Government to professionalise the estate agent market READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-professionalise-the-estate-agent-market

Howdy, folks! I bought a photo frame off Amazon for £13.99. It's pretty nice, and intended as one of my dad's Christmas presents. it's turned up with broken glass. Fine. I emailed the seller asking for an exchange, the seller asked if it was usable and if so they'd give me a 35% refund. Fair enough. I looked into how much it would cost me to replace the glass with either glass or Perspex. Turns out I can get Perspex for around £13, I told them that 35% wouldn't work for me, I'd rather have either an exchange or a full refund. The seller came back offering a 50% refund, I explained that receiving that kind of refund doesn't cover me for replacing the glass, and again asked for an exchange or a refund. They're current saying 60%. What they said was this: I understand your concern. the item is not any use for us now as it cannot sold ahead as brand new. It would also save you the hassle of returning and then waiting for the return to received in warehouse and then send you another one. I would prefer you to accept the offer for partial refund of 60%. I hope you would understand i'm not really tempted to accept this offer, but it's winding me up that because the defective item is no use to the client, they think I should pay them to keep it. How would you respond to this? I'm going to ask for a full refund, but I'm wondering if they're going to just come back to me with "How about 70%?

http://www.phoneshopbysainsburys.co.uk/mbs

I like going out to markets.Having a look around. Listening to what people are saying. The banter ,the friendship,feel the atmosphere of the market.The massive variety of goods. A special place. I have noticed in our local market some are struggling. In fact a few are leaving in trouble,owing rent etc. Some have done moonlight flits.Perhaps to scared or embarrassed to face things and certain people. After trying so hard. Perhaps many are just scraping through not making much at all for the graft they put in.And hours worked. So if you are a market trader or know a market trader in your town or city how are things going. Do you think the pound shops,the low cost supermarkets that sell everything that have arrived in the last few years have affected you.Do you think anything lately has affected you. Is your rent fair or do you feel to steep. Choking any hope of profit for you. Did you have a dream that came true. Or did your dream turn into a nightmare for you. Do you think your rent is to high.For the space you have. Are you tied into a long contract,years perhaps. And after a short time you realise it is not going to work and can not get out of the situation. What help and advice was given to you.Before you signed papers,contract,rent agreement ,things like that. If someone before you has tried the same products and failed are you told this may not be a good idea. Maybe you are doing well. Good on you if you are. How are the people next to you doing. Do you feel like changing what you are selling but not able to because of rules. Are you being chased for rent by the market manager. Dreading the day off the week he or she comes round. How do they try to help you if you have found yourself in this situation. He or she obviously knows what is going on. Do you know anybody who has fled,overnight after trying so hard. Just wondering what is going on in your market.In your town or city. Is your market busy or have things gone quiet for the last year or two. What do you think caused things to go quiet. What would you like to change in your market. To help you perhaps.Advertising more,improvements to the market,painting,appearance anything you can think off. Is your market thriving,booming. What do you think made this happen.And why.What caused the upturn. Help others with your experiances Have the Bailiffs ever been in your market to a stressed,worried trader and possessed everything. The dream of being a entrepreneur gone. How has it affected your household,are you in trouble but keeping quiet,just holding on by your fingertips. Do you think if your rents are to high it is time for you to group together and say enough,give us a chance. A united front. Just wondering that is all. Wondering how something that has been in Great Britain so long is doing. From the people that matter the Traders.. If you are a customer of the markets,feel free to pop in and have your say. Without your support the Traders would really be in trouble. Get in there and support them.Feel the atmosphere,check things out. If you are outside looking in a link for you to have your say.Only takes a minute or two. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/register.php 2.14AM Time to fly. Bye for now Tawnyowl.

Has anyone noticed that many banking apps now want to have access to more details on your mobile phone? I was asked to update my banking app from the market store and found out by checking the new app permissions that they now want access to my internet browsing history and to have access to my contacts and to be able to modify and remove contacts!!!! I have already fired off a complaint to the FCA and ICO regarding these apps and will have a response within 30 days. this is seriously concerning and I will now review all of my other apps and have turned off several apps for wanting too much info. Why does a bank want access to your contacts list is amazing let alone wanting your browsing history. My solution was to remove the installed internet program and install Mozilla and set it up to delete history on exit and use a proxy too. I have also installed some malware programs to verify that no other naughty stuff has been sneaked in by previous apps. The android app market is getting way above their station in allowing carte blanch access

Hi All, Here we go again, this time Quid Market. A little bit of background info first, loan taken out September 2013 due for repayment September 2013. Struggled to pay it back and as with all my creditors wrote to them advising them of my situation making an offer of a monthly payment that was affordable. Various emails back and forth, eventually I commence a monthly payment in February of this year. I make the monthly payments, to date I have made 5 monthly payments including one after the claim was issued. During this time i did receive a few emails asking me to pay more and when I was going to clear the account. I replied stating I was paying the most I could. I thought no more of it, I then receive an email from the legal department stating they could no longer accept my payment offer as I had not filled in the Income and expenditure form. I replied stating I had never been asked to fill one in, but I was happy to do so. Two days after replying to the email I receive another from the legal department stating a claim had been issued. details below Issue Date: 20th June 2014 Particulars of claim: Repayment of short term loan paid direct into the defendants bank account on 05/09/2013. Repayment due 30/09/2013, loan not repaid on due date by defendant as per loan agreement. Proactive written and telephone attempts to communicate with defendant has failed to achieve resolution, repayment or acceptable repayment plan. As per our loan agreement a daily rate of interest has been charged since default. Amount Claimed £384.44 + costs of £35.00 Acknowledgement of service filed 3rd July I intend to defend all of this claim. To be honest I was a bit miffed, can't understand why they would issue a claim when I'm making monthly payments, seems a bit naughty to me!

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday published a report into the country's energy markets in which it identifies opaque pricing, the dominance of utilities and an uncompetitive retail market as the main negative factors. The so-called issues statement is part of an investigation into the British energy market, one which the CMA will publish its final report by Dec. 25 2015. http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?code=lc2pkmug&headline=UK_competition_watchdog_publishes_report_on_energy_market_investigation

Thursday, June 26, 2014 - 12:00 We have today referred the energy market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a full investigation. The CMA will begin its investigation immediately and will likely publish its final decisions by the end of 2015. Clear the air The investigation is an important opportunity to clear the air and should ensure competition in the energy market effectively bears down on costs and drives improvements in customer service and innovation. This will help rebuild consumer trust and confidence in the market. It will also help to provide the certainty that is needed for investment in the energy sector and complement our recent reforms to make the market simpler, clearer and fairer for consumers. Supplier distrust Our recent assessment of the energy market, which we prepared with the Office of Fair Trading and CMA, showed that competition isn’t working as well as it should for consumers. It showed increasing distrust of energy suppliers, uncertainty about the relationship between the supply businesses and the generation arms of the six largest suppliers, and rising profits with no clear evidence of suppliers reducing their own costs or becoming better at meeting customer expectations. Investigation features The CMA can decide which features of the market to focus on in its investigation and use its powers to address any structural issues that would undermine competition. We fully expect the CMA to consider the action we’ve taken to intensify competition and protect consumers. The main areas we expect they will include in the investigation include: the relationship between the supply businesses and generation arms of the six largest suppliers barriers to entry and expansion for suppliers the profitability of the six largest suppliers whether there is sufficient competition between the large energy suppliers the trend of suppliers consistently setting higher prices for consumers who have not switched low consumer engagement that contributes to weak competitive pressure in the market We will play a full role assisting the CMA and will continue our work to protect consumers. This includes pushing forward next-day switching, improving the support available for vulnerable consumers in finding the best energy deal, developing new rules for brokers to follow in the non-domestic market, and working with government to ensure consumers get the maximum benefit from the smart meter revolution. A CMA investigation should ensure there are no barriers to stop effective competition bearing down on prices and delivering the benefits of these changes to consumers.

Hello I am hoping someone will be able to give me some advise. I took out a loan with Quid Market and defaulted to to a change in financial circumstances. I have offered to set up a payment plan which was declined. I have now received a text message advising me of a home / work visit which terrifies me. How should I deal with this. All help greatfully received.

I would like to ask some questions about selling the house we currently have on the market. This relates to the buyers and sellers form we need to fill in. It asks if you have made any complaints. I made a complaint to the local Council about a mobile mechanic doing up cars on the side of the road. The house is in my partner's name and he didnt make the complaint - but do we need to declare anyway? Secondly it asks about have you had any disputes? Yes with the same mobile mechanic. He has caused problems to the off road parking (matter resolved with police help), and we've had anti social behaviour off him. Can we just state that we do not get on with him due to a clash of personalities without giving too much away??

We have all heard of the deadly ‘Amazon Fly Trap’ well now we have the ‘Amazon Market Place Trap’ equally as painful if you fall in it. This is a warning message really, although reading some of the pieces on this site it is nothing new and had I had been more on my toes and read more on the internet I would not have fallen in the ‘Amazon Market Place Trap’. I bought a "Nikingstore IDE/SATA Dual Slot Hard Drive Docking Station" on Amazon for £23.99. I received the confirmation email and again foolishly as I have been so use to and confident of Amazon’s system I just let it sit in my inbox. After a week it had not arrived so I emailed the seller only to find that they were based in Singapore and delivery could be up to 30 days. It did not take that long but when I went to use it; it did not work or not as it should. It even disconnected my BT home internet hub every time I switched it on and inserted a hard drive. I contacted the seller stating that it was faulty and I wanted to return it for a refund. We then started a series of emails back and forth while he argued the toss. It was not until I started an A-Z claim that he agreed to take it back. They wanted me to pay the £11.84 shipping and again it took a few emails for him to very generously offer to reimburse the cost of shipping!! But could I send it by surface mail as it was cheaper (£6.81). During this time I was also communicating with Amazon and it was not until then that I discovered that as a buyer we have no consumer protection at all in their Market Place purchases. When I bought my item there was no mention on the webpage that the company I was dealing with was based outside the UK so I think it fair to say that a buyer would naturally think they would be dealing someone in our own country. The way I see it is, taken to the extreme, we could have traders from all over the world supplying faulty or substandard goods to customers in the UK and Amazon just turn their backs on it as they offer no protection at all. Do I see this wrong, are Amazon actually aiding and abetting in allowing some of their sellers to rib us off and why should they do anything about it for they are actually profiting from it also. Being sarcastic does Amazon really care as in recent days we have seen that Amazon only cares about Amazon another way of just adding to the coffers, like the tax they don’t pay. They have said that I will get my £23.99 back (although I am still waiting) but it is on a wing and prayer that I will ever see the return postage again, and the faulty goods, well who knows, they will most properly we re-boxed and shipped out to the next punter and the process will starts all over again. I did notice on the Amazon confirmation invoice that they make reference to the United Kingdom's Distance Selling Regulations, “you have the right to cancel the contract for the purchase of any of these items within a period of 7 working days, beginning with the day after the day on which the item is delivered” They fail to tell you that you will have to bear the cost to return it even if it is faulty. In my case it was virtually half of the price of the item. As you will no doubt see I am a little angry about this although it is my fault really but I feel that I should speak out and add my story hoping someone might see it before they buy as Amazon will never warn you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19968609

hi need some advice have rented a indoor market stall from wrexham council for over ten years.have had really bad time last three months and fell behind with my rent there is a new lady in charge of the debtors section for the council who is quiet aggressive with me and other traders if we fall into arrears. i owe roughly £950 pounds rent and have had two reminders for this.yesterday a bailiff from rossendales turned up showed me his badge and came in the stall he gave me a bill with £300 pound charges on top of the £950 and wanted all the money straight away and started to do an inventory of my stock for seizure i explained i could not pay so he said he would accept half the money now and half in a month this was very distressing and caused me a lot of anxiety i phoned the head of the debtors section but was told she was in a meeting all morning in the end as he was about to take my stock he rang his boss who accepted some cash now and the rest over six weeks should i had not been informed that the bailiff was going too call or does she have the right to do this. my wife has spoken to this lady to explain our situation and she talks over you in a conversation and says if you cant pay your rent you should not be in the market.she is not very helpful and cant see that i am trying too keep my self in employment and does not take into account the ten years trouble free relationship i have had with the council.Basically can she just send a bailiff in without giving me prior warning.thanks in advance iklt

This follows a lengthly investigation by the OFT into the motor insurance market. http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2012/44-12