I want to make a formal complaint about the bag of rubbish I bought from CSL Sofas. Which do you think is the best organisation to complain to?

I hope someone can help please. I ordered some glue from a website (shop4glue.com) and paid online with my debit card. The money has gone from my account but no product received over a week later. I tried phoning the number on the site but no answer. So I then checked the company details on the page which are Starloc Adhesives. Having checked the company online I see they are listed as non-trading! What should I do now and is there any way I could get my money back? Many thanks

Earlier this year we received a speculative invoice masquerading as a parking ticket from Smart Parking. I simply wrote to Smart Parking explaining the legal position and they immediately cancelled the invoice. Given what I've read here and the document they sent I thought I would pursue the matter through my local Trading Standards. Having passed the matter through Consumer Direct, I heard precisely nothing. I had to ask twice to even get a TS reference number. I eventually made a complaint which was fobbed off. I have posted the level 2 complaint I made below and I have set out the response to the level 2 complaint in the next post. I intend to go back at them again and then refer the matter to the Ombudsman. I write with reference to my complaint referenced above and to the letter dated 18 September 2013 sent to me by Lee Ormandy, Business Intelligence and Legal Manager. I note that Mr Ormandy’s letter concludes Stage 1 of your complaints process and I now wish to escalate this matter to Stage 2. By way of background my original complaint to Citizens Advice was regarding a “Parking Charge Notice” received through the post from Smart Parking Limited also known as Town and City Parking. My concerns were: 1) This document is designed to resemble a Penalty Charge Notice issued by a local authority when it merely has the legal status of an invoice. 2) The Parking Charge Notice was issued to me as the registered keeper of the vehicle but given that it is an invoice and governed by contract law, it should only be issued to the driver at the time the incident occurred. As such, sending it to the registered keeper means that it is a speculative invoice. 3) The Parking Charge Notice contains the following sentence: “This may result in a summons or writ being raised for recovery of the outstanding Parking Charge Notice”. This is clearly intended to mislead the recipient as to the company’s recovery powers. Given that this is governed by contract law, the correct recovery route is through the county court and this is extremely unlikely to result in any form of summons or writ but rather a county court claim. In my opinion this sentence implies that the company can recover the invoice balance through the magistrate’s court which it clearly cannot. 4) Private parking companies such as Smart Parking Limited very rarely pursue county court claims and hardly win any that they do. This is because they are rarely able to identify the person they should sue to the satisfaction of the court and under contract law, the amount claimed cannot exceed the actual loss incurred. It is very hard to demonstrate losses equivalent to the £60 to £100 set out in the Parking Charge Notices. When I received my Parking Charge Notice I replied setting out many of the points above and challenged the company to commence legal proceedings. Within seven days they cancelled the Parking Charge Notice. I referred this matter to Trading Standards through Citizens Advice because I was concerned that companies such as Smart Parking Limited are attempting to secure payment of speculative invoices designed to resemble council documents and threatening legal remedies that they could not, in fact pursue. I was extremely disappointed that it took two attempts to obtain a Trading Standards case reference for this matter and then to find that I did not receive any acknowledgement or reply from Trading Standards. Having raised a stage 1 complaint I was astonished to find that my request for any documents relating to this matter produced no results. It is clear that Trading Standards have done absolutely nothing in response to my complaint except perhaps to include it within a statistical return. As a council tax payer this falls well short of what I would expect. I note that Trading Standards claim that they are unable to pursue all cases and that they apply criteria in their selection process. Having reviewed those criteria I believe that my complaint satisfies two of them: 1) Given the number of private parking tickets issued nationally, this matter will certainly affect thousands of Surrey residents each year because other private parking companies issue almost identical documents. 2) Many residents will pay these tickets because they believe that they are legally required to do so. This is particularly true of elderly, young and other vulnerable residents who are unaware of the legal status of the document they receive. I would be obliged if you would consider this as a stage 2 complaint.

Hi guys. I'm a long time user (occasional poster) and have been daft and obtained a notice which was affixed to my car the other week. On the 18th August, I went to Lincoln and parked in a Smart car park (T/A T&C) and paid for 4 hours parking. Stupidly, I went over the 4 hours by a few minutes and as I returned to my car, saw a yellow striped plastic bag stuck to my windscreen, stating "PARKING CHARGE NOTICE.... Unauthorised Removal is an offence". I opened it and there was an invoice for £35 rising to £70 if I didn't pay within a week. Now, I know I'm at fault for going over, but surely £70 is a bit steep for 16 minutes??? I know the old advice was ignore/ignore or ignore, but have things changed? I don't want to end up being a living breathing puppet for these guys in a courtroom. Thanks in advance.

Can anyone be reported to trading standards or is it LTD company's only, what about PLC's or self employed people

Hi Guys, I have been trading forex market for year now but have had big losses. Then During april i started getting call from a rep from Onetwotrade.com and he said how they can get back my losses with Binary Options trading. Initially i hesitated bu kept getting from call from Onetwotrade rep. Rep suggested putting £2000 deposit to start doing this effectively. I put in £1000 in May. Rep wanted me came put £1000 more, i didnt. Because I became suspicious when i came across their terms of serice. After reading their terms of service for withdrawls made me really worry. They never mentioned any of that when i put in my money, In fact i was told by sales guy that you put £2000 and we gve you insurance if you loose that much in 1st month they will credit that money back. but that credit has its own issues for ex you can't just withdrawl that credit. Below is transcript of their terms of service withdrawl without bonus. "Withdrawal Conditions and Fees - Accounts with no Bonus In order to qualify for a withdrawal with an account at OneTwoTrade that has not been awarded any bonus, the funds deposited must be turned over once. By way of example, if Client deposits £1000, client must achieve a turnover of £1000.00 or more in order to be eligible to withdraw any funds. Turnover is defined as the sum of the value of all bets made excluding the value of any bets that have been cancelled either by the Client or by OneTwoTrade. Furthermore, subsequent deposits must be turned-over before any funds from the account can be released, regardless of previously achieved turnover. By way of example, if a Client initially deposited £1000 and achieved a turnover of £10,000, and then deposited a further £1000, Client must achieve a total turnover of at least £11,000 before any funds can be withdrawn. If turnover requirements are met, client may withdraw funds from the OneTwoTrade platform. The Client will be charged a 1% processing fee of the withdrawal amount, or £/€/$50, whichever is bigger. Furthermore, any withdrawal that must be completed by international wire transfer will be charged a £22 transfer fee. OneTwoTrade’s withdrawals are processed in the United Kingdom and Malta. If the client wishes to withdraw funds from the account where the turnover requirement has not been met, for either initial or subsequent deposits, client may do so, however they will be charged a 20% Anti-Money Laundering fee of the withdrawal amount, in addition to any transfer fees. If, at any point, client elects to take a bonus on a deposit, the withdrawals terms and conditions in section 14 will apply. " So what i have to pay them £50 plus 20% for withdrawing my money, that is criminal. none of this was mentioned by sales gut when he started calling me to deposit money. Their bonus scheme is even more dubious bcz i think if u agree to their agreement you become trapped. I hope to recieve reply and how i should now approach Onetwotrade to withdrawl all my £1000. Any suggestion appreciated So upon my request for withdrawal they have emailed me back the only way they can process my withddrawal is if i put the money i deposit to work by waging it for full amount or 20% will be taken off my money. This is unbeliveble and cannot be legal. Any suggestion what should i do now. If i wage that £1000 i risk loosing it, i dont want to do that anyway bcz i lost trust on them. Also rep was calling me regulalrly and now whenever i call his mobile number there is no reply. And i have tried Onetwotrade office number many times almost daily and there's no reply. I did visit their office based in aldgate, london afer depositing £1000 and spoke to my rep. He kept insisting me to deposit another £1000 and how he will look after me.

apparently according to various news reports, 15 lenders heave left the payday market ahead of the oft/fsa deadline to sort out there business practices. Does anyone know what ones have closed up shop?

Hi, About 18 months ago I opened up a LLC which stopped trading 1 year after it was formed, but because there is debt which needs to be resolved I couldn't just close the company. Unfortunately the company made NO money and upon agreement with the people the business owed the debt to, they were happy for me to have the company struck off, which has already been applied for. During those 18 months I was in receipt of Housing Benefit whilst not receiving a salary. Throughout the 18 months, the Council were adiment that I was 'self employed' as opposed to being 'employed as a director' so they requested all of the company books, account statements as well as my own personal ones. I did this so I could remain transparent and show that I was being 100% honest with them. Recently I received a letter from the council stating that ALL HB and CT has been stopped because: Their letter reads: 1) I dont understand why they had to use 'adverse inference' as I have given them all of my bank statements, the companies bank statements, the company books (literally all of them) and did this every 3 months to ensure that I remained transparent. 2) How would advise that I contest this? I've provided more than enough evidence to show that the company has made no profit and that I have not drawn any salary. 3) They've backdated this claim to over 2 months ago! They paid rent directly to my letting agent... If I get warnings about 2 months arrears due to their fault, is there anything I can do on that front? 4) How do I drum it into them that I am NOT self employed, but rather employed as a Director of a Limited Company. I've also shown that the only money I'm receiving is my working tax credit and DLA. I've also shown that alot of my personal money is put into the company (as it stands the company directors loan account stands at near to £1000) . Some advice would be really helpful as I intend to face this head on and at full force to get it resolved. Hope you can help! Ade

I had a business account with NW and recently sent them a SAR (and £10 cheque) which they received on 16th August now well in excess of their 40 day requirement I have also now sent them the letter before court action, time period also expired without any contact. Wherer do I go from here?

Hi, On contract - what does Trading As XXXX mean? Basically - Licence agreement has my name, trading as XXX - does it mean my company is responsible for rent or me personally? Thank you

Hi....... I would be grateful if anyone can offer me some advice on the following: I have been an ebay member for 6 years as a private buyer/seller and in fact only ever sold a few items. On 1/12/2012 i purchased a Ralph Lauren shirt.I was'nt too keen on it and resold it on ebay last week. The new buyer took the shirt to House Of Fraser who apparently advised him it was a fake and he's now taking the shirt to his local Trading Standards office. Obviously i was unaware it was not authentic and purchased it myself from another ebay seller.I cant claim back payment from the original seller because 45 days have lapsed but i'm happy to refund the new buyer. However i am more concerned what Trading Standards will do to me? I am really concerned so would appreciate any advice. Thankyou.

Hi All, I have a big problem and would need some advice. I started working in this store some 7 months ago as a supervisor. Recently, I was working on my whole day shifts and stocking up the store as usual when my colleague called me out to tell me someone wanted to buy fireworks. I asked which one she wanted and went to the back to get it. I asked her if she had an ID and she said 'NO'. She though did look like a familiar face and decided to sell it to her as she was a regular and she might have come with her ID before. Minutes after she left the trading standards walked in and served me a notice and told me I was going to court. My company has suspended me with pay for now and told me they would not provide me with any lawyer. I explained to them (my company) that though I understood everything that went on I was sorry an age authorisation report did show that I actually had been refusing people on the basis of age. I had been working 19 hours and it was increased to 40 hours with the departure of the deputy manager. In some cases I have had to do 12 hour long shifts back to back. The day prior to this event I left the store one hour late as the alarm would not set and had to open the store at 5:30 am again in the morning. I explained in defence that I was physically tired and I was dearly sorry for my act. Also pointing out gaps in my training. I have to face the trading standards alone. I dont know what to say and I am so sorry. I only have the letter from the trading standards and an age authorisation report that shows I had been refusing sales of people underage. Please I know I havent done right. I have never committed any offence before. I have cried and beaten myself over this. I just need help. I need to know how to face the tribunal, please help me

About 2 months ago i made a complaint regarding a payday loan company who was basically trying to get me to pay £1120.20 for a loan of £120. I called the Office Of Fair Trading and they somewhat did agree that as i did take the loan i should have to pay it back but not at the costs they are stating so they accepted my complaint and said they would report it to the proper authorities aswell... About 2 weeks after the conversation with the OFT i received a letter from my local council saying they are aware of my situation and wish me to explain further and to back up evidence of any communication between myself and microcredit.... Sorry to say i was not too impressed already explained all to the OFT so i did nothing!!!! sweet F All!!! Sooo not less than 20minutes ago i recieved a call from the OFT regarding Microcredit askine ME if wanted to be a witness against Microcredit as they are preparing a case against them :O REALLLLY..... CAN I DO IT JUST NOW? Nope she said with laughter Hahahah we will call you next week for an interview over the phone that will last upto 1hr... Nice! Im very much looking forward to it! So do you all think this will be the end of Minicredit/Microcredit or will they get let off with it? Are they even trading legally? Comments and suggestion where this is heading will be grateful!

I need to know if bankruptcy is for me and wil try and keep to the facts rather than waffle on.......... 1. I have a total debt of approx £72,000 the breakdown is: mortgage shortfall debt of approx £60,000 Four x Credit cards debts of £500,£2300,£2900 and £5200 (I have been making token payments to each one for about one year) Past utility bills of approx £700 (I pay them a monthly instalements) One court fine of £300 ( i currently pay this in affordable instalements) 2.My personal situation is, I have no savings,no assets and in rented accomodation. All i have is a car worth approx £4000..... 3.My work situation is I formed a LTD company approx 8 months ago and I am the sole director. (the company is running at a loss at present, well i guess so, even though end of year accounts have not been done yet!)-Basically, i am working for no wage! The company has no debt-I rent the machinary and the premises.... 4.Shameful to say but I have attempted 2 over-doses because of all this debt (as i knew the mortgage shortfall was in the pipeline and i would be made homeless!) and am currently under phsychiatry programme and improving every day and creating my LTD company is a road to a brighter future.........and i sign of my recovery...... I just do not want this debt to dictate my life any more and i need to take the reigns and see what my options are...... Ok, i think i have stated all the facts and i hope they are clear....my questions are now: 1.Life after bankruptcy-how long does it take to be discharged and will i have to declare i have been BR? Will that prevent me from obtaining a mortgage or credit in the future? will it mean my credit file is "clean" after 6 years? 2.During BR, will i still be able to have a basic bank account? how will i be able to rent a property etc? will it not show on a credit check? 3.I suspect the mortgage company will force me into BR but they will not gain anything as i have no money or assets! will i have to pay? 4.If the mortgage company leave me alone for the time being when they realise i have nothing-would it be advisable to try and offer full & final settlements on the other debts to avoid BR myself? (although i do not have money to do it myself) 5.My main worry is my LTD company and the effects of personal BR-how can i keep my company during the BR period? can i make an accountant a director until i am discharged and then be director after i am discharged? Sorry for all the questions but i am just in so much turmoil as to what to do, do i enter into a DMP? BR? F&F offers? Should i avoid BR to avoid the shame and stigma and seek alternative options so that i am not "restricted" during and after BR, I am just so confused..........Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Trading Standards Bridgend Trading standards aims to ensure that fair-trading is carried out in Bridgend County Borough so that consumers can purchase goods and services with confidence in the knowledge that they are safe, correctly priced and accurately described Bridgend Trading Standards Service offers a comprehensive consumer advice service that has been awarded the Community Legal Services (CLS) Quality Mark. The service is provided free to any person who is resident in the county borough or person who has purchased goods or services from a business in the county borough and will give advice on a wide range of issues relating to the purchase of goods or services. The service is available: Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm. Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm. The service can be contacted by telephone (01656) 643278, in person at the council offices, in writing or by e-mail: [email protected] Initially, anyone contacting the service will be advised of their rights and the trader's responsibility to attempt to resolve the problem. If this initial attempt fails, the adviser will intervene to try and mediate/conciliate between the parties. Should this fail to achieve a successful result and it is thought appropriate, advice and assistance will be given to seek redress in the County Court. The service also provides a supply of leaflets to assist consumers with their problems and explain their civil rights.

Hello forum I hope somebody here can be of some help to me, let me begin. I paid a company i found on the internet a deposit of £101 to start work on a new website for my business including designing a company logo, letterheads, business cards. Initially communication was very good and i was happy to proceed with this company doing the work i needed. The owner told me that there card machines were not working so i couldn't pay by card, i naively offered to make a bank transfer to get the work started. Over 3 months later i haven't had any of the work we agreed on and the owner is no longer answering my calls/texts or replying to emails for about 1 month. The police were not interested as its a civil matter and so far my dealings with a guy at trading standards haven't amounted to much. He has tried phoning and sent a email which he has had no look with either and seems reluctant to do anything else? I have sent a letter to the addresses i can find for him off the internet stating my intention to pursue the matter but have not heard anything back. Whilst doing my research after the event i have found another company that he has dissolved that was also [problem]ming people out of purchases they made on the net. Surely he can not just get away with it? Hopefully someone could help in someway as i find a brick wall every avenue i am going down to resolve this. Thank you.

Hi Guys love this forum. My question is I pulled up my credit file and spotted a CCJ. I have had troubles in the past but definatly dont remember receiving any notifications. I was renting a house with some students, I was friends with one, didnt get along with the others. when it came to leaving, my room was perfect theres were damaged. I never recieved my deposit back and he was trying to claim more. I ignored it as i didnt think it was fair me being charged for there mess. Now I find out the CCJ is from him. It was 5 years and 9 months ago. I have never made a payment as I've only recently noticed it, never recieved court summons or anyway to get in touch to pay it. Im in a position to clear it but his company has ceased trading. What would you recommend I do? Who do I pay/contact? Thanks