I am a light sleeper and have been using ear plugs to bed for quite some time. 2 weeks ago, my boyfriend picked up some of Superdrugs own-brand earplugs, which are like a soft silicone putty. He wore a pair to a concert and gave me the remaining two pairs to use. Despite the box saying they are suitable for sleeping in, after the third night of wearing them, I found that I couldn't remove one of them. It turns out that the squishy silicone softened so much with my body heat that it slipped down into my ear canal, and adhered to my ear drum. It is nigh on impossible to get rid of due to its texture - it is soft and sticky and firmly attached to the inside of my ear. I have been in and out of hospital seeing specialist ear doctors for the past week, have had time off work and have been in constant pain for 8 days now. I am due to have a procedure under general anesthetic with the very real possibility that it will cause permanent damage to my ear drum - that is if it is not already damaged (they're not sure, they can't see the drum at the moment as it's covered in a layer of silicone). My question is, is there any action I can take against Superdrug? This is clearly a product that is not fit for purpose. The product was used exactly how the box directed and was not forced down into the ear in any way. From no fault of my own, I have lost earnings, am suffering daily and potentially will have to deal with damaged hearing for the rest of my life. How would I go about seeking compensation for this disaster? (Please move if not in correct forum, wasn't sure where to post)

Hi all, hope you can shed some insight into this situation for me! I'm currently abroad on holiday but received word from a friend minding my car that it had been seized by Newlyns in regards to a previous owner's fines. I've thankfully managed to have it released and it's currently at a friend's. I don't understand why they seized the vehicle, as when they encountered it, it was already in my name (i.e. I was the registered keeper) according to the DVLA. To the best of my knowledge, the registered keeper is the one responsible for any tickets, fines, etc., not the owner (unless it pertains to insurance matters) - is this correct? when I bought the car and the DVLA updated their records to show that I was the new registered keeper, shouldn't they have left the car alone? I understand that they may have suspected that the owner was the debtor, but doesn't a new registered keeper raise reasonable doubt? My friend took photos before driving away from the garage where the car was being stored and I can see clear damage to the vehicle. I have photographic evidence of the condition the vehicle was in before they seized it from a month earlier and witnesses who can attest that when they last saw the vehicle, it was in the same condition. My car is covered in scratches and dents, and they've managed to damage one of the front headlights as well as break some of the chassis under the car (can see a piece of metal sticking out). Once I return and see the car in person, I can make a full assessment of damage. I feel this is clearly on Newlyns and the city council they were collecting on behalf of to fix. I've filed complaints with both - once when the car was seized after it was already in my name and then I updated that complaint with the initial damage I noted. However, with the holiday season, I doubt I'll be hearing back soon. I was just wondering what my options were and how to best proceed. Should I expect that Newlyns and the city council won't easily agree to pay for damages? Should I notify my insurance (I also have legal cover), so that they can help me with this in case Newlyns and the council won't pay? I've also become a bit worried, as if they can take the car despite me being the registered keeper, is there anything I can do to check if other bailiff companies or councils are looking to collect on debts from a previous owner(s)? Thank you!

Hi This is from earlier this year but after seeing a lot of press around refunds I thought it was worth pursuing. My daughter had booked a flight with Flybe from our local airport Newquay to Gatwick to connect with a Malaysian airlines flight back to Australia. I dropped her off and she checked in. Her connecting flight was 1.35pm, so plenty of time to connect with the flight. The flight was meant to take off at 7.25am, but took off at 8.35am. It landed in Exeter as Gatwick airport was shut down due to fog. They sat around for 2 hours until they informed them that they had cancelled the flight and they would take them to Gatwick by coach. This journey took 5 hours. I called Malaysian airlines but I had to buy another flight. Flybe knew that Gatwick was closed and had they said that they couldn't get there we could have driven my daughter to Gatwick - it would have been a close call time wise but we could have made it. Can we get any compensation for this, any help much appreciated

A couple of weeks ago I had to call a locksmith out (from a call centre number). My key would not turn what appeared to be a jammed deadlock. Using airbags to partially hold open part of the door he used an angle grinder to try and cut through the deadlock but unfortunately the blade was too short by about 2mm. He then decided to use a hammer and chisel with a great amount of force for about 30 - 40 minutes. He aborted the job and I was left locked out. The next day another locksmith came round and used a paddle to hole part of the door open sufficiently enough for him to be able to drill through the lock and gain entry. Once in it was clear that there was quite a lot of damage caused to the UPVCS frame, the wooden frame and to the edge of the door. I complained to the first company who denied that their "engineer" used a hammer even though several of my neighbours signed to say that they had heard the hammering. They are denying responsibility saying " Firstly, I wish to clarify my point regarding the liability of any damaged caused. Each sub-contractor that works for us is required to have Public Liability Insurance to cover himself on jobs should accidental damage be caused. Therefore, if any damage was caused by our engineer Danny, then it would be the engineer personally liable for making further arrangements through his personal insurance. Naturally Keytek would assist as and where required should any of our locksmiths cause damage while on site. Surely my contract was between the Company and not the subcontractor they chose to appoint to the job. All helpful advice welcome. Thanks

Hi there, Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Long story short, brain surgery in Feb 2015. Got the all clear April 2016. 100% rehabilitation can take 3>5 years. My doctors advice re exercise keep trying every few months. Had a good relationship with the gym as had been a member for years prior to being ill. 2 x failed attempts (on a month by month contract) Then In July 2016 (2 months after all clear) went in to see about joining again. They had a great joining offer for 12 months contract. I talked at great length with the young girl 'Shona' who assured me if I did need to cancel, wouldn't be a problem. a low exercise regime commenced. Improvement was slow and steady. But tbh I was not happy with the cleanliness of the gym and my headaches started to come back. Admitted defeat in May of this year and cancelled the d/d. In truth I was too embarrassed to go in and cancel the gym yet again. As a result I have been hounded by phonecalls from Arc. I haven't had anything in writing from them but they keep leaving messages on my home phone, mobile and texting me demanding I call them. What should my first move be? Go to the gym, I should Imagine it's out of their hands now. Would be interested to hear your thoughts. Many thanks Chrissie k

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-4445214/What-really-caused-customer-service-meltdown-Vodafone.html?ito CAG hopes that Mr Jeffery listens and acts swiftly.

Hi, I've recently had a letter from robinson way, offering to close my account and to record partially satisfied. Ideally I'd like the default completely removed. I'd like to know if this is even possible, or is it a waste of my time trying to negotiate this with them? Thanks!

Hi all, Hope this is the right place for this. My partner recently picked up some weekly contact lenses from Boots. she wears them frequently, but her normal order had not arrived so she had to pick up a pair to tide her over from the store. almost immediately after she put them in, her vision began to go blurry and her eye felt discomfort. The Boots staff at the store were awful. first they wanted her to wait to see the optometrist, until she made a fuss, when it turned out one was free, then she had to ask three times for them to rinse her eye. Finally they sent her to Moorfield eye hospital, but didn't send anyone with her. She spent several hours in the Moorfields A&E, where the staff were shocked that her eye hadn't been rinsed sooner and more extensively. By this point she was in agony too. So the upshot was she had blurry vision and severe pain for a few days, had to spend the evening at Moorfield's A&E and had to take a hotel for 2 nights as her vision was too poor to take the train home. To be fair, after first saying they would only reimburse her taxi costs, boots did reimburse the hotel and medication costs too. Now, the problem is, after doing some research, we found that these lenses, made for Boots by Coopervision, had a similar issue a few years ago, where they were contaminated with silicon oil, causing horrific injuries for some people and leading to a recall. As my partner put the lenses in in the shop, she didn't keep the cases for them and allegedly neither did the shop, which seems like it ought to be included in some sort of protocol. Anyway, the reason we're here is 1.) Has anyone heard of, or is there somewhere that might know, if there are other recent cases like this? Our primary concern is that no one else suffers due to Boots' inadequate response. 2.) My partner isn't sure if she still has the lenses, but if she does they are in a fresh contact lens holder with fresh saline solution. I appreciate this would have diluted any contaminate, but is it possible, if she can find them, to have the lenses tested, perhaps with a Mass spectrometer, to see what the contaminant was? 3.) this si the most minor concern, but should we and could we seek any compensation from boots? We've accepted reimbursment for our out of pocket expenses - the taxi, hotel and medication, but all of our communication was without prejudice and we stressed that we weren't accepting this in full and final settlement. I know the impact didn't last very long, but she was in agony, terrified of losing her vision, had to spend the evening in Moorfields and was supposed to be chaperoning me following a medical procedure I had had earlier that day that involved sedation. And now, as someone who wears contacts frequently, she is very nervous about wearing new pairs. Thanks for your help

I was/is on SEETEC, but my doctor told them that I was travel sick, they've given me 3 sets of tablets to help me. I do 9-5 job search which is 5 days a week, Thursday and Friday I go to a city 45 minutes away via bus. They knew I was travel sick, but ignored the doctor's note, I wasn't well. On Monday I was ill and kept retching, I told the receptionist that I felt ill but had to wait for the manager. Well, she came back and told me I had to stay at tehe centre till 5pm, it was 12.30 and my stomach wa shurting and I felt sick. So I walked out and had a doctor's appt and he gave me the 7 day sick not which has ran out. Because I have now got the month long one I can sign off JSA and onto ESA.. I'll ring them on Monday, but I don't understand if I have to continue with the job search or ring SEETEC to tell them I won't be in. I will on Monday as they need a copy of my sick note. Can anyone help me? The doctor wrote down anxiety as cause for me being off sick. He also said this place is stressing me out and making me ill. I would gladly get myself a volunteering placement myself.

Hello all, A good friend of mine has been given notice of eviction by his landlady after he complained about her workmen damaging some of his possessions and holding her liable for the cost. He is now unsure of how to go about following up if she refuses to compensate him. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance!

Hi I've recently had some work done on my car which has resulted in considerable damage being caused by the company who did it. The work was to vinyl wrap parts of the car, however the person who performed the work was negligent and has caused considerable slits in all of the window seals, they no longer fit properly, and now need replacing. It was not a garage, but a specialist who does window tinting, vehicle graphics and vinyl wrap services. I have sent him photos and he is willing to "take a look" (on Friday) however there is no way they can be repaired and will require replacing. With labour the cost will be around £1000 pounds having had estimates already over the phone. The actually work itself was just over £100. (Paid by card). (The car is pretty expensive). Am I able to make a claim on my credit card for cost to repair the damage? It's unclear if they are a sole trader or not. Thanks.

Hi Not sure if i have come to the correct group for this. I bought a tumble dryer from hoover 6 months ago and something went wrong with it last week so i called out an engineer. After taking the whole dryer apart the engineer discovered the problem and ordered a part. When the engineer left i noticed a lot of deep big scratces along the sides of the dryer which wasnt there before, my dryer is stand alone and doesnt touch any sides so it couldnt be scratched any other way. the enginner didnt use blankets or anything and i have a tiled floor which would easily scratch a shiney black surface. I wrote a letter to complain and someone came to take photos of the dryer. I got an email back today to say that they ask the customers to pull thier own appliances out so there is no damage caused by the engineer and basically fobbed me off. I have written back to them asking when did they ask me to pull out my own dryer and also do they ask the customer to take thier appliances apart as well, its a ridicuals answer to my complaint. Is there anything else i can do? Im quite upset that i can spend so much on a dryer and they cause the damage and i have to just put up and shut up. Thanks

So this is an unsual one on behalf of my sisters boyfriend. Recently, he left his job because he found better employment elsewhere. The job he was in required a months notice. He advised his employers on the Thursday that he would be leaving on the Friday-not 4 weeks notice, but his new job started the following Monday, and quite frankly, its a fact of life that sometimes your new job means you cant work your notice. Unfortunate, but sometimes unavoidable. He told the secretary, who advised that the boss would not be happy, and indeed he was not. He told the person in question to "f**k off and leave now). So basically, he was instructed to leave the premesis by the boss, who had taken offence. I think my sisters boyfriend was quite expecting them to refuse to pay him, because he hadnt worked his notice. I also think he was prepared to accept that as the price of getting out of a job he didnt like, as he would be getting paid from his new job and wouldnt be any worse off for that month. However it hasnt worked out like that. The previous employer, who has never been the mostpleasant of employers, has sent him a letter demanding around £1000 for a previous incident. A response was written politely declining to pay this money, and since then a letter has been sent by the companies solicitor giving the person in question 7 days to pay, or else face court action. The issue is however, that the £2000 he is requesting, is related to an incident that happened during his employment that bares some detailed description. Prior to Christmas last year, my sisters boyfriend was using a piece of machinery that caused damage to company property. The company said to their employee that he should pay £600 (30% of the repair costs), and they would pay the rest, rather than going through the companies public liability insurance. The alternative was that the company would claim, and they would charge their employee the £2000 excess fee. Naively perhaps, he agreed to this, because it was just before Christmas and didnt want to rock the boat and possibly lose his job. He undoubtedly felt pressured into this and agreed arguably under duress. However, this strikes me as extremely dubious practice by the employer? Surely they have public liability insurance for precisely these kind of accidents, and surely they cannot justifiably demand their employees pay the excesses of their own insurance claims? Regardless, this is what they did, and the full £2000 is apparently what the former employer is rather vindictively demanding back, seemingly out of nothing but spiteful annoyance that he didnt work his notice. If this was to end up in a small claims court, would it stand up? Would my sisters boyfriend have a reasonable case to counter-claim against the company for pressuring him into paying even the £600 when they should have gone through their public liability insurance? How do you suggest he responds to this? Thanks

Hi Guys, I had some guttering repaired last year, albeit a shoddy job, as I have now found out. We had noticed that the outside wall seemed to be getting wetter and upon further inspection by a friend, we have realised that instead of informing me that the guttering section was fitted incorrectly by previous workmen ( the section is roughly 1 inch lower than the joining section ) they just carried out a poor repair. This has now resulted in the guttering collecting water and it has been running down inside the cavity, causing damp to now appear on our interior walls. I have removed as much of the so called repair so that the water can run out of the gutter and drip away instead of causing further damage. I am now unsure as to who I approach to get the problem rectified, the workmen or my insurers

We renovated our bathroom 4 years ago and had a bath tub and shower screen fitted as part of the work. It was bought from an online store (with an actual high street store behind it). It had a good reputation/feedback, so I was confident in buying from them. We have used the bath/shower for the last 4 years until a couple of days ago. While bathing my 3 year old son, the shower screen dropped without warning. The impact of the falling shower screen was on my face - I had a bruised cheek and broken glasses (glasses on my face to see with, not the shower screen glass). I caught it in time before it hit my son, so we were relieved that he was ok. After assessing the shower screen and the wall fitting it was secured to, I saw that the hinge had snapped and a piece had broken clean off. It is made of plastic and I wasn't expecting it to fail after 4 years (or ever). The shower and everything else in the bathroom has been well taken care of and only cleaned with standard domestic cleaners (nothing harsh or likely to corrode any of our bathroom fittings). There should be no reason for a plastic part to be used in a safety critical item and there was no indication that any part was about to fail. I contacted the retailer and sent them pictures of the faulty hinge/fitting. They responded by escalating the matter to the manufacturer, who has stated that they will send a replacement set of hinges. I have asked them for their assurance that the replacements will not fail - I want to be confident that my family is not put at risk again. Should I accept this as the end of the matter? I suffered an injury (that I will get over) - but what about my broken glasses? Do I have any claim against the retailer and/or manufacturer for the loss?

Bit of an odd one. I park my car alongside a newly converted business residential property. They have been leaving the 8ft x 10 ft heavy steel gate open un-secured. We place a big cone between the gate opening and the side of my vehicle but they have removed it. In the recent wind, the unsecured gate has swung the full length wide open and smashed into the side of my vehicle causing a big dent the whole length of the door, luckily not smashing the glass. There was no-one in the property today so we left a note on the glass door for them to call us asap (no call!). We also put a big stack of cones back in between the gate/car to buffer any more hits and tried to close the gate shut but there is no fixing, only a chain and padlock, which was locked on itself. This has been going on an hour, so we rang the council to complain about the noise etc. An official come out at the same time as a man who resides there returned home. When he returned, he tried to remove the cones we placed alongside our car. We quickly went out to speak with him and leave them there and highlighted the damage, he said " its nothing to do with him " (even though he lives there and re-secured the gate). The council man told them to secure the gate which he did but could not help us with the car. The police said it was not a criminal matter either. We cannot move the car to another space as it is very limited residential and that is our only place. The car is also up for sale but this has now caused the value to drop considerably and we cannot afford to repair it or can we now sell it with this damage. What can we do?

My car is insured with Hastings Direct. It was damaged in storms at Christmas whilst parked overnight and then bodge repaired on my insurance by Hastings approved repairer RGM Bodyworks of Haverfordwest Pembrokeshire. The repairs were so bad that Hastings had to send out their own independent engineer form AIA Independant Assesors who agreed with another bodyshop that RGM have caused £3000 worth of damage to my car which has actually written my car off as I only paid £4100 for it a few months ago. Now Hastings claims dept and the repair agent Fleet Accident Repair Group ( FARG as they like to be known) are doing everything to delay and bully me from getting justice and my car repaired. The bodywork and paintwork is so badly repaired that their engineer states it in his report which I have managed out get out of them. We have a disabled child and our car is now useless to us, we have to depend on friends to get our child to hospital and appointments etc now. I recommend that you stay well clear of Hastings Direct and their agents FARG as they are totally useless and a rip off. You get treated like you are something they have trod in on the street.

My son got himself into difficulties and set up a Debt Management Plan with Kensington Financial Management Consultants, or so he thought. He lives in another Country from me so I have to send all of his mail to him. He now has a CCJ against him from a Company called Close Bros Military Services. According to them, he has not been paying them any money and they do not have a Debt Management Plan with Kensington. I contacted Kensington as I now have authority to discuss my son's account with them. They informed me that they have been receiving money from my son regularly and have been sending it to Close Premium Finance with a slightly different Ref No. I informed them that this is the wrong Company and a slightly different Ref No. Kensington have said that they would reclaim the money sent to the wrong company and send it to the correct company after setting up a fresh DMP. They have also promised to look into the matter and inform me what went wrong. Now, I feel that if Kensington have messed up big time, they should offer some kind of compensation for the damage and inconvenience caused by their mistake. As my son uses my address for his correspondence, his CCJ may affect my credit rating as well as his own, as my son may now be connected to me. How would I go about claiming damages from Kensington? Also, can I have the CCJ removed from the Credit Reference Agencies as it was not my son's fault?

On Sunday afternoon, a very good friend lost his wife. (I only knew her slightly, so am upset for my friend and his children). She was 27, and they have 8 children from 13 down to one year. She felt ill in August 2013, with swollen neck glands and extremely sore throat. The GP told her she had a throat infection and would be fine in a week. No anti-biotics. In September she went back as she was worse. Told the same. She then had a period of feeling slightly better. Come November, bad again, back to the GP, still no help. She got through Xmas somehow, seemed to pick up slightly again, although this was probably the whole Xmas thing with the children that cheered her. Bad again, and now whole head swelling up, so hubbie took her straight to hospital. Diagnosed with cancer (not sure but believed to be a Hodgekins type thing in the lymph nodes?) and given a week to live. End of story, charming. Children had to be told last night and I'm sure you can imagine that. Now, I know the poor man is in complete shock, disbelief and disarray and that right this minute is not the time to be thinking about legal action, and this I have told him. But, when he is on some sort of keel again (I doubt if it will ever be an even one again) he wishes to pursue this if for no other reason than discovering what the hell went wrong here. So, can anyone point me in the direction of anything I can read up about on this sort of thing, where to get medical records, info etc, so that when the question arises in the future, I can point him in the right direction? Or even, just where does one start? Many thanks to you all.

I moved out of a property a month ago and I have been in discussion with my former agent about some damage in the back garden which was caused by my neighbours (there is communal access). I heard today that my landlord is attempting to charge me for this damage through the deposit - is that allowable? I have verbal confirmations from both neighbours as to what they did and could ask for written statements. The damage is evident from the inventory and he now wants to charge me £350 more than the deposit I paid. The agent is being as helpful as possible and it is likely it will go through the Deposit Protection Dispute Service but I am at a loss to know what else to do and whether it is even possible that he can do this. Thanks for any thoughts.

Hi, I have a question relating to TUPE and wonder if anyone can help. My husband worked as a contractor for a large IT company through a third party: the company who had been awarded the contract to supply staff to the IT Company. He was paid by the third party company, not the IT company for whom he indirectly worked. Some of the employees who worked through the third party company (the "Agency") were permanent employees, but the majority worked as contractors, as in my husband's case. A few years down the line, the IT company put the contract out to tender again. The contract was awarded to a different company (Agency, for want of a better word) who would now be supplying staff to the IT company, as the previous third party company had now, of course, lost the contract. The new Agency Tuped over the existing members of staff who were the permanent employees (though it's important to remember that these permanent employees did not, at any time, work dirctly for the IT Company (the customer) - they worked indirectly through the previous Agency (contract holder who supplieid the staff). My husband, and some of his colleagues, whilst doing exactly the same job as the permanent members of staff, were offered the opportunity to also keep their jobs (so in other words, the exact same role that they had previously been carrying out) but at a vastly reduced rate - around £12,000 p.a. less. They are now also permanent employees of the "Agency." The staff being tuped, of course, remained on their old salaries and I believe have also been receiving regular pay increases since. Previously, although some members of staff working for the agency had been permanent and some contractors, they were on the same rate of pay, as they were all doing exactly the same job. However, several years down the line, my husband and a few of his colleagues are still on the same low wage and the tuped employees are sitting next to them, doing identical jobs (this isn't a case where anyone could justify that the roles differ slightly etc - they are the exact same roles, and they do the exact same job, with the exact job title, earning at least £12-15,000 a year more, possibly more now, due to the pay rises it is believed they have received). Also, my husband is better qualified than the members of staff earning the higher amounts- both in terms of his educational background and also due to training he has since carried out at the request of the employer, which the TUPEd members of staff have no interest in doing, even though the employer would like all staff to achieve the additional qualifications. However, despite achieving these qualifications at the employers request, there has been no payrise, no incentive at all. Obviously, this is a very unfair situation, where two people doing the exact same job can have such a vast difference between their earnings. My husband has not received any pay increases (even in line with inflation) and therefore each new year is running at a loss. He has applied for a lot of jobs elsewhere, but there just isn't anything much around and his other colleagues, also on the lower wage have obviously found this to be the case also. We find it very difficult to manage on my husband's salary and I can't see how this isn't discriminatory, when one employee and another (it is at least three years since the higher earners were TUPED) are earning completely different amounts for identical jobs. Was Tupe even relevant in this case, as the permanent employees worked for an agency who lost the contract. The contract was awarded to a new agency, but would they, in this sitation, be required to tupe over employees from the previous agency, who merely supplied staff to the "customer" - the IT company. Do we have any legal comeback with regards to this? Many thanks, Magda

Hi Folks, Feb 2012 water appears in my back dining room and I make contact immediately with insurance company. Im advised my policy does not cover "locate and search" so I get a plumber who states that the problem is my neighbour. I contact my neighbour who says he will contact his insurnace company. Neighbour keeps putting me off for 2 months and then he moves out of house. House is no derelect. My insurance company instruct builders to dry out my house and fix everything. Walls taken back to brick and Im advised that my floor boards are not covered? Water company eventually get warrant and disconnect my neighbout from the mains supply. I now wish to claim of my neighbout for time off work, money I had to pay plumber, and all out of pocket expenses. The company doing the work on behalf of insurance company - have advised they can not dry my house any longer as neighbours house still an issue. They want me to write to them advsing them Im aware they cant dry out any longer. So in short I want to claim all my out of pocket expenses from my neighbour. Can anyone please help me putting a letter together so I can sent to him. also any direction would be appreciated. Thanks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18719962

I have an account with ISME and have made regular payments to that account via online bank account with no problems until June. I made the payment through the 'faster payments' process and my bank have confirmed that this has left my account and it should have arrived at ISME account within 2 hours. However, ISME have been sending me text messages and calling my homeline chasing payment, and I have explained that the mistake is not with me. I placed a small order last night and by accident today, I find they will not release my order due to the missing payment. I have spoken with their so called 'customer services' department today only to now be told that their bank Nat West have had glitches with it's system and all payments made in June have been lost in transit!!! They have tried to tell me that whatever effect it may have on my credit report, they will reverse it asap. I have a sqeaky clean credit file and to add insult to injury - they have applied a DEFAULT CHARGE to my account until the mess is sorted and no further orders can be processed either. When I asked what compensation would be provided she said, we will reverse the charges and your credit file will be right, what do you want compensation for? Apart from anything else, they have lost my custom. Any thoughts peeps? Shelley