http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...o-hang-up.html how is this going to effect those with current contracts with them? and also those who have mobile insurance with the company?

Ok guys alot of negatives comments could come out of this but im looking for the supportive comments I took out a contract back in December 2011 phone was a Samsung Galaxy S2 now what really miffs me off with these companies is they only offer a 12 month warranty with all phones and they give you a 24 month contract Now i had the S2 for 9 months brilliant phone i loved it only until one day i woke up and the phone wouldn't turn on took the back off to check for any signs of water damage and all the little strips was white so that indicates no damage to the phone so i sent it off to Vodafone waited for a week to be told it had liquid damage inside the phone and wanted to bill me £100 to fix it i kicked off stating the phone has no damage to it and i am not paying £100 for nothing so then Vodafone said they would pay half to fix the phone again i refuse to pay £50 for something which is still in warranty. They was having none of it so i told them give me the phone back and ill have it checked by someone i know who specializes in Samsung mobile phones he took the phone apart and said there is no sign of liquid damage in the phone all the strips inside the phone was white as i said Contacted Vodafone and they was having none of my findings so i left it at that So the guy i know tried to fix the phone and said that its had its days and would be far to expensive to repair the phone. I have sent Vodafone an email today to Stefan Langkamp asking if vodafone could kindly reset my contract from scratch and issue me with a new phone of my choice way i see it is they get my custom again for another 24 months and they dont get the hassle about the S2 which is now broken. Still not had a reply yet hopefully if that dont work then people here may have some kind advice. I dont want the contract cancelling as i would struggle to obtain another contract due to some debt i have recently cleared off. I just want a phone which i would feel like im getting my monies worth i had paid for that S2 within the 10 month period of having the phone as all my bills was averaging around £45 - 50 a month due to work commitments etc i tried contacting Samsung regarding the issue but i had no reply off them

Hi Just been browsing the threads and a thought came to mind I am on Pension Credit and have two grown up sons at home Pension Credit are aware of this My sons every month pay from their wages their share of the household bills inc the Council Tax plus anything they had borrowed over the month (from my account ) This can be a credit of over £250 per month into my account (They mark the transfer as "BOARD " Will Pension Credit assume that these payments are Income when they reassess my claim or will they accept the transactions for what they are

I am a student from the University of Kent. Recently I signed a contract with a student lettings company (however the landlord has not signed the client copy of the contract must I mention. But this probably doesn't make a difference anyway since there are two signed agreements from all parties with the landlord himself and with the agency.) The rent is from September 2014 to July 2015. There is no break clause from the contract either. Unfortunately I did not pass one of my exams and I also have a startup company that was just accepted into an accelerator program in the San Francisco in August, so I will be travelling there for a month in August. This is when my resits take place and therefore I won't be able to resit that particular exam, therefore unable to continue with my second year and thus won't be able to pay for my rent in the second year that I am liable for. I haven't managed to find a replacement tenant either. I am now in a position where I cannot pay the fees for the house as I am not going to University for a year and I do need some urgent advice on this. There is no way I can afford that rent without going to University, my University won't let me continue unless I resit and the next resit dates are August 2015 - forcing me to take a gap year. If you guys can help me out here that'll be great! Cheers!

I found out today I have won my mandatory reconsideration and have been moved over to the support group. I was so shocked, happy, relived I burst out crying. Truly cannot believe it. The pressure release is amazing.

Hi, just a quick bit of advice please. Someone knocked on our door today and said they'd come about us owing council tax. My husband thought they were from the council and let them in. Of course, it turns out they were from Bristow & Sutor. Have I got it right that once you let a bailiff into the house they are entitled to enter at any time? The other point is that the letter is addressed to me, so had this woman any right to talk to my husband and hand him the letter? We will be dealing direct with the council, but I just wanted to established if there is a problem, now that they have entered the house. Many thanks for any advice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26539569

Hi all I have recently relocated to the South West to take up a position as the manager of a company. No relocation was offered so I have spent around £2,500 of my own money moving here as well as taken up a 6 month tenancy on a house. Both myself and my wife left permanent employment for a fresh start with this new job and have uprooted the kids etc. to do so. Now, the problem is it has taken a huge effort to even get them to open up the books for me (bearing in mind this is a company the directors want me to manage) and it seems apparent that there just isn't enough income or reserves to meet the expenditure. There are invoices coming out of the woodwork from all over the place and creditors chasing on a daily basis to get paid, some invoices have been outstanding for almost a year now. The company is a limited liability partnership (directors agree to contribute £1 if the company winds up etc.). My question is, can I go after the directors personally for compensation if it turns out they have recruited me into a company that is about to go bump?

Hello I would be extremely grateful for any help or advice for the request below. My niece wants to move in with her mother who has a two bedroom flat. The flat is no longer council but owned by a housing company. Can anyone please tell me what my niece will be liable to pay when she becomes a tenant? When i say bills i don't mean, water, gas, electricity. Will payments have to be paid to the housing company? I forgot to mention my niece is in full time employment. Mods, sorry if posted in wrong forum. Thanks for help. Dan

Just asking the folks on here that might be in the know. Can an employer legally place an employee into financial hardship? I ask because I was once employed by the Government and in what was called a "Mobile" grade, meaning that I had to work effectively where they posted me. My last posting was made under what was called Permanent in the Public Interest (PPI). Unfortunately, it involved a house move that cost me several thousand pounds in Negative Equity. In order to discharge the NE I was given an advance of salary - interest free loan (although I was taxed on the Interest not paid, as a benefit in kind!!?). The "advance" was not enough to cover all of the NE, and I had to top up through my mortgage (110% of the purchase price) I was repaying the advance back through monthly deductions from my salary. However, before the advance was repaid in full, I was made redundant and I assumed that my severance pay would have been reduced to pay off the outstanding amount. However, some 5 years after I left their employ, they came back to me seeking the balance (£9k including interest etc) After lots of to-ing and fro-ing, it has culminated in them gaining an attachment of earnings order from my current employer. Despite me asking for a set aside, they have gone ahead, and I am assuming that my application has been lost (should have sent it recorded!). Although the house move was 16 years ago, the award for the employer is not statute barred, because they started their action within the 6 year limit. I can't afford to repay the amount that they are taking from me (the equivalent of 2 weeks travel costs each month!) can I challenge the judgement on the basis that the original reason for the advance - i.e. forcing me to move house and incur a large amount of Negative Equity, was unreasonable? I realise that this issue sits between debt and employment, but I posted here because the basis of the debt was due to an employment issue.

I'm at a loss, I came home and found I had been broken into. I found a letter from a Bailiff addressed to someone who doesn't live here regarding non payment of Council Tax. I have since found out that Lambeth Council have registered this persons mail to my house, based on the lack of Tax paid on another totally different property. I can now see that the Council have used the forwarding address (my address) as a contact for the Bailiffs who have subsequently broken in and taken things that don't belong to them or the person they are after - My problem is, is that the Liability Order went through on this person and my address was accepted as legit - Meaning the Bailiffs could go in and rob me!? I haven't contacted anyone yet as its Sunday - But who do I contact first to stop the bailiffs? The Court and say they have the wrong address for the Liability Order? The Lambeth Council for getting the address wrong in the first place? The Bailiffs who will probably say "yeah, right, and I'm Mr smith!?". Please please help - I don't know what to do?

British Gas broke into businesswoman's home over an unpaid bill despite not having any gas appliances in her flat Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2431864/British-Gas-broke-businesswomans-home-unpaid-despite-having-gas-appliances-flat.html#ixzz2gMoyfcLV I would hope they provided this poor woman with more than just an apology !! This is not a one off situation, there are many similar stories on CAG

A man targeted by marketing companies is making money from cold calls with his own higher-rate phone number. In November 2011 Lee Beaumont paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 line - so to call him now costs 10p, from which he receives 7p. The Leeds businessman told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme that the line had so far made £300. Phone Pay Plus, which regulates premium numbers, said it strongly discouraged people from adopting the idea. Mr Beaumont came up with the plan when he grew sick of calls offering to help him reclaim payment protection insurance (PPI), or install solar panels. He said: "I don't use my normal Leeds number for anyone but my friends and family." Once he had set up the 0871 line, every time a bank, gas or electricity supplier asked him for his details online, he submitted it as his contact number. He added he was "very honest" and the companies did ask why he had a such a number. He told the programme he replied: "Because I'm getting annoyed with PPI phone calls when I'm trying to watch Coronation Street so I'd rather make 10p a minute." He said almost all of the companies he dealt with were happy to use it and if they refused he asked them to email. Warning The number of calls received by Mr Beaumont has fallen from between 20 and 30 a month to just 13 last month. Because he works from home, Mr Beaumont has been able to increase his revenue by keeping cold callers talking - asking for more details about their services. He admitted the scheme had changed his attitude, saying: "I want cold calls", and that he had moved on to encouraging companies to make contact. After a recent problem with his online shopping, he declined to call an 0845 number but posted his number on Twitter in the knowledge that the number could be picked up by marketing companies. But the premium number regulator Phone Pay Plus says the public should think twice before setting up their own lines. They say phone line providers must meet consumer protection standards, which include transparency, fairness and complaint handling, which would mean clearly setting out the cost of each call to any organisation that rang. They told You and Yours: "Premium rate numbers are not designed to be used in this way and we would strongly discourage any listeners from adopting this idea, as they will be liable under our code for any breaches and subsequent fines that result." A survey for charity Citizens Advice found that two-thirds of those asked had received unwanted calls, texts, emails or letters about PPI mis-selling. More than half said that they had been contacted more than 10 times in the past year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23869462

I want to submit a challenge for a PCN I received a week ago. As a reasonable driver I did not realise that parking was prohibited at the location because there are a number of marked parking bays within the yellow lines and other drivers were parked there at the time. I have spoken to the local businesses and they told me that a lot of their customers have fallen foul of the devious CEO's who ticket quickly when the bays have been filled. They also tell me it damages their business because all other areas around the sites are all double yellow lined. Is anybody able to let me know whether I should just pay the fine or make a stand against it. The place where I parked is at the following location: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Canterbury+Street,+Blackburn&hl=en&ll=53.743632,-2.483677&spn=0.000267,0.000517&sll=51.50476,-0.137362&sspn=0.035955,0.066175&oq=canterbury+street,+blac&t=h&hnear=Canterbury+St,+Blackburn,+United+Kingdom&z=21 Any advice or help would be appreciated. Liecalens

summer holidays about to start, expecting children over for the first week of the holidays. vodafone decided yet again to overcharge me this month and bar my phone, nothing new there, however went to shops to get credit for my pay-as-u-go and first time ever my bank card doesn't work, 4 times, so needing money and phone credit to contact the x i go to my bank who i've been with for 15 years plus, and they all know me there, however on inserting my card in the atm for a mini statement the atm grabs my card, i go to the counter and join the proverbial long cue, this is when i find out all my accounts have been barred because according to the bank i've received a fraudulent cheque, on verifying the details i go home to retrieve the receipt for the cheque paid in which transpires to be one paid to me by a friend who did an end of term school disco and had hired disco equipment from me to do so. not the first time for this school either, on producing a receipt and details to the counter staff, they call the head office who inform them that i have to produce an invoice for the transaction, i explained that the transaction was done third party and the school wont know me also as this was the first day of the holidays my friend had left for his holidays and the school was now closed for six weeks, and i needed to get cash that day but they insisted my accounts were barred and all dd and so would also not be paid from any account, i insisted on talking to head office to escalate a complaint and get an explanation, and on many calls from the branch being cut when put on hold i finally spoke to a lady who informed me that she didn't believe the cheque was fraudulent but they will continue account barring till i produce an invoice Fraudulent,cheque,really, even though i reiterated the details of being a long term client, highlighting why id be stupid enough to pay a fraudulent cheque in my account, and also the cheque had the primary school details printed on it as it was paid from their bursary, and the need for cash at the holiday start, this sis when they said i could still make withdrawal over the counter but couldn't use my debit cads???? i asked for the details to be confirmed by letter to me and left it at that. off i go knowing i've no card facility for six weeks, and £70 down in my account, as i wouldn't be able to contact the school till then or contact my friend for two weeks to see if he could get any contact with them prior. six weeks went by as myself or my friend were unable to do anything till the school opened again, and by per chance i went to the bank again prior to the school term recommending to make a withdrawal but the counter assistant said i was unable to due to my account being blocked, on reiterating the details over the counter albeit humiliating, she looked at my account details and said that all bars had been lifted as the cheque was fraudulent, i was dumbstruck being that my friend would now have gone to the school to chase up details and subsequently look like an idiot or accusing, and i would have to explain to him now that it was a bank fault ?? i escalated complaints with the manager and after going over details i received an apology from her, despite the fact it was nothing to do with her or the counter staff, and then came that question and the reason i've written all this on this forum......what would you like??? oh dear, initially i though of all the humiliation and hassle, agro with two children having to waste time in bank ques to get withdrawals and only at my local branch because my accounts just showed up as barred anywhere else, the worry having to carry around cash enough to facilitate the childrens needs whilst out, mostly the loss of £70 for a six week period, then i remembered that id not received any letter of confirmation about the details id requested that i would have needed had i been able to contact the school, which also highlighted the fact to me that id not even been informed that the bars had been lifted on my account/s and had found that out by chance. the question of how much compensation, i am not a complaining type of person and don't get time to do what i've had to here, i have complaints with now almost all of my domestic suppliers due to incompetence on billing and am currently waiting to get time to chase up another two banks and two network providers that have promised compensation due to failure in services but have subsequently disappeared. what does one ask and what will compensate such an experience, who knows, as this may have ended or been resolved in the banks minds but for me the escalation of complaints and e-mails shall go on and on as that is the only port of call for complaints available nowadays. i am awaiting a call from the bank manager with proposals but whether it is satisfactory or whether i take it further to watchdog and /or the fso will yet to be seen. i better get used to this sounding off i suppose as i still have all the other complaints to tackle yet....... .....just let them go, not on your nelly having been a loyal paying customer for years with most of them i should expect and receive at least a generic customer service level yet i'm abused, ripped off and played about along with the rest of the decent general public and it should stop. i guess the figure i may ask for is the figure that such a hopeless company as vodaphone just sold themselves for, 82 billion pounds, and good luck to the new owners, energy suppliers i think ill leave till another time, but the elderly i feel sorry for, i'm 50 and i find all this stuff quite overwhelming, especially when they don't put there hands up, tho subsequently its now no better when they do.... .hmmmmm.... .End Of Constructive Unpunctuated Rant any replies or ideas welcomed.

taken from this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/surveillance-camera-code-of-conduct-comes-into-force New guidance in place over police and local authority use of CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Public authority use of surveillance cameras will be subject to a new code of practice published by the Home Office today. The code will set out new guidelines for CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), encourage transparency in their use and ensure public bodies such as local authorities and the police consider whether they are proportionate before erecting new cameras. It follows Andrew Rennison’s appointment as the first Surveillance Camera Commissioner last year. The commissioner’s role is to encourage all operators to comply with the code, review how the code is used in practice and provide advice and information about it. Surveillance by consent The principle of surveillance by consent is at the heart of the new legislation – meaning the public can be confident cameras are not there to spy on them but to protect them. Minister for Criminal Information Lord Taylor of Holbeach said: "CCTV and ANPR are crucial tools for cutting crime and protecting the public, but for too long we have seen these systems grow without proper oversight". "Through this code - and with an independent commissioner - there will be a framework in place for the first time that helps police and local authorities in the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour, while reassuring the public that cameras in public places are used proportionately and effectively". The surveillance camera code of practice, which has been laid before Parliament for approval, is part of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Here is the New Surveillance Camera Code of Practice its in PDF:

Every year, ( for the last 7 years), I undertake work for a company for 3 weeks of the year. I use the money I receive to live on during the summer holidays. (Groceries, new school uniforms, utilities etc). This year, as every year, I filled out a form for my bank details/address/phone number etc. I received a wage slip for approximately 1,000 at the beginning of July, but when I checked my account, there was no money in there. I phoned the company payroll and after checking various bank details, it transpired that I had been paid into an old bank account that I had not used for nearly 3 years. I asked her how this had happened because I'd used my 'new' umbrella account successfully with this company the previous year, and she informed me that they'd had a pc upgrade recently and for a few people, the same/similar had happened - newer bank details lost/reverted to old ones. I explained to her that I had walked away from the old bank because of debt/bank charges and did not even know whether or not the old bank account was still open. (If it was, they'd have swallowed my 1,000.) I asked her to do a BACS trace on the money but she refused, saying I would have to wait a month. Ironically, I can't claim benefits over the summer because my 1000 pay will no doubt be taken into account. I have no other income, very little in savings and really need to try and get my money returned. Am I entitled to get it back? It isn't as though I supplied them with incorrect details. I have written to their head of finance, but as yet, have had no reply. (The letter was sent a few days ago, but I have phoned numerous times since the beginning of July.) How long should I be expected to wait for a reply? Is there any other course of action I could take? Equally annoying is the fact that I paid emergency tax on the pay that I don't have. Hope someone can help. Thanks for reading.

Hi! This is my first public posting so please bear with me. My GP practice removed me from their patient list without warning and, while not yet re-registered I had a severe stress reaction directly as a result of that sudden change in my circumstances. I receive a disability allowance for my anxiety-depression. I asked the surgery for further information under the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act for access to my health records and certain policy details at the surgery. All my requests were refused. Items were sent which I had not asked for, other items were forged in an attempt to pass them off as the documents I wanted. Reasons for refusing access (the confidentiality of other patients' information) were not to be believed. I wrote letters between May and December trying to extract any clue to explain the grounds for the termination of my care. I made repeated requests for three health care documents in particular, but all was in vain. I applied to the small claims court against the practice for what I termed "specific performance" of my Data Protection rights of access to the three documents. I had no interest in any compensation cash. This was to be the first action to give me information for further action against the practice for breaking NHS regulations and clinical negligence in the way the GPs had taken me off their list. I now find myself on the brink of disaster with an order for costs already against me which the defendants have put provisionally in the sum of £3000 claimed and more costs likely unless I can get my head around this can of worms. I consider myself reasonably intelligent, diligent and cautious in my way of proceeding. I bought a book "Small Claims Procedure in the County Court" which was not cheap and read it and re-read it before making my claim. The book said I would need to make a claim under Part 8, adding that it might be allocated to the small claims track at allocation stage. I proceeded under Part 8 because it was the only action I could find for claims not involving a claim for a debt of money. It turns out that a Part 8 claim is not classed as a small claim, whereupon by proceeding I unknowingly opened myself up to liability for costs. So much for protection from costs boasted by the said book. However, there is also the technical aspect of the rules which I find are becoming increasingly fraught and beyond what is reasonable to expect of a lay litigant. Between the issue of the claim and the date of the hearing the GP practice had a further six weeks in addition to the 8 months already elapsed to provide me access to the documents I sought. However, they continued to withhold, even withholding the legally due confirmation whether or not the documentation actually existed. There really was no defence available to them for this obstructive behaviour but at all times their representative has used a tone of warning to me that all their costs would be due from me, which he emphasised by sending a bill for £ks. At the eleventh hour certain documents were supplied and, while I had reason to believe they were not authentic, I decided to withdraw my claim to avoid the potential for increasing costs. That is because I did not feel confident I could explain to the court why for purely practical reasons (such as the difference between "minutes" and "notes" of a meeting) my claim would appear not to have been satisfied. The defendant's representative had written me that I could avoid hearing costs by withdrawing the claim by a deadline they set for two days before the hearing, but had not sent me the documents in question until the day before their deadline. I did not get them on that day but the day after. I withdrew my claim on the eve of the hearing, rushing the withdrawal which I had not familiarised with, never having thought I would be using that procedure. I have now found out that the defendants' representative claimed the withdrawal was not all it should be and sent a barrister to attend the hearing knowing I would be absent. Counsel had my claim struck out and costs, including those of his attending on that day, ordered against me. From my point of view, he attended for no reason other than to claim his costs for attending. He knew I had withdrawn the claim and that his clients had the benefit of an automatic entitlement to costs up to the day before the hearing. It appears to me he knew there was little if anything in the way of costs coming their way due to their abysmal and vexatious conduct of pre-trial issues, so he acted to extort costs by exploiting my lay status and the fact that the judge would not have in the court bundle my withdrawal filed only the day before. I am preparing an application to have the striking out and costs order set aside. I would like to hear from anyone who can help me with technical info about what makes a withdrawal (discontinuance) effective. Does it have to be in the proper form (I sent a letter) and what is the effect if it does not state it has been served on the other party? The court phone clerk told me I would need the court's permission to withdraw, but there were no undertakings or other complications needing to be settled before withdrawal. However, in view of what she said, while I opened by saying "I write to withdraw my claim under the above reference", I asked overleaf for the court to “communicate this motion to withdraw to the defendants” . In the event I took the precaution of faxing this letter to the defendants’ solicitor and phoning and discussing my withdrawal with him. He had replied he was under a court order to attend anyway. If it turned out the court's permission to withdraw was not needed, would not my withdrawal have taken place when I took these actions? I cannot think of any other reason why the judge would agree with Counsel that the withdrawal was not effective. As the saying goes, HELP! 　　

FYI I've just entered into IVA and one of my creditors was Pound Access. I've been recieving an awful lot of emails of them telling me that they're issuing a CCJ and passing my debt on to a 3rd party so I decided to call them to advise them that I was in an IVA and that they were legally bound to the terms, only to be told by the woman who answered the phone that Pound Access had gone into liquidation.

Has anyone any ideas/hints/ advice please, I am on ESA(support group) and DLA, been on these for 2 years now and am slowly going stir crazy as I was used to working full time. Can anyone see any problems for me in setting up an online shop, using etsy, to sell my knitted baby cloths? I do the knitting to give myself something to do and maybe make some spending money. How would this affect my benefits if I went ahead with it?

Hi there, I'm new here and have been reading for some time... I need some advice, please: I'm an employed Carer and I look after a man who has paranoid schizophrenia. He lives alone in a privately-rented bungalow. This gentleman tells me that he has a large debt from one of his previous addresses and he worries that the bailiffs are coming "to get him". I've been reading various forums and want to know, if this disabled gentleman were to refuse the bailiff's entry into his home, is it impossible for them to take away any goods? The gentleman does not have a car, the garden area is secure (walled with barbed wire and he has 2 dogs) and because of the paranoia associated with his illness and his fears, he says he always keeps all the doors and windows locked. He does not answer the door to anyone and only goes out late at night to the shops. He has developed a fear that the bailiffs are going to break into his home when he is out at the shops. He has not had any contact from bailiffs, but is convinced they are "coming for him" for an old debt. If they do come, should he refuse to let them in? If he does this, what effect does this have? If he continues to refuse to let them in, what happens then? As far as I can see, the debt he has (CCJ) is for rent arrears for a sum of £12,750 from a flat he lived in 5 years ago; it seems the landlord was an unscrupulous and abusive one and fabricated most of the claim but it was undefended in the County Court, so the CCJ remains. I am trying to initiate contact with a solicitor to get this claim Set Aside but don't know how easy it will be (in reality, he owes about £2,500 at best). If anyone can answer the above questions about bailiff entry, it would help me greatly. He is of very confused mind and behaviour and any simple advice I can give him would be greatly appreciated. He's also on disability benefits with no other income, so I don't know if that changes the situation. thank you! Anton

Not sure how this can be right, UC will mean every self employed person has to earn minimum wage for 35 hours per week, or not be self employed!? So why would they be pushing people into self employment knowing they wont earn any money??? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21260331

http://sunderlandnow.co.uk/news/10-local-news/2114-investigation-into-police-van-parked-illegally-outside-of-greggs-bakery.html#

hi hope someone can help i recently reversed into a parked car which was covered in a tarpaulin sheet, nothing was visible on the car apart from the bottom half of the tyres i heard somewhere that a parked car had to have something showing ie number plate or reflective panels so i could see it more clearly to add the time was at night ant the road was not lit

Another high st company bites the dust