I moved to the UK after 15 years in Asia, before I moved to my new home in the outer Hebrides I went to Carphone Warehouse to get a phone and contract, I wanted a good contract so I could continue to run my companies in Asia, that would require a good signal. I gave the guy in the shop the postcode of my new address, told him that I would be moving in there in three weeks time or so - once I had got my affairs in order. He told me that the best contract was the unlimited Vodaphone 4G deal, all the bandwidth I needed and yes, signal is good at my address. when I got to my new house some weeks later guess what? Thats right, no data signal whatsoever. I fact the phone signal is patchy at best. I contacted vodafone who tried to help me, suggesting signal boosters and telling me that they were sure to improve the signal in the coming months/years but I told them that I wanted to change to another tarrif. They took a week or two to get back to me and simply said that since Carpghone warehouse had sold me the contract I would have to talk to them. CW simply told me that since 2 weeks had passed since I signed the contract I could not change it, end of conversation. Now why am I paying for a service that I cannot access? Why am I not allowed to change it? Surely I cannot be the first person that this happened to. If it was Vodafone I could go to the ombudsman but it isnt its Carphone Warehouse.

Hi All Wondering if I could get some advice from people who have possibly be successful with a query with Tesco affecting their credit file? The long and short of it - plus from what I can remember it was a while ago! I had a mobile phone contract with Tesco in 2012 and cancelled during the 30 day period, I returned the phone to store (where I had taken the phone out) as it was freezing a lot and I wasn't getting on with it. I had to pay the first month upfront so when I returned it the guy in the store the guy helped me transfer numbers across and said 'that's it - nothing more for you to do'. As it was over the Christmas period I forgot about the money owed back to me and rang up to Tesco, they told me it would be with me within 30 days normally and I didn't think twice about it until a few weeks later I hadn't heard anything and rang up to query where the money was. I spoke to C/Services who told me I actually owed them money! I explained that I was advised I could cancel within the 30 day period with no commitments however was told by this person on the phone I owed them for internet usage and wasn't going to be getting the money back either!! I hadn't had any letters up until this point. Over the next few weeks I had several heated discussions with the customer services team and the in store staff but no-one helped. In the end, I lost my rag decided to speak to a manager who agreed that if I paid the money, they would issue it back to me as a refund immediately because of the wrong information given to me and that they had listened to some calls of mine and their call centres. I have now gone to apply for a new mortgage in line with moving home and have now been advised that I have a poor credit rating so cannot benefit from a good rate - checking Equifax it appears Tesco have put me down a 'serious default' - I am so angry as this is the only thing on my credit record affecting it and is has caused me to go from a 10% mortgage to a 20% which is 18k! Any help much appreciated on the next steps to try and challenge this! Thanks K

Hi, I have been mis-sold energy contracts twice now by Npower, now. The energy Ombudsman have no legal training and don't even seem to have an obligation to adhere to Consumer Protection Act, Distance Selling regulations or even the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. But more of that later. Unfortunately UK's implementation of the associated EU Directives does not provide for compensation to be paid out to the consumers. Npower has been applying for WoE twice now and failed but they are going for it for a third time. They won't make a claim for the so called out standing invoices because they know that I would defend it & force them to recalculate my invoice according to the offer and not the contract which I did not sign because it was fundamentally different to the offer I accepted on the phone. They have switched me back to their standard "tariff" instead of the low income tariff that I had initially negotiated for thereby denying me even warm home subsidies. I have asked for and they won't let me switch supplier until I pay the the extortionate invoices which include costs of the failed applications for WoE. Can some one tell me what remedy I can claim for through the county court because to be honest neither OFT or Ofgem have even bothered to come back and ask for my evidence: The transcription of my telephone conversation with Npower recorded by myself which seems different to the one the Ombudsman has based its ruling. However I have now managed to obtain a second transcription under SAR which confirms to my own recording and not the Ombudsman's claim. By the way if anyone thinks that any of the Ombudsman are impartial or independent then they my must be living some where different to me. I have had dealings with most of them either for my own cases or on behalf of members of my family. They are all corrupt to the core but are accountable to no one. Once I took BT to court for my sister for a bogus sale of £975.00 when the Ombudsman had ruled that my sister should pay it and we won loss of income of over £3,000.00 plus all the outstanding invoices that were written off. From what I have gathered the only thing I can claim is for the difference between what I should have paid and what I have been invoiced through the small claim court but calculating that is a tasks worthy of payment in itself. I have spent almost a year on this and I find the remedies totally inadequate. If I am going to go through a legal proceeding which took almost a year last time and hundreds of pager of witness statement then I want to get the cost of my time back at least but this is not possible in small claim courts. I can claim for damages but they are difficult to quantify. It seems that under Eu Directive I should be able to claim for my time and emotional distress caused by Npower's outrageous behaviour. But in UK that will only happen if OFT instigate proceeding. Well at least this is what I have understood so far. So does anyone know more and can help me? Thank you.

I will not go into the full complaint as it is way too long, so I will try to give the brief details: -Reserved a house from Keepmoat end of May 2013 - plan we were shown showed windows to the side of the property, 4 in total as well as at the front and back. -We chose to go with their "EasyKey" scheme. The scheme means they market your property. Keepmoat delayed putting our house on the market by 3 weeks because of the incompetence of one of their staff -Towards end of August we can see our plot - before then we could not get close enough to see as the road was blocked off, the house was missing 4 windows, this meant the bathroom was now internal! -We complained - their response was to become aggressive and blame us for their mis-selling -We eventually spoke to a manager higher up who offered to refund the kitchen upgrade we paid for (£550) and to install a solar tube in the bathroom -Mid September the buyer for our house pulled out - Keepmoat gave us two days to find another buyer - we later found out that under the Consumer Code for Home Builders they can not do this but at the time we did not know so we accepted a really low offer on our house so we could keep the chain going -About 6 weeks later we are told that we were never offered the solar tube, they were just looking into the possibility of doing it. They could not install one but we could have LED lights instead . We were not happy but we really wanted to move so carried on with the sale. -Roll on 17th October - we were told that we had until the 25th to complete (the house hadn't even been signed off) then they extended it to the 31st. We could not complete because our buyer's solicitor could not complete by then (they needed another 3 weeks ironically). Even though Keepmoat had caused a 3 week delay under the EasyKey there was no flexibility, we had to the 31st to complete or they would re-market. -Keepmoat sold the house to someone else even though they still had our reservation fee - again something they can not do under the Code for Home Builders We created a website which included the recordings of the aggressive and patronising sales staff, emails and photos. Keepmoat agreed to pay our out of pocket expenses because they had not refunded us the reservation fee which they had to under the Consumer Code. However, they refused to acknowledged the rest of our complaint. They also threatened to take us to court if we did not take our site down and advised that their staff might contact the police. We have asked Keepmoat for their version of events as they accused us of libel and what crime we have committed. We are still waiting for a response. I have contacted the NHBC as Keepmoat completely ignored the Consumer Code of Home Builders. The NHBC have said because we didn't buy a house from Keepmoat we can not claim without paying to go through the adjudication process. The code covers the pre-sales service but it turns out only if you buy the house. I do not want to pay as Keepmoat have already offered to cover our costs so their seems little point. I hoped there might be away to stop Keepmoat doing what they did to us to another customer. I hoped that the NHBC would might be able to help with that. This thread is more of a warning to others rather than a request for help but do you think trading standards would be interested? I believe Trading Standards can enforce the property Mis-descriptions Act (which still applied at the time) and Consumer Protection Regulations 2008, but I'm feeling a little deflated. It seems that house builders can do what they like with no comeback.

Hi All Thought I'd let you all know what's happened with Scottish Power and myself. Last summer I had a door to door salesman call by selling on behalf of Scottish Power, I don't normally do this but I listened to what he had to say as I was already thinking of leaving British Gas. The deal sounded too good to be true £35 a month Gas and the same for Electric if I paid by direct Debit. He said this would be capped until 2012 - It would never go up no matter how much I use, and I would never get a bill at the end of the contract if I had used more. he also said that if their prices drop, so would my payments. Ok i thought and signed up - only after checking and double checking this was right and they couldn't charge me anymore than £70 a month. The day after - I rang the call centre and went through this again, i checked they wouldnt take anymore than the £70 and was it defintely capped - the answer was yes. Fast forward to today and they have taken £106!!!! They tell me that they can do this if I use more energy etc etc and that I had used more over the winter!!! furious isnt the word, I told them they have lied and missold the contract etc etc and she agreed to refund the £36 and drop me back to £70 a month. However it could go up next winter if my usage does etc etc and that if I don't pay what I have used I will build up a debt with them... I have raised a formal complaint meanwhile.. So, now I am planning to use them during the winter months as it is sticking at what was agreed however I plan to break the contract and change to another later in the year. Has anyone else had this and what did you do??? Thanks

Has anyone else has issues with Orange sales reps saying that voicemail is included in Sim only deals and then they bill you 35p per minute for voicemail? I needed a sim for a line I use just to collect messages. I called Orange and they told me that while the 7.50 per month option didn't include voicemail, the £10.50 option did. 3 months later I realise that Orange have billed me 35p per minute for all voicemails. Have spent 45 minutes on phone with them to try to resolve -- they try to put me through to the sales rep invloved but he never answers all calls me back... 6 days has passed since he was supposed to call me back. Complete waste of my time. Very poor customer service + Orange sim only deal is also being mis-sold.

We were completely mis-sold the Orange Home Phone with Broadband package on the basis that we'd receive a much higher speed (16-17mb) if we transferred phone billing from BT to Orange. Big mistake. the reality was we lost our connection completely after transfer was screwed up and when it came back it was half the speed it used to be. Numerous tech support (30-45 minute) phone calls to level 1&2 techs + ADR + Orange Helper emails + head office letters have so far produced only vague assurances that speeds will improve some time in the future when they transfer us to the WBC network (that already exists) in our area. The network is apparently oversubscribed. This begs the question: why sell a package you can't actually provide? Really interested to find out if anyone else has experienced similar?

Without Prejudice I had hoped that I wouldn't have to start this thread but here goes: 2-3 years ago we arranged with PCworld ( with rentsmart ) the rental of computer equipment for a Ltd company. It was explained that the Rentsmart account was like a rolling credit agreement where items could be added and at the end of the agreement, any kit could be returned, upgraded (new rental) or purchased for 10% of list price at time of agreement. This of course has been backed by a Director's guarantee, signed on the day. I have all my notes form the day of the discussions about this. A few days later, the equipment list had to be ammended with some additions. This was arranged by the PCworld sales rep. The new additional equipment came. It was signed for and the PCworld sales rep said the following month we would have a new ammended single payment for all the kit rented. I have all my notes form the day of the discussions about this. Approximately one year later, my company changed business bank account. I notified all our suppliers and all direct debits and payments etc were switched over to the new account. Around two months after that I recieved a letter from Rentsmart saying my company was in arrears. I checked the bank account and saw that the payments had been going so I naturally phoned them up to get an explanation. To my suprise they told me that my company actually had 2 accounts with them and the second hadn't been paid for 2 months. Had I not switched banks I would not have known about this unless I thoroughly scrutinised the accounts I complained because I was told categorically by PCworld we would have one account. Rentsmart said take it up with PCworld - it's their problem - get them to sort it. I told them we would suspend all payments until the matter was resolved but we would like it resolved quickly. They were reasonable to start with and said they would put everything on hold while it was sorted. I have sent 30 emails to PCworld regarding this. Bar 4, none have been replied to although all have an automated acknowledgement. Two say "Not a PCworld Problem take it up with rentsmart, only they can modify the agreements" One says "Go to your store to sort it out" One reply from the store says "The guy that sold the kit doesn't work here anymore...don't bother coming to the store - sorry can't help" !! Rentsmart say it's not their problem - any complaints should be addressed to PC world, they sold you the contract, only they can cancel it and ammend it. !! In the mean time, I asked Rentsmart for all the paperwork. Initially they sent me an agreement for the first lot of kit with a Director's guarantee. A month later they sent the paperwork for the second lot of kit ordered after the first few days. Interestingly there was no Director's guarantee. After many requests they sent a copy of the supposed Director's guarantee which all my business partners are sure was never signed, particularly because the person who the signature belongs to wasn't even in the country on the date of the signature, which for some reason is dated a few weeks after the original agreement. PCWorld have [EDIT] I have complained to PCworld about this and recieved an acknowledgement but no response. Since then, Rentsmart have tried to collect on the acccount. One of their reps, Becky, told me over the phone, "Ok then, your account is now terminated......"( although nothing has been written) They have transferred it to a typical Debt collector whose solicitor has said all correpsondence relating to the accounts should go to him. I have a couple of hours of audio recording of them ( Rentsmart and the DCA) upto the usual DCA lies and bad practice and unsuprisingly the DCA has scuttled off once this was played back to them. That was nearly a year ago. The currnet position is: I have notified them ( the solicitor) that under the circumstances of they and their client failing to address the issue of mis-selling, misleading practises and forging the signature, that the agreements are cancelled and they can provide a refund and come and collect their kit. That was 9 months ago. I have heard nothing since. From the outset I have made it clear to them, in almost every email and letter, that I would like to resume payments to them for all the kit, but, as one account as was sold to us. How do I move this forward?

My husband and I started a business in 2005 we took out a Government backed Loan with Lloyds TSB in 2005 for 50500 the following year I took out a second loan secured personally by me and my husband for 30,000 which they added nearly 7k of PPI. (I have put in a claim for this already and am awaiting confirmation). My husband resigned as a director as the business was struggling after 2 years to find another job so we were not both relying on the same income whilst I dealt with the business and the loan repayments. I was 7.5 months pregnant and went to the bank to say I was struggling with making the loan repayments and would do for at least 3 months. I was about to come into some money which would allow me to pay off the second loan. I asked the bank to see me through to this period. I was told that they would and I would just need to provide them with some information and a plan of how I was going to get myself back up and running again. I did this and they then came back to me and said they could no longer support me. I went to the bank again and said that if they didn't help me through until I received this money I would have to fold my business. The bank have essentially asked that I pay the 23k off immediatly (2nd loan secured personally). I have said I would do this as soon as I could but could not afford to at the moment and before I did I would require more information in regards to these loans I took out. The bank have now taken 2 months to provide me with only half of the paperwork I asked for. They have said they no longer do Governement backed loan and therefore have no information on it. In regards to the second loan we had written to our manager at the time as there had been 7k added to the loan (mis-sold PPI) which we had not been aware of. We were told at the time this was a condition of the loan, we have since been informed by the FO that this is not the case. We also believe that this loan should have never been given to us. We had only been trading for one year and were already struggling to pay debts hence the reason we asked for the loan but the bank never offered us any other means except a loan to be able to trade our way out. We have always struggled to pay this loan and in many cases had to borrow money or use inhertiance to pay it. We now have nothing left. After the 3rd year we took a loan repayment holiday for 2 years. I have asked the bank to provide me with a suitablility report and they have come back and said ' The suitability reports you refer to would be what we might call "a lending application" and Under the DPA we are usually able to provide these at a fee of £10 as you mention. Stuart has however been informed that this covers only sole traders and partnership companies and is therefore waiting for further advise on this.' Is this correct? If I were to pay back this loan then I have asked them to release me from my Personal Guarantee but they said that they will not do this as they can use this then to reclaim for the 1st Loan the Goverment backed on. It is therefore not in my interest to take the money from my parents to pay off any of the loans as they are still going to come after me. The personal Guarantee was also for 40k which is over what we took the loan out for we asked for 30k got 37k and they secured the loan for 40k can this be legal? In the meantime I have been told by my accountant I have to stop trading as I do not want to be seen as trading insolvent. I have therefore whilst I wait for them to provide me with paperwork so I can make an informed decsion on what I wish to do lost a large contract with a company which is essentially my cash cow and have no means in which to pay the ever mounting bills by them. I am now 9 months pregnant and I have still not got any answers from the bank in regards to this matter and I am finding it extremely worrying. Without the contract I had I am not sure if I will continue to be able to trade to make the 1st loan repayments whereas if they had supported me in the first place I would have paid off the second loan and most of the overdraft and be making money for the first time since I had started this. Essentially I am not trying to get out of paying the loans but they have now cost me my business and are still asking for their money. Can this be legal? Any help would be greatly apprecaited as I am desperate and about to have a baby and I am not sure I can cope with the stress but I can't believe the bank can treat someone like this.

Hi chaps, Bought a car from a local car dealer in January 2011. On the date of the sale the sales man said the car had a full service history and spare key which he would pass on to me when he received it from previous owner (a doctor as he pointed out several times) and I, probably naively, thought nothing of it and said fine as I needed the car that weekend to start a new job. After three months of chasing, phoning 2-3 times a week for this history and trying to contact the previous owner through the log book details I have not seen one shred of history or spare key. This surely will have an adverse effect on the value of the car when I come to sell it as it has covered nearly 80,000 miles and a full history would surely make a difference to its value. Not only this, if I knew there was no service history I would never have purchased a high mileage car, previous careful lady doctor owner or not! As 3 months have past and I have exhausted all avenues I was wondering whether I have grounds to ask for a full refund, for mis-selling the car and all the aggravation and hassle I have gone through to retrieve the service history and spare key? Finally, how would I pursue this? Trading standards? Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Hi all. I have just bought a motorhome. Year 2002 for £15,000. To clarify, the vendor does work at a garage, so does have mechanical knowledge. He advertised this motorhome as being in perfect condition. We went to view it, he started it up, put the radio on, drove it for a bit, then let me drive. He agreed to take my old campervan in PX as he wanted a smaller older campervan to work on. He said he was selling this one as he needed to release capital to do up his kitchen. I had a bankers draft drawn. A week later he drove the camper to my house. He said that he had noticed that the speedo cable wasn't working, so had bought a new one, fitted it that morning but it still wasn't working. He said that I probably only needed the speedo gear cog thing. He spoke to my garage to explain what the problem was. Then he agreed to pay the bill to fix it. The camper is at the garage as we speak. I have been told he didn't change the speedo cable and it isn't the external speedo gear, it is internal, in the gearbox, so will cost about £500 to repair. I have emailed the vendor to ask if he wants the bill sending to him or if he is going to reimburse me. I am awaiting an answer but in the meantime I thought I would post on here. Where do I stand legally if he refuses to pay. I have evidence that he knew of the problem ( him speaking to my mechanic). Also, he said he wasn't a car dealer, yet I am led to believe he has already sold on my old motorhome. I might come back to you with good news. I might find that he agrees to pay the bill but in case he doesn't .... Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry this is a long and complicated one!!!! I started a new job less than 3 months ago; the recruitment process took 5 months from start to finish and applied for the position through an agency as I d not think the employer was taking applications direct. The job I originally applied for was a more senior position and although I was joining a new industry the level of responsibility within that role was more in line with what I had been doing other the past 2 years. There was a lot of waiting around in the recruitment process, hence it taking 5 months and I literally had to jump through hoops, 2 online exams, an assessment day, role plays, face to face interviews. I was then told that I was successful with my application by the agency however because I had no experience in the industry I would have to go on a development plan first with the company for 18 months to learn about what they do but after that I would then be given my full job title and be placed into the position I originally applied for. I was happy to accept as I was really excited about the company and what they had to offer, I asked for the development plan to be put into writing in my contract but was told by the agency that they had spoken to the company and this wasn't standard practise but my development would be measured by my manager (one of the senior managers in the department) by monthly one to ones and measurable objectives. I was given my contract, my manager title and confirmed my start date directly with the company. I asked what my mangers name was and was told it was "Sarah”. On my first day I arrived and went to the a HR induction in the morning and was told that my manager would be picking me up and taking me to my desk. A man appeared who said his name was "Joe". Introduced himself as my manager and gave me his job title which was the same job title I applied for (Team Leader of one of the 10 teams in the department). I asked him if he was sure he was supposed to be picking me up and explained that I was expecting someone else and that it said in my contract that I would be reporting into "Sarah". He said he would clarify with the Head of Department "Rachel" and see what was going on. He told me that he had spoken to "Rachel" and that I would be temporally reporting to him as they wasn't any work for me but I would be later doing some work directly for "Rachel" and "Sarah". I was happy with this and my first week was spent going round all the different teams learning how the department functions etc. A month passed and I was still on this team, doing a remedial job I used to do when I first left school! I was not really learning anything as "Joe" is quite inexperienced in terms of people development and every time I asked him a question he had to clarify his answer with "Rachel". It got to a point where basically he was just a go between me and her so I invited "Rachel" for a chat to let her know my concerns. In the chat I was told that there was no plan ever for me to go on a development plan, that I was never reporting into "Sarah" and an error was made on my contract. The lady who dealt with my paperwork in HR had now left so they couldn't speak to her about my offer or find any of my paper work, including my original application or CV (how convenient). I asked her about the project work and she said this wasn't the case but maybe sometime in the future and I was to stay reporting into a person who technically speaking is on the same level as me!!! She also admitted that this wasn't the first time a person had been told something like this and HR was investigating as the other person had walked out!!! I have now found another job and have handed my notice in. My questions are: 1) Is the employer, agency or myself at fault here?? They seem to be hiding behind the agency but surely since it is there position they should be monitoring the communication from agencies to potential new employees. 2) How can my Line manager's Job Title on my contract be different from the one I am actually reporting into, is this allowed??? I thought you could only change an employee’s contract in writing and with notice. 3) Where has my paperwork conveniently gone to? Should I do a data subject access request and see for myself? It’s a big place (over 2000 employees) so I bet who ever deals with the request will not know the lines I have been spun! 4) Is there anything I can do, I have now handed my notice in but this is only the short version of the story I have been put through so much embarrassment and anguish (I have even had personal remarks about me made by "Joe") I feel like I can’t let this lie.

About a year ago we were 'persuaded' by Nat West who we no longer bank with to take out a loan to repay charges which they had continually applied to a small unauthorised overdraft and which had then become unmanageable. Nat West made it very difficult for us to repay as they insisted on only accepting direct debits from their account which we no longer used which made it difficult for us. Nat West have since got Apex Credit Management involved who send letters in my wife's name only when it was a joint account. We have called and written to Apex to point out the discrepency and that we feel the loan was mis-sold as we were pressured into it by the bank. They never respond to this and keep threatening legal action. Can anyone advise on what the best way to deal with this would be.

Several months ago, I visited the Orange shop on Princes Street in Edinburgh to discuss an upgrade to my Orange contract. I am visually impaired and, as such, require an accessible phone. I was assured by one of the staff that the Motorola DEXT would be suitable for my needs. I was informed it has TTS (Text to Speech) installed. After much effort on my part it became clear that the DEXT is not, in fact, accessible and is completely unsuitable. It does not include any TTS system. I attempted to raise this matter with the shop, and was told there was nothing they could do to help. They were very dismissive. After emailing customer services I got a phone call and was told to go back to the manager of the shop and that they cannot help me. They said their hands are tied and they could not assist me. I went into an Orange shop in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow recently. They tried their best. They contacted the shop in Edinburgh. The member of staff in Edinburgh at first claimed he could not remember me, and then insisted he told me to contact Customer Services for advice. I then contacted Customer Services again by phone. They were rude, to the point that I was in tears, and insisted there was nothing they could do. It has become clear that I was misled regarding this phone, presumably in an effort to get me to renew my contract. Nobody in Orange is now prepared to do anything about this. I regard this as mis-selling. This is the second time Orange has erred with an upgrade. On the previous occasion I rang Customer Services upgrades department and explained I needed a phone running either a Symbian or Windows Mobile operating system. They told me the LG Viewty was accessible and on Windows Mobile. When I received the phone it was quite clear this was not true. I returned the phone and eventually upgraded to an SPV-650 which, when speech was eventually installed, ran very slowly and actually worked, after a fashion, despite regular firmware crashes. I am currently having to use a phone that I purchased privately, as the DEXT is unusable. Personally, I don't believe a word of what is said in the sticky notice in this forum by Orange Customer Service. They certainly haven't done their best to resolve the issue. In point of fact, I would say they have done nothing to resolve the issue. I would advise people thinking of taking out a contract with Orange to think again. At least some of their staff are willing to mislead to get you to renew a contract, and Customer Services seem to exist only to deal with technical problems, not to handle mis-selling by their shop staff.