Hi, I purchased a hot water cylinder back in march and it has developed a leak. I contacted the manufacturer and I have been told that I need to return it to the retailer and they will send it to the manufacturer. I have also been told I will need to pay for a replacement while the leaking cylinder is being checked for faults, if a fault is found I will get a refund back to me. I'm not very happy about having to pay for another while I wait for them to decide if there is even a fault on the leaking one. I would have expected someone from the manufacturer to come and inspect it. Does anyone have any advice as to what rights I have regarding this situation? Thanks

I had repair or replace insurance on an American style fridge freezer with d&g and had to have it replaced they replaced it with one from hot point and gave me one with water and ice which was a bonus however I had to pay £79.00 for delivery and install and I asked if that was a complete install and was told yes! I phoned hotpoint to book a time and was told it was a special team that had to book it as it was an American style unit I spoke with them and confirmed again it was a full install again I was told yes. Imagine then to my dismay that when it was delivered the delivery guy said they couldn't install it as there was supposed to already be a tap plumbed in to attach it to no one hade ever mentioned this I was furious but hotpoint stated I should have known this ( I'm not an engineer how was I supposed to know )I had to pay a plumber £80.00 pound to install it . However the fridge then died the next day and ruined all my food I had to fight to get a replacement as they couldn't get me an engineer to assess it for 5 weeks what a joke. They came to replace after much arguing and lo and behold when the moved the fridge out there was a large tear in my flooring underneath which wasn't there before they delivered the first fridge they then proceeded to drag the fridge across my flooring putting to long and deep dents across my kitchen diner floor. I called them about it and had to get an engineer as the second replacement fridge handle came off in my hand I was assured that the engineer would also inspect the floor damage when he attended and we could resolve that issue. The engineer arrived and when I asked him to inspect the floor as per customer services instructions and he laughed and said it wasn't his his job to do that and customer services at hotpoint were always saying stuff like that to get people off the phone I called customer services furious and was told to email my complaint in writing and the escalation department would deal with it that was six weeks ago and still no phone call I emailed again 3 weeks ago and received a reply from an alleged customer service director apologising and stating that someone would contact me shortly I am at my wits end as still have had no call my flooring covers a large kitchen/ dining area and will be expensive to replace can anyone advise me or point me in the right direction of what my options are to force them to resolve this as I am at a loss any help would be gratefully appreciated I Would certainly not recommend a hotpoint product to anyone and I would never buy from them again as their customer service department are a comple and utter joke

On 18th April I had a new washing machine delivered. As soon as the men left, I tried it out. The washing boiled and I scalded my fingers when I tired to remove it. Immediately I contacted Currys by email. I expected them to send the men straight back, but they did not, and a seven month long battle began. Indesit sent an engineer on 6/9 who told me the machine was working perfectly and the fault was mine. When I heard that, I suggested then that perhaps the machine had been connected to the hot water. Without even checking he said it was not. He told me that he had a good mind to make me pay for the visit as there was nothing wrong. He walked out while I was talking to him. When he left I put it on again, first cottons, then wool at 20 degrees. I sat at the computer while it was washing, and the boiler fired up. The boiler feeds the radiators and the wet room and the washing machine, and since only the washing machine was on, it was clearly connected. I posted on Indesit Face Book page. They told me that their engineer had made his report, which they believed, and that if I posted again I would be banned. After another battle they eventually sent a senior engineer today 27/10 who finally admitted that the machine had indeed been plumbed into the washing machine. I have to thank the CAB for monitoring the situation. It has been so stressful it hardly seems possible that someone can complain, and clothes ruined and they would not return, and I believe the visit today was because I started to list the costs involved, like their paying the difference in gas used from last year. Todays visit was by a senior Indesit engineer . Last Friday, however was not so good. The person they sent had no English, no identification, no job sheet and no tool kit. He could not understand what I said. He got his 'boss' on the phone and gave it to me. I spoke to the 'boss' and asked him if he would explain the job to the young man because he could not understand English. The 'boss' said he did not know the job either and expected me to explain . I was so nervous I threatened to call the police, because I really thought they were making a fool of me . At the he ended the call and the young man left. That is unpardonable.

If you use electric immersion for your hot water tank, then you will probably have a time switch on it so it uses off peak night rate. This is much cheaper than using your gas boiler. But your hot tank may only have old style insulation, even the spray on foam used by manufacturers is inadequate. I found that by wrapping an additional 6" thick layer fibreglass wool around the tank and taping it up with plastic sheeting made a big difference. How did I know - the difference in temperature drop through out the day, given no usage. I was also able to reduce the thermostat to 40C (much less heat loss than say 65C) which made improvements (take a shower directly without diluting with cold water). For tight areas, use a loose vermiculite, which you can pour down the back of the cylinder. Worked for me:smile:

Hello, I would be very grateful for any advice. I live in an apartment building and we have a different supplier for our water and hot water services. The hot water supplier is SWEnergy and they were chosen by the building management and I had no choice but to deal with them. My account has always been up to date with them this far. I received a new bill from them on the 5th of September for £73.99 along with a letter asking me to provide them with an updated meter reading as there was a problem with their automatic computer systems due to a thunderstorm. My bill for the previous month was 81.89 and I paid 100 (I pay manually via bank transfer) and the excess 18 pounds wasn't mentioned in the bill. So I emailed them with image for the meter reading and queried the over payment I made on the same day (07/09). I didn't hear from them and then on the 16th I got another notice for them for payment overdue along with the new bill. The meter reading on the bill was estimated and it was far higher than the meter reading image I had sent earlier. So I wrote back to them yet again, including scans of all the documents and the meter reading yet again . The actual meter reading was 18585 while the bill mentioned current estimated read at 18892 and previous estimated reading at 18637. I pointed this out in the email and asked them to get back to me with the correct amount so that I could pay. Today I came home to find a notice of disconnection. I had previously copied in my estate agents into all the emails, and when I called them, all they said was that they cannot do anything about the issue and the company is a major pain to deal with. They gave me a customer service email which I have written to yet again. I am due to fly out to the USA on the 24th of this month to join my wife as are expecting our first baby and this is not something I wish to be constantly worrying about till I am back which is the 28th of October. They gave me a disconnection date of 6th of October and they do not need access to the property as all the mains are located in communal area. Apart from calling them (and being held on queue for hours) or emailing them - is there anything else I can do at all? I would be very grateful for any advice. Thanks in advance. Alex

Hello, I bought a hot air hair styler from Argos a few days ago. When I tried to use it, it was awkward to use and didn't curl my hair as it was supposed to to ( it said that the large roller could be used to produce curls at the ends of the locks of hair, but it didn't curl my hair). Also the attachments were difficult to change( you are supposed to push the attachment in, then twist it to secure it, but this was very difficult) .All in all, I was disappointed with the styler, as it didn't do what I thought it would do(i.e. curl the ends of my hair). In fact, none of the attachments worked well and it left me wondering if anyone else was satisfied with it. I tried it again the next day, just to satisfy myself that it wasn't just me having a bad day, but again found that the hair styler was difficult to use and mostly ineffective. I decided to take it back. I thought I would say that I had made a mistake and bought the wrong hair styler, rather than tell the staff at Argos that I was disappointed with it, as I thought that they would accept that reason more readily. However, they refused to give me my money back because I had removed the 'hygiene seal' ( the plastic bag that contained all the different parts of the hair styler). They told me that as it had been opened, they could not resell that item. It did say on the bag 'do not remove unless you intend to keep the item', but I didn't notice that. I argued saying that how was anyone to know what the hair styler was like without opening the 'hygiene seal', but they told me that I could have had a look at the product out of the packaging if I had asked to do so before I bought it. I didn't know that either, but even if I had, I probably wouldn't have asked to see the styler, because I assumed it would work effectively. In the instruction booklet, it says 'remove all of the packaging and keep it safe until you are satisfied with your product'. To me that implies that if you are not satisfied with your product, you can pack it up again and take it back. So I now have a hair styler that I don't want and am £22.99 worse off. Does anyone know any way I can get my money back?

Hi please can someone help. I recently got a letter from a debt collecting agency on the 4th dec acting on behalf of PCM UK LTD (parking control management uk ltd) for £160. they say they used a tracing service to find the address we currently live at and that parking control management representing a private landowner had sent a PCN dated the 19 October to my old address for the original amount. (we cannot find this original PCN at the old address even though we regularly retrieve our old mail) We contacted the debt collection agency who say our chance to appeal is now gone as we did not respond to the original notice at the time. PCM have a website where you can put in the claim reference number and car reg. it shows photographic evidence of my car not parked strictly within the confines of the parking bay (i.e outside of the white line potentially causing obstruction) I was only there for 3 minutes max. There are no charges for parking there as your allowed 20 minutes. First question is- what can I do if I did not receive the original notice? how can they prove they sent it to me? after viewing the photographic evidence online and reading the parking notice on the lamppost it says that the fine will be £50 if paid within 14 days going up to £100 after. (now its £160 via the debt agency) Can you only appeal in the first 28 days ? Is the fee they are asking excessive ? The car is registered in my name but I was not the driver of the vehicle my partner was. Many thanks for your help

so i have had the gas disconnected permanently because the standing charge has got too expensive, i still have a water supply and electricity, how can i make 100 litres of 40 degree hot water in 20 minutes? i cant change the instant gas water heater thats screwed on the wall to an electric one bcause i dont own the property

Hi there. Writing this on behalf of a friend who is experiencing problems with her letting agents (who operate on behalf of private landlord). Basically has not had hot water for 3 months since she reported it in November 2013. She does however get hot water from the shower. She was finally able to get hot water today but because the water tank is so small she had to heat it twice as she wanted to run a bath. (not enough hot water for the bath) She asked her letting agents if she was due any compensation for being without hot water for such a long time despite her phoning them about it multiple times. She was told that she had hot water via the shower so no compensation is due. Is this true? (Shes based in Scotland if this makes any difference) Another thing the letting agents do is let workmen etc into my friend's flat without letting her know....i thought that they had to give notice of this? thanks for any help

I am one of 4 adults living in a house provided by Birmingham City Council. I hope you can help Almost 3 weeks ago our combi-boiler broke leaving us without central heating or hot water. The council attended promptly after reporting it (but beyond their 24 hour promised call out) and said that a total replacement would be advised. The boiler has been fixed on average 3 times a year ever since it was fitted and is in a terrible state. After many phone calls, failed promised visits, we are still without heating. They claimed they have to fit scaffolding before a replacement could be executed, but they have not turned up on the two promised days to fit it. As far as we know, no scaffolding means no boiler. The council have said that the job will be done by 3rd Feb which means we will be over a month without heating and hot water. They gave us two tiny fan heaters to heat a 3 bedroom home. Our house is on a meter and one room consumed £7 of electric in a 14 hour period. Heating water via kettles and pans to wash in a bowl with a jug is costing us dearly and my mother is becoming ill and depressed thanks to arguing with the council in a bid for cooperation. We are becoming quite desperate. We are a working household and the council promise to call before turning up without notice, they fail to call leaving us to come home to 'We missed you notes'. They threaten to charge a £40 call out fee should we not be there when they visit without notice. If we take days off work, they don't turn up. They have ZERO comprehension of how much this is costing us. We have no date for repair and are becoming quite distressed. One occupant in the house has a heart complaint, the other diabetes. We have contacted the higher management of Morrissons (the company who do the councils boiler repairs), the council, and our local MP, we are getting nowhere. How do we sort this. Can we be compensated for the electricity? Should we have to pay full rent for no hot water or heating for a month? Thankyou NB: The council told us that a partial repair had been noted at our home on the boiler. This is lie. When confronted the council worker said that he actually didn't do a partial but posted a 'Missed' note through our door - he did not. We feel our home is being used to process claims for repairs that are not happening. Another visit at 9.30 in the morning was logged as an 'out of hours visit' according to the council. We are not receiving the service that they think we are.

Hi all, We are in quite a sticky situation that I hope someone here can advise on. We moved into an old house 12 months ago that has a fully electric heating and immersion hot water system. The hot water cylinder is a very old copper tank that is about 4feet tall. It has very little/thin original insulation. In October last year we complained to the letting agency that the water was taking 3 hours to heat and wasn't staying hot. She advised us that the insulation was not the landlords responsibility and that we would have to install our own insulation jacket. I challenged that opinion and they sent someone around to fit a jacket themselves. Early this year the duel immersion failed and the longer element that heats the full tank wasn't working, so that we only get hot water from the top half of the tank. To cut a long story short, the letting agent has sent 3 separate electricians from the same firm out to check it over and all three electricians have said the tank is long passed its sell by date and that it really needs to be replaced for a more modern tank. I have had a response from the letting agent today to say the electricians are not qualified to make that assessment and that their plumber has already offered costs to the landlord who has confirmed they will not replace the tank as it is not 'essential'. We are a family of 2 adults and 4 children and live in Scotland. So it seems we are being told to 'like it or lump it'.... Does anyone know how we stand regarding the hot water system? Is the landlord within their rights to say that heating the top 12 inches of the tank is acceptable? We are really sick about this....

Hello all, My partner and I are living in a private rented property which has now been without hot water (not even warm) for just under two months. We have incurred great expense of having to travel to relatives for our weekly bath/shower and also costs associated with continually boiling kettles for hair washing etc. Now, the problem is that our landlord has messed us (and others) about something chronic. My partner has lost days at work and I myself could well do without the stress at the moment as I am dealing with bipolar. I have spoken to my family and things have gotten to a stage where I now want to take my landlord to court for damages. I believe that the amount of time that he has taken to resolve this matter is outrageous (particularly given the time of year). This matter has made the property unihabitable. What is everyone's opinion on the idea of legal action? Many thanks, timetoshine

basically as the title says folks. i am with a local housing association called home housing.. currently residing in durham. this has went on for 11 days what can i do?! thanks in advance rikki

New rules come into force today,following campaigns to axe the proposed "Pastie Tax" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19731923

Hi, I am private tenant living in rented flat. I had my short term lease starting Dec 2011. Since december there was no heat and hot water in the aprtment. I sent many reminder to landlord but he did seem bit intrested in fixing anything. After 2 months, in march 4th, I sent him communication regarding moving out due to these issue and his failure to address the same. He came in couple of days without any information in my absense. My family (Wife and children) were at home. Now, he emailed me that it was my fault that I didn't turned on few switches . Meanwhile, I had already given advance deposit to new place where I was plannig to shift. I went ahead with my move. He has claimed my full deposit as rent due to lease break and now filed a case for damages repair against me. What are my options here? Can I sue him for unavailability of essential utilities. Also, he topup deposit from advance rent cheque against written agreement. Written agrement stated for 1 month deposit but he topped up for 2 stating that flat was untidy.