It's obvious that the government is making it so difficult with benefits they are hoping that everyone will just give up claiming but I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or head butt the wall with this situation and just wondering if anyone has had similar problems because apparently the people in front and behind me in the cashiers queue had the same issue!! Had a medical appointment in London yesterday for my ongoing vertigo issue and am on UC at the moment (although haven't received anything as yet due to my last pay packet back in July!). However I can't remember where but someone told me as I am on UC I could claim back my travel expenses. The UC helpline (term used loosely) advised me that I could claim through the JCP but on contacting my Work Coach (again term used loosely) she advised me I couldn't claim through them but I could claim direct with the NHS. I called the NHS and that was correct but I had to take my proof of purchase, appointment letter and UC Reward Letter to the cashier at the hospital. Obviously I know unlike JSA where you get a letter stating you are receiving JSA you don't get the same thing with UC because the Council were complaining about that when I claimed Council Tax Benefit and the girl at the Council said it was all a bit of a shambles. So I called the UC helpline again and after half an hour trying to explain to an automated message that all I wanted was advice from and advisor I finally got through. The advisor told me that the statement on the dashboard was all I needed although all 4 pages of it seemed excessive and somewhat personal considering it states that I was awarded a massive UC total of £0 due to my wage the previous month of £xyz!! Queued for 25 minutes at the cashier’s desk at the hospital with all the documents and finally when I got to the window she wouldn't approve it stating that she needed a JSA Award Letter. I politely explained that in my part of the country and more than likely most of it by now including London there is no such thing as JSA and award letters anymore, (I may be wrong) and that the UC Office had said this statement would suffice. She wasn't for turning though and kept pointing to a clearly out of date note on the wall stating a JSA Award letter was required. I tried my best to keep calm and explained again that all is done online now and this is it, all I can offer. Eventually she took my number and said her supervisor would ring on Monday but keep my train tickets, which is fortunate I got a receipt because the machine eats the tickets once used!! As I left the guy behind said "Well we are buggered as well then" as he held up his UC Statement print out. When I got home I called the UC Helpline but was told they didn't deal with travel and I had to speak to my work coach and could only offer me an appointment next Wednesday!! I asked for a phone appointment because it seems a bit pointless taking up a walk in just for one question! I said that the previous UC advisor had informed me that a UC Statement would be ok but was curtly told that the UC advisor couldn't advise on that so didn't know why they had! I then rang the number for my Job Centre and went through merely to a switchboard who told me that my JCP was closed on Fridays. So we search for work for 35 hours a week and they work 4 days?!?! She however told me that the JCP can't help on that so I should contact UC Helpline!! I replied that the UC Helpline say they don't deal with that the JCP does and she said they didn't know why they advised me of that as they were wrong. After telling her I suspect she may be getting a few more calls from others with the same query I gave up at that point!!! So has anyone had any luck with claiming expenses of any kind with merely a UC Statement?! It seems impossible. The hospital say they need a letter that doesn't exist anymore, UC say it's down to the JCP to advise and the JCP say it's down to UC credit to advise. A system clearly created by a buffoon with no brain, sense or intelligence!!

Hi Just received a claim from Howard Cohen this morning. Just wanted to check what I need to do. 1st - Acknowledge claim. Can this be done online? 2nd - Send CPR18 to Howard Cohen, as belows [template removed - dx] 3. Wait for reply.

Just found out, my mum has been paying money every week to Halifax for years! She just told she she has been paying £10 a week for a Halifax credit card, and £10 a week for a Halifax overdraft! She told me, she has been paying £20 a week since my Father died 8 years ago. She said that, at first she ignored them but they kept adding charges to both the credit card and bank account and she was worried about being taken to court! I just told her to stop it but, she said "You have to pay the banks" and is worried that if she does not pay them, they will take her to court and lose the house (My mum own her house outright, no mortgage) I only found out as, I answered a call from 01224 908402 this morning and a company called idem servicing wanted to talk to my mum. I was in the room while she spoke and the woman was asking why there had not been a payment this month. I could not believe it Should my mum just stop paying them? Thanks

Hi, Hopefully someone can help me here! I bought a Macbook from Curry's through Creation Finance approx 24 months ago. The keyboard and trackpad stopped working and I took it to Apple who provided me with a report that it was the logic board that needed replacing and they told me to go through Curry's to get it repaired under EU Laws. I did this and Curry's said they would send it off and repair it which was great. They had it for about 3 and a half weeks and I went to collect it today and the Macbook doesn't even turn on. Ive charged it up etc and its just completely dead. I rang Curry's again and they said all they can do was book it in for another repair. Do I have any other options here? Can I claim under section 75 through my credit company? Thanks!

im really confued as i didnt attend the medical but sent off a form explaining why , i then recieved a letter back saying :"we have looked at your reasons for not attending a decision maker says you are capable of work from the 15.04.2010 " (this box was ticked) then underneath is says "this means we have decided that you are no longer entilted to which were : Box One : Incapacity Benefit And National Insurance Credits Box Two : Severe Disablement Allowance Box Three : National Insurance Credits The Box They Ticked For Me Were Just : The 3rd One "National Insurance Credits" This is the only box ticked so i dont understand am i losing my incapacity and servere disability allowance cos it says first "u are capable of work from the 24.04.2010 but then says this means we have decided that you are no longer entitled to national insurance credits ! Im confused as i claim incapacity and servere but these boxes werent ticked so what do they mean im no longer entitled to national credits ? im worried if they mean that ill no longer get any benefits anyone plz help me thanks in advance

I had a smashed iPhone 6 screen for about 6 months because I couldn't afford to get it fixed and it still worked fine. However last week it began showing sign of giving up (touchscreen not working properly), so I gave in and took it to a local shop that does repairs and also sells things like cases and accessories (called Fone Care, not sure if it's a chain...) Firstly they refused to knock £5 off to price-match a different shop down the road, which is fair enough and obviously within their rights.... But we were just about to walk out, when she said she could do it now and it would only take 10 minutes; the other shop wanted me to come back and collect it some hours later, so it was simply more convenient. Went back and collected it and she showed me it was working etc, and told me I have a 14 day warranty (it's now been 7 days), and I paid the grand sum of £95! Since that day, my battery has been dreadful. I used to only charge it once in the evenings, to full charge, and it would then last until the following evening. Since having my screen replaced, it's draining rapidly and I'm having to charge it 3 times a day. Even when it's not being used:- for the third night in a row lastnight, I went to bed with 80% battery and when I woke up at 3am with my baby, it was completely dead and off. Another day I put it in my bad with 60% battery and it stayed in there all day, not being used because I was somewhere that I had no signal - and it died. I've done all the usual checks, and also absolutely nothing in my settings etc, has changed since I took it in. I already have things like location services and automatic E-Mail refresh off, I always have. A quick Google search told me that there's been quite a few people around the country with this problem at various shops, and a few suggestions I've come across is that it's because they use cheap replacement screens ('from China') which kill your battery, or that they may have swapped the original battery for a rubbish one. Can someone please advise me how to proceed with this, or indeed even if I can..?! I suffer with anxiety so don't feel I'm able to go into the shop (I couldn't even go in to get the screen replaced on my own, I had to wait until my partner could come with me). Some posts on local social media have already told me that they're not very accommodating in this particular shop (for example, someone bought a charger there and it didn't work; so she took it back, only to be refused a refund and told by the manager 'well what do you expect if you buy cheap?') Therefore I plan to approach it in writing instead if this is OK...? I just don't know what Rights/Act's I can quote in my letter to help me, if any? I'm assuming I have the right to receive my phone back in the same working condition that I gave it to them..? Not give it to them to fix a problem and end up with an even worse one? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

For a couple of months my wife and i had to move into my father in laws council house to help care for him as he was in need of care. His wife had died and he lived with his son. The son took on the house tenancy jointly with his father along with my wife. Anyway shortly afterwards more suitable house was found for them as accommodation was not suitable for his needs. The house was examined room by room and passed by a inspector from the council.Who said only thing that needs to be done is all carpets to be moved out of premises. This was back in early July..And was carried out as said. A new tenant had moved in a month later. Moved out a couple of weeks later to new house and continued caring for a couple of months then he passed away. The council were informed of this. Now early in November a bill came for replacing kitchen sink unit and worktop costing 400 pounds.At the old property. Which after 14 weeks after vacating a passed property came as a shock. Also addressed to Passed away father in law and his son. Then we got in touch with the council who said they will look into it , took our phone number and they would get back in touch. Seemed quite concerned about this matter. However this last week a letter came saying despite previous reminders the amount is still outstanding. And must be made within 7 days otherwise your case will be referred to a DCA and also consider taking legal action which will incur substantial costs. So once again phoned the council who this time said there was no one to deal with this and to email a complaint.Which i am going to do shortly.On their behalf. But the seven days are up now and i suppose the debt will now be on its way to the DCA. Personally i would rather go to court and tell the judge what i feel about this and fight it.But feel i am not being given much choice. Feeling harassed and threatened really with a bad credit file. Now personally i would pay if this was justified.But in my mind is clearly not. I enjoy standing my ground when needed.And want to help. What would you do.

Me and my partner bought a Vauxhall Astra 1.9 Sri cdti 150bph on the 22nd September 2015 for £3500 from a second hand dealership. The car went off for a MOT before we got it and it came back with advisories which the dealership dealt with. We waited 2 weeks after payment before we actually got to drive it home. A Week later thick black smoke was coming out the exhaust, we immediately took it back to the dealership and they said they would sort it as it was still under warranty. (Swirl flaps needed replacing) they had our car for over a week and when it came back they hadn't done the job properly, they had botched it up. Instead of replacing the swirl flaps they put blanking plates either side of the egr valve and capped the swirl flaps (temporary fix) A day later the car lost power and was in limp mode, when I had a look at the engine the main air intake pipe wasn't even bolted on properly one bolt was missing and the other was extremely loose. The sensor for the swirl flap wasn't connected and was left hanging, the inlet manifold had been taken apart and new bolts put in (not nessesary comes sealed from factory) there is silicone all over the bottom of the manifold where the swirl flap is, the fuel lines were hanging loose, there is a bracket now missing from the back of my engine and nothing was attached. When I rang the dealership they just fobbed me off saying that they had done the job properly and what was I complaining about, when I asked if they would reimburse me to get the car fixed properly they said no as they had done it properly. (I've taken it to a garage for a second opinion and they are agreeing with me, poor workmanship and it needs to be fixed to repair the damage the dealership has done to it looking at £500) I just don't know where I stand. Help me please Thank you in advance

Hi there, I am new to this and would kindly welcome some advice if anyone could help? I'll keep it brief and to the point. Work for global corporation, my head office based in UK. Employed by this company for nine years, no complaints at all. Had various directors, regional managers and line managers over these 9 years. Company was restructured late December 2014, I inherited a different regional manager and line manager in January (both who work in a different division and have no knowledge of the job I do, regional manger been there for at least 7 years, line manager only promoted to line manager in January 2015, previously same job spec as mine only different division). Was given a complete new territory in January unannounced (had been consultant for a different territory for over three years and built up good trust and sales with these customers). Regardless, went out and done my job, hit my sales target in January despite the whole territory being new. Two weeks into February had a conversation with my new line manager who was enquiring why the mood was so low in our team ( a team of ten consultants) and I had offered a suggestion that "maybe the constant negativity wasn't helping" . I said this as we had all received a barrage of negative emails and phonecalls from said line manager, and everyone was moaning about it, seen as we were a new team that had been put together in January, me being the longest serving employee out of the whole team said what I said. The day after, at 7.30pm I received a friendly txt from line manager asking if I could meet him the following day to have a chat about figures, I agreed as didn't think anything of it, went to the meeting location the next day, was invited into a room by line manager, next thing regional manager walks in (unannounced) asks me "do you know what youre here for" when I replied "it was my understanding I was here to have a chat about figures with line manager, he said "no, youre going to pick your way to leave this company". He said "you can either resign, or I will make your life hell and make you leave". You have until Tuesday the following week to decide. I told him after a barrage of abuse from him, I wasn't resigning. The next morning the abuse continued, wont go into detail just now but will if anyone wants to know the details, just want to get the main points out just now. The next day I met with HR as I was disgusted at what had happened and told HR everything that had been said and proposed etc. HR (after hearing my side of the story), two days later, they wrote back saying they had spoke to both concerned and that they had all agreed that they would all meet with me to have a discussion. I was horrified at this, I had been duped into a meeting were it was a 2 vs 1 scenario, no witnesses, was totally bullied and intimidated, no witnesses, and HR wanted me to meet with them again under the same set up, ( HR are supposed to be impartial but in our company they are not). Before this week came around I was that ill after the original meeting, had nearly crashed my car on a busy motorway after suffering a severe panic attack, more followed, that my GP signed me off work and prescribed anti anxiety medication. To cut a long story short, I raised a grievance, it was heard by same HR I had spoken to initially and another manager who offered me a "new position" when accompanying me down in the lift out of the meeting room once the grievance had been heard, I said nothing. It took them 5 months to conclude the grievance stating time out of office and work commitments. When the notes came out it was clear that both managers had colluded, also my notes were missing, when I asked about these, they then sent a diluted version of my notes, when I asked them that I wished them to be amended to what I actually said, they thanked me for the ammendum but stated it wouldn't change anything. They also added parts to my grievance which were not included, to absolve themselves I guess. My post was on a recruitment site straight after (I know this is not against the law but trying to give an insight). None of it was upheld. The two investigating, made the conclusion. In between the grievance conclusion and me stating I wished to appeal, the person I raised the grievance about was promoted. The Grievance appeal was heard by same HR person and finance director, was cut short as they had a flight to catch. I was then sent the notes of said meeting, it was so heavily diluted that anyone who didn't know about it would have a hard time working out what all of the fuss was about, my witness emailed their notes, after that, although a conclusion was promised by the end of last week, straight after my witness submitted their notes I received a "without prejudice" email asking me to accept a paltry amount of money. I would gratefully accept any advice on what to do next, if anyone has any questions please ask, I just tried to keep this post short (ish) and to the point. Thanking you all in advance.

hi there got a big problem jbw bailiffs have come to a previous address where my car is still registered i have only just found out there was pcn for driving through a bus lane last year my uncle rang me yesterday as the bailiffs came he gave me the number of the bailiff i rang him and explained this was the first i had heard of the matter he said i had to pay £579 !! he said there is 2 pcn's plus their charges he said he wanted payment in full which i dont have as i am currently on benefits i offered to pay so much each month but he didnt want to know he said he would have the car i said there is still outstanding finance on it he said it dont matter i have been reading bits online what would be the best thing to do in my situation i will pay the fines but the bailiff charges are excessive !! worried now because i dont know when the bailiff is going to call at my home

27/01/2014 @13:10hrs. A Bailiff arrived at my property at above date and time, for the first time, he tried the door the door was locked he knocked the door my wife xxx xxx answered the door, the bailiff asked to speak to myself, xxx explained i was in work for the Bailiff to call back, He said im here to remove the goods for the sum of £900, xxx said ul need to come back when i was home from work and went to shut the door, he put is foot in the door and walked in with no invite. My wife rang 18 times before she could get hold of me, and was very upset saying hes going to take our stuff if we dont give him £900, at this time, xxx daugher yyy who is 18 had to take our 3 year old daughter upstairs cause she could see her mum getting upset crying. The Bailiff refused to leave after being asked, I arrived at the property after coming out from work. i said to xxx how did bailiff get in and she said he pushed is way in with no defence at all from the bailiff. He said to me he wanted £900 now or he was going to remove good and put them in the back of van. xxxx and i was trying to contact all friends and family to raise the sum but couldnt do so, xxx managed to get hold of her mum and she said she could lend us £500 on the 7/2/2014 he said it wasnt good enough. and was writing on a pad which i now know, was a Notice of Seizure of Goods and Inventory. I then contacted Step Change a debt charity who we been dealing with over last 2 months and they said, it was illegal what the bailiff did and report him and the company for his and their action. Does anyone know if this is correct and what i can do about it please.

Hi there I logged into my account at 9am this morning to see a 150 pound direct came off my account but there was no money in my account . I just put 200 pound in my account there can someone tell me will my direct debit still go through or will it fail Thanks

hello. i wrote on here in June last year when i went for my esa medical which of course i failed and only got 6 points in. Today at long last i got a massive letter with all the previous letters i had sent them and it says on "if there will be an oral hearing they will tell you where and when it will be heard. I just am not sure what stage i am at. Is it now just going through to a decision maker? Just a little stressed out reading through some of the actual comments the "medical assessor" put if you can call her that at the time i went for the medical. I did also wonder if it did go to a hearing, would i have to attend? That scares me the most out of anything. Any help from someone who has been through and got the same kind of papers i got would be great. thank you all in advance.

It seems for purposes of this document, examination and assessment are interchangable. http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/130158/response/327490/attach/4/ESA%20Filework%20Guidelines%20V7%20Final.pdf Thanks to those A Beresford and the website whatdotheyknow for getting the info.

So, not sure if this is actually standard practice for paycheckcredit/MH but had bailiffs round to the door yesterday, no ccj, so no access. Again not sure if this is what this company normally does, but as they're about to lose their trading license it might be that they're getting desperate. Took out a £200 loan 3 months ago currently they're wanting in excess of 1 grand. I never thought they'd actually send guys round (can't see much about bailiff threat becoming reality this quickly on this forum) I have letters sent by recorded delivery informing them of my plans for DAS and prior to that arranging a payment plan/disputing charges, to which they "have no record of" FANtastic. Just giving you guys the heads up

Can anyone tell me the regulatory Act which regulated Moneylending before the CCA came into operation in '74 and point me to the Act itself? Thanks A1