Hi, I'm hoping someone here will be able to help. I'm at my wits end. On Wednesday last week the police turned up at my house and arrested me on suspicion of fraud. (A complaint made by my sister and about which I was interviewed on Saturday - I've done nothing wrong and hopefully that is what the result will be) On Thursday morning my Housing Benefit was paid into my account and I was able to use my account. By Thursday afternoon the money had vanished. I couldn't get hold of my bank immediately so I transferred my savings (only £100) into the account - assuming it was just an error - so I could pay for the food shopping. That money has never arrived either. I contacted the bank Thursday PM and was told the money was there, it was just 'not transactable' and they couldn't tell me why. Friday was bank holiday. I called again Saturday and was told the same thing. Then two more closed days. I called again this morning and was told the same thing and my child benefit that should have gone in this morning has now also not arrived. (well it has, I just can't access it) Strangely the balance that was already on the account was untouched and I was able to use that. (only about £50 which has now gone) I'm a single mum and it's the school holidays. I haven't been able to do any food shopping, take my son out, or anything and I'm now down to my last £8 with all my bills to pay. I have no idea what to do! No one will tell me anything. Has this come from the police? Is this something the bank have done by themselves? I have almost completely run out of food now and I have no idea what I'm going to do to feed my son. Can anyone shed any light?

Hi guys i wanted to ask has anyone on here come across the same prob now as myself I have been claiming jsa for nearly 2 years i have also had my mortgage interest part paid i have just recieved a letter teling me after next month i wont be getting any more help with mortgage payments and to make payments to them myself now this is going to be hard as im only on £100 a week for me and wife Can anyone tell me if there is any help out there at all to help i have worked all my life paid all my taxes and when i need it during these tough times its about to make me homeless unless i can pay my payments please any advice

Long story short - may get longer later: My wife bought a vaping kit from a shop in Chester on the 2nd July this year. £50. Product is here: http://www.innokin.com/vaporizers/cool-fire-iv/ When I first got it, it seemed perfect, worked well, did what it was supposed to do. At the end of August it basically stopped working. Put it on bedside table before going to bed (pressed button 3 times to put on standby), woke up the next day and found it completely dead, nothing seemed to spur it back to life (charging, pressing buttons, checking physical on/off switch on bottom). Took it to the shop on Sunday 4th, was advised couldn't do anything as it was 'out of warranty', went on to advise them about Consumer Rights Act 2015 and how I was entitled to repair/replacement within 6 months of purchase if a fault occurred. The staff member (basically the owner's son) then advised that they could have a look at it and they'd be in touch. Subsequently got a phone call on Monday advising that they could sell me a replacement for £15. My response is below (by this point I found the owner's email address through their FB page: "Vape Shop, I am writing to you in relation to the Cool Fire IV kit that was purchased from your business, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, on 2nd July, 2016. Subsequently I found that the device has developed a fault where it will not turn on or show any signs of functioning. This is despite normal operational and care taken when using the product. I received a call today from a member of staff at your store who advised that the business would be willing to offer a replacement for the product, at a cost of £15. I advised the gentleman that I would need to give this some thought. Though I appreciate the offer, I wish to decline the offer and exercise my statutory rights to a free replacement, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which makes it an implied term of the contract that goods be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. As the item in question has developed a fault within 6 months of purchase, I am entitled to have the item replaced at no additional cost and I would request that you confirm that you will do this within the next seven days. I am hopeful that we can reach a mutually beneficial outcome, one where I would gladly continue to make regular purchases from your business, and that other potential customers are aware of your business’ dedication and care towards its customers. Feel free to contact me on this email address or on my mobile of XXXXXXXXXXX. Kind regards, Jimmy Jangle" Later on that day I get this: "Jimmy. I am sorry to hear you are not happy with our service , as i am sure if you speak to any of our other customers, you will find we go out of our way to give good service to our clientele. In this case , however, I am sorry but the cool fire has obviously been well used for the last two months. I strongly believe that this fault has arisen through wear and tear and as you yourself admitted , worked well when purchased. The "sales of goods act" states that; if the seller does not replace or repair faulty goods, you are entitled to a reduction on purchase price (which we have offered) or your money back MINUS an amount for the usage you have had of the goods. Judging by the scratches on the battery the usage was quite a lot. It also states that ; " if your claim under the sales of goods act ends up in court, you may have to prove that the fault was present when you bought the item and not, for example, something which was the result of normal wear and tear. We like to have happy customers and would urge you to reconsider our offer of a replacement battery for a heavily discounted retail price of £15. I am afraid this is the best we can do in this situation and if this is not satisfactory to you, we will be sorry to lose your custom. Regards, XXXXXXXXXXX." My most recent response (Removed website addresses as don't want to be seen as advertising): "XXXXXXXX, Let me be frank; I know my rights, and have exercised them where required before, and always successfully I may add. I know many people who own and use a Cool Fire IV, and have seen theirs continue to function well for at least 6 months after purchase. My brother in law, for one, purchased his in January 2016, and still uses it to this day, and he uses his far more frequently than I did. That alone is evidence in itself that there is clearly an issue with the one I purchased, if it couldn’t last any longer than 2 months. Regardless of whether a device appears to function normally at the point of purchase, it remains the case that as the product has developed an issue through no action of my own within 6 months from the purchase date, I am entitled to a replacement at no added cost under the Act as discussed. Were the item to show age-related signs of degraded performance (ie. Battery capacity reduction), then I may be inclined to agree with your assertions. However, a device working that appears to work perfectly fine at near-full capacity one moment, then stop dead a matter of hours later meets the description of an item that isn’t fit for purpose). “Judging by the scratches on the battery the usage was quite a lot” The battery isn’t scratched – you’re referring to the housing in which the battery is contained. That is merely cosmetic and if any item would stop working because of a superficial scratch that was only on the surface, I’d stay off the roads as there’d be a few thousand cars that would come screeching to a halt in that case. If you could prove that the (minor) scratches were to be the cause of the fault – I’d be more than interested to see this. Furthermore, I should point out that you didn’t post the paragraph after the part regarding court action, I quote the paragraph in full: “If your claim is about a problem that arose within six months of buying the product, it's assumed that the problem existed at the date of delivery and it's up to the retailer to prove that the goods were of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described when it sold them.” – As I am claiming within 6 months of purchase, even if this were to go to court, the burden of proof will rest with the retailer, not the customer. As the manufacturer themselves provide a 90 day warranty (US only, but that isn’t relevant), then it can be assumed that a product that fails in a lesser timeframe has developed a fault. I would also like to point out that the “reduction on purchase price” actually applies to a situation where the money paid initially for the faulty item is refunded, less a deduction (however this only applies after the 6 months from purchase have elapsed) I am aware of my rights under the act (I am an established and very active member of a number of vaping and consumer-related websites, including XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXX to name but a few) , I have been completely honest about the situation, and am disappointed with the response given so far, which in the opinion of all I have discussed this with (including the aforementioned websites), is in total disregard of my statutory rights. In view of this, I have no option but to reiterate my stance, which I will not deviate from: Unless a replacement is provided under the terms of the Act within the next 7 days, then I will seek further action, up to and including issuing proceedings against you in the county court to recover the amount paid for the item at fault, with associated costs and statutory interest, with no further reference to you. I have already submitted a complaint to Cheshire West and Chester Trading Standards, and will make it quite clear via various local and national outlets (Vaping-related forums, Social Media, Press and TV), that your business does not take its customers’ rights seriously. Yours sincerely, Jimmy Jangle" Thoughts/opinions? I ask as it seems that new Vape shops seem to pop up a lot and are run by people out for a fast buck and have no grasp of basic consumer law...

Hi hope you can help A friend of mine works as a seemstress she is Bulgarian & employs a few members of staff to help her in her busy shop. All her employees work as self employed. In October 2015 she employed a woman who doesnt speak English who lives with her daughter who speaks adequate English. My friend asked this person many times to provide her with her tax & NI number so that she could register her for tax. Cut a long story short she refused to give it to her eventually resulting in my friend refusing to pay her the last months wages until she supplied her with the necessary information required. Apparently this women does not want to give her the necessary information because she lives with her daughter who is getting benefits (housing benefit & child benefits) & these benefits will be reduced if the income is declared. Does anyone have any ideas what to do here

Firstly, EVERY point in this review and statement here is backed up with copies of emails, court filings and recordings. So whatever WMS say in response it is true and court records reflect that. What to say about WMS? http://www.wmsgroup.co.uk/motor-trade-warranties/car-warranty/ Sit back because this is a hell of a story. Well my father in law purchased a 5 star policy from them to cover his Range Rover Sport. He paid extra to have main dealer work undertaken should anything go wrong. 2 years into the agreement the engine was destroyed by an incident where was breached after an internal failure. Pretty much fatal. He tried to make a claim against this warranty. This is where our near two year battle started. At first it was declined because he didn’t use a Vat registered garage even though this wasn’t a requirement of the policy he took out. 
he was told he HAD to take it out of a main Caffyns dealer as they would not pay dealer pricing even though he paid for the 5 star warranty which included this. 
After 3 months we finally got them to agree to get an engineer to inspect the vehicle. They used ACE, a company they have used on numerous occasions and who does work under contract for WMS. Not surprisingly they decline the claim. Firstly they claimed low oil. Then aerated oil. Because it was oil related they said they would not pay out. At this point we were dealing with the MD directly, John Collingswood. We asked to appeal. At first WMS did not have a clue what they are doing. In fact pretty much throughout despite numerous requests they never once supplied me with a formal complaints for appeal process. Eventually they agreed we could get another engineer to comment. We did and they found that this was not oil related. We submitted the report to WMS who then asked a senior engineer at ACE to reply (he had and has never seen the car). He stood by ACE findings even though the report from DEKRA picked apart the claims. Claim was declined again. During this time we were accused of riving the car to destruction, low oil and not servicing the vehicle correctly by Mr. Collingswood who always had a reason to not want to pay out. We instructed a further engineer MET who also found that this was not oil related and not wear and tear. Report submitted to WMS and again ACE response via an engineer who had never seen the vehicle . The claim rejection was upheld. Again we asked to appeal. Again WMS had no idea of what their own policy or procedure for this was which was even more worrying as we were dealing directly with the company MD. Also over this time as I was helping my father in law, Mr. Collingwood called my employer and the police on me (I was sending him regular emails which in his eyes was harassment). My employer wasn’t bothered and the police said it was a civil matter. These bullying tactics were prevalent throughout – blocking email accounts so we couldn’t contact then, legal threats, insults (he accused me of having “special needs” in one email) We were eventually told a joint report would need to be undertaken as the final part of the appeal but this never took place as ACE and WMS kept moving the goal posts. Eventually WMS tried to charge us £1500 for this report to take place. Which obviously we refused. Not one cost had been refunded or met. They refused to issue a formal decline letter or settle on an actual reason for decline. They blocked further email accounts so we could not speak to them and would not take our calls.
 As this was not a FCA agreement we could not go to the Ombudsman and had zero come back. 

Most people would have walked away. We took the case to the small claims court. It took over a year. 3 appearances in a court room. And literally thousands of pages of emails, notes and work. 

WMS hired a firm of local solicitors (Stephen Rimmer) at great cost (the solicitor costs would have been at least 3 times what the final settlement and claim was if not more). They even hired a barrister to represent them in court (at probably several £100 an hour). At every turn they tried to out spend, out muscle and threaten and scare us off. They failed. After MUCH work and a whole day in court, a year later we won a judgment and pay out. 

WMS lost. And decisively at that. The judge ruled that this was NOT lack of oil, was NOT caused by not maintaining the vehicle, was NOT due to the vehicle being driven to destruction and was NOT caused by anything we could have foreseen. It was a mechanical failure and therefore the policy should have paid out. The judge dismissed the ACE engineer and his report, the opinions of Mr. Collingwood and awarded my father in law a settlement of just under the small claims limit. In short we won, we beat WMS and they had to pay out because they declined a claim for no just or reasonable reason. 

My father in-law still lost money – hire car charges not covered, loss of wages etc. (not to mention the cost of the worthless warranty) - but the money paid for the engineers, experts and the replacement of the engine which he funded himself out of his own money. WMS tried to bully us. Scare us. Threaten us. And lied. All so they didn’t have to pay out on what was a valid claim. If we lost we would have been liable for several thousand pounds in costs, court fees and expert fees. It was a risk but we were in the right and knew it form the off. They tried to spend more, use their solicitors to try to scare us off. Didn't work. The message here is simple: DO NOT USE WMS. Don't even think about it. Move on. Read forums and other review sites other than Reevoo (see below) They are a terrible company who use under handed tactics and bullying to avoid paying out. There MD is not above using underhanded tactics to scare you off – from calling employers, to the police and lying to both. If you do not have a FAC regulated agreement you have NO legal come back unless you are willing to go to court and risk losing. Again AVOID WMS like the plague. There warranty is not worth the paper its printed on. Checked out the Revoo score on their website ? 96% This is ONLY from people they have paid out to (read the small print) and does not reflect the real feedback that is all over the net. WMS do NOT payout. The warranty is worthless. More over the company are morally dubious in their tactics and way they treat customers. There is no external or formal appeal and if the MD doesn't like you he will try to ruin your life as well as take money from you. We are free of WMS now and their tactics after near two years hard work. Please don't put yourself in this position. (NB: WMS appealed this judgement. Today we went to court and the judge threw out the appeal. We have finally won this case after 893 days from the original issue occurring. We won. WMS have spent over £35k fighting this claim in court. )

We purchased a Vauxhall vivaro swb van on a 64 plate from new on finance from vanarama.co.uk. Since having the van we have had lots of faults with it such as: window seal incorrectly fitted internal lights not fitted correctly faulty air con faulty radio/phone pack (works intermittently) plus many more van was taken back to Vauxhall dealership who fixed all problems under warranty except for the radio/phone pack issue and the air con unit was fixed but only temporarily and is now broken again. We have contacted vanarama and the finance company to reject the vehicle or get it fixed but they have closed the case saying the radio/phone issue is a software problem for which Vauxhall do not have a fix and the dealership won't accept rejection of the van due to its age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please help - we are paying for a van that is faulty - we use/or want to use the phone pack as this is a commercial vehicle.

Hi all, I'm here to see if anyone can guide me on my rights please as sofa I've just found a brick wall to bang my head against! I sold a guitar on eBay and sent it via Parcel Force 48 fully compensated at slightly more than the guitar was valued for peace of mind to the buyer. The guitar was in a thick padded Gibson case (soft type) that lots of inbuilt protection. The guitar was then put in a slightly modified cardboard guitar box and wrapped tightly so there was no room for it to move around. The box was then covered top to bottom and around the middle in white and red fragile tape so it could be seen from all directions. When I took the box to my local post office the post master said "due to security reasons can you please tell me whats in the box?". I told him it was a guitar and he laughed and said he knew due to the shape. I paid £16 for the postage using Parcel Forces 48 service and an additional £15.00 in compensation to insure it up to £600. The buyer contacted me a couple of days later and said the guitar had snapped where the neck meets the body and sent me pictures. I immediate filed a claim with PF, sent proof of postage, compensation, pictures of the guitar before and after and proof of value. Two days later I got a email back saying it was rejected as the packing was insufficient. I challenged this as I had sent many guitars before using the same packing method and asked for evidence. They showed me a guide to packing a guitar and how they "recommend" there method but couldn't show me anything in there terms of carriage that a claim would be rejected for not following there "recommendation". I was then passed to an manager who then pointed out that there was a problem. Under PF terms of carriage it states that items excluded from the enhanced compensation include all musical instruments. So it turns out that they have said they have turned my claim down due to insufficient packing however they doing even offer insurance (compensation) for any musical instrument never mind how its been packaged. PF told me that its the PO fault as they should know the PF terms and that they do not offer enhanced compo therefor should not of sold it and made me aware. They said that the PO have a system called Horizon and that clearly gives them clear details on what can and can not be covered. Taken from there website - Musical instruments - no enhanced compensation is available. I went back to my local PO where I shipped the guitar and the post master became immediately defensive when I said PF will not and do not offer enhanced cover on any musical instrument, He claimed he did not know this and he was accepting no liability. He later phoned me maintaining he was not liable but admitted after looking through terms of carriage found the exclusion for musical instruments but referred me back to PF. So this is where I am. I believe that I was miss sold compensation by the post master at my local post office. He knew it was a musical instrument, he asked me what it was. He still sold me the compensation even though they did not offer it for what I was shipping. If he pointed this out I would never of sent it and told the buyer to collect in person, cancel or take it at his own risk. PF have offered me the £15 I paid in compensation back but I have refused this as I believe that if I accepted it I would close this situation and have no comeback. So where do you recommend I go next? Has PF been neglectful in handling my Parcel or have I been miss sold by the post office? I am currently £500 down and can't really afford to be. I have an appointment at the local CAB office but this isn't for a couple of weeks due to them being busy and my work commitments. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. James

I feel so upset and frustrated. I got pip for a year, then after an assessment for renewal they did not award me enough points to carry on getting it. Before I was getting the standard care rate. I appealed and asked for the mandatory reconsideration but again the DWP refused to award me. Only after being sent out all the forms did I see where the missing points were. I am working with Harc and it was for preparing food and both the recent form, and previous form my answers were the same yet they did not award the 4 points the second time but gave me the same points for the same things as last time, bar that. So, I appealed and went to the tribunal and they awarded me more points which took me to enhanced care and lower mobility and I thought great, finally over. Got a letter through dated the 24th (my appeal was on the 18th) and it says we've applied to the tribunal or a statement of the reasons for the decision made on the 18th as we may wish to consider applying for permission to appeal against that decision. I'm sorry we won't be paying you the benefit awarded by the first-tier tribunal at the present time. We have one month to consider applying for permission to appeal. The period of one month starts from when they first=tier tribunal reasons has been issued. If we decide not to apply for permission to appeal we'll start paying you the benefit strait away and we'll pay money we owe you, if we apply for permission to appeal and it's not granted, we'll consider if we can start paying you (what do they mean they'll consider if they can start paying me???) I'm getting so upset and no idea what to do next. How do I find out when this month starts and ends and is it common for the DWP to be granted permission to appeal. What will they be appealing? the points I've been awarded? I thought the judge at the appeal I went to had the upper hand so to speak, why am I now being put through this. Please can someone help me understand what's happening here and what I should do. Much appreciated.

Howdo Folks, I was sanctioned in 2012 for six months for a failure to attend a Work Programme appointment with A4E I knew nothing about. Naturally, I appealed and the First Tier Tribunal handed down the Judgement at the end of May 2016 after all the legalities with Reilly & Hewstone and Jeffrey & Bevan were sorted out. The result was that my Appeal was upheld. I received a letter from the DWP at the end of July saying that they were considering an Appeal and that I would not be receiving any payment at that time. Fast forward to the middle of September and my copy of the Tribunal's Statement of Reasons arrives - I should note that the DWP asked for this as they were the losers here. Since then, its been radio silence and I'm wondering what steps are open to me to find out what is going on as I have as little to do with the local JCP as possible. I'm not receiving any benefits at the moment as my JSA claim was terminated with no reason given in January 2013 even though a Compliance Officer was happy. I became a carer for a friend, but his PIP assessment did not go well and he has been denied PIP; he is waiting for an appeal date after his MR was refused so the Carers Allowance which paid the bills is now not coming in. Needless to say, the money situation is now getting a bit tight... Cheers for any pointers you might have.

The DVLA are [removed]! I bought a car,& taxed it for 6 months, but almost immediately decided I didn't like it so applied to get a tax refund and they are saying I'm not the registered keeper, because the dealer didn't send his part of the registration document back to DVLA... so where does this leave me...? I can't afford to throw £120 away... Is there a complaints procedure, please? TB

Hello all My sister in law accidentally paid £200 into my Barclays bank account instead of to my brother. This was an old business account I have which I had not used for about three years. The charges and interest has mounted up in I to the extent that it is £1200 overdrawn. I had not heard from Barclays at all for several years despite this being an unauthorised overdraft, no phone calls, no attempts to get me to credit the account, no letters. They just let it go. And so did I. Anyway my sister in law contacted me straight away and I said the best way to tackle this was for her to contact her bank and ask for the money to be returned via the Industry standard process for mistaken payments. This process allows for the return of the money within twenty days if I do not object and of course I do not. I then received a phone call from Barclays stating that they had received a request from my sister in law's bank (Lloyds) and they asked me how I intended to credit the account (with some £1200) so that they could return the money. I told them that it was not necessary for the account to be credited. I told them they should follow the industry standard process and return the money. There then followed a lengthy and unsuccessful (on their part) attempt to get me to restore the account. I told them that whether or not I did so should not be linked with their duty to return the money in line with the industry code as I (clearly stated) I was not objecting to it's return. Eventually they agreed they would do so. Much to my surprise my sister in law contacted me to say she had received a letter from her bank Lloyds saying they could not get the money back because I had objected!! This is entirely at odds with what I said to Barclays which was that I DID NOT object to the money being returned and that they SHOULD follow the industry Code of Practice. (I am somewhat familiar with this situation and the Code of Practice as I had earlier in the year made a payment into the wrong account in our business much to the annoyance of my partner and researched what to do though in this case the recipient was known to us and he returned it less £17 for a bottle of whiskey!). Barclays have taken no other action with regard to the account in the intervening two weeks except to keep it alive in their system and have just added another month of fee and interest charges. I have had no default notice, account suspension or anything else. Can I ask fellow CAGers the following: 1. Am I right to believe that not withstanding the state or status of my account that if a payment is mistakenly made into it and I do not object to its return then that return must be done and within a twenty day time scale? 2. Presuming the answer to 1. is yes then what should I do now? Many thanks for reading and I hope this thread will be interesting and entertaining!

I made the mistake of ordering a sewing machine online without checking the company's credentials beforehand. Got carried away with a bargain (more fool me). It turns out they've been on BBC Watchdog and Rogue Traders in the past and haven't changed their ways since. I immediately cancelled my order - same day and my request went ignored. They sent me an email saying they were processing my order. I reiterated that I wished to cancel. They sent me a dispatch notification saying they'll deliver the item Exress delivery. They did email me back when I stated that I refuse to be liable for delivery charges or admin charges as I cancelled 2 days before they sent it out. They said they had upgraded the machine from an ex-showroom model to a brand new one but they'd try and cancel the delivery and get back to me shortly. I have no doubt they said that to try and get me to accept the delivery and from what I've read on other reviews/forum posts that would be a big mistake! I refused the delivery and now they won't engage with me at all. All of my 'Support Forum' posts have been closed without response. I've opened a dispute with the credit card company but I'm not sure it falls within their remit - I didn't take delivery, they did try to deliver, the item wasn't damaged, they didn't charge my card fraudulently ... So where do I stand? It's been 12 days since I placed and cancelled the order. 7 days since I refused delivery and 3 days since they received the item back at their premises. (I have tracking proof). Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!!

Hi there. My car payment was missed twice. This is down to a change in bank accounts and carelessness on my part. 4 days after the second payment was missed, a guy from Ceatta Ltd attended my house and attempted to collect car, which was not at the property at the time as my Mrs was out in it. I rang Motonovo and tried to pay the arrears of £850 but they have refused and claimed that the finance agreement has been terminated. I have received no notice of this whatsoever, and the only letters I have received are "notice of default sums". I am aware that those are neither here nor there with regards to the law and are made to look like default notices. The day after the repo guy turned up, a letter came through which was "notice of sum of arrears". This letter states that I should ring them immediately to arrange to bring my payments up to date. However, they won't accept anything but the car! If they take the car, I can't work. I will also owe them around 12 grand as the amount owed is 22k and I can't imagine them getting more than around 10k for the car at auction. My question is can this be done?? We received no notice of termination at all and they are outright refusing to accept payment unless it's the full amount which is around 22k. I have lodged a complaint with ombudsman which could take weeks. I understand that the repo guy isn't a bailiff and has no power to take from private property but motonovo are saying that if we don't allow them to take the car, they will report it stolen. This will greatly affect mine and my wife's job if it goes to police. Can this even be done seeing as it's our name on the log book? This is a hire purchase agreement not a loan. help!

Someone went into the side of my work van a couple of weeks ago whilst he was pulling out of a junction. It was his fault. There was some cosmetic damage, scratches etc. and the passenger door wouldn’t open. So I decided to put a claim in through his insurance company. I was given a courtesy van whilst mine was taken off to be assessed. A couple weeks later I received a telephone call to say my vehicle had been written off Cat C. I was offered a settlement and the option to buy my van back. However the offer was way below what it would have cost me to either repair or replace the vehicle so I declined it. I have now been told that as I declined the offer my claim has now been transferred back to my insurance company Hastings and the other drivers insurance company would no longer be dealing with it. I would no longer be able to buy my van back. The rental vehicle will need to be returned and I will lose my no claims. At no point was I told by Albany the implications of me declining the first offer. Otherwise I may have reconsidered taking the offer. Now I’m going to lose out. I have 3 options: · Withdraw my claim, keep my van and pay for the door to be repaired myself. · Settle the claim for below market value and buy my own van back from auction and hope that the settlement cost will cover the cost to buy it back and do the repair work. · Or Settle the claim for below market value and having to get some sort of finance to replace the vehicle. My van is sign written and has been fully fitted out for my work needs with a reversing camera so the cost of replacing all of this will be well in excess of what I will receive. And most of this would be removed before it is auctioned off. All I want is my van back and some money towards the repair cost. I don’t understand how this was an option when I got my first offer but Hastings are now saying I can’t get my van back. Poor customer service all round and the accident wasn’t even my fault.

It has often been said on here that a claimant cannot claim the above interest if the action is brought under the remit of the CCA. Well section 69 certainly does not say that. Now I know people will say yes but look here The County Courts (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order 1991 This appears however to relate to section 74 of the 1984 act not 69 am I missing something here???

I work in a place with very restrictive car parking, my boss refuses to pay for the car park so staff have to instead. I pay a monthly fee through my manager to the owner of the property for the last two years to park there. Originally I would get a receipt, but these phased out. Our verbally agreed parking spaces moved between two car parks (owned by the same company) and we were told if our own space was taken to just park somewhere else.. . Parking became a pain in the backside because it was unenforced and we bagged the landlord to enforce it as part of our fee, else it made no sense and wasn't fair on legitimate parkers who paid and couldn't park. He did... Millennium parking services. And now I've got a parking charge notice which I don't seem to be able to contest. Knowing one of the two car parks is locked overnight, I parked in the other one as I was staying late, and came back to a ticket. Following advice on various forums I ignored the ticket but waited for the notice to keeper. This arrived in 5ish weeks, on the same day I went straight to their website and launched an appeal. Another month later, I get a Notice of Liability from PCS for £150, I launched an appeal on the day of arrival through PCS a nd every time I email them (they are good responders) I get the repeated reply that I'm out of the 21 days to appeal and have to face up or go to court. The last message back read: "The time to challenge the charge has now expired and therefore access to the Independent Appeals Service (if applicable) is no longer available. I have made notes on your file, but it does not alter our position and this parking charge will stand." Now the easy solution is go to the property owner for some kind of evidence, but in the past he has flat out refused receipts (with a short 6 month stint of receiving them in the middle) which we only assume is some sort of tax thing. He's also generally useless taking over a year to give us CCTV footage when someone drove into the car park and scratched a member of staff's car before leaving, so I don't hold much hope there. So where do I stand? The signs in both car parks explain that we need to display permits which we have never been issued. We do know the owner and people we pay are all legit, we know the parking company are legit. I'd welcome a court appearance, but with no evidence my side, and I assume a photograph theirs, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The auto high lighting on this site has recommended writing to the property owner copying the parking co in. That's probably my next course of action so if all else fails, I have evidence that I'm doing everything to resolve it. .. that wouldn't stand up in court though surely..?

Hello, War and piece - if you can't be bothered to read see the last two paragraphs. In June 2015 I bought a brand new Seat Ibiza from a Seat Dealer on PCP Finance (Dealer supplied Finance through VWFS). The main reason - I've always had older cars but I was fed up of the maintenance requirements and the time I had to take out for preventative repairs that older cars require. A new car was going to cost me more money, short term and long term; but the privilege of a new, reliable and care free vehicle outweighed any financial impact. This was clearly outlined to the salesman. Very early on in ownership I started experiencing issues with the car, please find a rough timeline below: 600 miles - Developed a light knocking sound 811 miles - x2 new front droplinks fitted under warranty. 1200 miles - Car started knocking again and suspension became very vocal. 1254 miles - x2 new steering arms fitted under warranty. On the drive home from having the steering arms replaced, The car felt 'off'. The steering wasn't as precise and seemed to tram line depending on the road surface and condition, the knocking had not been fixed. I made a phone call to the dealers expressing my concerns where I was advised to keep driving as the new steering arms will loosen up. 1600 miles - The symptoms were still the same and knocking remained. I rebooked the car in and asked for an inspection and alignment check. 1949 miles - Car was returned to the dealer and A Seat Master Tech test drove/inspected and found no issues, I was assured tracking had been fixed when the steering arms were replaced and had been double checked this time. Car only had a 1.6 mile test drive! 1983 miles - Car went to a local independent, I explained my issues and requested an inspection/second opinion only. Within 5 minutes on a Hunter alignment machine it was noted the front wheels were toe out. The car was not rectified (for the avoidance of doubt the car was untouched mechanically) and I have a print out as evidence of the issue. I was also advised that the suspension top mounts should be checked and is a known TPI on Seat Ibiza's. A detailed complaint was sent to the Dealer Complaint Manager via e-mail; stating I am ready to reject the car if they can't fix it. I was called by the service team asking to bring the car back in 2154 miles - The car was returned to the dealer where I was informed the Dealer does not have tracking equipment so the car was sent to an independent for tracking to be rectified. The car came back with a print out and the rear of the car was out of spec and was left out of spec. No other work was done by the dealer Although the cars steering feels better, the car still overreacts to road surface and has very vocal suspension. A further complaint was put into the Dealer via a reply to a customer satisfaction generic e-mail - I was advised the dealer principle would be in touch No response from the Dealer so I chased my complaint again I spoke to the Dealer Principle via phone call where I advised I have lost confidence in the car, in the dealer being able to rectify the issues and that I want to reject the car. We agreed the best option for all parties involved was to negotiate an amicable solution and get myself out of my current car and into an equivalent replacement - We discussed an equivalent spec Leon FR due to my lost faith in the Seat Ibiza. The Dealer Principle handed over to The Sales Manager and advised I'll receive a phone call with options. I received a phone call from Sales Manager stating he needed to get my Settlement Figure from VWFS before we can continue negotiations and to expect a phone call the following day. I called VWFS myself and obtained a settlement figure of £12,247.79 I failed to receive a phone call the followed day, so I chased The Sales Manager called me the next day and advised he values my car at £9,500 and as a result there is too much negative equity to begin negotiations and there was nothing more the Dealer can do. I advised I'll have to take this further with Seat UK and the Finance Company. Put in a complaint to VWFS and Seat HQ Phone then rang off the hook from the Dealer apologising and offered me deal where they took my current car, settled the finance then started a new agreement on a Leon FR. They planned on using my original £2,000 deposit on the Leon, however the Leon is an unsold but brand new MY15 model (current is MY16) Leon FR - subtle tech changes. I asked for 24 hours to think and was advised sales manager was off the following day but he would hand over to business manager Following day I accept the offer only to be told by the business manager I now need to put in another £2,000 deposit! Long story short - Brand new Seat on PCP finance, started with steering and suspension issues from 6 weeks / 600 miles. Dealers had the car back 4 times and the issue is still apparent. I'm negotiating with the dealer to get me out of this car and into another, but the offer the dealer has given me works out £2,112.81 more expensive, over a longer term for an older MY spec car than if I were to get my £2,000 Deposit back and go into a competitor dealer with a new order. I'd accept the deal without the extra £2,000 deposit and compromise by having the older MY car. But at this stage I feel I just want out. I want to hand the car back, cancel the finance and get my £2,000 deposit back to go elsewhere - I'm not interested in compensation or costs to date, just a clean slate. Help! What do I do and where do I go from here?

hi there, I need some advice as I am now going out of my mind. On Thursday 14th January 2016 I took out a contract with Vodafone pay monthly for an iPhone 6s in Rose Gold 16gb I received an order acknowledgement but no further information. I then called on 15th January 2016 to find out what was going on with the order. After being passed around at least 6 different departments and often without being told and just being put on hold I got through to a very helpful sales advisor. This advisor took it upon himself to cancel my original order placed on the 14th and place a new order with himself which was a much higher tariff and quoted exclusive of VAT. He also took £29 for the phone cost upfront and £9.95 for it to be delivered the next day before 1pm. I was promised a text message and email of this order in the morning for delivery which NEVER arrived. Neither did an email confirmation of the order. On Saturday 16th 2016 by 10am I had not received any email nor any text. Thinking this suspicious I called Vodafone to find out where the order was. I was hung up on 4 times, passed to 3 different departments and in the end my husband had to talk to them as I couldn't handle the stress ( I suffer from a depressive illness and anxiety disorder). I broke down in tears from the stress of it all. I was shown no empathy, no friendliness nothing over the phone. Just spoken to like I was an inconvenience My husband was told by their customer service person (as not one of them will give their names willingly) that the phone would not be here until the Saturday 23rd January 2016. She was adamant and all we could do is take her word for it, as she was at least the 7th advisor we had spoken to and despite having paid £9.95 for the next day delivery. That same customer service agent advised to go into a shop and sort out the contract there as it had already passed credit checks. My husband told her not to cancel the contract in case we weren't able to get it sorted in the store to which she agreed over the phone. I was listening to the whole conversation on loud speaker. Being the gullible/trusting people we are we went to the Vodafone Store to get this contract sorted out. They looked into the order to discover the last advisor who promised they were going to leave the account alone had taken it upon herself to cancel the contract, which she had promised she would not do. So the store set up a new contract for the iPhone 6s in Rose Gold, 64gb. I was also told I would need to pay £69 up front for this phone also. At this point in time Vodafone had taken £136.95 whether in debits or reserve payments. Just to get this contract sorted out I conceded even though that is a lot of money. All was fine until we got home after having to drive 30 minutes back from the most local Store and then a knock on the door came. It was the first mobile, iPhone 6s in Rose Gold 16gb. The very phone that we were told would not be delivered until the following Saturday and which the advisor had cancelled . This arrived at 3.38pm. So I was charged for £9.95 next day delivery before 1pm via Royal Mail which ended up with a cheaper courier not wearing a Royal Mail uniform. On both occasions I was misled by the tariff with the advisor's so I decided to cancel the contracts and instead use the business tariff. Since that day I have been on the phone countless number of times trying to cancel both these contracts within the 14 days cooling off period and return the phones for a full refund of the upfront costs. This has proved stressful, difficult and impossible. The first phone that arrived through the post has been returned and received but has still not been refunded. I am having to take time out of my business to get this sorted out and it's not forthcoming. The other phone that I purchased from the shop has proved near impossible. I tried to return it to the shop but they wouldn't accept it as the customer service team had already cancelled it. To this day I have not received the returns bag and have called every few days to chase a new one. I am always told it will arrive but has not till this day. I'm now out of the cooling off period and received a letter dated 4th Feb stating I now owe over £800 as am out of my cooling off period. The line was cancelled over the telephone well before 21st January and by recorded letter which I have proof of. I have also kept every online chat with service advisor's. I have tried numerous attempts to get through to a resolution or complaints team only to be told they don't exist. Their very own website points you back at customer services - no dedicated complaints service. Today I asked for a deadlock letter so I could see resolution through the ombudsman quicker to be told I couldn't have one as the resolution team have not dealt with it. So I asked to be put through to them. I was told that no I couldn't be as their is a process. I asked what their process was to be told they couldn't deal with it. WTF?!!? I'm at the point where it is now affecting my mental health. I get extremely stressed and anxious at the thought of contacting them to only suffer the same treatment each time. What can I do? I haven't received a refund for the first phone and the second phone has still not been returned due to not receiving the returns bag. Even when that is returned the process for getting my money back is really going to affect my health. I have filed a complaint with the trading standards team but too early for the Ombudsman to get involved (shy of 4 weeks). I have never in my life experienced anything like this. I just want these phone lines cancelled and my up front costs return with no further hassle. Why is it so hard? Any advice would be greatly appreciate, this is the worst experience of customer services I have ever experienced and I will be moving my business mobiles as soon as the contracts on them run out. Jody

I recently phoned vodafone to settle an old account which is showing as defaulted in 2014, I don't have any paper work and asked them to check the account details based on all my previous post codes as I no longer know this telephone number as it is from an account opened in 2011. The person couldn't find the account details and confirmed that they have no record or account details for this debt even though every month its showing as a default on my credit file. I requested to speak to the department responsible for sending this information to credit ref agency but was told this is not an option. Can I add a notice of correction because I've attempted to pay off the debt but vodafone are refusing to accept payment or can't find the account details to settle this debt?

o prior to my line going active on the 19th, I was given an offer for 6 months half price line rental to try and keep me proceeding with the order as Sky had offered me a good deal to stay with them. I was happy with this new offer so obviously told sky I wouldn't be sticking with them. It was at this point they threw out a great offer to which it was back to TalkTalk to tell them I wouldn't be proceeding. On the 13th January, on the live chat, an advisor named Reshan stated ; Reshan: The order is 6 months half price call plan, with line rental and your package. Reshan: Thank you for your patience. Ryan: you're very welcome. Ryan: Yeah, that's the offer I had a note off, that works out just below £65 more expensive than the sky offer. This is absolutely the most you can offer? Reshan: I can offer you 12 months half price on your package. Ryan: that would definitely beat sky so I would be more than happy with that Reshan! Reshan: Please give me a moment. It was at this point the advisors computer stopped working and the offer wouldn;t be applied right away. Notes were being made and it would be applied shortly. I've tried so hard trying to get this applied and advisors are saying what he is saying is 12 months off the broadband cost which is FREE for 18 months so essentially no difference to the package. From the context of the chat I was having, I assumed it was off line rental but TT are insistant that Line Rental is seperate and not part of the 'package'. I've also been on to the Chief Exective Office and they've been so helpful too......not! The person I spoke to said that what Reshan meant was he was extending the offer of FREE broadband from 12 months to 18 (Even although that's not what is said above) ; that's all the person from the CEO team emphasised - I then found my welcome letter which states FREE broadband for 18 months which was generated before any discounts were applied. I just feel that I have been totally misled into proceeding with the order. I have trailled back through all the chat logs and found this gem this morning which again totally contradicts the executive office's stance ; Joan: You're welcome, okay. Here's what I can do for you. Since the account is still not yet active I will need you to contact us right after the 6 months end to add another 6 months of the Half price line rental. Joan: Now if after 6 months it's not available we will just apply a credit for you equivalent to the offer. If I proceed down this route I can absolutely see what would happen 6 months down the line ..... it would not be honoured whatsoever and it would be more of a headache. Can anyone advise me of what I can do as nowhere is being helpful!

Hi, I'm hoping for some advice. My wife has a cell phone contract with Vodafone and in March she visited our local vodafone store and added 2 additional lines into her account. These were data only sim cards for use in portable devices that Vodafone offer on a 1 month minimum term contract (ie cancelled with 1 month notice.) These were used for a short term requirement, and in May she contacted Vodafone to give notice to cancel and remove these two sims cards via the online webchat. The customer service representative accepted the request and confirmed that the cancellation had been accepted and the cards would cease in 30 days. We have a copy of the transcript here. A couple of months later, my wife looked at her bill and saw that she was still being charge for the 2 data sims card. She called vodafone this time, and spoke to the customer care team. They acknowledged that the cancellation had been received and had not been cancelled in due to a systems error. They apologies, confirmed that the cancelation was now actioned, and promised to refund the months that were charged in error. In September, I turned on a device with one of these sim cards installled and found that it connected to mobile broadband service. I notified my wife, who checked her bill - and saw she was still being charged for the sims cards. They are still active and no refund received. This time she visited the store to express frustration. The store staff told here they cannot help and she must phone customer services. She phoned customers services. Was told that the cancellation has not happened in error and that it has now been actioned. Refund is forthcoming. In October the sim cards are still active. My wife is in tears with frustration, but I tell her to call again. this time she is told that because the card was used in September (when I switched on the device) she will not get a refund for September, but otherwise, it's an error, really, truly the cancellation has been processed and she will get a refund minus September. Last week, no refund, cards still being billed, we went back into the store and spent two hours making a nuisance to the poor staff there to try to resolve it. They say they can't do anything but make a note on the system for a supervisor to look. I'm looking for advise what to do next? Vodafone owe several hundred pounds in payments they've taken. While acknowledging that they should not be, they seem unable to stop billing for the service. We've both spend hours and hours trying to resolve it over 7 month period. My wife doesn't want to cancel the direct debit, because she still needs her phone, which remains active on the account under her contract. Can anyone suggest next steps? Thanks!

Hi I have been on this debt journey for a while now. I got sucked into the cycle of payday loans, all of which I paid off until it got too much and I defaulted with QQ at just under £1000 This was then sold to RedCastle. I emailed Redcastle in October Asking them to provide information on the debt as there were two separate entries for the same amount with different default dates on my credit file. One from Redcastle and the original one with QQ. I Sent a copy of my request to QQ and they removed their entry. I have now received this letter from Redcastle Recoveries. We are writing to you in relation to your above numbered loan that you originally took out with CashEuroNet.uk-QuickQuid, and which was subsequently acquired by us. Please note that we have now taken the decision to write off the balance and close your account. What this means for you: The balance on your loan is no longer due l We will no longer contact you regarding the above numbered account l You do not need to repay the balance of the above numbered account However, please note that because you have not repaid the balance due in relation to this account, if your credit file shows a balance is outstanding it will continue to do so for a period of time no greater than six years from the date that you originally defaulted on your agreement with CashEuroNet.uk-QuickQuid. You should also be aware that this may affect your ability to gain credit with other lenders, and that should you choose to repay this balance at a later date your credit file will be updated to reflect this. If you would like to speak to one of our agents regarding this matter then please contact them via 0344 894 1930 or alternatively via email on . Now I have contacted QQ and complained about the affordability of my loan and I am waiting on their decision, I had hoped that either they would effect the writing off of my loan or they would pay me the interest on all of my loans and I could clear it as it is the last remaining unpaid debt on my credit file. I called quick quid and they said they have not made a decision on my complaint and they did not contact Redcastle. So I am wondering why would they do this? Should I just be happy they will not pursue. But the whole point is to repair my credit so at some point in the future I can try to buy a house. Any ideas as to what I should do? Thanks Tia

A few days ago I was in court with IND they were asking for a claim that was struck out in sept 2013 to be re-instated. 1 week before the hearing IND sent me a letter containing a witness statement from themselves to be read out in court, as they said they would not be attending the hearing. I decided that I should on this occasion attend. I didnt in sept 2013. When I arrived at court I was dismayed to find that a barrister was there to represent IND. I felt like going back home. When I walked into the Hearing room it was warm and didnt feel threatening. There was only me the Barrister and the Judge in the room though I think the Hearing was recorded. I sat there gob smacked as the barrister was verbally taken apart by the Judge. The Barrister even apologised to the Judge saying "Im sorry maam but I am only acting on instruction". After stating some legal Jargon to the Barrister which I did not understand, the Judge then made 2 Judgements 1. That the application by IND to have the claim re-instated was denied and 2. That the request by IND to have the struck out order lifted from the claim was also refused. Thank god for British justice and a bloody good Judge. Never be afraid, fight it, stand up to it. And dont despair, Debt collection agencys are not popular with the courts. Even if you think you have not got a chance. fight it, Defend it. I am glad I did. I was also awarded costs.

I'll keep this short - I have a gift card which clearly shows a printed start date in 2012 and a card expiry date in 2016. In much smaller letters are also the short T&Cs that say the value will expire 24 months from first load. When I received this I noticed the 2 'facts' contradicted one another but assumed as it was clearly printed "card expires xx/xx/2016" we would have no issues. To back this up I actually emailed customer services back in '14 to check and was not told which is correct, but in actual fact Thomson always honour expired gift cards and vouchers ///:razz: So fast forward a yeara nd of course I try to redeem it and I get a card expired notice - I half expected that but the issue I have is in resolving it. I have tried phoning customer services who just say ignore the date and go by T&Cs; they can't help and I must call my local brand; they can't help either and told me to contact the branch it was purchased from....they too can't help and say head office say 24 months that's that and to ignore the email from Thomsons back in '14 becasue they made a mistake. I can't believe the lack of interest or help in this. It's in black and white that the card expires in 16. I am confident in a court of law they would see this as either a mistake or misleading / confusing information; even without the email from the rep; however I have no more avenues to try and not sure the most effective action to take from here.

This whole nightmare started when I upgraded to a sim only contract but they got it wrong (third time) so I phoned to cancel the upgrade. When they cancelled the upgrade they also cancelled my contract which they are calling a glitch. I now have had no service for 2 days and just want to leave. The problem is as they have cancelled my number so a pac code cannot be generated. It gets worse though because when I asked to just cancel my contract they told me the early termination fee would be £540! This is because the cancelled upgrade will only be processed when my service is reconnected. I had less than two months left on my original £38 a month contract. They are giving me a refund of line rental for the days I don't have service and £10 for the inconvenience (how generous!) Originally they said it would take 24-48hrs to get reconnected and now they're saying 48-72hrs. I feel trapped and don't know what to do in this situation. They've also deleted my account so I can't see bills or anything and as my number is cancelled I can't even phone them as you need to enter your number when you call. I've ordered a giffgaff sim in the mean time but I'm so angry at how they've treated me and others. I kept asking to be let out of my contract without penalty but they just ignored me #11196366