Good evening all! A self employed, hard working friend who is a decent man, employing locally and is just a generally good bloke has made a schoolboy error in trusting without the legalities. He is a commercial painter and decorator who has to take on huge contracts and suffer the cash flow problems associated therein! In December, a 'manager' told him to proceed with extra work but it was not backed up in writing and there were no witnesses. The company are now refusing to pay him for the extras which could force him and his family into insolvency. Is there anything (apart from learning a massive lesson), that we can do to help this guy please? Thank you JT

Hey guys cutting this very short for you. I was out of contract and decided to go to Sky unless i could negotiate a deal with VM. So i rang them up and everything they offered as an existing customer was way higher than Sky so i said i would think about it. I was ready to go with Sky so rang VM to disconnect. Talking with them i managed to wangle an excellent deal!! They matched the top bundle with an exchange vbox for 500gb tivo in other room for £89.73 see link below.I said that i should get a good deal similar to this as i was out of contract and they would lose me as a customer otherwise so I jumped at it and confirmed price and 12 month contract twice. ( i was stung years back. ) I got an email saying my bill was £153 + so today i ring to complain and get told that £153 was the price end of! Then after much explaining and to and fro they mysteriously found what i had told them but the 2nd tivo cost extra plus it was a 9 month contract?!?!?! I complained and they sent it to a manager who said take it or leave it. I then said i want the recording of the initial deal and they said it would take 40 days and it would be hit or miss if they even recorded it. They also said i had 4 days cool down period left which they refused to extend until i got the recording PLUS they kept insisting that i was told it was extra etc etc and that i agreed to a 9 month contract not a 12. So i said OK take the lot out!!! As you will see by the link that the VIP pack which i was given says 12 months contract. http://www.virginmedia.com/shop/bundles/vip.html OK, then i was put through to disconnect and i told my story and hey presto i could have the bundle including the extra tivo box but only for 9 months then it would go up BUT if i ring shortly before the 9 month period i will then be offered a new or extended contract virtually the same as i have at near the same price ...... i was told that they do it all the time? I managed tom record this conversation lol. The deal i got was excellent but i am adamant that i only agreed for 12 months and got verbal confirmation twice! No way would i agree to something that would end up twice as expensive for 3 months!! Is there anything i can do to get them to stick to their deal? Yes i know i can renew etc and even with a recording what happens if they have made a note and then shaft me at 9 months and not allow me to renegotiate the same package for the same price?? Can i get them to enforce the initial verbal agreement (sadly never thought to record that)? I have lost out too because i was getting a free 43" 4K tv with sky but is out of offer now : (

Hi I would really appreciate some help and advice. In early March this year I enquiried via the website about joining Virgin active gym for me and my husband. I work for a large bank so could take advantage of corporate rates if I was able to prove my employment via bank slip etc. someone called me and gave me the price and asked me if I would like to go ahead, I said I would and gave him my bank details etc he then said I would have to go into my local gym to complete the paperwork etc. I then got some calls from the local gym pressurising me to go in and sign the paperwork, I had just had a baby and I couldn't agree a time for me and my husband to get in together. They insisted it had to be within the next few days so they could get their commission. I wasn't able to make it in to sign and didn't hear anything else from them at all. Roll on two months or so later, I checked my bank account and they had taken two DDs for £105 each. I called up the bank and got this refunded via the DD scheme. Thought it had all gone away, I didn't notify them that I was cancelling the DD. a few days ago, I received a letter from ARC Europe stating that I owe 236.80 and after that my gym membership will continue. So just to clarify, I have never signed anything, I have not received any paperwork at all and have not provided any proof of my employment status. I haven't even set foot through the gym doors and I am still breaking a sweat!! Can they have me for a verbal contract? What do I do now? Many thanks for any help in advance, Sarah

Happy 2015 everyone! Hopefully someone can answer this question for me on this forum. The long and crazy background to this question in on another rental forum (can I post a link)? EDIT: Unfortunately, I can't as a new member. Has any tenant or landlord ever been in a situation where they have rented a flat with a written AST, which was then replaced by a verbal AST? The reason I am asking is that the judge found in the LL favour against four tenants stating that a new verbal AST was entered into in 2012 (four tenants signed a written AST in 2011), making all tenants several and liable for a rent increase. The question now remains which baffles me personally, is can tenants who started off with a written AST then enter a new verbal AST while still in the same property????? The judge said so, so it must be true!! I've never heard of any situation where a new verbal AST is created with the same parties in the same property that overwrites the initial written tenancy??? Has anyone ever heard of this? Any anecdotes, advice or pointers toward legislation would be appreciated. Thanks, BoopDMX85

Hello all I have got a job offer over the phone which I accepted however I have not recd any contract yet. The job starts in first week of June as per the discussion over the phone. Now what kind of contracts are issued in UK when ppl have gaps (time duration) between verbal offer n joining date - conditional or unconditional The reason I ask so is I have been contacted by other co who wants to make an offer but I m not sure should I accept the second offer or not. Both are equally good, but I would really want to go for an offer where they have completed my references prior to joining as I had a bit of issue with my prev employer Any advice on type of contract issued with time gap between verbal offer n joining date would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi everyone as I'm new to the forums I hope I'm posting in the right place. My problem relates to a verbal agreement made when I bought a house in July this year. My offer was accepted in June and there were 2 other parties above me in the chain. I was renting privately and had to give a month's notice to vacate. The sales negotiator who was dealing with the house I was buying was aware of this but regardless called me on July 12 to say the other parties would like to exchange contracts on July 19th. I explained that as I had to give a month's notice, I could only exchange contracts towards the end of August as I was not prepared to pay rent and a mortgage in August. He phoned back shortly thereafter and suggested that if the 3 parties were to split my August rent (£750 so £250 each) would I exchange on July 19th. I agreed to that but unfortunately did not get my solicitor to put it in the sale agreement. What has happened since then is that the other parties have moved to their new homes and the sales negotiator I was dealing with has left the company. Fortunately I had emailed him on July 16 after I agreed to his proposal asking him to confirm with the other 2 parties how and when they would pay the £250. He emailed me back to say that he would arrange to collect cheques made out to me from the other 2 parties and then contact me to collect them from the agencies offices, so there is an email from the company email account confirming this arrangement. I have written to the company explaining this, and enclosed a copy of the emails between the sales negotiator and I, but the director who replied to me by email confirms he was aware of the arrangement but insists it was a private arrangement between me and the other parties and nothing to do with the agency. The party I was buying from I had only met once when viewing the house I bought and the 3rd party I have never met let alone spoken to. Do I have a case to take this company to small claims court for £500 (being the £250 from each of the other 2 parties in the chain)? Apologies for the long post but I felt it important to explain the whole situation so as to hopefully get some accurate replies. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks summer

Hi Im currently having trouble with a company called opm who called me the other day i was lead to believe this was in fact Google who i was dealing with as i do place my business on the servers regarding maps and rankings ad words e.t.c. the lady then transfers me to a gentlemen who now states i in a legal binding contract with them as soon as i got of the phone i emailed to the team and said i was interested in any marketing as already market my business and i may be closing the business and threre no need for a 284 bill well invoice not even 2 hours and they say i have a contract with them and if i dont pay then as a soletrader they will send me to court to get the funds but i have clearly stated that i dont wont or need this service i thought i had a 7 day cooling off period but as far as they say there final ans is the there and i must pay im so upset about the emails received and the level of customer service im going to the oft but i need to no do have the right to cancrl for goods i dont wont as this is a invoice and they have no details of mine regarding banking its just the way they have spoken to me i have all the emails they have sent me and i need to no what i can do as i sick to death of being bullied i trying to sort my debt and mental issue out and trying to start a business and i just cant take any more debt on please advise. thabks

Hello there, I've been doing some digging around the Tenancy Deposit Scheme as myself and girlfriend have recently left our tenancy at a 3 month let and have sought our deposit back. The landlord has stated that he is not willing to return the full amount back due to a number of issues which we are disputing. We have had a wide range of issues with this private landlord and property during our tenancy unfortunately no contracts were ever signed and was a verbal agreement although we do have some written emails as proof of our tenancy at the property including dates etc. During negotiations and decision making on the tenancy the landlord expressed that he would be running the Tenancy via an estate agents, we knew of the excessive charges that said agency charge and were moving from one end of the country to another so wanted to save a few pennies to which he agreed upon - perhaps the wrong move here. This lead us to believe that the landlord would arrange the necessary documentation for us and that our deposit would indeed be put into the relevant SDS however we never received anything and have gone on with thinking that a verbal agreement was enough after all the tenanacy was only 3 months and they seemed quite genuine people (mistake here). We were well aware of the SDS and that the landlord should have complied with this but it seems he hasn't. We have left the tenancy and the property now and have only just realised that the deposit we handed over of £500 has not been placed into the required schemes. I am wondering as we are no longer within the tenancy or have no written contract do we have a right to claim through small claims to obtain our deposit back regardless of the 'damage claims' he is making of which he has no proof of? Regards Sam

hi, im really needing some advice and this is my first time on here so wish me luck. i have recently got behind on my payments to jacamo catalouge account by 4 months as i was out of work. they have been charging me £24 a month in fees plus interest. a few weeks ago itelephoned them to explain my situation. i spoke to a helpful advisor who agreed that i can make a part payment and then she would waive the charges and bring me back to my credit limit, i made the payment. i since recieved a statement with the charges still on. i have spoken to a manager and they have listened to the call and agreed the advisor made the agreement. however they are saying this was a mistake and cant waive any charges. my position is that it was a verbal agreement and i have fulfilled my part, and they have a legal requirment to honour there side, even if it was a mistake. please help, thanks

Hello, Please excuse me my language, spelling and grama mistakes buy english isn't my first language. I have been with HSBC for nearly 10 years, never had any problems with my credit cards or late repayments. What's more about 6 years ego I took a loan from them for £10 000 to buy new car which I paid off within 16 months despite the fact the loan agreement was for 36 months. Till now I thought I am respectable customer to them. ....I couldn't be more wrong. Last friday I noticed their advertisement for PERSONAL LOANS. I was kind of thinking to buy new car and I was curios If I am legible for loan of £10 000. HSBC gives 3 options for applying. Online, visiting the branch or telephone one. As I work a lot and don't really have a time for visiting banks I decide to apply via telephone. To start with I made it clear that I may need the loan for the second hand car of £10000 but on this stage it is only general enquire and If my application gonna be successful I will made my mind if I really need it. I have been told over the phone that's absolutely fine and if my application is successful I have 14 days to sign agreement forms in my local branch. The whole creditability check plus a lots and lots of questions took over 40 minutes. I took it with patience and I passed with full honestly my answers for questions regarding my income and outcome. I was announced with very exciting voice that my application was fully accepted. I was pleased but still not sure if I need this loan. I said thank you very much now I just need to think about my situation and if I think that given loan which I will have to pay off for the period of 36 months is good for me I will come back to them. I only ask one more question as to be honest I was a little bit suspicios with how easy that gone, what else I need to do to get the money from the bank if I decide so. The answer was " All you need to do is to go to your local branch to sign the agreement, I should be taking with me any ID with photograph like EU driving licens and proof of address like utility bill. I only asked one more question if there might be any problems at the bank's branch I will be going to or maybe I will need to take any proof of employment with me. The answer was " No it's not necessary". I took one day to think about the best option of financing my new/second hand car and I decide to go with HSBC. I call them again to tell I want to go for the loan and to confirm what I need to bring to the bank's branch with me. The answer was "The loan has been approved you just need to pop in to the bank to put your signature. Right I don't know if you can call me naive but on this stage I assumed that corporation like this would take a Mickey of me and they basically worth to trust. I know all conversation are recorded - and I decide to start looking around to find good car for me. I didn't run straight to the bank to sign papers as I knew I have 14 days and on this stage I wasn't even sure if I gonna find a car I like so I didn't want to sign for something which I may not need at all. I got 14 days to put my signature on and as I was told on few occasions of telephone conversation I would need to wait only up to max 2 hours for money to appear on my account. I have started looking for the car on Autotrader.co.uk. I have arranged few viewings, traveled over 700 miles in total to view cars.. Took 2 days off from work and finally I paid £700 deposit to secure the car I liked plus £130 first payment for car insurance not mention over £100 cost of petrol for my traveling. Next day I called HSBC to check if I could arrange a appointment rather than coming randomly from the street as I might be tight on time and I would like to complete all paper work and transfer the money as quickly as only possible. I managed to confirm 3rd time that I need to bring only ID plus proof of address- no further check of creditability Despite not receiving an answer from them with regards of booking the appointment - previously promised I went next day to the branch as requested. I was going to take a train after that to travel 200 miles to pay off balance for my car and to collect it. As everyone probably can guess person who was dealing with me at the branch aparently announced me that I spend more than I earn and from this reason I not gonna get the money !!! Now to cut it short my point is that even if that is a true that I don't have enough money for repayment. Which isn't true. They shouldn't aprove my loan application when I phoned them to apply! I asked them 3 times in total over the phone if there is anything I should be aware or should I be worry about - the answer was always the same "NO" In my opinion that was absolutely disgusting the way they treated me. To me they were bounded by verbal agreement which was always recorded over the phone. I raised the official complain to HSBC Customer Service and I must to say the manager I spoken to showed me a symphaty to my situation and I managed to make him say that it's not right that I got 2 different opinion on the same matter. I was promised their urgent immediate action on the case and I should be informed on the results some time on coming Monday. I already managed to reschedule collecting the car and paying the balance to Tuesday but if I won't pay it I will loose the car and the deposit !!! I would like to ask for any advice how to deal with them. Any comments very much apreciated. Peter.

I’ve been an employee with this company since the 7th of January this year, I was employed on to a brand new campaign which the hours were confirmed to work 11-8 Monday-Friday which suited my needs and requirements as I have other commitments around these hours. Recently I was moved from this campaign onto another campaign, which I was more than happy to oblige to as long as they catered to my needs around the hours that I could work. I had raised my concerns about these hours in the boardroom in front of 15 other employees (that will vouch for me and agree to what was agreed) and I was given a verbal agreement that they would accommodate the hours agreed. 3 weeks on I had received my hours for the future 2 weeks which most definitely did not accommodate the hours agreed to work. Where then I again raised my concerns to my trainer who then spoke to HR to get these sorted for me. A day after this I was pulled out of training to be told that the company could only offer me 3 solutions which was to either work 2-11 Monday- Friday every week and have weekends off, or to work day shifts with evenings off & to work weekends every week. The other solution they had given me was to drop down to a part time position which I still had to work weekends. All 3 of these ‘solutions’ did not cater to my agreed hours due to my commitments outside of work. The same day I had been in a meeting with my recruitment manager and trainer to discuss the issues I was concerned over, where then they had said to me that I had to agree to either of these ‘solutions’ or id basically be letting myself go from the company. Due to the company not proceeding with their agreement on my hours it has led me to be completely stressed, causing me to have breakdowns in work, not sleeping at night and has affected my food intake and causing stress on my family also, as my other commitments outside of work affect them equally. I have visited my doctor who had told me to seek legal advice on my employers due to the stress they have caused me. Do I have a case under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974? And does anyone know my rights as i have only been in the company for 6 weeks? Thanks, IW

Hi all, Writing this for my daughter actually.. Yesterday , completely out of the blue , my daugther and 3 others were called to a meeting and told of their position ( in my daughters case, an assistant Editor) was to be made redundant. She has been in this post for the last 5 years. She was told that she could apply for voluntary, but this offer, with no details whatsoever is only available for about 24 hours or so . ?? So far there is no indication of any written notice appearing . The actual current editorial work is still on going and is most definitely going to to be passed to another "safe" employee" . The contract of employment aligns basically with the legal minimums . for 5 yrs 5 X weeks salary. It also has a clause stating my daughter is NOT allowed to be employed in a similar capacity with any publishing company for a minimum of 6 months ?. Is this enforceable ?? or legal ? Any redployment looks unlikely as the local workforace is very smaill in number and the only cummute option is 120 miles by train..so with 2 kiddies not an option. My daughter has only recently returned to work from maternity leave ( she is a single parent) and during that time, the HR dept made a total hashup of the p-leave and accused my daughter of not apply for it .( this after 8mths !) . But having kept copies and emails we were able to show the HR manger was lying about the situation and she had to eventually back down. Because of this , we have a suspicion this is slightly more than a business decision , rather more personal ! well one would wouldn't one . I know this is a long story .. but Any advice peeps ?? thanks in advance.. Chris

Hi Question 1. I've just been looking at the sticky above (Sticky: Ashbourne Management Services Ltd - Contracts longer than 12 months(1 Viewing) ) which seems to say that all gym contacts over 12 months are unfair - is this the case ? I ask because I was 'pressured' into signing an 18 month contract with my local gym (not AMSL). Question 2. I KNOW I should have read ALL the small print but there was so much of it!............. I had to sign-up 'there and then' as it was (supposedly) the last day of the membership deal. I specifically asked about suspending membership. I was told it was possible with a doctors note (a condition I have met) - but no other conditions were mentioned.. Now that I need to do this, I discover that I have to pay an 'at-home' fee every month I was not told about crucial points in the small print when I asked - if I had been I would not have signed up. Since I did ask, do I have a complaint - or is it simply 'buyer-beware' ? Thanks, H

Hi I started my previous employment in February 2011 and had an interview stating that my hours would be 20-25 per week and I would have one weekend off in four The job was reluctantly taken as a hotel cleaner but it meant coming off JSA which I was on for 8 months after losing my previous job However when I started I was not given a weekend off and had to use holiday to get the occasional weekend free and my hours some weeks were cut down to 10-15 which made me financially very hard up at times I asked several times for a contract of employment which never came I have been off sick since April 2012 and on SSP which ends in October when I shall need to apply for ESA and means I wil lneed to resign because of health problems There are several other issues which contributed to my physical problems now They did not provide the right equipment (broken vaccum cleaners etc. which were hard to push) sometimes working 5/6 hours in one day which was hard because of the nature of the job and the next only working a couple of hours I now suffer foot and arm problems as a result of this employment At no time did I receive a risk assessment I was offered a contract to sign after complaining to head office and was asked to come in when I was off sick which I struggled to do because of my health and was told that I can sign it when I return to work. Do I have a case to take to a tribunal

Am I right in saying that even if you are employed with only a "verbal contract" the employer must issue a "Statement of Employment Particulars" after a period of 2 months ?

can anyone advise me.My husband has had amagistrates lialility order from rossendales he had no prior warning.it says they give 24 hours notice to recall and remove effects to pay debts.its to do with csa arrears.I havnt slept .help