Tougher rules to let customers exit their contract New rules being introduced by Ofcom will let broadband customers exit their contract at any time if they aren’t getting the speed quoted by their provider. Currently customers can only cancel their broadband deal penalty free within the first three months of the contract. After that time they are charged a penalty fee to exit, even if their broadband speed is slow. Under the new rules customers can cancel at any time, if the speed they receive is slower than the speed they were quoted when they signed up. http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/06/slow-broadband-speeds-now-you-can-cancel-406021/ That's the theory, meanwhile in the real world: Three in four households pay for internet speeds they never receive – but very few can use new Ofcom rules to switch providers More than 13 million households who pay for internet speeds they never receive are unable to use new rules allowing people to exit slow broadband contracts. As well as the headline speed, the provider must give a so-called "minimum guaranteed" speed. This is the highest speed available to the slowest 10 per cent of households in their customer base. The new rules introduced by Ofcom last week allow people to leave contracts early only if the speed is below this "minimum" level. Experts said it was therefore likely that just 10 per cent of the 22 million British households with broadband will be able to make use of the new rules to leave their provider. Customers who receive speeds just above the minimum threshold may be unable to argue their cases and will face fees to terminate their contract early. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11682353/Millions-with-slow-broadband-cant-use-new-exit-rules.html ADVERTISING

I have recently discovered that the clock on my economy 7 electricity meter is seven hours slow. I use my high power useage appliances like washing machine and tumble dryer at night to take advantage of cheap rate power charges. I now discover that all that use is being charged at peak rates. I have no idea how long this has been happening for but the meter was installed in 2008. I have recently changed supplier and I have asked them to come and check the meter. They cannot come and look till the end of May. I also have an outstanding balance with my old supplier that i have been paying off. If the check confirms what i have found what can I do about the overcharging that may have been happening for years? My current supplier says they I can query it with them when the meter check has been done. I have raised a dispute with my old supplier but surprise surprise they arent being very helpful. They say my current supplier must supply them with amended readings if it is found the meter is faulty. It all seems very complicated!

I bought a new Acer laptop ( v5 122p-win 8.1) from PC world on Sunday, after using it for about a day, I've found the laptop very very slow and sluggish, it get to a point when the laptop just becomes unresponsive, the internet is very slow also and I can't do basic taks. , I've delated all the pre installed apps that came with the laptop and it's made no difference what so ever, the cpu is constantly reaching 100%. I wanted to know if I had a legal right of requesting either a refund, exchange, or by me paying extra for a better spec machine. Because I bought this in store the distant selling regs don't apply to me.

Hi guys. Just bought this :- http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GE70-2PE-051UK-17-3-inch-Notebook/dp/B00IZFMB6I which I think is pretty high spec. For some strange reason though, it doesn't seem much quicker than my old 2GB Ram Samsung. Is there something I need to do in the settings to speed it up? Even videos I watch on Facebook seem to keep freezing. Starts up as fast as I expected. Just a bit confused. Thanks

I noticed on this thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?423050-Windows-XP-support comments about AVG as I have AVG internet security and tune up and when I turn my pc on it takes at least 20 minutes before I get complete control back over my PC and although I am told the pc has low memory (37GB disk and 2.8GB left) I would have thought that enough to use the pc reasonably easily. I am not in any way shape or form a 'techi' - I turn my pc on and hope it'll keep going like my Mrs samsung galaxy which kicks into life immediately you turn it on. When that little triangle kicks-in to the AVG logo down in the r/h corner tool bar when I boot up I go into slow down mode - is this common as it drives me mad? I also use Firefox and it just won't load up until this triangle vanishes. Would I be better off with these other AV softwares you quote? I've paid for both these AVG softwares so I'd rather not have wasted money of course as I've only recently done this. Now I keep everything I have on a separate drive commonly referred to as the C:/ drive. The PC drive is E:/ and I store everything on C except of course the programs. I also have the old version of Outlook Express which sits with probably over 7-8000 emails, many with pdf files attached, I gathered when fighting since 2006 with our Cabot Fan Club. I periodically delete many, but I do go back and refer to some and I still need certain things, but can anyone tell me if these (I feel daft asking this because I think I know what people might say, but hey-ho - I'm no techi as I said) actually sit in my E drive on the PC or are they stored in some mega store warehouse server of MS as I was previously under the impression they were, which would slow down considerably the pc and take up all that 30 odd GB's that seem to be sitting somewhere on the drive?? Any idea's? Thanks A1

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??

So I recently moved house - called bt and they said sure we an oe the internet to new house - but you have to take out a new contract - which i did (18 months) They said I would get 3-6 bps but I getting less than 1 - Is there anything I can do?

Hey, I have been having problems with the data services being offered by Orange, basically the speed is totally unusable when I am not using WiFi and this problem has been ongoing for almost 1 month now...my average mobile internet speed is 0.03MPS at all times of the day / night. Orange say that there are no network problems in my area, the handset is not faulty and neither is the SIM. Its getting silly now as I do feel my phone "connected" experience is a complete joke. I am 8 months into a 24 month contract and see no signs of this improving - what are my options regarding dealing with Orange or cancelling early due to a breach (if there has been one by orange) Help Many Thanks

Hi, I put a PPI claim in to the FOS on behalf of my husband October 2010,at the time he was still managing to pay his CC and loan, however it all went belly up in April this year and as I have heard nothing for months from the FOS I'm wondering where it will leave this claim when the HSBC take action against him which from the letters received yesterday could be soon Ro

:xHi We have a Mazda 5 sport which my husband uses for his taxi it requires a new gearbox and we have been waitng since the 11th May for the repair it should of been done by the 17th may but they keep changing the goal post everytime we speak to Mazda or the dealer Underwoods of colchester they keep saying its on the container boat coming from Japan, when I mentioned that my husbands can't work without the car Mazda said we should have contingency plans put in place for when the car is off the road we have if the car is in a accident then we get a replacement taxi but there is no insurance if your car breaks down this doesn't say a lot for the reliability of Mazda cars does it, plus we still have to pay £2,597 for the repair . Mazda have given us a courtesy car but you can't use it for a taxi so what with no money coming and still having to pay for the repair and still not knowing when it will be repaired I am at my wits end any suggestions please

Hi I'm finding that threads won't open, and posting a reply is taking forever, sometimes timing out. Is there an issue at the website end or is it me?