Insurers agree that there is nothing to accuse either party and suggested 50/50 to which the other company refused, at the time I would have accepted that, now not so. Had nothing regarding this for 6 months and thought it was over, however today I received a letter from my insurers asking to confirm my wife's address after a request from other parties solicitors. Can anyone help, I have legal cover etc and happy to go to court but want to gather whether i am right to refuse liability, whether I am missing something and should be worried, and what monies if any would I have to pay out if he won??? Sorry for long post

Hiya, Im not sure if anyone can help, but im currently disputing an arrangment to pay registered against me by Natwest. This was recorded in Feb 2008 on a loan account i had with them with has now ended. I am completely baffled as to where this default has come from, as i never entered any plan with them to make payments and always made the full amount each month. I believe in this particular month, i was slightly late with my payment due to being out of work, but i believe i resolved this with them within a week and i was completely up to date. I have sent a complaint letter to Natwest, but am yet to hear anything. I have also registered a dispute with Equifax, however the reply i got from them was to contact Natwest directly, something which i have tried with the telephone number given, but the call centre didnt seem to have a clue and were unable to help. Equifax have now closed the dispute. I would be grateful if anyone has any further contact details for me to dispute this as i feel i am completely in limbo at present. The arrangement to pay is greatly affecting my credit file. Thanks in advance