Hi Hope someone can help.... . I had a new central heating system fitted (including boiler) almost three years ago. It has been serviced three times and has been fine up until about a month ago where I have had to top up the pressure every day. Yesterday I got the message on my thermostat saying boiler over run and then about an hour later there was the most horrendous noise which panicked me to the point I switched the boiler off. My problem is, I have got out my paperwork thinking I will ring them tomorrow but it says 'if you don't register your guarantee within 30 days, unfortunately you will only have a 12 month guarantee' I didn't do this for two reasons (and I do admit to being a bit dim here) The guarantee form was tucked away in the bumf. I assumed the boiler would be fit for purpose for at least 15 years.... I'm now without heating as I dare not switch it on and can't afford to pay someone to come out. Have I any rights at all? or just screwed and have to start saving to fix it myself? Thank you. Would appreciate anybody's wisdom or experience in the same or similar problem

If there is a claim for Pension Credit made, the amount of State Retirement pension is deducted from it. That seems totally logical to me. If however you choose not to claim the pension for whatever reason AND make a claim for Pension Credit you cannot enhance the level of that pension either to obtain a future lump sum or an increase in the pension. I then read that if you do not claim the pension AND claim Pension Credit, the amount of the pension you are deemed to be entitled to will be deducted from the Pension Credit award in any event? As there appears to be a cut off of 12 months to make a claim for your pension, what I would like to know is: If someone claims Pension Credit and does not make a claim for their State Pension for say 9 years and as you can only reclaim the past 12 months, what happens to the missing 8 years in that example? I do hope that the answer isn't that the government take it? The reason I ask is that the friend I am trying to advise appears to have this problem. I have tried to reconcile their total income, have looked at their Pension Credit award notice which shows a deduction for his wife's pension, yet she appears not to have claimed it for the past 9 years - she is 69 and older than my friend by 5 years. The current deduction level is £64.27 per week. They have an AIP that ends next February on the date of my friends 65th birthday. In round figures she is owed approx. £30,000, which if the claim is only limited to 12 months, she would only receive approx. £3300 - it's the missing £26700 that I am concerned about.

John Lewis is to become the first UK electrical retailer to launch a minimum two-year guarantee on all its electrical products at no additional cost. The department store already offers five-year guarantees on TVs, and two-year guarantees on computing, tablets and domestic appliances, but is extending the offer to cover everything electrical from 10 October. Guardian Money has long called for all electrical items to come with a two-year guarantee, as is offered in Europe, but John Lewis is the first retailer to implement this here. The store says that until now more than a third of its electrical items came with the standard one-year guarantee common at most of its rivals. Many washing machines and dishwashers offered by some of the better European manufacturers, such as Bosch, automatically come with a two-year manufacturer's warranty here, irrespective of where you buy them. At most high street electrical retailers, such as Currys, the products on sale all come with a one-year warranty, except where the manufacturer offers two or more. Stores will often try to sell customers lucrative three and five-year extended warranty plans, which can cost £100 a year. John Lewis's Ed Connolly says: "There is a lack of transparency across electricals guarantees. The vast majority of consumers don't understand guarantees and are frustrated by the complexity that surrounds them. Our mission is to bring the John Lewis level of excellence and trust to electricals guarantees, which is why we're introducing a minimum two-year guarantee on all our products at no extra cost." http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/05/john-lewis-two-year-electricals-guarantee

Hello everyone. My first post on here but have been reading various posts for months. I have a complicated one so bear with me but in summary, I am being pursued by a supplier (not a builders merchant) after my company ceased trading as they claim I have given them a personal guarantee. Five years ago, I opened a trading account on Pro-Forma and filled in a 'Trading Account Application Form'. At the time, I was a sole trader and signed a personal guarantee. That's the nature of sole trader - no protection. Six months later, I formed a LTD company and transferred stock etc over to this company. I informed the supplier of this change but they never asked me to fill in new forms for the company. So the forms they have are from when I was a sole trader and there is no mention of the LTD company anywhere on the forms. In their letters, the debt is in the name of the LTD company. Last year, this supplier and myself had a joint venture and I signed a new 'Terms of Trading' for this separate venture as Director of the company. This venture was being treated differently and separately to the core business and so a new form was signed where I gave a personal guarantee as a co Director. It gets more complicated. They have amended the original form from five years ago and added a tick in the box next to 'LTD Company' as the legal entity. The original was 'Sole Trader' - I didn't tick this second box. So in summary, they have added the agreement page meant for the separate entity to the initial account application form in the name of the sole trader, and ticked the LTD company box - without me knowing. Any idea as to where I stand?I would never have knowingly signed a PG in the name of the company for the entire company and its debt. As I said, they have taken a form and added it on to an old business account application form. The one document has dates that are 3 years apart. The wording of the paragraph is as follows: "In consideration of *Supplier*agreeing to open a trade account with the company named overleaf, the undersigned directors of the company hereby agree that should the company fail to meet its obligations of payments for goods, they shall take responsibility for the same" This paragraph is written above the area where you sign but does not have a title, heading, bold writing etc. I think this is incredibly misleading, given the docuement is titled 'Account Application Form'

Have a Prestige 2100 steriliser for my work - the heating element according to the warranty has a life time guarantee. The unit works fine and legally, but the heating element has a hot spot and needs replacing. Sent machine back for repair early September. It was received, but have had no response from the company despite having sent emails and letters. Suggestions?

Hi I wonder if anyone can help. I suffer from acute anxiety which has led me to be quite agoraphobic. Last year I found a company called the Linden Method online. They are a British based company ran by a man called Charles Linden. At the time I was unemployed and money was very strained. I had a good look at their site and it made a lot of claims for being able to cure me of my Agoraphobia. Now I didn't enter into this lightly, I carried out a lot of research to check the validity of this company including contacting people that had claimed to have had success after buying it on Amazon. I also done extensive web research and their claims had be quantified by mainstream media like Daybreak and the Daily Mail (I know not the most intelligent of mediums but none the less) and celebrity endorsement from the likes of Jody Kidd and Gok Wan (again I know!!). What sold it to me was the money back guarantee that came with it. This is what is says on their website: www.thelindenmethod.co.uk "MY PERSONAL ANXIETY RECOVERY ASSURANCE If you don't feel better within ONE WEEK... ...I will personally give you 90 minutes of my time FREE OF CHARGE to make it happen! Your anxiety should switch off quickly using my Method, so if it doesn't, I will tell you directly and personally how to make it happen, because there will be something you are doing incorrectly. Then if it still doesn't work, you can get a full refund, if that's what you want! Read more Charles Linden" They have a personal support team who give you support over the phone. The method is based on Nine Pillars which they say you must follow to the letter. Now this wasn't easy and it took me the best part of 12 months to get myself to follow all of the pillars but I had no success. So I asked them what I should do. They told me they would extend my membership by three months and see if I could get the 'method.' When the three months were up I was still agoraphobic so I emailed them and asked for my money back. They said that the money back guarantee only lasts 12 months and I was out of that period. I emailed them to say that at no point had they made me aware that by extending my membership would that take away my money back guarantee and that I felt that they had acted unfairly and that also they were making claims that they could not substantiate. They have ignored all of my correspondence. This program cost me over £100 and I feel cheated. Please can anyone help me. These people are making money out of other peoples misery...but then perhaps that was my own desperate fault Thanks G

As from Sept 16th the Co-operative Bank is withdrawing the service guarantee for it's current account holders. This promised to pay £15 if the bank failed to: Open an account within 48 hours Automatically issue a new cheque book or card Make a financial errors on a current account statement Set up direct debits and standing orders without mistakes But now it seems they can't even guarantee even basic banking activities. Of course they are not removing your right to express dissatisfaction or complain, just that they won't compensate you when they do get it wrong.. A mealy-mouthed spokesman said "This is not a cost saving initiative, it is purely to speed up the resolution of complaints, improving the experience for customers," http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/customerservices/guarantees

My business has gone bust due to bad debt and has led me to have to close my business. I've instructed an Insolvency Practitioner to handle it. Everything seems fairly straight forward, if rather sad and expensive, but the real problem that has become apparent is a personal guarantee I had with my bank and this relates to a business loan to help finance the company when I bought it. The bank made me sign a personal guarantee and put a charge on my house. At the time it was either sign this or don't get the money. Now because I've put the company into administration, I've received a letter form my bank demanding the money personally from me. Can anyone suggest a way I can avoid paying this, because my financial situation is bleak?

I had mortgages from 1977, on the statements there is a figure for INS, I also have a letter saying “Where a mortgage is covered by a Mortgage Guarantee Policy the premium is paid by the society and added to your account and interest is charged. Does anyone have any original information on this policy? Does anyone know if this is an early version of PPI?

Hi All, looking to a bit of advise. My Limited company is now insolvent. I am being per sued personally from a couple of trade creditors. THEY SAY I SIGNED A PERSONAL GUARANTEE WHEN I OPENED A TRADING ACOUNT. I was the managing director and signed the account forms in that capacity. They are pursuing me personally. What do i do and are they right to pursue me ?

Can someone please help me, I retired 3 1/2 years ago at the then qualifying age of 60, a month later my husband was made redundant, he received JSA for a couple of months until the pension people advised me he didn't need to sign on and i could claim Pension credit guarantee for him! He was only 54 at the time, i have now been receiving this pension creidt for him for 3 1/2 years but i am worried we shouldn't really be getting it as he is still of working age, are we really entitled to this?

Afternoon, Some years ago it is claimed I had a PG (joint and severally liable - partner is away for good) with a brewer and 5 years ago we went under. I have heard nothing from brewer until 4 weeks ago when a recorded delivery letter arrived at an address that I do not live at and today at an old workplace the same letter. Only because of contacts there I have heard about this. Both letters have been sent back via royal mail but contacts got a look at them before doing so. The amounts stated in their letter are overstated in my view but as yet I have not had any direct contact from the solicitor acting on behalf of the brewer. If indeed it can be proven that a PG exists and that I am liable I am concerned that if I engage I will ultimately be made bankrupt and given i have recently left my job with a severance package lose all of that as it doesn't cover the full claim and that and in the end I will be unemployed without any savings. The other option is to engage but would they be prepared to take so many pence in the pound deal? I feel I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't - I do not have any assets except a car and live in rented accommodation. To be honest I need some signposting as to who the appropriate people are to discuss this issue with without compromising either option and what possible outcomes are best pursued. Thanks for any help Skittles

Morning folks after doing loads of reading here , I am really hoping a few of the kind folks on here may be able to give me some advice on the situation that I am in at the moment or at least some guidance on the route I should take. In a nut shell our limited company took up an overdraft in 2006 for 20k from HSBC with two directors giving personal guarantees with me being one of them, over the last 3 years things got progressively worse and I sunk more money, time and all for much reduced salary in the hope things would improve but eventually in September we decided enough was enough and it went into liquidation. I have always known about the PG and finally a letter of demand came through asking me to contact the bank with repayment proposals. It has been an incredibly tough time living on practically nothing, searching for new work and staying with friends as I no longer could afford to rent any longer. I have managed to get some part time work which is allowing me to just meet payments on my personal loan and credit card (£13900 and £9600 both with HSBC) . I have no assets or home that could be of any use although some friends have offered to loan me a small amount if I really need it but would rather not. My questions are this, any further increase on the current amounts that i have will just be impossible to meet, so if i can scrape together a small amount can I make an offer to pay a lump sum as a settlement even though it may not be much ? What is the process of negotiation from here on, do I make contact early or will I have to wait for it to go to the collections team ? Will I be forced into paying an amount for the next 27 years or some ridiculously long time with a review every year ? Do I have the option to use the IVA route or maybe bankruptcy if it comes down to it ? Many thanks for any help or advice you folks maybe able to give me.

Hi all, good morning. We owned a Ltd company which has just gone into liquidation and there are a list of creditors that are still owed money, we went through our own liquidator who sorted everything out for us. The list of creditors was given a chance for a creditors meeting and no-one turned up. Since then, a building supplier company has been knocking on our door asking me for the money that is owed, i had totally forgot years ago i had signed a deed of guarantee under my name... Because i was the director of the Ltd company, the company went under and so am i, not being able to pay any Credit cards etc it will be the same for this. The building supplier has appointed this to a solicitor who is now chasing this and i am drafting a letter to them today with a payment offer per month only to what i can afford...now, on their letter it states this: " X's claim is not one which is subject to any pre action protocol. this letter is written pusuant to section III of the practice direction pre-action conduct "the practice direction". Bearing in mind this is a debt which we do not believe that alternative dispute resolution is appropriate. However we would be prepared to consider any representations you may have in this respect." I have a copy of the guarantee, this was signed but never dated - what can i do here? I have no other choice but to pay them bare minimum, is this a secured debt? or are the terms like those of credit cards in such respect? Any help will be much appreciated.

Hi, new to this forum and I hope this is in the right place. I have just had a statutory demand served on the 3 december for a £130,000. I signed a guarantee on an advanced payment bond. This has been in dispute for over five years. The bond was to cover an advanced payment on a piece of equipment that a company I worked for was going to deliver and commision. We delivered it and after many contractual hastles that the other company were supposed to provide they banned us from the site and refused to allow its commisioning. A solicitor wrote to them stating the contract had been breached and they did not remedy the situation within the agreed timescales of the contract. I informed the Bond company that they had breached the contract and gave them evidence of the plant being delivered. Somehow five years later this company have made a claim on the Bond and won. I wrote to their collection agents before the deadline asking for information and gave them a list of reasons why I felt the personal guarantee was nul and void. They served the demand before the timescale was up and without any communication, despite giving them 14 reasons why i dispute the validity of the guarantee. Any thoughts/ help PLEASE.

Back in October 2004 – I gave HSBC a Legal Mortgage as a directors guarantee of £45K on my home to support loans to my business. My business ceased trading just over a year ago, with 40k of OD / loans. I offered them £400pm but they refused. Now HSBC have filed to take legal charge over the property as we have not come to a repayment agreement, HSBC believe the is equity to be had so are looking for the sum to be repaid with 2 years or sooner. I have an appearance @ Court next week. Interestingly I signed the Legal Mortgage but no DE bencher was ever given. I also believe the HSBC facility letters to the company offering funds were never signed either– so in theory were not an authorised lending from a company perspective. My questions are :- Should this loan be regulated by the consumer credit act ? as I’m a consumer – not sure if this helps me Will the fact that the facility letters are unsigned mean I can claim this is not a secured loan? I am happy to repay any sums owed but obviously want to limit impact on my family

Please can you help in offering any advice: I am the majority shareholder of a small limited company that due to the recession needs to be closed asap. We will owe the bank money when we close. This is the only debt we will have. The overdraft is £25k. We currently hold £33k full RRP of stock. I signed a personal guarantee for the bank overdraft when we originally took the overdraft out on 02 June 2008 for £20k. We then increased the overdraft limit to £25k in 2011. I never resigned the Guarantee for the increase from £20k to £25k. In winding the company up and deciding the best option to do this, I had to request a copy of the Personal Guarantee form I signed as for some reason I did not have a copy in my file. When I received this from the bank my signature and the date of 02 June 2008 were on the form but the first page referred to the limit as £25k. The limit was never £25k in 2008. I believe the bank have doctored the form. Do I have a case? Many thanks in advance P.S. the bank is Natwest

We were guarantors on vehicles with Lombard Finance and unfortunately the Company went under in October 2009. When the vehicles were repossessed, one of the lorries was still at the garage and Lombards representative said they would obtain an order to get the vehicle from the garage. They did not as the garage said our company still owed them money and they would not release it until they had been paid. We were not contacted to ask about the debt owed to the garage and the vehicle was abandoned by Lombard. The vehicle had been bought one year earlier for £12.5k. They chased us in 2010 for the outstanding money and we wrote back with the above information contesting the fact that bthey had abandoned the vehicle and this would have paid the debt. We heard nothing until six weeks ago when they wrote to us again chasing the money. We have used the same defence, and whilst they have not denied what their representative told us, they are saying that the personal guarantee stands. Do we have a case for defending this claim or should I make some arrangements to pay them some money back monthly?

Hi everyone, I recently bought a car from carcraft on finance, and I was mis-sold the extended guarantee ( I was told it was free, but on looking closely at the paperwork I've been charged). I want to cancel the guarantee, Im still in the time limit to do so, but to cancel it I have been told I need to go in and re-sign the finance documents. I really dont want to do this because I have really bad credit, and I'm afraid if I cancel my current agreement I might not be able to get finance again for the new agreement. Is it possible to be refunded a diffrent way, i.e. cash, cheque?

In August last year, my wife purchased an Asus netbook as a Christmas present for our Granddaughter. In August this year the charger would no longer work. We purchased a new charger, and contacted Littlewoods, explaining that although it was purchased in August, it was not used before Christmas day. My wife has since received an E-mail stating that a laptop charger is classed as a consumable part and therefore only has a six month warranty, and as this item was 12 months old when reported faulty we would not be able to reimburse you any costs. We did not really expect them to offer any reimbursement, but I was under the impression that a standard warranty guaranteed an item for a minimum of 12 months. Could you please help?

Hi, I have a Halfords battery that I bought brand new in late 2009. I remember I paid cash for it and put the receipt aside in what I thought was a safe place. I now can't seem to find the receipt as I need it to return the battery as it is completely DEAD. It came with a 5 year warrenty as it says so on the side of the battery. I have two cars, one a Golf TDI which I use for daily commute and the other a Volvo for which this battery was in. I would only use the Volvo a few times a month but I wouldn't have expected the battery to die after a year or so of using it on and off. I've tried everything to get it going. I even put it into my Golf and kick started it down a hill then did a 40 mile motorway commute but when I tried to start the car, nothing. A little bit a crank which was all it gained in a 40 mile journey, so the battery in my book is toast. The battery died around 6 months ago and it has been a doorstomp ever since as I can't find the receipt and figured they won't accept it back as I paid cash which means no proof like a bank statement etc. Any advice? Can I still bring it back under the SOGA even though I don't have a receipt? Thanks!

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help. Please. I'll keep information vague so as to protect myself from any prying eyes - but keep the facts straight. A number of years ago, I had a business which took a loan in 2004 against which I stood as personal guarantor. The company got into difficulties in 2008, and eventually ended getting wound up. The value of the original loan was £30K, and at the time of winding up, approximately one quarter remained outstanding. Barclays began contacting me personally with regards my liability of guarantor in late 2009, so I made a CCA request of them to understand how they could enforce their claims against me. In essence, I was never really in receipt of anything from them. I wrote a number of times to them in ealy 2010, but pretty much everything was ignored. They subsequently defaulted me personally in late 2010, and when I complained about the default, the only information they have been able to give me is an unsigned 'offer of loan' letter to the business, dated back in 2004. It still sits as a defaulted account on my personal Experian report. A number of questions: 1) The last payment was made by the business in 2008; yet the personal default made against me some two years later. When does any liability become statute barred? I, of course, as an individual have never made any payments, nor acknowledged any debt to them. 2) How can they make inputs to my credit report, when no credit agreement exists bewteen them and I as an individual? Any suggestions for how I best proceed? I'd like to get my credit file cleared as soon as practiaclly possible, but don't want to spend excessive funds to achieve this. Thanks in advance of any wisdom coming my way - really, really appreciated

Hi, this is my first post, not sure if I'm posting in the right section? I had cavity wall insulation done on my house in April 2011, after signing up following a cold call at my door from a very persuasive salesman (I know, mistake no.1). The work was completed ok so far as I know, but since then I have been unable to get any paperwork or the promised 25 year guarantee from the installers. The company is registered with CIGA as an approved installer. I have contacted the company on numerous occasions, to be told that my property will be included in the next batch of applications to CIGA, or will be fast tracked, or the guarantee has already been applied for. Subsequent calls to CIGA show no record of any such application having been made. The last communication I have from the company is a letter from December 2011 apologising for the oversight in not applying for it. Now when I ring the phone just goes to voicemail and emails remain unanswered. CIGA say they cannot help me. I want to put my property on the market, and obviously without a guarantee there is no proof the work has been done. Can anyone suggest what I should do next please? Many thanks.

206 Diesel turbo. 2L 51 reg Money paid for car £740 money back for bold tyres £80 money back for head gasket £170 I bought a second hand car from a big named garage in July. The car is a Peugeot 206 D-turbo 2L. 51 Reg. The day i drove it off the forecourt i had to take it straight to Kwick-fit to replace the front 2 tyres as they were completely bold and highly illegal. Shortly after i took it to get the tracking done in hope of this being the reason the car was pulling to one side when accelerating. I got this done but it still did it. I then took it to the local garage and they informed me that it was something that needing bending back into shape and supporting. Within a week of having the car i took it to the local garage for a 'health check' they noticed the car warning light to top up engine coolant kept appearing and suggested i took it back to where i had bought it from as they suspect a blown head gasket. I quickly took it back to the dealer i bought it from and they asked to take a look themselves and clarified the diagnosis of a blown head gasket. we asked if they would fix it for us free of charge or to give us a full refund seen as the car is still in the '14 day no quibble money back guarantee' they refused bluntly that they will not take the car back but would fix it for a reduced fee, quoted £960 from them as opposed to £1000 quoted by my local garage. There reason for voiding the guarantee was that i have had the front 2 tyres replaced which should not have been left on the car for me to drive away in and that hey had given us a cheque for £80 to go towards the fee of replacing the tyres. I had asked the sales assistant when viewing the car if the tyres would be replaced on purchase and was told 'no' when i first saw the car myself (an 18yr old female with only basic knowledge of cars) had a short drive around the business car park. I then went to view the car with my older brother who is a bit of a DIY mechanic but we were not able to get inside the car as the keys had been locked away in the warehouse. In the end myself and my mother did some sums and worked out a deal to offer the garage. We totted up the money i had spent fixing the car and the money i had bought it for and the amount i had to spend on the car in the first place. We worked out that if the garage coughed up £250 towards the repairs of the head gasket then i could afford to fix the car. in the end we got back an extra £170 to go towards the payment of fixing the head gasket which in total has cost me £1100. i would like to know what you think the chances are of me getting any of my money back if i went through the small claims court which has been suggest by a solicitor. Do i stand a chance against the top branded garage? are they right to have done what they did? Any advice/opinions on this problem would be VERY much appreciated. Thank you very much for reading. Barbara

In 2010 my Company had a £150k utilisation against an agreed limit of £100k which was supported by a personal guarantee of £50k. This level was from time to time up to levels of £300k with the same level of £50k PG all arranged and managed by my business manager in the Corporate Unit. However the Company made severe losses in 2008 and we started to breach the facility. The Bank were aware of the losses and we provided management accounts to include cash flow forecasts on a regular basis. The Company returned to a profitable situation in 2009, however with the retained losses we were still heavily dependent on the overdraft facility for cash flow, although this was not hard core and we enjoyed swings into credit from time to time. During March 2010 the Company was transferred to Nat West Specialist Lending Unit. Everything appeared ok to start with then they sent me a revised facility letter increasing my Personal guarantee from £50k to £155k, a structured repayment plant of £5000 per month, 4% facility charge (£8k per annum), charges of 4.75% over Bank Base, and only in force for a 2 month period. We responded with a counter proposal agreeing to an increase of of £25k on my PG to £75k, repayment of the debt at £3k per month and 1% facility fee, which was inline with our cash flow forecast. They laughed at me and said I had no chance. A couple of days later they emailed me agreeing to most of my counter proposal but the £155k PG was a must.I informed them that I would take expert advice and would come back to them. After taking advice which was not to sign the new PG of £155k I returned to their offices and informed them. They immediately froze my accounts and told me its over and dont try and use your credit card. I then went to see a solicitor and sent a detailed explanation to the bank on how they were trying to bully me and were being totally unreasonable and the offer we were making was a calculated one based on the company accounts and that I was not worth £155k and could at a push maybe get to £75k. They telephoned me 2 weeks after receiving the letter saying they would accept all my proposals on the counter offer and give me some time to think about it. They also asked me why I had got solicitors involved. In this period they returned all my presentations and discredited me. I could not recover from this and had to liquidate the company. Nat West have now placed me in County Court for £50k plus interest. They are saying that I told them I was liquidating the company thats why they froze the accounts and are entitled to pursue me for the £50k. This is a total fabrication. Has anyone else been treated like this and do you feel I have a defence. Would it be reasonable to counter sue Nat West especially as the Courts may look for a compromise and I would not want to concede on the level of PG but maybe my case of the Counter Claim.