Mum is 73, recently bereaved, a little under the weather. but was hanging on in there. Until Thursday, 18th April. She woke up with a sore throat. Friday morning - woke up and couldn't swallow without pain, talk, breathe properly etc, and her neck and head were swollen. No messing about Gp called, did a home visit, diagnosed a quincy throat and prescribed erythimicin (spelt wrong, never mind). Told mum if no better by Saturday she was to contact the clinic that would be open at the general hospital, and they would have her in to drain the quincy. Sat morning, mum now being violently sick, making everything worse, now looking like the honey monster. Only bright red, not yellow. We rang the hospital, they told her just to try and cope until she could go back to the GP on Monday. Sat afternoon mum slept, in the evening rang hospital again, much worse now. Same advice, see GP on Monday. Sun morning and I think mum was dying. On the phone to the clinic and informed them we were on our way in. Shortly after arrival she was admitted. Put on women's surgical ward. (No problems whatsoever with care she has received whilst in the hospital - we must have a gem in our general). Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to cope with the infection with antibiotics, (not the first one as we now know she was allergic to that one) which didn't work. Finally, at about 11pm on the Tues she gets emergency surgery, to remove tonsils through throat, to get at quincy and drain it. And I mean cut her throat open to deal with this- very nasty and apparently a life threatening operation. We were warned she was dangerously ill, and this was serious. Had the op, got through it, and has been on Critical Care Unit ever since. She's still very ill, but slowly slowly turning the corner. Now she can actually speak again, mum is feeling very disgruntled at being told "to cope" by the hospital when she rang for help. Three times they told her this, even though they were told how bad she was. My poor old mum was just getting used to being on her own, doing her shopping, going out and about, doing her garden and now she is lying in a hospital bed on the CCUu, and is likely to be in for a long time, and then will need to be rehabbed. And will now likely struggle in her own home. Then lets look at the cost of all this! How do we go about making a complaint? And actually chaps, is this level of treatment the norm now, do you think we should be complaining about this? Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Hello guys, I'm new here and would appreciate any advice or help on the following matter as I'm looking to clear a CCJ from my mums history! This is a CCJ down to my mum being the guarantor for my student accommodation: Back in April 2010 I was due to pay my last installment of rent... i didn't. 1st of June 2010 - solicitors sent pre action letter to me (student apartments) & to my mum (sittingbourne) Mid June - solicitor has record of me acknowledging the letter with student apartments and asking for 2 more weeks time to pay up.... i didn't. 15th July - Solicitors asked by student apartments to start legal proceedings 20th July - Court had sent a letter to me at (student apartments) and my mum (sittingbourne) 12th August - CCJ sent to my mums (sittingbourne) Later in August - high court enforcement officers sent round September - CCJ paid in full From mid June or so I was living in Sittingbourne, so I didn't receive any of the letters sent. I didn't appreciate how serious and quick things progressed as I was intending to pay it all off at the end of summer! From what I know if the CCJ was paid in full within a month I can get the CCJ removed from my mums history via the registry trust (going to find out tomorrow exactly what day it was paid) But if not.. what are my chances of getting this set aside from the registry trust for her Bearing in mind i don't think my mum knew what was going until the enforcement officers came knocking... and soon paid the debt thereafter. What would be the chances getting it set aside on these points: Was the summons taken out against both yourself and another person jointly. If this is so, did you both receive your summons? = NO (but need to check if the CCJ was also issued against me) Did you receive the summons? They are not sent by recorded mail. = NO I feel really bad in being so irresponsible when i was younger and now because of it I've screwed up my mums credit history. I need to get it removed for her as she was declined a sizable loan because of the CCj, prior to this her record was impeccable! Any advice would be massively appreciated, my apologies if this post became a bit too long winded.

hi all, just after a bit of advice here its a long one so ill try and be brief. in feb 2012 we took a home tv bb and phone package with sky for a 12m contract. in july 2012 they changed the prices and we cancelled our contract under the "change of terms" section of their contract. it took a few calls to get the cancellation agreed because my hubby is the acct holder so they wouldnt accept the cancellation from me and he had already moved to canada working so he had to call them, they then tried to tell him he couldnt cancel and he didnt have the relevant email and terms and conditions etc to quote at them, finally i got back thru to him on skype and heard him have the conversation with sky to cancel in which they told us we had given 31 days notice and they would terminate our contract on 23rd august. we paid up to and including that date and i then cancelled the direct debit as i know sky and they have such a dodgy rep that i was anticipating problems leaving them. in august we left our rented house and moved out to canada to be with my husband.we had our mail forwarded to our old house, which we have sold to my mum. in december we had a letter from a DCA saying we still had a contract with sky and they had passed our bad debt on to them. again refused to speak to me when i called them to explain that we didnt owe sky anything and i called sky who eventually agreed to speak to me ( having given them the password!) the agent i spoke to (taking date time and user id of the call) said he could see the problem and would get it sorted out and wiped clean. he also said he would contact the DCA and they would withdraw the issue. in late jan we had another letter this time at our old address (now owned by my mother) saying that the debt still had to be settled and they would come round and knock for it. hubby called them and told them the debt was in query still and gave them the details of the agent we spoke to and they said they would leave it for two weeks until they heard from sky. we also called sky to ask why the complaint had not been dealt with yet (dated 3rd dec) and they told me it takes as long as it takes and we care unable to contact them to ask for progress. we told the DCA they had the wrong address, we do not live in the uk any more and we do not own that house or anything in it, my mother has nothing to do with the debt they think we owe and they should leave her alone. every day for the last three days the DCA have knocked on my mums door, harassing her and her disabled husband. im after something legislational i can use to get them to back off until sky sort out the conplaint and call off the hounds... to recap. we dont owe anything, we cancelled and they accepted our cancellation, we paid up to and including the date of disconnection. they know we do not live there and that my mother has nothing to do with the debt yet still go round there every day to ask for hubby. also when we took out the contract we did intend to keep it for at least the full 12m, but when work came up over here we took it ( better quality of life etc) when they changed the prices it seemed serendipitous and we took advantage of the chance to cancel mid contract.

My girlfriend is getting a lot of hassles at work for having to work on call at weekends. I work on call but i get paid for it, paid for disturbance then paid a rate for the time i work on incidents She collects the work phone friday night and drop sit back monday morning, compensation regardless of workload is 1 day in leu. She cannot leave the house. She also works part time, so as the others get a full day off she just gets 1 half day. Its becoming a real pain for no reward, she got called at 3am and 4am the other weekend, waking all the kids in the house. This weekend shes working, so shes going ot have to keep the kids indoors for two full days, its just not on. Her contract states she may be required to work saturday 8-5pm and on call sunday. Is a new job the only way out? My initial response has been "work until 5pm, turn off the phone until sunday, or get out of it because you have kids and get two half days off." If she has to work on a call for an hour, surely she must be paid money for the time shes working on it, as this is clearly restricting her free time?

Hi guys i have an outstanding cancellation charge with Orange, now i don't live with my mum and i haven't for the past 3 years. Tonight my mum phones my mobile saying that someone called xxx from MDR has phoned asking to speak to me my mum asked what its regarding and he wouldn't say anything i phoned my mum back and asked for his phone number so i called back to speak to someone called xxx who was a right snotty cow. I asked how she has got hold of my mothers house number and she said maybe you've called us off it before i was like i aint that stupid love, so i demanded she took it off her record and replaced it with my own personal record where could they have got it from ? either from a credit check years ago off Orange or when i was a PAYG when i lived with my mum i dont know but id love to know is there a way i can get them into **** for harrasing another member of my family and can i demand proof all the information they have on me ?

Hello All, I am new to this site & I hope someone or a few of you on here may be able to assist me. Approximately 12yrs ago, I bought my current home with my mum (ex council property, right to buy). She was unable to obtain a mortgage on her own and I offered to buy the property with her, as I lived with my mum & my younger brother. A couple of years later, my mum moved out to be with her now husband and I 'bought' her out. My mum wanted half of the equity that was available at the time, £7,500. I was not in a position to pay it there and then, so my mum imposed a charging order against the property, which I agreed... thinking that I would have to pay it when I re-mortgaged or sold the property, which ever came first. Unfortunately, my partner at the time (later married & divorced!) left me with a multitude of financial difficulties, which had a negative impact upon my credit rating. I then borrowed £2,500 from my mum to assist with some debts that my ex-husband left me with, which was then added to the charging order, bringing the total to £10,000. Five years ago, I met someone else and he came onto the mortgage with me (I was unable to take on the mortgage in my sole name due to the bad debts). Since being with my new partner, we have tried to sell the property (to no avail) and have attempted to re-mortgage on several occasions, all in a bid to try to pay my mum off. My mum raises the issue every few months and she frequently monitors our lifestyle (we rarely go out, we don't drink or smoke, but as soon as we do anything, it is held against us!). In 2010, my mum enforced interest repayments of £500 per annum against me (5% of the total debt), which are due on the 31st December every year. I felt that it is not assisting me in reducing the debt so I recently suggested paying her a monthly instalment plan in order to clear the debt (£90pcm), with a view to clearing £1000 a year, with a very small amount of interest, followed by a lump sum payment of £5000 in 5 years time when my financial situation will be vastly improved. Bearing in mind, my creditors for other outstanding loans receive less than that per month and no longer charge me interest! My mum refused; she basically wants a lump sum. She is going to pay £2500 of it to my brother as his inheritance; apparently, the house (that I have paid towards every month for the last 12yrs) is my inheritance!!! Sorry to waffle on, but I thought I would give you as much background as possible without going into too much detail! So, my questions are as follows: Do I have to pay interest (even though I stupidly agreed to it for a quiet life)? Or would the interest only apply to the £2500 loan and not the £7500 original charge? Can she enforce the charging order, even though my other creditors have not imposed a charging order and are happy with the payment plans I have with them? Where do I stand if she does try to enforce payment in a lump sum? Am I within my rights to offer monthly instalments/payment plan as per my other creditors? Do I have to pay anything at all? Where do I stand in the eyes of the law having offered monthly payments to reduce the debt? Where do I stand legally, given that I have tried to sell my property, I have tried to re-mortgage (even with my partner as a joint re-mortgage) and I have even tried to get a loan to pay her off? My mum sees this as business transaction and somehow manages to separate it from our personal relationship. However, I see it as personal, seeing as the monies owed are to my mum and she makes it personal by commenting on my life and by actually being very spiteful at times! Any advice/help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Huge thanks Gracie99

I would like to know if there is any help available for my Mum. She is recently retired from working in the Care Sector, divorced, living in a rented cottage in The Dales and receiving pension/ housing benefit of £400 per month. Unfortunately this is insufficient to meet her council tax, electric (approx £180 a quarter), water bills etc.. My Mum would like to work part time, although she is limited due to increasingly severe back problems and the scarcity of jobs in her rural community. I however, am worried that if she takes a job, even part-time, it might affect her benefits. I would love to know if any other forum members have any experience of addressing situations like this. Naturally, it would be great to hear that there was more financial help available for people in my Mum's situation or that there was a provision for her to earn enough to bring her income up to level where she could survive. I would, however, also be interested in hearing any advice on how others might cope on such a low income. In the interim, I help out financially as best as I can, and next spring plan to visit her and plant a vegetable patch in her garden to save on food bills. Any ideas/ advice gratefully accepted! Little Alf

Hello one and all I am a disabled mum of a disabled little boy, and my husband is both our full time carers. I have M.E. and severe anxiety problems. I was on incapacity benefit since 2007 and recently changed over to contribution based ESA in April, placed in the WRAG group. I have my first work focused interview later this month. I can't think of any job that I could actually do if I was employed - I don't know how I'm going to feel from one day to the next. I suffer with severe fatigue and muscular pain and some days it takes my husband an hour to get me dressed. I was thinking of maybe starting to work from home doing something like selling breastfeeding bras and breast pumps, or Hiring out baby slings etc but I worry that this may cause more stress than it's worth. How would this affect my benefits and would I need to get insurance or do yearly tax returns? I ran a small market stall in 2004 when I was in my early 20's and I know the ins and outs of running a small business but since then I have obviously got ill and my health is not going to get any better. I need to be at home for my little boy too as he is still breastfed and needs a lot of help and constant reassurance from me. He is 3 years old next week (please no negative comments about breastfeeding). Any advice I would be grateful for. Thanks.

Hi all A quick question for you all. My mum is 67, she remarried about 15 years ago and her husband is 15 years younger than her, so 52. They keep their finances separate, so she has no idea how much he earns and likewise, he doesn't know what she gets (a basic state pension only) He has his own financial commitments, so whatever money she gets in, is her own, but usually gets used up very quickly on bills/food etc So my question is with regards to benefits, she can't claim pension credit, because he's in fulltime work and his wage is taken into account when she applies, is that correct? Or can she apply without that information, given that she doesn't receive or have access to any money he earns?

Hi everybody:-) My mum has worked in a hospital dept for 22 years. In January her and her colleagues were asked to volunteer to do nights. Nobody else was interested but my mum volunteered to help them out and also to be able to spend more time with my dad who is disabled. She trained people up from medical records whose jobs had been taken away and so were classed as "at risk". She was informed this morning that she would have to go back onto days in July as the people from medical records were working nights so she wouldn't be needed. My mum is really upset about this as it has worked out really well for her doing nights- she is around for my dad in the day time- we even work opposite night shifts so there is always someone there for my dad. It has also helped their financial situation as my dad is medically unfit to work. I know she is going to be really stressed out if she has to go back onto days- she has her own health problems and any stress is going to make it worse- she is even talking of handing in her notice. Can they make her give up her night time hours for new staff coming into the department? The head of her dept is saying it's out of his hands and it is personell who are pushing for the "At risk" staff to have her hours. Thankyou for reading!!

Hi, My Father-in-law passed away on 24th May 2012 and is survived by his spouse. He left a will leaving all his estate to his wife and as the value is under IHT we will be applying for probate ourselves. My ex wife and I are the executors of the will. All seems straight forward except that his wife does not appear on the deeds. The house was buit in 1960 and they have lived in it ever since. We have checked on the Land registry website and it comes up no details held. We have the house deeds so what is the next action. I assume we have to wait for probate first ? Many thanks Stevew48