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  1. Hi All, A question about Final Written Warnings, if the company discipline procedure states that a Final Written Warning will be held on file for 12 months, when would the start date for the 12 months be? Would it be from the date of the alleged offence? or The date of the disciplinary hearing? or The date the Final Written Warning letter was sent? My OH has recieved a letter stating she is on a "First - Final Written Warning" and this will be held on file for 12 months, the letter she has received is dated but doesn't state when the 12 months starts or finishes. We are also confused as to what a "first" final written warning might be, the company levels of discipline, according to their procedure are: 1. Verbal Warning 2. Written warning 3. Final Written Warning 4. Dismissal. She has accepted the punishment, although harsh (first offence), on the grounds that the job is now crap (new manager) and she wants to see if they are consitent in their punishments with other members of staff, a final warning for a minor offence as far as I can see means that any minor offence must recieve the same level of punishment. Thanks for any information you can give me, we want to write to ask for clarification as to what the punishment actually is and when the 12 months starts, so that I know the answers before I write, to see if they get it wrong. Many thanks. AS
  2. My son was put forward for a job by the Work Programme. Fortunately, being desperate to get a job he had the presence of mind to ask at the induction for a contact number. This he was given and a time to call. The good news is, he got the job and so far is enjoying it. However, he discovered that his "advisor" from the Work Programme was supposed to have contacted him with a start date. This they did not do and there is no record on his mobile phone or the landline (which stores every incoming phone number up to 100) of anyone from the Work Programme contacting him. There was no e-mail either. The Work Programme have all this information. This is down to one person whom my son has never liked (or trusted). It transpires that he wasn't the only one this happened to. Two of his colleagues, all from the Work Programme with the same "advisor" had the same happen to them, so to anyone on the Work Programme, if they put you forward for a job please make sure you get a contact name and number at the company you go for interview/induction with. Do not leave it to the Work Programme to contact you. My son and his colleagues are so incensed by this, that this incompetence could have lost them the chance of a job, that they want to lodge a formal complaint. Does anyone have any idea who to complain to or how to go about it? Many thanks.
  3. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this company 'complete savings.co.uk'? After purchasing a ticket via the National Express website I discovered that by checking the confirm part of what I thought was part of the purchase that I was actually agreeing for this company to take £10 a month from the account I used to buy the ticket. I complained to the company who initially refunded the latest £10 that they had taken from me, they had £30 in all, after a stern email they refunded the remainder of the balance. I'm wondering what to do next as it makes me think that hundreds or maybe thousands of people have been scammed by these people? I feel like I should complain to National Express firstly but don't know where to take it from there. The transaction appears to happen when you think you are finalising the ticket purchase and get offers of money off your next purchase. A quick google search brings up reams of pages on the Internet of people who have had money taken from them in this way through many high street (ergo: presumably trustworthy companies). Although I was fortunate enough to catch this before they took a whole lot of money off me, I have read people's complaints who didn't catch them until much later in the game. This makes me suspicious of shopping online in general, the T's and C's are there but they are buried under promises of money off and obviously in much smaller print. Certainly from my experience of this anytime I am buying things off the web in future I would check the Terms and conditions and that I'm not being put through to any third party websites and also to keep a closer eye on my bank statements as it took four months for me to catch up with them. complete savings are by no means the only company who are at this and I saw somewhere, though I don't have a link as of yet, that this practise is being outlawed in the US as it is putting people off buying from seemingly reputable companies. Where can I go to further complain about this practice as I'm sure many, many people are paying for this and as it's only small amounts of money they don't realise until they have given these people a lot more than I did? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.
  4. Hey all, Got an urgent warning for JD Williams and Jacamo customers. it seems the company in a crafty attempt to get customers to agree to set up a Direct Debit and give them total control of when and where and how much they take out of your account have decided that as of the 7th of February 2014 customers who pay by debit or credit card will have to pay 37.68% interest where as customers who pay by direct debit will be able to continue to enjoy interest rates at 34.1%. This change means that if you want to be in control of where when and how much you want to pay you will now have to pay 3.58% more than those paying by direct debit. Surely this should be in breach of the Unfair terms and conditions in consumer contract regulations but what a way to treat loyal customers to me this is a kin to bullying either you give them control of where when and how much they take from your bank account or you pay them more for choosing where when and how much to pay. What a way to treat loyal customers JD and Jacamo just trample all over them. I say we should all write to them and protest about this tactic. Not very amused with them at all. Robert
  5. I can confirm that if you have a problem with Parcel2Go then YOU HAVE A MAJOR PAINFUL PROBLEM. They are truly the most useless incompetent company I have ever dealt with. I’m sure there are those of you who have used Parcel2Go and not had any problem with them and would say they are great. But I have learnt that you cannot judge a company until you have had a problem with them and then see how they go about resolving the problem. This is when you get to see if they really care about their customers and want to resolve things as quickly and as painlessly as possible. I arranged a collection of a parcel from my place of work for the 18th January. It was collected. It hasn’t been seen since. As it was insured for only £20 (item worth £150) I didn’t bother putting in a claim for it as I hoped it would turn up one day and if you take the £20 you have no further claim to the item. 19/06/2012 (5 months later) I receive an email from Parcel2Go saying the parcel had been received at their depot and they want £6.50 + VAT for them to send it anywhere in the UK or they would destroy it. I phoned them on their rip off phone number 08713308066.I explained the situation to them about how I have already paid but the parcel has been missing so I should not have to pay again as you haven’t actually sent it anywhere yet. They said they would return it to me (the sender) free of charge. 25/06/2012 I receive an email from them again with a link to their website where I can pay the £6.50 + VAT for them to send it back to me. Taking slow deep breaths I phoned their rip off phone line and explained the situation again. I was told they are sorry and they sent that email by mistake and the item will be returned to me free of charge as already stated. 29/06/2012 Suspicious this company is in fact doing nothing to return this parcel to me I phoned their rip off line again to ask of the parcel status. After a long pause I am told they are waiting for the parcel to be collected and it would be collected within the next few days by Yodel. 04/07/2012 (today) Once again I phone to see what, if anything, this company has done to return this parcel to me. I was told I will have to pay £6.50 + VAT and they will send the parcel to me. With my chest about to explode and gasping for breath under the weight of the incompetence that this company dumps on my face I calmly restate everything that has already been said about my case and how I have been told 3 times now that the parcel will be returned to me free of charge. The guy on the phone tells me he will speak to the warehouse and phone me back within the hour. Obviously he doesn’t bother phoning back so I once again phone their delightfully helpful 0871 phone number and am told that a request has been put in for the parcel to be collected and returned to the sender and she can give me no further information at this time. I asked if she has a non 0871 number I could phone on in the future as I have had to phone them 5 times now and am still nowhere near getting my parcel back. Can you guess what the answer was? Well I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest….. So to sum up. Parcel2Go have had my parcel at their depot for 16 days now and even though they are “the biggest best most fantastic parcel company the world has ever known” they don’t seem to be able to arrange a simple transaction to have a parcel collected from their depot and sent to me. What an absolute joke they are. If anyone is interested I will let you know when there is another exciting chapter to this riveting saga of mine. Basically I want to tell as many people as I can about what this company is like. They make it intentionally difficult to get in contact with then. They don’t even state their rip off 08713308066 phone number on their website. I had to find that on an online forum (full of unhappy customers). They prefer to hide behind their “Live Help” which really is an even bigger joke than speaking to them on the phone. I would strongly recommend you look elsewhere for a parcel company. There is a reason why they are the cheapest….it is because they are the poorest quality. The cost of their insurance is incredibly expensive (more than the cost of sending the item in my case). I can recommend Parcel Monkey. I have sent about 10 parcels with them since learning about how Parcel2Go treat their customers. I haven’t had any problems with them and their insurance is far more reasonable. What they are like at resolving problems I am yet to find out.
  6. can anyone advise? two thread question: mum (72) had accident at work (nhs) caused broken bones and has been off work since august, now been given formal warning for absence. is this correct on a work related accident? second part is she has appealed and been told 4 people will be at the appeal including the two she saw at the last hearing... surely this is excessive and intimidating for her?
  7. Hi all, i hope someone can help me, i suffer with depression and recently had time off work due to this, i had a sick note from GP to cover me from day 7 and was off for a 2 week period, and returned on a phased basis as per comments by GP on the sick note. My problem is that for the first 6 days my company state that an employee must ring in each day to declare their absence and why, i did this on the first 4 days but struggled with it and had sunk to suicidal state, my mother was looking after me and rang the mental health crisis team during day 4 for help and advice, she then rang work for me on days 5 and 6, she spoke to GP re the sick note for work and she dealt with all of this on my behalf, the GP was happy for her to do this as he is aware of my history of depression etc. On returning to work on phased return, i have been advised that i will be facing a disciplinary hearing and will get a written warning for not ringing myself on the two days that my mother rang for me. She was not told i still had to ring even though she explained i was not fit enough to ring, she was only told to keep them informed, which she did so, having taken in the sick note etc. I realise they have their procedures but being in a suicidal state, not even wanting to live the next day i feel i should appeal this warning but am i wasting my time? i cant help feeling its a bit unfair. Any comments or advice are welcome please.
  8. Is there a register for 'problem' landlords? Most people have suffered a terrible landlord at some point in their lives, but [name removed] has been a disgusting landlady, and as I've just discovered has several court judgements outstanding against her. Not sorting out any of the properties problems, calling us at 6am in the morning screaming for payment that's not yet due, not responding to us as soon as anything needs fixing, pestering our contract references for additional payment etc... And then vanishing of the face of the earth as soon as our deposit is due back to us. [name removed] did not show up to a court hearing in Northampton and has not returned the money, even though a court order has been made against her. Additionally, through a criminal charges search we discovered she owes THOUSANDS of pounds, including other peoples deposits. She is an extremely dodgy landlord....why are landlords with numerous charges & court judgements against them still allowed to rent to new tenants when they are clearly disobeying the law? HOW can I make sure noone else gets tricked in to renting a property with this crook? How many times do innocent tenants need to get ripped off and have their money stolen before the courts do something to stop her, such as a custodial sentence? When does it become Criminal to steal deposits with no justification - Just disappearing with them
  9. WARNING! Anyone who can - Please check your energy bill due dates. We're with Scottish Power. We have Pre Pay Card for Gas and standard quarterly Electric. Our bill date WAS 8th Nov - I logged into a/c and gave meter reading and £50 credit (to soften the blow) around 4th Nov. Logged in on 8th to see actual bill - and noticed bill date put back to 15th Nov. just logged in to pay some more credit and Bill Date has been PUT BACK AGAIN, to 8th Dec!!! This is 2 days AFTER their price rise! Please check your own accounts - Don't be caught out!
  10. Vouchers, or gift cards, can be a great idea at Christmas. Give them to a teacher, a colleague, or a teenager perhaps, and you can show you have at least thought about them, without second-guessing their tastes. But last year thousands of consumers were left out of pocket, when HMV, Blockbuster, Comet and Jessops all went out of business after the Christmas period. Most vouchers were eventually honoured but only after a period of uncertainty. In the case of Jessops, now under new management, some people were offered replacement gifts, but customers with vouchers worth, in total, more than half a million pounds never saw their money back. The fact is, if you buy a gift card, there is no guarantee it will be honoured if the shop goes out of business. Advice So what should consumers do if they are considering buying gift cards or vouchers this Christmas? First of all, they should watch their local high street carefully. Blockbuster, the video chain, has already announced its intention to call in the administrators, for the second time. "I'm really concerned that there's going to be something again this Christmas," says Deborah Harvey from Newport. "And it's going to be too late for anyone to do anything about it," she warns. The UK Gift Card and Voucher Association advises customers to think very carefully about where they buy vouchers from. It says as long as you trust the retailer, you should trust their vouchers. But the reverse must be equally true. If you wish to buy more than £100 of vouchers, make sure you buy them on a credit card. But otherwise there are still no guarantees that your money will be safe. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24868288
  11. I`ve recently received a written warning for not checking a piece of equipment or ticking the appropriate box in the equipment log confirming my check. For some reason I was of the impression that the necessary checks had already been carried out, anyway thats another story now, I`ve accepted the written warning. The written warning I`ve been told stays valid for a year. I`ve now requested that I would like to be removed as one of the authorised users of this equipment ( thus eliminating the possibility of this scenario happening again ) but the company I am working for say this is not possible. I don`t get any extra pay for being one of the authorised users, so from my point of view I don`t understand why the company are refusing my request. Would appreciate any help and advice on this matter please.
  12. If you missed the news today so far today, read this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24690552 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/ Anyone remember Michael Fish weather forecast in October 1987.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24689376 I was stuck on Surbiton station for about 4 hours and trees on the line,No power,roads blocked. Can you remember where you was in October 1987 and the great storms ? Be safe.....
  13. Motorists are being warned about a new insurance [problem] where criminals flash their lights to let other drivers out of a junction, then crash into them on purpose. Anti-fraud experts are calling it "flash-for-cash". The gangs tend to target new, smarter vehicles or vulnerable road users, including older people and women with children in the car. The [problem] is costing insurers hundreds of millions of pounds every year. It is a new tactic for an already well established crime, called "crash for cash", where criminals slam on the brakes for no reason so that the victim drives into the back of their car. More...
  14. Out of the blue about 6 months ago I received a letter from a DCA saying that they had taken over a debt from Orange which was due to an unpaid contract in 2009. The amount they requested I paid them was app. £80. I wrote back to them saying that I had no record of the debt and could they provide more details. They sent a demand saying that they would call round to my house in 7 days so I decided to take action. I found this site and based on the advice I sent the DCA a CCA request. this has turned out to be just about the worst advice I have ever been given. They failed to reply ever again and failed to send a CCA but instead I noticed that they registered a default on my Credit Report and my credit score dropped significantly. I then started to get refused credit as a result. I wrote to them and told them I would pay the £80 even though they have been unable to prove it is my debt in order to remove the default but they refused. I paid the £80 anyway and they are taking their time but will eventually mark the debt as satisfied. Credit Expert state that a satisfied account is better than a default but if I had just paid the £80 originally and not taken this websites advice, there would be no entry at all and I would still be enjoying a good credit history. As it stands at the moment I now have a worse credit rating and it is due to the advice I was given from this website so be warned.
  15. Hi I need some advice please. My husband is a PSV driver and was called in for an informal chat last October. He duly attended and was told that a complaint had been made by a clients (special needs) parent. The complaint was over some banter which had offended her. He agree to tone it down and apologise, which he did. On the 20th June 2013 he was called in by his employers for an informal chat. Again he attended and was told that the clients father had complained again about something he had said. She told her parents that he had said that she was full of **** and from his recollection he said that what she said was sometimes full of ****.The client at the time was bantering other clients and my husband. At the time he was nursing a cracked rib and not slept properly for 3 nights. His employers were aware of this. He said that he would apologise to the father and agreed that he should not have said it. He phoned her father and apologise, which he accepted. The father said that he has warned his daughter that her banter would get out of hand.My husband was called in again on the 26th for another informal chat only to be told tha the had a written warning following a verbal warning last October (he was not aware ogf this), plus they were moving him of his run. They have now produced a new contract reducing his hours and pay by £1700 pa. At no point have they followed the ACAS guidelines. First he was not sent a letter inviting him or have they given him any witness statements. He was not invited to take a companion. No notes were taken.They have not given him an outcome letter with an explanation or the timeline for improvement, only a copy of the written warning. Nor have they told him his right to appeal.To top it all when he was paid last week they have taken out in one lump sum the the 2 weeks salary paid in advance so they could go from weekly pay to monthly pay. He has a letter from them stating that this would be deducted at source on a monthly basis for 12 months unless there was a resignation which there is not. Can anyone advise please. He knows he has done wrong, but is aware that this girl has got other drivers in trouble for the self same thing With another company he worked for). Many thanks in advanced.
  16. I have worked for the company for just over two years and have had a brilliant work record and also in every job I have had. I had a promotion in September which I thought would be a good move, unfortunately not. The workload is horrendous!!! I have spoken to my manager on numerous occasions explaining that that the workload is too much and keep falling behind. Anyways to cut a long story short I had a few days holiday and have come back to my manager pulling me into the office and saying that I am incompetent. Unfortunately I walked out as I was so upset and knew I couldn't walk through the office like that. When I went back I apologised but he handed me a letter stating "I am in breach in trust of terms of not carrying out my duties. Standards required to do my role and performance not up to the levels required". The letter then states "If you are found guilty of these allegations, the company will be giving a final written warning. I have never been given any other warnings and believe I may lose my job. I have to go back to work tomorrow afternoon for a "hearing" so that they can decide my fate. I would appreciate any advice you have to offer. I need advice on how to defend myself at this meeting. I am not very confident and know I will just go to pieces. I have had no structured traing (as the best way to learn is by being thrown in at the deep end). I am also going through some medical test at the moment (i always make appointments outside of works time), but my manager does know about the tests. This manager also does nothing for our morale. There are seven of us in the team, but he only praises three of the team. My other colleagues are now afraid that this may happen to them. I am so sorry that it is a long post but wanted to try and give as much as possible.If anyone can help I would much appreciate it.
  17. If you receive a phone call from this number 01179639046 BEWARE!!!!!! This number is used by [problematic] in India and they will use scare tactics and lack of computer knowledge to gain remote access to your computers during the phone call. If they are successful they will install spyware/malware to steal personal information, like bank details and passwords. These people claim to be from Microsoft or its Partners but 'they are nothing to do with Microsoft, nor its partners'. They know nothing about our computers, including our ISPs and IP addresses. There is a warning about this [problem] on the Microsoft website and there have been items on BBC TV Consumer programmes. The bottom line is, NEVER, EVER GIVE REMOTE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER TO SOMEONE WHO COLD CALLS YOU CLAIMING TO BE FROM MICROSOFT OR ITS PARTNERS. This is a link to Microsofts Safety & Security Centre on Avoid Tech Support Phone Scams: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
  18. Hi All just wanted to tell you all about a very strange call I just had from a company called PPI Helpline.. ..the lady was foreign but said that she was ringing to tell me that I was going to be repaid £1100 that I had paid in PPI on a loan I took out in 2005 plus interest and a total payment of £3300 was coming to me!!!! I knew right away that this was a con and just said I deal with all my own PPI reclaims which abruptly ended the call! Now the thing that worries me is that this is not like normal calls as she was quoting dates, amounts etc and to someone that didn't know the cons out there they could be fooled.. .so just wanted to warn everyone about this [problem].
  19. Hi all, I have a little issue that's brewing here and would very much like some input... Smile, have apparently rescinded my OD, looks like it happened yesterday (03/04/13) without informing me, on top of this I now have 2 messages in the secure messaging area telling me they are going to charge me for 2 transactions that went through after the OD was removed (04/04/13). I have only figured this out by tracking back my transaction and adding it all up and have also noticed that my OD limit now says £0.00 My OD is part of the Smile More account and is supposed to come with £260.00 OD as standard and up to 2 days ago I was£40-£50 under the £260 so I know I didn't go over the agreed £260.00 and the transactions they are charging me for would have easily gone through as they were for £3.72 and £3.99. On top of this I have gotten a missed call from what looks like their collections Dept... (I checked the missed number on-line and others reported it has co-operative debt management team) Now I know (from what others say) they can remove the OD at any time but I feel its a bit off to just to remove it without warning, and then charge me for bouncing transactions and on top of that call me a day later from debt collections. Any input and advice is most appreciated... mrbrooks
  20. Hi Everyone, Just a question before I sent another formal complaint to my council. I understand before a bailiff company becomes involved in collecting unpaid council tax the council must send a letter giving 14 days notice. Is it acceptable for the bailiff company to write requesting payment and threating a bailiff visit if no warning letter from the council has been issued. The council staff have said the letter from the bailiffs requesting payment counts as a warning letter but im unsure. Just to be clear the debt is now paid and I am in the process off getting a refund for overcharged bailiff fess but am wondering if I can take up a complaint about the lack of a correct warning letter.
  21. Hi, I have a council tax debt that I am currently paying off to Alex M Adamson. I believed I had a good deal with them, and was steadily paying my debt off each month. Come April, something went wrong with my payment however. For some reason the money was not taken off my account, and it took me 9 days (exactly) before I realized this. At this point, I immediately paid the amount that was due that month. Two days later, I received an earnings arrestment schedule. Granted, this was sent the day before I made my payment. I contact Alex M Adamson, and explained the issue to them - that the late payment was a mistake, and that it has already been paid. They understood, and agree that no earnings arrestment will be made, and I will be allowed to pay off my debt at the pace i'm currently doing. Fast forward to this month, last week. Me and my flatmate have gotten our hands on some extra money, and decide to pay the remaining amount off, roughly £300. Just to be sure of the exact amount I contact Alex M Adamson again to doublecheck the exact debt, and i'm told that my balance is over £400. Infact, the exact amount is £114 more then I expected. They explain that this is the charge for making an earnings arrestment (£57), and as there is two of us on the debt it's a total of £114. Now my questions: 1. As no earnings arrestment was made, can they actually charge me this amount? 2. Can they really give me an earnings arrestment for being a few days late, without giving me any kind of reminder or notice beforehand? 3. Considering that me and my flatmate are otherwize considered to be "one person" and jointly responsible for the debt, can they really charge us both like this? I have a few friends who share a house between 5 of them, if they were in this situation that would be almost £300 for being a few days late! 4. Lastly, on the earnings arrestment schedule that me and my flatmate originally received the amount says current balance +£57 fee. We each recieved a copy of this. If we are jointly responsible, and this fee still stands, shouldn't the paperwork we recieved say the total amount? I attempted to discuss this with Alex M Adamson directly, but they simply said "This is the amount you have to pay. I can't do anything else for you". I could not get any answers to my questions from them. Do I have anything on my side here, or do I just have to pay up the £114 extra and curse myself for having entered a number wrong or something when I tried to make the payment last month?
  22. Hey everybody! I've been told by a close friend, my next door neighbour in fact that cash genie having been taking double the amount of repayments of some customers. He himself took a loan and cash genie removed the money from his account on the agreed date but unfortunately they removed the same amount the following day which took him overdraw by a few pounds which means he is now expecting overdraft fees from his bank. Fair play to cash genie they did give him the money back but it isn't realyl good enough when people are living on the edge. One of there customer service reps even admitted that this is a recurring problem at the moment so my advice would be to leave them well alone until this is resolved. If you find yourself desperate for a payday loan I would go elsewhere at this current time.
  23. . . From the posts on the forum and enquiries that we receive there is little doubt that bailiffs (many times with the agreement of the local authorities) are charging fees that are frankly illegal. Almost always...debtors are forced to pay either because of threatening behaviour by the bailiffs or more often....ignorance of the fee scale. The public really ought to be aware of the scale of the abuse to the fees scale and worryingly, the way in which this is frequented by bailiffs working on behalf of local authorities that contract out their council tax enforcement to "back office" providers such as CAPITA Ltd. As most frequent posters to this forum will know....in almost all cases where CAPITA Ltd are the "back office" providers...the Contract to provide bailiff services is strangely awarded to EQUITA Ltd. This is a very common scenario and in fact, affects two of the largest local authorities in the Country.....Birmingham City Council and Westminster Council. For anyone new to this forum......Equita Ltd are owned by Capita Ltd. Approx 10 days ago we received an enquiry from a sole trader who has a small office in Westminster and a Liability Order had been issued against his business for arrears of Non Domestic Rates in late Feb 2013 March and payment required by 6th March. He contacted Westminster approx 4 days late and and was told that the account had been referred to EQUITA Ltd. Strangely, he was even given the name and contact details for the bailiff !! As mentioned above, he was just a few days late in making payment !! He contacted the bailiff on the telephone to make the payment in full of approx £3,000 and was staggered to be told that there must have been an error and the amount needed to clear the debt was £750 more that he thought. It was at this stage that the debtor spoke with me and I advised him to speak with the bailiff to ask whether any visits had been made. The bailiff confirmed.....no visit had yet been made. My advice.....was to make payment of the full amount to Westminster Council and to write a letter of complaint. Predictably of course...the complaint to Westminster was answered by Capita Ltd and the following is taken from their reply: Equita Ltd is indeed part of the Capita Group however both areas of the business have separate Contracts with the City of Westminster which are monitored. To date, no evidence of a conflict of interest has arisen. I note your comments with regards to Mr xxx and the bailiff fees (of £750). Equita Ltd has advised me that the amount quoted to you was the POTENTIAL figure that WOULD have been due IF THE BAILIFF HAD ATTENDED and Levied on goods with the intention to remove if payment was not made. The case has now been returned by Equita Ltd and the balance is now nil. How many other small businesses and individuals have paid this fee without question !!!! If this is how local authorities are treating small companies is it any wonder that we have businesses closing at such a rapid rate......
  24. I felt the need to share this information with all buyers from eBay. I recently bought an item that cost £160 from a seller with a good feedback score. I read that the item would be sent by tracked parcel with Royal Mail so I went ahead with the purchase. After a week and the item still not arriving I checked the provided tracking number to find to my surprise that it was reported to have been delivered. I contacted the seller who was very unhelpful and stated that as far as eBay and they were concerned it had been delivered and that was that! He or she did say I should make a claim at my local post office for the lost item. I first went to our local sorting office to see if it had been returned undelivered but it had not. I asked the clerk if he had any forms for me to make a claim but he said that only the poster can make the claim as they took out the insurance when they purchased the postage. He also stated that if it was signed for the sender could get evidence of the signature used to sign for it. I emailed the seller again when I got home and asked if they could start a claim on the advice that the post office gave me and if they could request the signature card. Sadly the seller just stated back to me the tracking number and would not give me any of the information I requested or help in getting a copy of the signature card. It is only myself and my family that live at my address and I don't share a post box or anything like that so I thought if I had the signature I could look up the surname and see if I could match it to anyone in my street who may have had my item delivered to them in error. Because the seller declined to help me I was left with no options and had to start a dispute. I also decided to leave negative feedback stating that the seller would not help me with the information I needed to recover my parcel or my £160. To my shock eBay removed the feedback when the seller requested them to. When I asked eBay what was the justification in doing so I was told that it was likely an automated removal due to 'key words' being used. Just to clarify I used no bad or insulting language in the text whatsoever. Several days later and after no response from the seller other than to gloat how they had the negative feedback removed I escalated the dispute to a claim. The dispute was quickly awarded in favour of the seller as providing a tracking number is all they need to do to cover themselves according to the eBay decision maker. I have since found out that a tracking number can be bought for just £1.00 and the parcel doesn't need insurance or indeed to be signed for in order to have a tracking number attached to it. I am quite sure my seller did not insure the goods nor had them to be signed for which is why they were avoiding answering any of my questions. So there you go, when you're thinking you have eBay's 'buyer protection', think again! It just cost me £160 and I feel like eBay have not even considered a single effort that I have made or that the seller was in any way negligent for sending high value goods through (most likely) a standard postal service with no cover. I have appealed the decision but it looks pretty hopeless. I may very well take this to small claims just out of principle.
  25. Hi, I now have a PHR meeting due to discuss my claim. I have been warned that I may face a costs warning if the case only has a small chance of success. What sort of costs would I be liable for and would I have to pay the whole amount or would my circumstances be taken into account? (I'm on benefits at the moment). Bit of a worry.
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